We saw Charlie’s Angels on the weekend, and it was a blast. Like a Bond film with three Bond girls and no boring Bond. The fight scenes were outlandish (and completely ripped off from The Matrix, but aren’t they all nowadays…), and Bill Murray was particularly good as Bosley. Crispin Glover is creepy as a villain (well, he’s just creepy all the time, but here he plays a villain). Oh, and lots of butt-shaking, too, which was a plus. There are even some funny out-takes at the end. Our friend Duffy Knox is a compositor at Sony Pictures Imageworks, and he worked on the special effects for this film. So, an all around good time was had.
Category: Film
Rocky 1?
Brooke has an annoying way of referring to the original movie in a series. She’ll call the first Jaws movie “Jaws 1” or the first Rocky movie “Rocky 1.” I try to reason with her, explaining that the filmmakers didn’t necessarily have a whole series of films in mind when they made the original (or am I being naive?). Anyhow, we’ve been talking about getting married, and I’m gearing up to teach her a lesson. I’m thinking of asking her to be my first wife…
Weekend Purchases
Weekend purchases:
- The Flashing Lights-Where The Change Is – I know they opened for Sloan on their most recent tour, but thanks go to Jack for turning me on to The Flashing Lights!
- Galaxie 500-The Portable Galaxie 500 – A selection from their entire 3 CD output, released by Ryko.
- Withnail and I (DVD) – OK, I gave in. I just got it for a decent price. If Criterion comes out with a better version later, I’ll give this away. More people need to see this film anyway.
I’m starting to get excited about the Toronto International Film Festival. This will be my sixth year going, and I usually see between 10-15 films each year. This is the 25th anniversary year, too. I’ve seen so many good films and also movie stars and directors, too. Last year, Brooke got Ralph Fiennes’ autograph, which made her weak at the knees for about a month. I got John Turturro’s a few years ago, but I’m not much of an autograph hound. I find it embarrassing. I’ll try to report on what good stuff I see, as some of it at least will be released later to wide distribution.
Blood Simple
Went to see Blood Simple (1984) last night with some friends. I’d seen it on video about 4-5 years ago, but last night was the first time I’d seen it in a theatre. It’s still an amazing piece of work, especially for a debut. I’m unashamedly a Coen brothers fan, though. I’ve been hooked since I first saw Raising Arizona (1987) more than ten years ago. It’s the best work I’ve seen by Nicolas Cage and John Goodman (although I never saw Leaving Las Vegas (1995)). The exciting part about Blood Simple is that it was re-released theatrically after they’d done a whole bunch of digital restoration for the upcoming DVD release. That should be a good one. By the way*, not sure about in the US, but Withnail and I (1987) has been released on DVD here in Canada, although it has nothing interesting in the way of supplements. I know that Criterion has/had a laserdisc, with lots of stuff, and they’ve been releasing a lot of their laserdiscs on the DVD format. Should I wait? Or just go ahead? I won’t have my DVD player (Playstation 2!!) until at least the end of October, so I guess I should just wait.
*See my entry for 7/11/00
Ex-Men
My idea for a summer blockbuster film (or a comic book). The Ex-Men. A bunch of post-operative transsexuals who are too busy sitting around discussing shoes to fight crime. Well, anyway, you see why I’m not living large in Hollywood.