Well, dear readers, I must write short notes on this lovely Saturday because the cleaning lady will be here at any moment and she will be giving me the Evil Eye. So, as they say at the race track, “They’re off and running.”
Wasn’t that a crisp and lean first paragraph? No extra meat on that paragraph, that is for certain. Last night I watched two count them two motion picture entertainments. I managed to get two DVD screeners of two films I hadn’t seen yet, one of which I didn’t even know existed. The latter was David Cronenberg’s new film, Spider. I am a fan of Mr. Cronenberg who makes interesting films that are unique to him. I think he’s made some fairly unwatchable films recently (Naked Lunch, Crash), although I did enjoy eXistenZe, which is very Cronenbergian. My favorite Cronenberg film is his most atypical, The Dead Zone. I also love The Fly, The Brood, Dead Ringers, and Scanners. Spider, thankfully does not fall into the Cronenberg gross-out category. It is very weird, but it’s all in service of its story, about a mentally ill man (wonderfully played by Ralph Fiennes), staying in a half-way house. As the film unfolds, he remembers what got him there – in those memory scenes he’s always present watching the action, sometimes in places where his character, as a child, would not have been. Therefore, it’s all very ambiguous and the film’s scenes are open to several interpretations, although I think mine are pretty valid. The supporting cast includes Lynn Redgrave, the marvelous John Neville (for you musical thater buffs, he was Humbert Humbert in the musical of Lolita), and the boy who plays Fiennes as a lad. Also, Miranda Richardson, excellent in three roles, almost walks away with the film. It’s directed beautifully, very slowly paced but mesmerizing, and its score by Howard Shore is really terrific.
The second DVD I watched was Mr. P.T. Anderson’s Punch Drunk Love. I like Mr. P.T. Anderson, he’s very ambitious and interesting, but I feel he’s usually all over the map in his films and they end up wearing me out. Punch Drunk Love is short, that’s the first good news. It’s also totally loopy and goofy, too, and I was kind of charmed by it. Adam Sandler, who I didn’t like on SNL, and whose other films I have not seen, is very strange and good here, as is Emily Watson. There are a few hilarious moments, some strange unexplainable moments, and Sandler’s character is actually quite complex. Excellent score by Jon Brion.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Shouldn’t these notes be short? I mean, that first paragraph was so crisp and lean and then it all seemed to go to hell. Well, let’s all click on the Unseemly Button below so we can speed through the rest of them in crisp and lean style.
Oh, my my my (that is three mys), soon the Evil Eye will be cast my way. I must hurry and scurry and write the rest of these notes in a flurry. Whilst doing so I shan’t eat curry, because it makes me feel blurry, and then I would worry that I might start singing The Surrey With the Fringe on Top. What the hell am I talking about?
Well, dear readers, I simply must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must avoid the Evil Eye, I must drive about aimlessly until the cleaning lady is gone with the wind, I must do errands and stuff, too. Today’s topic of discussion: We’ve done this for pop songwriters, and theater songwriters, so let’s do it for a few film composers. What are your five favorite film scores by Mr. John Williams? I’ll start: The Accidental Tourist, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, A.I., Star Wars and Jaws. I will also give a special mention to one of his earliest scores, the Frank Tashlin comedy, Bachelor Flat, which I’ve always been very partial to – and, it was the first time I ever took note of his name. Your turn.