Well, dear readers, in breaking bombshell news, I got nine and a half hours of consecutive sleep – a few more days of that and I think I’ll be next to normal. The sleep was also consensual – sleep and I agreed that it was important that I sleep. No “me, too” from sleep – it’s on paper and notarized by a notorious notarizer. The Notorious Notarizer – that’s the title of my next novel, a notorious novel of notarization. Anyway, it was good to get that sleep and the fact is I never once dozed off during the day or the evening. Otherwise, I am sitting here like so much bewitched, bothered, and bewildered fish, listening to Vladimir Cosma’s gorgeous and tuneful score to a French film from France entitled Very Happy Alexander. Amazingly, I’ve never seen the film – must find out if it’s streaming anywhere. Nope. Out of luck. Not to be had. It stars one of my favorite French actors, Phillipe Noiret. Maybe there’s a DVD floating around somewhere. But the musique is wonderful, but then most of Cosma’s scores are, including My Father’s Glory and My Mother’s Castle, DIVA, Salut l’Artiste – many, many scores and I have two ten-CD sets of them, although heaven only knows where they are. We love Cosma. And, in other breaking bombshell news, I even managed to watch a motion picture, a new motion picture, that has a 93% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but more about that in a minute, because one can no longer take anything on there seriously, for reasons I’ll explain. But first, the film – it was and is entitled Weapons, a horror film. It had a viral ad campaign, emphasizing how weird and scarrrrry it was. I wasn’t sure I wanted to see it due to several critics saying it had some extreme grisly scenes. But I wanted to see what a bunch of critics are calling one of the best films of the year. You already know my idea of a great horror film of the 2000s – Orphan. Weapons is not Orphan. It has a good Twilight Zone-ish premise, has elements of Stephen King and other filmmakers, the writer/director states his inspiration was Magnolia – basically a set of disparate characters all impacted by a central theme. So, we have a child narrating at the top telling us this is a true story (no, it isn’t), and then what Screenwriting 101 call the inciting event, and then we get chapters, like that’s never been done before. In each chapter we follow a different character and frequently see an event we’ve already seen from the new person’s perspective. It’s well directed, certainly and atmospheric – I didn’t find it scary at all, but yes, there is some really grisly stuff that is completely unnecessary because sometimes not showing stuff is more effective than showing it in gross detail. The first seventy to eighty minutes are fine, but we meet a new character in the third act, and while that’s fun, the finding out what’s what just didn’t do it for me. The reveal in Orphan is how to do a big reveal because no one could see it coming. Same in Orphan: First Kill. It certainly is well cast, with Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, and a turn by Amy Madigan that I predict will get her an Oscar nomination and a win – just think Ruth Gordon in Rosemary’s Baby. Do I think it’s going to be one of the best films of the year – too soon to tell, because I’ve already seen a lot of dreck. Anyway, if the set-up intrigues you – a teacher walks into her classroom and only one student is there – all the other kids have disappeared – seventeen of them, many of which can be seen leaving their homes at exactly 2:17 in the morning, captured on ring cameras, with arms outstretched, running towards – something.
The one area that’s a complete fail and as long as films like this are hits, which this one is, it won’t change, is the awful, awful score. Three people credited, including the writer/director – it’s just noise calling itself music. How much better and creepier would it be with a composer who knows how to score a film – think what a Goldsmith or Williams or Herrmann would have done – it would give the film a cohesion it lacks. But that’s just my opinion. As to Rotten Tomatoes, they now count every review, whether it’s by a legit critic or idiot blogger, in their percentage. Sorry, that is a no-go for me. Even what they call Top Critics are a joke – many bloggers there, too. But eighty percent of the percentage are online bloggers and “review” sites.
I got up at eleven, answered e-mails, and then made my pasta – bow ties, sweet Eyetalian sausage, pink sauce (using half-and-half), peas, and red onion. It came out very well. I made about seven ounces of pasta but threw out about three ounces so I wouldn’t feel so full. After food, I took pill one and the other pills. Then I did the dishes, did some stuff on the computer, watched some interesting YouTube videos and some irritating YouTube videos, at five I had a muffin and pill two, then I watched the movie – two hours and nine minutes – a bit long for a horror movie, if you ask me – then for my snack I had some potato chips, an English muffin with jam, and some cantaloupe, after which I took pill three. And here we are.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, it will definitely be a hot dog day for food, and then snacks, it’s the big pill day, then I’ll prepare for our casting session on Wednesday and then I can watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow is more of the same, then our casting session is on Wednesday, Thursday is bloodwork, and by then I’ll know when our second day of casting is – could be on the weekend.
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, have hot dogs for food, snacks later, prepare for our casting session, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Who are your favorite French actors – from the Golden Age to now? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, as I make mental notes for The Notorious Notarizer.