BYOB – Return to L.A.
It’s yet another travel day… to be followed by another on Wed, heading to the San Francisco International Film Fest…
You’re up.
March 27, 2023
BYOB
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BYOB: 235 Years Of Relative independence
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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
So what’s the deal? It’s almost May and I’ve only been to the theaters twice this year. Sarah Marshall and The Bank Job. Both were pretty “meh.” But even still, I can’t remember a year in my movie addicted life where I’ve seen just two before summer.
Weirdness is everywhere. The streets here are emptier than I’ve ever seen them, our gurus the critics are being pink slipped, the Oscars have become just another awards group (quick, what won best picture this year?) and even the throwaway hits like “Horton Hears A Who” aren’t really hitting.
Could it be that cinema is in some kind of not-so-great depression?
well, i got some really interesting titles today out of the ‘2 for $10’ dvd bargain bin (bless the bin, i’m a single mum so i’m – how to put it kindly – rather frugal with my entertainment dollar, i stretch that sucker as far as humanly possible…)
i purchased: ‘the indian runner’, ‘gorky park’, ‘slackers’, ‘seven’, ‘angel heart’, and ‘eternal sunshine’ all for a grand total of $30, so i’m stoked. i’ve seen all of them before but i really dig each film for one reason or another, so in they go to my collection…more of a drawer really…but i’m getting there.
I went to three movies this weekend. Maybe you take a chance and see something that might not be spectacular?
DP, why in the hell would someone like Jeremiah Wright try to sabotage Obama? Or does he not understand what he’s doing?
Crow t Robot – you’ve missed good stuff this year. For edgy mainstream stuff see Cloverfield and the amazing RAMBO.
For more cerebal movies – check out Battle for Haditha, an amazing docu-drama about the Iraq Haditha massacre. Not sure if it has been released in the US though. (It has in the UK)
Crow, I’m right there with you – it doesn’t help that I thought Cloverfield and Rambo were both garbage, in my personal opinion, no offense to BLB. The best movie I’ve seen all year was a minimalistic Romanian abortion drama. After that, lesser efforts from great directors and some entertaining schlock. It’s kind of depressing.
I’m sure Wright isn’t consciously trying to sabotage Obama – his words now are coming from the same place that they were coming from in the first place – speaking his particular version of truth to power. And honestly, the more Wright there is in the media, the less able they are to keep playing the same Youtube clips over and over again, which is ultimately a good thing.
I know all the hype and crap surrounding Cloverfield got annoying, and the party scenes were way too long, but I still think it’s a very effective, intense thrill ride.
There’s nothing wrong with that – after all, film is a visual medium, primarily designed to entertain.
A depressing year for movies so far? Really? Come on! Any year that features something as ridiculous as DOOMSDAY cannot be all that bad. Good to know Jeff has somene to commiserate with on these boards. Everyone needs a downer buddy. Nevertheless; the age of STARK is almost upon us. FINALLY LIFE HAS COME BACK… to the cineplexes.
crow — take a look at ‘in bruges’ and ‘charlie bartlett’ for a couple of pleasent early ’08 surprises…
also, saw ‘iron man’ last night….it lived up to everything good i’d heard about it…
I finally caught up with Cloverfield on DVD this past weekend and thought it was reasonably good until the characters started acting really unbelievably dumb. But it was a cool way to make a Godzilla movie, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it (in a popcorn way).
Also saw Lars and the Real Girl and after all the good reviews, I just didn’t like it very much. Gosling had too many twitches, and really didn’t create a very sympathetic character, which was what the whole movie hinged on (with the rest of the town going out of their way because they love him), so it all sort of fell apart for me. That said, I thought the supporting actors and actresses did a damn fine job of almost carrying the movie without him.
I can understand only seeing a couple of movies if you live outside of NY/LA.
I just watched Eddie Murphy’s Raw on DVD, which was interesting. It’s frightening that those sort of skin tight leather outfits were ever considered okay to wear but anyone, especially a man. Yikes. Still, pretty funny I guess.
