Hey folks... Harry here with another of the old man's rumblings from that cellar he calls a lab. More like the torture chambers what with all the spikes and whips and tapes of ISHTAR... But that's another deal all together. Meanwhile... I'm stepping stage left so Moriarty can rumble....
ey, Head Geek...
"Moriarty" here.
Have you ever noticed how you can have some weeks
where it feels like nothing's going on, and then
suddenly you turn around and find that you can barely
fit in everything that you want to do? Don't get me
wrong, though; I'm not complaining. Far from it,
actually. It's been a great and busy week at The
Moriarty Labs. My only real problem is sorting it out
so I can share it all with you. One thing that will
help the process is a new addiction that has gripped
the Labs with a stranglehold. I don't even know who
to blame for finding it in the first place. All I
know is one of the henchmen recently came into my
private library with a rather distinctive bottle
filled with a bright neon green liquid. I barely
looked at it as I took my first sip. POW! It was
like a mule kick to the head. I took a closer look at
what I was drinking. Jones Soda. Small company.
Never heard of it. Green Apple flavor. Never had
anything like it. I took a second sip, expecting to
be prepared for it this time. POW! Now, less than a
week later, that's all we're drinking around here. Of
course, it's damn near impossible to find, making it a
painful addiction, but it's worth the effort. I'm
currently working on a plan to have it administered
intravenously. Find it. Try it. And stay the hell
away from my stash.
I am equally thrilled at satisfying another of my new
obssessions by finally seeing Miyazaki's poetic and
extraordinary NAUSICAA OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND (or
KAZE NO TANI NO NAUSHIKA). It's somewhat strange for
me to randomly jump from one period of Miyazaki's
career to another. Normally when I come in this late
in the game, I try to see someone's work in the order
in which it was produced. You get to see how
someone's primary themes and interests develop and are
played out over the course of their work. With
Miyazaki, I've already seen PRINCESS MONONOKE, which
feels to me like a deeper, more ambiguous exploration
of many of the ideas presented in NAUSICAA. That's
not to suggest that I didn't enjoy myself. I did,
immensely. Once again, I am struck by the lyrical
beauty of the scenes in which Nausicaa uses her
glider, by the way Miyazaki captures flight so
effortlessly. This time, though, there's an action
edge that's not present in a film like KIKI. There's
also very clearly deliniated good and bad characters,
which makes this easier to have a rooting interest in.
And, as always, there are dozens of images that I
will never forget, whether it's the attempted rebirth
of the Giant Warrior or the millions of Ohmu tracking
their wounded baby or the shattering sky battles. I
will be joined by Harry Lime and Henchman Mongo for
this Saturday's showings of CASTLE IN THE SKY and
PORCO ROSSO, starting at 7 PM at the Bridges Theater
on the UCLA Campus. Anyone who wants to say hello or
discuss the marvelous work that's been highlighted by
this delightful retrospective should just remember how
much The Professor loved IRON GIANT this year. If you
need more of a hint than that, I can't help you out.
Before I press on to some of the other topics I want
to discuss this week, I'd like to offer a correction
to a story I broke here in the RUMBLINGS, the death of
MINORITY REPORT. Based on a letter I got, I did some
nosing around, and I've discovered that there are
actually several sets still standing on the Fox lot.
These stages are on hold for the film. This isn't to
say that the plug won't be pulled, and it's not to say
that it will. Right now, there is some major work
being done to the script, and the future of the
production will depend on solving some key issues. I
wish Scott Frank and Spielberg well in their efforts,
but I also hope that if they can't craft the story
into a home run, they have the courage to pull the
plug. No one needs another half-hearted SF ripoff of
BLADE RUNNER. With talent like this aboard, there's a
good chance they'll be the ones to get it right.
I want to thank the hundreds of you who have written
me letters regarding my appearance on David Poland's
KABC radio show last week, even those of you who sent
me comments like "You're a fawkin' sellout PUSSY!"
