Well, dear readers, I’m loving finally being in a union that sends screeners to their members. Every other union has done this for years and years but not the DGA. The DGA was, in fact, the last holdout, preferring their members to go to screenings or theaters. I have lobbied loud and long for this to change, as have others, because it’s clear that people don’t have the time to see everything they should and the only hope of them doing so is to see these things at home. And so, this year it changed and because of the change I am actually seeing films I would never have seen otherwise. For example, I am simply not a fan of the Daniel Craig Bond films – I really didn’t like the dour, dank, and dreary Casino Royale film – not my idea of Bond at all. I didn’t bother with Quantum of Solace because even the Casino Royale fans didn’t like that one. And I had no intention of seeing Skyfall, but a screener arrived and so I watched it. And guess what? I really enjoyed it a lot. In fact, I’d say it’s the best Bond I’ve seen in decades. It’s not perfect and there are still things in it that I wish would just go away, but they’ve tried to put back some of the classic elements and that’s a good thing. So, we actually get some Bondian quips, the classic Aston Martin makes an appearance (my favorite moment in the film), and we have a colorful villain. Yes, the plotting is silly at times, yes there are too many action sequences that are just pure fantasy, yes it’s illogical at times (but it’s a Bond film and that’s to be expected), but this time around the plusses outweighed the minuses. For example, the plusses weighed in at 237 pounds while the minuses weighed in at 132 pounds. The best thing about it, however, is that Mr. Sam Mendes, the director, has not one shaky-cam shot in the entire film and for that alone I would nominate him for Best Director. It’s a nice-looking film with some actual blue in the color palette. Daniel Craig is never going to be my favorite Bond, but I do enjoy Judi Dench and there’s a new young Q who is fun. The film seems be getting quite divisive reaction – some fans loathe it, some fans love it. I tend to think the loathers are youngsters who have never seen any of the classic early Bond films and who probably came to Bond via the Craig Casino Royale.
I also watched the screener of Amour, a film by a director called Michael Haneke, whose work I just don’t know at all, save for a film I didn’t really care for called Cache. Amour is an austere and sometimes difficult film, but it’s quite affecting and ultimately very moving. It’s about a long-time married couple in their 80s. The wife has a stroke and then begins to deteriorate from there. She has a second stroke and it becomes very obvious she is not ever going to recover. At one point she tells her loving husband that she doesn’t want to put him through her deterioration, subtly (but not verbally) suggesting he do something to bring the end on. This he will not do, and he says to her “What would you do if it was me?” They have a daughter who visits infrequently. And so the film almost all takes place in the apartment of the couple and there’s no plot and we just watch this man try to cope with a situation that is becoming painful and unbearable and completely humiliating for the wife. There is no music, just stillness and matter-of-fact dialogue. It’s not an entertaining film, but the title says it all – love. The true nature of true love. You will see no two finer performances than those of Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva, who are both brilliant. I’m guessing neither will even receive a nomination, because the Academy seems to only recognize performances that grandstand for the Oscar. These are probably too subtle, but it is great screen acting of the highest order. Miss Riva spends much of the film paralyzed and unable to really speak clearly, but her eyes say everything – helplessness, embarrassment, love, fright – the whole gamut. If you don’t mind the subject matter (age, inevitable death) then I recommend this highly. Amusingly, when I read comments on the imdb and elsewhere, these whack jobs who write their tripe say there are shocking moments typical of the director – the way they go on about it you’d think they were watching and talking about a hyper violent horror movie. It’s not that – ever. It’s just a whole lot of reality and your tolerance for that may vary.
I’m looking forward to more screeners, hopefully coming every day. Prior to that, I’d had a very nice night’s sleep, I finished entering all fixes into the liner notes and got that all to the designer, who got all three packages ready, which I then sent to the fellow who’ll send them along for approval. Unfortunately, the designer was not careful and we have more stuff to fix – I guess these will not be going in today, which is not good. I had a pastrami sandwich with cole slaw and Russian dressing – very good. And I had no fries or onion rings. I did finish the rest of the birthday cake and that was really yummilicious. Then I just relaxed and watched the motion pictures.
At four my time, the new Outside the Box episode went live and so I had to post about that everywhere. If you haven’t seen it, do go to broadwayworld.com and check it out. If you enjoy it, share it with friends and put the link on your Facebook pages, which is the best way to spread the word. The “views” were quite healthy very quickly and it’s doing as well as the last episode was and that one is just about to pass 13,000 views and The Exorcist one is about to pass 11,000 (or 12,000 – can’t remember).
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I really must get a good night’s beauty sleep.
Today is a busy little day. I have to be at the editing room at eleven at which time I’ll see the first cut of episode four. I’m sure we’ll spend a few hours doing our usual finessing and fine cutting. Then I’ll hopefully pick up some packages. After that, I meet up with our very own Mr. Nick Redman for a little visit and then I have the LACC alumni holiday party.
Tomorrow, hopefully all the packaging will go in and we can hopefully get it all approved before everyone goes on the holiday break. Then I’m having dinner with visitors from Canada. I think I’ll be seeing dear reader Jeanne this week for a birthday lunch, too. Other than that, the big stuff for this week is finishing choosing Bock and Harnick songs and getting everyone their music.
Let’s all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons. Let’s all break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, let’s all dance the Hora or the crazy Gumnaam dance because today is the birthday of our very own Bollywood man, MBarnum. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to our very own Bollywood man, MBarnum. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO OUR VERY OWN BOLLYWOOD MAN, MBARNUM!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, go to the editing room, hopefully pick up some packages, have a visit with Mr. Nick Redman, and then attend a holiday partay. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite motion pictures of 2012 thus far? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall dream of what screeners will show up.