HAPPY 2007 TO ONE AND ALL!
Like BK, I too, attempted to watch THE ILLUSTRATED MAN. I tried to take it in in one single sitting, but there was just no way! I can remember watching it on late night tv throughout the 1970s, but then I didn't realize how slowly it flows. . .Bloom looks lovely, Steiger looks (pardon the expression) F-A-T (check out the special feature on his illustrating) and Drivas looks cute in his birthday suit - BUT, as BK said, the film is a mess with a wonderful score.
I also watched, and loved, THE BLACK DAHLIA in the same way one would love a Warner Brothers cartoon. It's over the top, sometimes poorly acted (Hillary Swain has TWO Oscars?!?!?!?), often incomprehensible (unless one has thorough knowledge of Ellroy's novel) but ALWAYS goregous to look at! The dvd is simply stunning; there's a great movie in Ellroy's novel, this just isn't it.
Then I saw OPERATION CROSSBOW, quite possibly the best FILM I watched over the weekend. It moves, it has fascinating situations and characters, an all-star cast and a fiery finale which literally saves the modern world.
I've listened, nearly constantly, to the DREAMGIRLS soundtrack, David Campbell's THE SWING SESSIONS and the 2006 London Revival of EVITA (Philip Quast fans take note).