One of the things that Harry and I discuss frequently
is how high a profile AICN should have via other
media. I don't think anyone understands how often we
turn down invitations to things that we think wouldn't
be appropriate, or that don't really advance the site
in any significant way. I went on this show for one
specific reason: David has been very vocal in his
feelings about this site, and he's raised some issues
in the past that I felt demanded discussion. I don't
believe in having "feuds" with people; it's silly and
it's counterproductive. I also believe that when I
speak to people about AICN, I am able to share my
passion for the work we do here and impress upon them
the hard work and the ethical struggles that I feel
distinguish what we do. As we grow, as we learn, we
will continue to do appearances that help validate
what we're doing here. I like knowing that Harry
trusts me to represent this site. I also like having
a different form of interaction with you guys. When
the caller was put through who said, "I'm first," I
had to laugh. Hearing the little quirks and
eccentricities of AICN in another context makes me
smile. Of course, those of you who feel like this
site was your secret, an underground thing that you
don't want to see mainstreamed... well, I do care
about what you have to say. I'm curious... for those
of you who listened to the show live or who have
visited the archived version that a fan was so nice to
create, what are your feelings about running into us
out there in the real world? What do you think about
Harry's next twenty or thirty appearances on ROGER
EBERT & THE MOVIES?
Speaking of television, I'm sorry I wasn't able to
have the RUMBLINGS up yesterday. I wanted to be able
to provide you all with an advance look at the season
premiere of one of the funniest, smartest, and most
consistently moving shows on television, BUFFY THE
VAMPIRE SLAYER. One of the remote locations of the
Labs is an information gathering center that is topped
by Mr. Pointy, a powerful satellite dish. Late
Saturday night, I got a call from Pointy's keeper, who
told me that he had just stumbled across the network
feed of the show. I dispatched several henchmen to
bring me the tape immediately, and I watched it twice
Sunday. I don't know if I've ever shared with you my
deep and powerful love for this show, but it seems to
grow exponentially every season. I was worried about
how the show would change as several key players left
and the cast moved into college, but it turns out
there was no need for concern. Joss Whedon and his
talented group of writers and producers have managed
to extend the show's central metaphor in a clever and
affecting manner. Whereas the show was always a canny
x-ray of the reality of high school up until now, the
premiere episode managed to capture the experience of
starting college in a more concise and believable
manner than the whole first season of FELICITY. The
cast this year is a little thin, what with the
departure of David Boreanaz and (slobber, drool,
slobber) Charisma Carpenter, but the returning
regulars all did knockout work, redefining their
characters quickly and memorably. Also, ain't Alyson
Hannigan cute this year? Man, I'd love to take a trip
to band camp with her. I do hope that rumors of Seth
Green's departure are exaggerated. He's leaving after
episode six this season to go shoot a film, much like
he did last year due to AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO
SHAGGED ME. There's a lot of dispute over whether
he'll be returning or not. I hope he does. His
presence is one of the show's most consistently snarky
jokes. For those of you who haven't tuned in to the
brilliance of this program yet, go find the recent
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY cover story on the show, read
every word, then dive in and catch up. Week in, week
out, there's no better hour you can spend in front of
the box.
I was saddened to hear about the poor, misguided souls
who turned out this weekend to protest the premiere of
DOGMA at the New York Film Festival. Seriously...
don't these people have anything better to do with
their time? I know Lion's Gate must be nervous about
the controversy. They have yet to release a BLAIR
WITCH-sized breakout hit, despite having scored
several significant pickups in the last year or so.
DOGMA has several elements in place that would seem to
indicate that this could be the film -- Matt Damon and
Ben Affleck together again, the stunt casting (even if
it works) of Allanis Morissette as God, the return of
Jay and Silent Bob -- but there's no guarantee here.
The controversy might end up helping the film, and it
also might end up creating false expectations for it.
