I love Todd Haynes, I love Julianne Moore, and I love Safe -- which I haven't seen since I got the DVD. But I did upgrade it to Blu-ray and I'm taking that out and putting it on the watch pile.
I first heard of Todd Haynes when a friend showed me a bootleg videotape of Superstar. The first film of his I saw in a theater was Far From Heaven. I loved that, then I got the DVD of Safe and was really wowed by that one. I loved his Mildred Pierce. When it aired I had recently read the James Cain novel which immediately became a favorite book, and I was beyond thrilled to find how faithful to the book the miniseries was. He also pulled a nice coup in making it look like he'd filmed it in L.A., when it was all done in NYC and upstate and Long Island. For me at the time (I've only seen it that once so far), the only shot that blew the illusion was that of a "causeway" and grassy dunes of the type that don't exist in California. I never saw Poison and I have yet to see Wonderstruck. And others.
For me, Julianne Moore can just about do no wrong. Her Paul Thomas Anderson films are tops, as are the Haynes ones, The Hours, and her Sarah Palin was incredible -- whatever that TV movie was called. She's certainly been in some movies I have no interest in, but she is never less than greatness itself.
