Hope everyone is enjoying the turning of the New Year.
I spent most of the holiday season in a feverish flux, my body racked by internal incoherence.
An unstable condition, indeed.
Thanks brother-in-law-who is-always sick. I didn't know that I was getting a gift from you this Christmas.
Now, still dealing with a pneumoniac cough and entirely unable (or perhaps unwilling) to drive back to the city, I am continuing my convalescence at the Country Home.
I'm also feeling more than a little like Harry Knowles, and that ain't so cool news.
There were, and are, however, some quality unintended consequences to being able to do nothing but sleep and watch 50" TV in all its Goodness, Badness and Ugliness. At the latter end of the spectrum was watching a rather pasty and fleshy Steven Seagal hunting down cretinous crack ho's and cleaning up domestic disturbances in a New Orleans suburb. At the other pole, I got to see a good chunk of Sam Dunn's documentary on RUSH. Now that was cool news, and Good TV.
Somewhere in the middle, occupying the role of Angel Eyes, was True Grit. The 1969 adaptation is a movie that only a John Wayne cultist could love. Some terribly delivered dialogue, mostly from Wayne, a laughably miscast Glen Campbell, and a young Kim Darby whose next career highlight would be a role in Teen Wolf Too. Actually, the screenplay's dialogue seemed pretty interesting, but it needed superior actors. I have much higher hopes for the source material now that it has landed on the nearly spotless filmography of the Coen Bros.
Now playing in the background is Leon -- hey that's Michael Badalucco, part of the extended Coen troupe. I forgot he was Natalie Portman's father in that. Gary Oldman just shot him, which reminds me of another recent highlight. While I didn't like the film overall, The Book of Eli sported a Gary Oldman in mid-90s form.
Hopefully tomorrow I'll feel better enough to get a full day of work in, and watch another flick on the 50 incher before I head home on Saturday.
And David Lynch wisely turned down Return of the Jedi to make Dune. George Lucas v. Frank Herbert? That's not even a fair fight. Maybe someday Lynch will release the REAL director's cut.
Now that would be cool news.
Sorry to hear you are still in the grip of the cold. It's imperative you nurse your body back to health so we can go back to tearing it down with liquor filled evenings back here in O-town. I never thought a man of your cinematic stature would sit through Book of Eli (which I didn't mind but found slow moving) but it's amazing what we will watch when we can't get off the couch. By god, I've sat through episodes of Coronation Street. Also, are you saying David Lynch directed Dune? Fascinating, I can see that now.
ReplyDeleteYour internal inchorence, I'm not so worried about. It's your external inchorence that gets me!! Good post. You melded self deprecating humour with movie criticism. The Coen brothers would be proud. I'd be even prouder of you if you could meld with Natalie Portman. Although, she does run a bit skinny for me.
ReplyDeleteNice - you should be running a production company. You'd shake up the scene!
ReplyDeleteI want to be an actor in the first script you write, Fisheye.
ReplyDeleteGraven