This sort of thing isn't unknown to Kevin Smith,
either. The film A BETTER PLACE which he and Scott
Mosier produced is set for a DVD release by Synapse
Films (more on them below) in the near future, but
Synapse can't find a VHS partner for the release
because it deals with teens, a gun, and the
repercussions of violence. Having not seen either
DOGMA or A BETTER PLACE, I'm not prepared to comment
on the quality of either, but I can say that having
spoken with Kevin, he's not just out there looking to
stir things up for kicks. He's a thoughtful guy with
a moral streak a mile wide, and those who would try to
silence him should thoroughly investigate their own
motivations. Take a lesson from one of Kevin's
heroes, people... turn that other cheek, and do unto
others. Get it?
I don't think LAST NIGHT is going to be the breakout
hit that Lion's Gate wants and needs, but it sure is a
groovy little film. Written and directed by Don
McKellar (co-screenwriter of the brilliant 32 SHORT
FILMS ABOUT GLENN GOULD and THE RED VIOLIN), it's a
picture with a simple, immediate premise. The Earth
is going to end at midnight on a certain day.
Everyone's known for months. The cause of this
destruction is never specified, and I prefer it that
way. This isn't a disaster film; it's a movie about
those precious little moments and emotions and
impulses that make life so very, very special. The
film starts at 6:00 in the afternoon on the day
everything is ending, and follows a number of
characters through those last few hours. McKellar
plays the lead in the film, a disconnected,
emotionally hollowed-out man named Patrick who wants
to spend his last hours alone. His sister is played
by current queen of the Canadian indie scene, Sarah
Polley, in a small but lovely role. David Cronenberg
plays the president of the gas company, and he
continues to prove that he's not just a great director
but also a very memorable performer. I'd say he and
Sydney Pollack are neck-in-neck for best director
turned actor at this point. Sandra Oh, who was so
good in DOUBLE HAPPINESS and who appears on the
painful, numbingly stupid ARLI$$ each week on HBO,
manages to almost walk away with the film as a woman
who wants to find her husband so they can kill
themselves together, controlling their fates instead
of accepting them. In the end, though, the
performance that really has haunted me in the week
since I saw the film is that of Callum Keith Rennie,
who plays a guy determined to finish his time on the
planet without regrets. His laundry list of sexual
urges and the way he goes about satisfying them is
both funny and pathetic, sad and real. He's
mesmerizing, and I'm sure we'll be seeing more of him
soon. In the end, LAST NIGHT isn't a great film, nor
will it be remembered as the year's best, but it does
pose some essential questions about our priorities and
our needs as people in a world that can be frightening
and unforgiving. When it rolls out in limited
release, you should make the effort to find it.
For anyone who suffered through this weekend's season
premiere of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, just know this: I
feel your pain. Regular readers of this column know
that I am a longtime fan and advocate of the show. In
fact, I was planning to use today's column to offer
praise to Lorne Michaels and NBC for what I felt was a
good, if not great, 25th anniversary celebration of
what is inarguably the most influential comedy show in
TV history. I thought there were some wonderful clips
shown, some proper respect paid to the history of the
show. I think there were some sins of omission, but
even three hours is barely enough time to scratch the
surface of such a wealth of material. On the other
hand, 90 minutes can seem like an eternity when
something falls as flat as the season opener did. I
thought there was exactly one highlight, a very canny
and hysterical parody of another of my favorite TV
shows, OZ. Whoever convinced Tom Fontana and the cast
of that show to participate should be commended,
because the effort paid off. For those of you who
didn't make it that far, the opening of the sketch
explained that following the events of the last
SEINFELD episode, Jerry continued to piss off the
prison guards until he was transferred to a maximum
security penetentiary... OZ. Every joke in the filmed
segment was right on the money, and the use of the
actual sets and film instead of video helped sell the
parody. Nothing was repeated, and the sketch was
exactly short enough to maintain itself.
So why was every other piece of writing on the show so
pedestrian and predictable? I am genuinely horrified
to see how quickly Lorne has allowed the show to snap
back into its typical format. Cold opening, credits,
opening monologue, commerical parody, commercial.
