The Passenger (1975)

This is the third Antonioni film I've seen.

The first two I saw were L'AVVENTURA and BLOW UP.

I must admit--without Jack Nicholson's fantastic commentary, I would have missed a lot of the story itself--which I found to be implausible.

SPOILERS:

The premise is that a combat documentarian switches places with a man who just died for no explicable reason.

As my thinking goes--most movies fail at the point of concept.

And I'm a big fan of Antonioni.

That being said--beyond the weak premise--there are some troubling and noteworthy experiments by Antonioni; the most shocking of which is real documentary footage of what appears to be a military-led public execution.

I also had problems with the new love interest--she instantly helped the hero out of the blue--both of them seemingly united because they were inexplicably escaping their past.

Operation Kindness (adopting a dog)

We adopted a rescue dog from Operation Kindness:

http://www.operationkindness.org/index.php

She's a one-year-old toy daschund we named "Dash."

Our trip there was a trip indeed--I failed to read our little warning cards and wound up walking three dogs (that's a no-no unless you're a volunteer.)

Besides getting corrected for my bad behavior, the staff was fantastic.

They have a wonderful operation and I look forward to supporting them.

Here's Dash!

Happy Go Lucky movie review

There are no big robots in this movie.

Stuff doesn't blow up.

And the hero doesn't change.

So--how did Sally Hawkins win the Golden Globe for best actress for HAPPY GO LUCKY in 2008?

I remember as a kid--growing up in the 70's--the feeling that people used to walk out of movies and ask "what was that about?"

This level of engagement wasn't done in the tone of cynicism that we have now.

People really wanted to know.

And--if you haven't seen the movie--I can't really tell you what HAPPY GO LUCKY is about--because we aren't spoon-fed the answer.

And reading the logline won't help one bit--there is no primary desire of the hero--no big obstacles to overcome.

Here's the logline from IMDB: A look at a few chapters in the life of Poppy, a cheery, colorful, North London schoolteacher whose optimism tends to exasperate those around her.

IMHO the movie is about a collision of worldviews--and Poppy wins.

SPOILER ALERT:

Okay--here's a few things that I took away from some scenes that weren't spelled out.

There's a scene in which Poppy inexplicably visits a homeless man--it's fraught with tension--and we are never told who this man is or why she went to see him.

It's implied that she went there to look for clues about a troubled student of hers--but later there's a "throwaway" bit of dialogue in which she says to her sister: "It runs in the family" regarding mental illness. I think this homeless man may be her father or an uncle.

And the climax--when the driving school instructor assaults her because she won't return his car keys after he's driven around like a maniac.

This climax is one of the best twists I've seen.

It works because Poppy's worldview conquers: Poppy's kindness has been mistaken as a weakness by everyone--especially those who don't really know her--throughout the story.

Poppy's unspoken attitude seems to be this: "I'm happy to be alive. I'm happy to have the gift of consciousness. If you want to be miserable, that's your business. I am going to enjoy the gift of life."

Poppy has made a conscious choice to be "Happy Go Lucky."

I love this worldview and it fits with my own: life is too short not to enjoy it.

I really can't give a movie higher praise than that.

Well done.

Precious movie review

My favorite season of THE WIRE is season four--when the focus is on the inner-city education of the poorest children in Baltimore.

When one sees--indeed lived--through an experience like that--it's human nature to block out the horrific memories and embrace life as a survivor.

While PRECIOUS may hit the same notes over a few too many times, in a few too obvious ways, it rings true to human nature, especially with the performance of MoNique, who play Precious's evil mother with an uncanny sense of realism.

PRECIOUS isn't for everybody, certainly not for kids, but for anyone who experienced the shock and joy of survival, then it's worth a look.

The Road movie review

Okay, how does anyone with a username of "bloodmeridian2004" watch an adaptation of McCarthy's work objectively?

I don't.

And for the first hour or so of the film, I could feel just the twinge of a mirgraine.

I wanted to hate this film.

But--I became emotionally engaged and the ending moved me.

And that's how I judge movies.

If I was moved, it worked.

And it reinforced the notion that endings are important.

As credits rolled, most of us shuffled out fighting back tears--and I don't think we could have offered the filmmakers a better compliment than that.

The Messenger movie review

I read a fantastic review for THE MESSENGER in the New Yorker:

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2009/11/16/091116crci_cinema_denby

So I decided to see it (thankfully one cinema was showing it.)

And I lamented the fact that it's in limited release while we are deluged with 2012 and NEW MOON.

What surprised me most was the physicality of Woody Harrelson, who is pitch-perfect as the commanding officer over Ben Foster--his new recruit for an Army detail that brings death notifications to next-of-kin stateside.

I was delighted that the movie evoked the emotional impact I was looking for in my spec scripts, IN SMALL WAR and KARST.

And Samantha Morton was a fantastic love interest.

2012 Movie Review

Fantastic special effects aren't enough to save bad dialogue.


The phase I'm going through now--as an amateur screenwriter hoping to make a sale--is to focus on movie dialogue in an effort to understand its rhythm and purpose.


Lately I've paid particular attention to "buttons:" the witty little last words that end a scene.


There are tons of buttons in 2012: some comedic; some expository; some dramatic--and all felt overwritten.


It's as if so many cooks were in the kitchen each were afraid that if the button were missing, that the audience would get lost.


So--the effect is that this is a TV movie with loads of expensive special effects.


It's instructive though, because it's politically correct to have very little offensive language and zero sex.


I don't know if I will ever learn my lesson.


I don't know if it's worth it to write for a PG-13.


I'd like to try though--but it doesn't ring true to me.


In the most literal sense--I'm considering going back through my old scripts to try and make them PG-13.


And if I ever dare write what I really feel--I'll try to pitch it as a cable series--which seems to be the last bastion for mature entertainment.

F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hollywood

Fantastic article in the New Yorker about F. Scott Fitzgerald's failure as a screenwriter: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/11/16/091116fa_fact_krystal

It's amazing how he never gave up writing long narrative descriptions that were totally unfilmable.

Paranormal Activity Movie Review

Perhaps there's a trendy new word out there to describe these hand-held camera movies.

From my own experience, I was blown away by THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT.

And, then there was "Blair Witch" meets "Godzilla" which equaled CLOVERFIELD.

I loved both of those films for the same reason I love PARANORMAL ACTIVITY.

Intimacy.

Failing a Google search for a cool new word to describe this hand-held phenomenon, I shall extrapolate a literary term (perhaps too loosely) and say that I regard these movies to be the cinematic expression of confessional poetry.

I consider PARANOMAL ACTIVITY to be "Blair Witch" meets "Poltergeist."

And what makes it ring true is the relationship between our common-law husband/wife dual protagonists.

The guy tries to fix things like a macho man and the girl keeps telling him that he is useless.

So everyone can relate to that, right?

:-)

Punching Keys

I'm writing a bible.

It's my first effort at such a biblical task.

I mean, after all, the world needs another police procedural, doesn't it?