Academy Awards comments

Just a brief few: 1. About frickin' time for Errol Morris. 2. Digidesign won a technical Oscar for Pro Tools. Damn straight, analogists. When's the last Oscar for magnetic media? Hmmm? 3. Triplets should have won best Animation. 4. Sean Penn deserved to be recognized. He makes poor movie choices sometimes, but he's a damn fine actor. 5. Did anybody really think that Charlize wouldn't win? And does anybody think she's more deserving than the magnificent Samantha Morton? 6. I didn't like Lost in Translation as much as most critics, but a lot more than most of my critical friends. I'm perfectly pleased with Sofia Coppolla winning. 7. The thought in most winner's head "My next paycheck just increased 100%"

The Barbarian Invasions

IMDB I'm quipless. Fill in something about French Canadian junkies -- maybe throw in a reference to the French Canadian separatists, and a hint at colonialism and you're home. Then send it to me so I can post it here. =================
As I sit writing this, after seeing the film this afternoon, I am watching it take the Academy Award for best foreign language film. Way to go!
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City of God

IMDB My favorite moments were the crucifixion scenes, and the realism the director achieved by having the historically-accurate figures speak aramaic. ==============
I liked this more than Kent, but I think he made some really good points, specifically about the dropped threads. The difference between us seems to be that the film hit me on a more emotional level.
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Marathon Man

IMDB

Four out of five sadists recommend dentistry for their patients who use torture.

Kind Hearts and Coronets

IMDB All that trouble over a trumpet?

The Astronaut's Wife

IMDB Johnny Depp stars as a satellite repair man who loses his virginity to a sexy radio wave from Gamalon 4. His wife, played by Mia Farrow, helps him over the trauma by buying the penthouse at Trump Plaza and installing a water feature.

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

IMDB Eat. Drink. Man. Woman. ====================
Recommended review

Master & Commander (Patrick O'Brian)

AMAZON Every movie reviewer who covered the adaptation of this book had to talk about Patrick O'Brian ad infinitum. They had to express either: a) Yes, I am a big Patrick O'Brian fan, or: b) I've never read Patrick O'Brian, but my friends love him and they've told me just how great he is. Then they wax on about historical accuracy, amazing vision, epic battle-scenes, and eventually get around to the actors, directors, and special effects--y'know, the movie they're reviewing. It got to be so bad that eventually I decided that I had to read the damn thing myself. So, I cracked book one in the 20 book series (Kinsey Millhone eat your heart out) . I figure if I love the first, I'll start taking them on one by one (just like I promised myself with the various Edgar Rice Burroughs series 20 years ago. Let's not talk about that). Briefly: 1) Accuracy of battles? Damn, they're short! There are 20 movies in here, although I understand why they combined this and one of his other books. This one doesn't really have a McKee-approved inciting incident, conflict, end resolution. 2) More levity than expected. Re: How Maturin and Aubrey meet (they annoy each other at a music recital). 3) For all that happens, a fairly slow read. 4) Yes, he's nautically accurate. Or, he's nautically inaccurate in a way that seems nautically accurate to myself and the other nautically ignorant armchair adventurers (it's all about the authority, folks!). Will I read book two? Sure, sure -- right after I finish The God of Mars. Finished January 5th, 2004

Which Lie Did I Tell? (William Goldman)

AMAZON Okay. I confess, I'm writing a screenplay, with my friend Kent M. Beeson (see his site for a bit of writing about it. We both also succesfully completed NaNoWriMo last year.). As every young, eager, wide-eyed and starry idealed screenwriter knows, you must absorb the wisdom of the masters. This, of course, is great for the masters because of the number of young, eager, wide-eyed and starry idealists far outweigh the actual number of working screenwriters. Thus, they can reveal their souls and secrets without having to worry too much about their readers stealing their next doctoring assignment away. But unlike the majority of advice givers who are professional advice givers and part-time (or not-time) screenwriters, Goldman walks the walk. His is a perfectly balanced mixture of Hollywood insider gossip, sage advice, how-to-develop-ideas, and how-to-read-a-screenplay beginners manual. He's not afraid to let loose the neurosis, and shamelessly faces the music on his flops. Best of all, he reproduces about half of a screenplay he's working on and solicits feedback from five or six working writers he respects who are mostly quite brutal on it (great when you agree with them, painful when you don't). You come away (hopefully) with the knowledge that a great movie can turn on a dime, that screenwriting is about teamwork more than being a visionary (He recounts the number of times he’s had to kill that favorite idea or change something he knew would weaken the script at the bequest of a star, director, or studio head), and that if you work hard enough, name dropping is just one of the bennies of a life in film. The other is that if your particular fetish is finding out exactly how tall action-movie stars are, you're going to have the chance to stand next to them and see how they measure up. Finished Februrary 23, 2004

English Passengers (Matthew Kneale)

AMAZON You may or may not believe me when I tell you that I had no idea this book was a Booker finalist or won a Whitbread award (he says, as if he'd heard of the Whitbread award before today -- exposure of ignorance, for your amusement! Please enjoy). I didn't know because we got a library hardback, and they aren't so good about bragging about awards that come post-publication, are they? Better reviewers may review it better elsewhere. Let's just I loved these things: 1) The logical arguments against scientific Geology, and towards why the garden of Eden is located in Tasmania are worth the price of admission. 2) If colonialism gets your goat, be forewarned of it here. On the other hand, lots of colonialist Englishmen get to make fools of themselves for your amusement. I'd definitely recommend it. If you do read it, make sure you keep track of the narrator of the moment and the date from which they write. It's all 1st person and there are about 30 1st people. It's less complex than it sounds, but more complex than you might be ready for going in blind. Finished on: February 20, 2004

Office Space

IMDB

They could have donated that printer to a fix-it-man training shop. THAT would've stuck it to the man.

Not about a movie

Not to stretch my experiment too far past my safety zone of movies, books and quipping, but last September I wrote to Virginia Postrel and regailed some stories from my days as a guitar shucker. She was nice enough to post my ramblings then, and is even nicer to repost them today. Thanks Virginia, it's nice to be double publ'd.

Diva

IMDB I wish my postman would bring me cash.

Muriel's Wedding

IMDB Mistook a d for an e and thought it was a gardening video. Darn it all.

Cryptonomicon (Neal Stephenson)

AMAZON I like to imagine some guy in a dark-hooded robe, copies of Magick in Theory and Practice open to one side, old frayed Lovecraft novels on the other. He’s sitting at an altar with four candles burning, chanting indecipherable words in an even monotone, while in front of him, in the middle of a pentagram, sits an enigma machine. He’s trying to call up some Cthuluian spirit but first he has to decode the incantation before the candles run out. (acutally finished on 01/21/04).

Alien: Resurrection

IMDB

The City of Lost Children who kill their mothers and revel in the gore. In space.

Boogie Nights

IMDB My porn name is Turry Manson. Yours?