Sketch, commercial. Sketch, commercial. Sketch,
commercial. Weekend update, commercial. Musical
guest, commercial, and so on. I mean, didn't he watch
the anniversary show? How is it that I can appreciate
what made SNL into an institution, but the man
responsible for it all can't? When SNL premiered in
1975, it shattered all conventional notions of what
could be done in a comedy variety show. The very idea
of a commercial parody so real that it could be
mistaken for genuine was unheard of. Lorne fought
tooth and nail to get difficult, controversial
material on the air. Several shows even destroyed
expectations as to what SNL could do. He wasn't
afraid to let one sketch be stretched over several
breaks. He wasn't afraid to let subtle character work
on the air. These days, the show's as subtle as a
fart in church, and it hurts to observe. I still
think there are some talented cast members on the
show, even if I'm not convinced that guys like Jimmy
Fallon, Tracy Morgan, and Horatio Sanz are adding
anything to the program, but the level of writing
that's getting on the air right now is shameful. If
this is how Lorne plans to treat this program this
year, then maybe a quarter century is long enough.
Now... I mentioned Synapse Films above. It's a fairly
small, fairly new DVD company. Why am I excited about
such an unproven name? Because of the founder of the
company, the one and only Don May, Jr. Did you happen
to catch that amazing, remarkable NIGHT OF THE LIVING
DEAD laserdisc in the early '90s? Well, that was the
work of Don May. Or how about the astonishing TEXAS
CHAINSAW special edition package? May again. This
guy is... well, he's one of us. He loves these
movies. He told me recently that one of the
highlights of his life was the moment when he sat down
with George Romero to look at the original negative of
NOTLD. He held it in his hands and was overwhelmed by
a sense of film history. That love of his reads loud
and clear whenever you watch a film that May is
responsible for transferring. If you need that proven
to you, why not check out his new special edition DVD
release of Frank Henenlotter's BRAIN DAMAGE? I did,
and I was delighted by the entire package. The film
is one that I must admit I hadn't seen before, and
it's a surprisingly good gore comedy. I've never been
the biggest fan of Henenlotter's other work, at least
not in the execution of it. I've always enjoyed the
ideas in films like BASKET CASE or FRANKENHOOKER.
With this film, though, it felt like he got it right.
It's funny, it's incredibly foul, and there's actually
a point buried under all that spurting carnage. One
of the best things about the disc is the secondary
audio commentary by the director, who sounds reluctant
to be pressed into service. That reticence fades
quickly, though, and he turns out to be an engaging
and funny speaker. The transfer of the film is
outstanding, especially considering the tricky hard
blue color scheme it was shot in. Films like this are
the reason I love my DVD player dearly, and guys like
Don May are the reason the format will ultimately be
the favorite of any serious cinephile. Now I'm dying
to see his upcoming release of VAMPYROS LESBOS. Oh,
yeah, baby...
Anyone seen Fiona Apple's new video yet? It just
premiered on MTV and VH1, and it's directed by PT
Anderson. While I find it hypnotic -- maybe it's all
those close-ups of the beguiling Miss Apple -- it's
nowhere near as magical as the video they collaborated
on for PLEASANTVILLE. Her cover of "Across The
Universe" is wonderful, but it's the work that
Anderson did in bringing the video to life that really
makes it a classic mini-movie. I love that he's one
of those guys who is willing to hop over and make a
little short film (since that's what the best videos
are) between epics like BOOGIE NIGHTS and MAGNOLIA.
Keep your eyes peeled for "Fast As You Can."
The best story I read or heard this week was easily
the news that Stanley Donen will be directing THE 7
DEADLY SINS, based on a script by Anthony Minghella.
I know that this is a Henson Company production, and
there's going to be some surreal effects work
involved, so I'm surprised by the courage it took for
the company to choose Donen as the film's helmer. I
applaud them, though. Donen proved that he's just as
sharp and as funny as ever when he accepted his
special Oscar on the 1998 broadcast, and it's always
seemed shameful to me how Hollywood turns its back on
older artists who still have so much to contribute.