I second Scooter’s enthusiasm for “In Bruges” and “Charlie Bartlett,” and I’d add “Definitely, Maybe,” “The Bank Job,” “Under the Same Moon,” Clooney’s underloved “Leatherheads,” “Shine a Light” and even “21” to the list of worthwhile 2008 films.
And “Paranoid Park,” “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” “Married Life,” “The Duchess of Langeais,” “Stuff and Dough,” “The Counterfeiters,” “Summer Palace,” “Lost in Beijing” and “Jellyfish” if you’re lucky enough to be living in a city where they actually opened.
If not, there’s always Netflix.
kam — we pretty much thought that red outfit was ridiculous back in ’87 too……
Yikes, movieman, I definitely wouldn’t tell anyone to go out of their way, or even on their way, to see Charlie Bartlett or 21.
Still, I’ve seen several very good movies this year. The best, Snow Angels, had a pretty spotty release (it only played for about a month in NYC, which is roughly the equivalent of two or three weeks at a regular multiplex). But I also really enjoyed In Bruges and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day and Be Kind Rewind, which got wider releases, especially Pettigrew and Rewind.
And there have been some flawed but very enjoyable comedies: Leatherheads, Sarah Marshall, Baby Mama. And I enjoyed Cloverfield. So that’s not too bad for what are supposed to be the deadest four months of the year. Still, I feel ready for the summer crush.
Jesse-
No love for “Charlie,” huh?
“21” is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, but I enjoy Luketic’s slick, facile style (“Legally Blonde,” “Tad Hamilton”) which perfectly suited the material. I also thought that Jim Sturgess did a terrific job.
I liked “Snow Angels” enough, probably more than any of DGG’s previous films (anxious to see “Pineapple Express”), and “Miss Pettigrew” and “Cloverfield” were both perfectly okay for what they were.
(If “Cloverfield” had been any longer, though, I might have lost patience with the herky-jerky handheld video thing.)
“Rewind” was too precious by half for me: it’s probably my least
favorite Gondry flick to date.
As for “Sarah Marshall” and “Baby Mama,” I wanted to like them more than I did.
C’mon, Jet Li is cool and Jackie Chan is frikking AMAZING in Forbidden Kingdom. Looked like they had a lot of fun making it.
Cloverfield? Just about threw up watching in the theater. Much better on video.
The only film I can really recommend whole-heartedly to any film fan from earlier this year is In Bruges. I would recommend Harold and Kumar to the stoners and Funny Games to the type of people who like that sort of movie, but other than that, it’s been a pretty light year. That being said, I haven’t seen Sarah Marshall, Snow Angels, or The Visitor yet.
Whoops; I forgot all about “The Visitor.”
That’s definitely one of 2008’s better-than-average releases so far.
Saw that in Toronto last fall (along with “Paranoid Park,” “4 Months” and “Married Life”) which might explain my brief memory lapse, lol.
And although it doesn’t open on the coasts until Friday, I’d add Harmony Korine’s “Mr. Lonely” to the mix as well.
That was another Toronto ’07 movie, and it’s haunted me (in a good way) ever since.
OLIVIA THIRLBY OWNS YOU. (And yet I missed “Snow Angels” because it played for like 11 minutes even in L.A.)
I’ve seen thirty movies this year so far… I don’t know, I guess “The Eye” and “Deception” and the aforementioned ridiculous DOOMSDAY aren’t most people’s idea of a fruitful use of their time and money, but in general anything I’m remotely interested in seeing, ever, I’ll try to catch it, usually as a matinee.
This isn’t directed at the original poster, but in general when people claim (as they often do) “I’ve only seen two movies all year,” either you a) don’t really like movies that much, or b) aren’t particularly adventuresome in your taste. Which is fine… I’ve only seen one baseball game this year, but I don’t go around in August saying “Baseball sucks this year, I only went to Dodger stadium one time.”
Then again, if I see 100 movies in a year, I tend to rate about 60% of them as decent or above… either I’m not that fussy, or I just love movies and love going to them. This year alone, I’ve particularly enjoyed “Cloverfield,” “Funny Games,” “In Bruges,” “Cassandra’s Dream,” “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” even was amused by the hokey likes of “Jumper” and “10,000 BC” and “21” — none of which might be objectively “good,” but I for one can’t imagine not seeing that kind of thing on a big screen.
