Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much Sunday evening fish, listening to Danny Elfman’s score to a motion picture entitled Extreme Measures, which I just finished watching. It’s a pretty standard thriller score, you know the kind, solo piano notes over ominous strings but he throws in a choir for unknown reasons. It certainly not unenjoyable. I’d never seen the film, even though I like the cast of Hugh Grant, Gene Hackman, and Sarah Jessica Parker and I always like a good medical thriller and I really like the director, Michael Apted. It’s very well directed, a bit like Coma in certain regards, and raises some interesting questions as it goes along. It’s also well-paced and looks really good. I gather this was Hugh Grant’s first dramatic role rather than the light comedies that made him a star and he’s fine – they’ve clearly tailored the role to him and his glib delivery and charm, which works well in the set-up scenes before the plot kicks in. It’s a little cliched here and there, but the script (adapted from a novel) by Tony Gilroy with some additional material by William Goldman is fine. I enjoyed it. Prior to that one, I’d watched another thriller, this one entitled Sea of Love starring Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin. That one I’d seen once before and I remember enjoying it but thinking it wasn’t great and that’s exactly what I thought this time. Pacino and Barkin are good, but the ultimate villain is not well set up and is kind of out of nowhere, although it does make sense, but it is a bit of a cheat. John Goodman adds some nice humor, too, and it’s reasonably well directed by Harold Becker and has a rather absurd score by Trevor Jones. Prior to all that, well, it was Sunday.
Yesterday was a ME day. I got nine hours of sleep, and once up I answered a few e-mails, had a nice telephonic conversation, then made a small top sirloin, which was good, and I had a bagel and cream cheese as my side. It was nice not to do any work at all for one day. Then I watched the two movies – of course, it took me an hour to figure out WHAT two movies to watch. And just before starting to write these here notes I got word that the Sami website is up and working so why doesn’t every single person reading these here notes go and visit – it looks good, I think, has fun pictures and the list of all ten episodes with an image from each and a one-line synopsis. Check it out at www.samitheseries.com. Be sure to subscribe and you might just get some really fun content ONLY available to subscribers.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll ascertain if the WGA envelope has arrived and if it has I’ll go and pick it up as well as anything else that might be there. I’ll eat something fun – I’m quite bored of eating the same damn thing every week, so I’m searching either for new things or stuff I haven’t had in a while. And I don’t care who knows it. I’ll do some book stuff, hope blurbs arrive soon, I’ll have a Zoom thing with David Wechter, and then at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is more of the same, but mostly Sami and book stuff. There’s a lot to do – we’re still looking for festivals to enter and there are a LOT of them. One has to be selective, however, because they all cost money to submit. There’ll be a couple of meetings and meals, some liner notes to write, and whatever else might come up, plus we do need another modern major miracle.
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 and the rhumba because today is the birthday of the finally returned dear reader Rodzinski. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to the finally returned dear reader Rodzinski. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO THE FINALLY RETURNED DEAR READER RODZINSKI!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, do whatever needs doing, see if the WGA envelope has arrived and if so pick it up, eat, do book stuff, have a Zoom thing, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite performances of Al Pacino and Hugh Grant? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had a day they called ME.