Billy Wilder is one of those guys who was put out to
pasture too soon, in my opinion. His wit hasn't
dulled with time, so why not let him continue to give
us gems? We're in the midst of a generational shift
in Hollywood right now, and I know that it's my
sincere hope that we don't make the same mistake by
ghettoizing filmmakers like Boorman, Pollack,
Frankenheimer, or Friedkin just because they're not
young or hip or edgy any longer. Like anyone, they
have their ups and downs. Unlike their younger
competition, though, one misstep can end decades of
creative productivity. Let's hope Donen knocks this
film out of the ballpark and sends a clear and much
needed message. Even more importantly, let's hope
people listen.
On the other hand, the worst story I've heard or read
in the past week was regarding Halle Berry. I've
enjoyed her work in the past, but there are certain
things that I believe you simply do not do. One of
them is piss publicly on the project you're currently
shooting. Especially when that project is a beloved
property like X-MEN. What was she thinking? She
appeared on THE TRAVIS SMILY SHOW on BET recently to
plug her HBO picture about Dorothy Dandridge. Now,
Berry has every right to be excited about the film and
proud of it. She produced it, and she fought to get
it done. It's a labor of love in every sense of the
word, and I commend her for doing what Whitney Houston
and Janet Jackson couldn't. Still, that doesn't
justify her comments when asked about the state of
writing for black actresses in Hollywood. She
replied, "I've been reduced to doing a remake of a
comic book called the X-MEN because of a lack of work
for black actresses."
WHAT?!
You've been "reduced" to doing it? Oh, poor Halle. I
guess someone just stormed up to her (pun intended)
and put a gun to her head and said, "Here's this
property that is loved by millions featuring a role
that allows a black woman to be a strong, spiritually
centered superhero, and we DEMAND that you be in it."
I mean, for god's sake... Angela Bassett's actually
been quoted in the CALGARY SUN recently as being upset
that Fox never came to her to discuss the role she was
linked with for over a year. I guess Bassett's just
got her head up her ass, right, Halle? I guess she's
been "reduced" to the same kind of roles, right?
Honestly, I'm surprised Fox didn't fire her. Who
needs an actor on a set who believes that a project is
beneath them? Who honestly believes they're going to
get the best effort from that actor? And most
importantly, what are we, the fans, supposed to think
of someone who spits on a project that we have been
waiting over a decade to see? If I were Ian McKellan,
Patrick Stewart, or Bryan Singer, I would be horrified
by her comments, and deeply insulted.
Finally, I want to apologize for once again delaying
my discussion of the proposed cultural committee and
violence tax, but Harry and I have been busily
discussing alternatives. We don't want to just rail
against the status quo here on AICN; we want to
propose a possible solution. We're looking into a
comprehensive program of media education, starting
with kindergarten and going all the way through
college, that will help teach people how to process
and filter media. The fact is, we live in a media
soaked society, and that's not going to change. If
anything, it's going to get more intense as technology
advances. You can try to fight censorship all day,
but that always comes down to arguments about taste.
By proposing a change in the way we educate children
and prepare them for the world, you eliminate the need
for censorship altogether. There's no such thing as a
dangerous idea if you've been prepared for viewing
films and TV or reading books or listening to music.
Ideas are just ideas. The only thing that's dangerous
is someone who doesn't know how to think for
themselves. As AICN continues to hone this concept,
we plan to discuss it in greater length. Until then,
just know that it's one of our primary concerns.
Later this week I'll be bringing you reviews of Ang
Lee's RIDE WITH THE DEVIL as well as a film that
you'll have to move quickly to find at your local
theaters, a profound new anime experience called
PERFECT BLUE. Let me slam another Green Apple soda
and put on my Writing Cap (copyright 1999). There
should be plenty of surprises as well, so I've got to
get moving, get started on them. Until then...
"Moriarty" out.
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