Yeah, Jumper and 10,000 BC were fun. I looked up those ostriches-turns out they actually existed
Caught up with STREET KINGS over the weekend. Much better than I anticipated. Not much more than an R-rated episode of THE SHIELD, but well-crafted, with a reasonably clever plot (what survives from Ellroy, I assume) and a solid cast. Plus they had the wit to not only let Hugh Laurie use his House voice but put his first scene in a hospital.
Just got a shitload of screeners in the mail.
Not to pre-judge them or anything, but it’s a pretty safe assumption that I’ll soon be adding “The Witnesses” (love me some Techine!) “Boarding Gate” (ditto Assayas!), “Shotgun Stories,” “Frownland,” “Chop Shop” and “XX/YY” to my list of worthy 2008 releases very soon.
Or at least some of them.
And–definitely sight unseen–Wong Kar wai’s “My Blueberry Nights,” even though I’ll probably have to wait for the July dvd release to see it here in Ohio.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed In Bruges, Snow Angels, My Blueberry Nights, Be Kind Rewind, and yes, Doomsday so far this year, but the pickings have seemed a lot leaner than usual.
My attitude towards Cloverfield was that it was a real wasted opportunity and that a lot of other filmmakers could have taken the same gimmick and made it a lot better.
You know, I gave Doomsday a good review on my blog initially, but I’m not so sure anymore. The action wasn’t edited well and it was awfully derivative.
Just a thought that I had after watching Freaks and Geeks recently… Is there any reason that Judd Apatow hasn’t got Paul Feig to direct one of his movies? And why did Feig make Unaccompanied Minors?
I know it’s a little off topic, but it just seems weird that Feig is relegated to shitty movies when he was the actual creator of Freaks and Geeks.
Feig was front and center on the panel at Apatow’s Paley/roast thingy last month, so I doubt they’ve had any kind of falling out.
Every time I see a Speed Racer ad, I bristle at that embarrassing shot of the fat kid going around and around in circles, mugging in fast motion.
I’d bet that shot alone will cost this movie millions of dollars at the box office.
I’ve enjoyed all the movies I’ve seen this year at the theater: Juno, Cloverfield, There Will Be Blood, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, with TWBB the only one coming up short for me.
The Midnight show at the Arclight Dome (one of LA’s nicest for those who don’t know) for Weds. 5/21 for Indiana Jones is sold out.
More than 3 weeks away. That one is going to be huge.
Iron Man is going to be big too. Not Indy IV big. I don’t hear any excitement about Speed Racer (then again I’m not 10 years old).
I didn’t know that the Dome’s show for Indy was already sold out. That really bums me out.
I do remember seeing Phantom Menace at a pretty good theatre in Pasadena because the other side of the hill was all sold out.
Maybe I’ll hit that one, if I can remember which one it was..
Also, Grand Theft Auto is a pretty incredible gaming experience so far.
What makes it is the writing.
I disagree with the Variety reviewer about the parodies in the game being cliche or unfunny to anyone media savvy.
I think they’re pretty damn funny and the reviewer comes off as a culture snob.
I have no idea why you LA folks love that silly dome. The seats blow. The screen is hardly as big or as clear as a screen at one of the bigger theatres in Memphis. Heck. It’s cool in a 1960s kind of way, but a brother loves his rocking chair comfort.
The commute from Hollywood to Memphis SUCKS at rush hour.
Yeah, the Dome has history and coolness on its side, but as I’ve mentioned before, the severe curvature makes the picture look distorted, there isn’t stadium seating, and the prime seating distance from that screen is the enormous walkway that divides lower and upper, so you’re either too close or too far away. Sitting on the top level is like watching the movie on a small television.
Regular Arclight for the win.
The Dome is a super cool movie experience. I don’t what you guys are talking about. I’ve seen many movies there and have never been disappointed no matter where I sit.
Best Theater in LA Debate:
Love the Egyptian (old school theater)
Love the The Vista (cheap theater, one screen only)
The big Screen on the Second Floor of the Arclight.
Arclight screens 3 and 10 OWN the Dome six ways to Sunday.
