|
2001-07-21 / 10:44 p.m. ~Movies are visual, after all~
Just heard that robot from "Lost in Space" saying "Warning, warning!" again, and it makes me smile. It's perfect, like I've said. Oh, it's because I was once again typing too much text in the ".html" space. And, does anyone know how one might go back and change the numbers to text after the fact? I can't find it. I just watched a pretty decent movie, on More Cinemax, one of the several Cinemax channels I have, part of my new fancy HBO/Cinemax package on my new fancy digital cable system. "Gossip", a film about three college friends, who all glamourously live together in a glamourous loft, and decide to start a rumour, some gossip, about a classmate. It's decided to pass along the information, however true or otherwise, that she had sex with her boyfriend at a party. This particular classmate, subject of said rumour, does not have sex, is celibate, possibly still a virgin, so this is particularly damaging to her reputation. Well, it all escalates, of course, and evolves into something else entirely, but meanwhile there are creative camera angles, fantastic (!) lighting, and really attractive sets and overall production design, not to mention some cool techno music. Oh yeah, and Kate Hudson plays the subject of the gossip. A plus. James Marsden (Jesus, this guy has a great face, fantastic cheekbones, and, well, a nice body) plays the instigator. So, here's this little, apparently straight to cable, movie, that it turns out is really not bad, and I'm thinking, hey, why didn't I ever hear about this movie? It came out last year. Did it play in theatres, at all? I don't think so. Hmmmm....but it was really entertaining. All the players attractive, young, the sets and lighting really fabulous like I said, a decent story, kind of twisty in the end, suspenseful, lots of martini glasses, a groovy loft space, you get the idea. Why was this on "More Cinemax" on a Saturday night? And get this, who plays the instrumental adult/older person? The college prof who prompts the kids to actually "think"? The cutting edge professor teaching the class on responsibility in journalism? None other than the writer and star of "Talk Radio" and the author of the horrible Mall, which I read just a couple weeks ago....Eric Bogosian. Hah! I know there have been a lot of cinematic advances since the '60s, and that Francois Truffaut is highly regarded in film circles, but this movie tonight, this little, unknown, "Gossip", is a perfect example of why Truffaut's "The Bride Wore Black" did not work for me. I really need visual appeal in a film. It is, after all, a visual medium, I mean, duh. "The Bride Wore Black" was supposed to be Truffaut's big homage to Hitchcock, a film about a woman who's systematically seeking vengeance for the shooting death of her husband on their wedding day by killing all of the men responsible, responsible to her mind anyway. But the lighting in that film is flat, it's overlit, the camera angles are dead on, it's boring visually. Sure, Truffaut convinced Bernard Hermann to do the score, but it comes off only sounding like a cheap imitation of the score to "Vertigo". Strange. I don't know how I can even consider comparing these two films, I mean some film critic would probably tell me what an idiot I am, but I just really found "Gossip" to be outrageously creative for such a small film. I think I left out the role of the third friend/roommate in the groovy loft space in "Gossip". He's this loner/loser/artist type who ends up creating this bizarre multimedia collage all over his walls in his room. It's fantastically creative. Lots of use of moving images, stills, multiple monitors with varying images. Hmmm...... On another, and yes final, note, "Big Brother 2" was great tonight! That is a fun, fun, television experience, and not for the visuals, but for the sociodynamics involved. I don't know if sociodynamic is even a word, but it's a great idea. I always loved the idea of putting these 12 strangers together in this little house, making them share one bathroom (Yikes!), and watching them handle the pressure of having to survive to the end, ridding themselves of one of their own....one a week. Wow. And the changes they made to the show, the house itself, the choice of "housemates" since last year, etc., are great! Tonight, the handsome and studly, and by no means stupid, Hardy, chooses the two most ruthless of the bunch to nominate for eviction. Perfect. The one who cheats on her boyfriend with Will, the freak who shaves his armpits. Will, the ruthless, unfeeling doctor, the one who tweezes his eyebrows and wears moisturizer, and thinks he can control everyone in the house through his own sheer willpower. Shannon, the one who everyone says is so pretty, but hey, I find her unattractive from the neck up. Neck down....yeah. She's got a nice body, and yeah, my guess is she and Will have indeed fucked in that house already, and yeah, I feel kinda sorry for her boyfriend at home watching. (Turn it off, Jim!) So, what a great night, huh? Um, I'm happy. I'm having fun, I'm being lazy, it's okay. Cost of the War in Iraq
(JavaScript Error)
Recent Entries: It Was 40 Years Ago Today - 9:44 a.m. , Friday, Oct. 12, 2012 Dead Black Cat - 9:07 a.m. , Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 As Seen From Outer Space - 1:07 a.m. , Saturday, Dec. 05, 2009 I Survived to Tell the Tale - 7:29 a.m. , Friday, Sept. 18, 2009 Reading My Life - 12:55 p.m. , Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009 
  |