Oh, this just in:
SCARLETT JOHANSSON’S NEW SONG AND VIDEO OWN YOUR ASS.
I saw MASTER AND COMMANDER yadda yadda at the Cinerama Dome and the weird curvature made it way cooler. Not sure that would always be the case though.
having seen ‘it’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world’ (opening day, no less) and ‘e.t.’ (opening day, again) at the dome…..i continue to go just for the nostalgia even though it’s a pretty bad screen…..
but the arclight is pretty fab…..
lex — last night’s ‘iron man’ was on 10….. it did, in fact, OWN…..jus’ sayin’…..
So far in 2008? Well, I really enjoyed Sarah Marshall and Harold & Kumar. But, then again, I also enjoyed The Band’s Visit, Four Months, Three Weeks and Two Days, Then She Found Me and Miss Pettigrew — and, yeah, the guilty pleasure known as Semi Pro.
I’ve managed to see only eleven 2008 releases thus far, all decent to very good. I guess my faves were Cloverfield, The Bank Job, The Visitor and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. And I really appreciated what Be Kind Rewind tried to do, even if it didn’t quite pull it off.
What? No love for “Step Up 2:The Streets”? Mine all mine…(not kidding)
I don’t think that the problem up to now has been that there weren’t any great movies at all, so much as that there weren’t any must-see-now movies equivalent to a 120mph pitch (the expectations) getting knocked into the parking lot(the viewing experience). “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” is the only 2008 release I’ve seen (not that I’ve seen a lot, but more than two) that had points of hitting brilliance (like the bizarre pig preparation insert).
The only movies that I’ve seen so far this year that I believe people (and by people, I mean me) will still care about in a few years are Paranoid Park, 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days, and Cassandra’s Dream. I also will gladly watch Leatherheads or Son of Rambow on cable should they pop up.
Oh, yeah. Forgot all about “Band’s Visit” and “Son of Rambow” (2 more Toronto ’07 movies for me); liked them both very much, thank you.
And now that I’ve seen “Iron Man,” I can add that to the pile as well.
2008 has actually gotten off to a very nice start; it’s just that most of the films truly worth seeing came from the indie sector (what else is new, right?)
The person who began this thread by commenting that they’d only been to the movies twice this year is probably more focused on the major studio stuff that opens on 2,000+ screens.
If you’re going to judge 2008 (so far) solely on Hollywood films, yeah, it sucked. But it’s not every year that a major will release a masterpiece like “Zodiac” in early March. ’08 has been pretty much business as usual; indies and foreign fare continue to pick up the slack for all of the studio sludge.
And it’s “XXY:” I accidentally misidentified it as “XX/YY” yesterday. Sorry, folks.
God willing I ever got to make a film, I’d want the premiere at the Dome. Coolest moviehouse of all, even after dem bums baffled the sound and killed that wonderful ricochet effect.
THE DOME OWNS! I, CADAVRA, HAVE SPOKEN!!
What with the recent fests programmed by Quentin, Edgar Wright, Joe Dante and next up, Diablo Cody, The New Beverly has transcended all movie houses in LA in terms of sheer cine-cool. I keep ending up there instead of catching the next interchangeable Apatow “must get sex and shiksa” flick.
christian: I haven’t been to the New Beverly since they revamped a while back. My understanding is that they now have a much better screen. Any other improvements (seats, A/C, etc.)?
Everything has been fairly revamped. It’s really the best deal in town including the cheapest snack bar and it’s important to support them.
What’s more important than the facilities, to me, is that the movies they show are more interesting than ordinary multiplex stuff, and the audiences are less snotty than at, say, the Silent Theater.
Yeah, The New Beverly is ALWAYS showing stuff I want to see, but I can’t ever seem to find the time to get down there anymore. Also haven’t been to the Silent Movie Theatre since they changed hands, but it sounds like they’re really onto something there. I also used to frequent the Egyptian and LACMA, but no more. I would’ve killed for venues like this back when I was still in Kentucky and Illinois. Now I’m here, and can’t take proper advantage of them. I guess it comes down to time management, but I work a regular 40 hr week and I’m always writing something (or reading, or keeping up with a few TV shows, or catching a current movie, etc.).