April 26, 2024
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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
I’ll kick this one off by reminding everyone who’s not up in Seattle that the L.A. premiere of Larry Blamire’s latest and greatest, DARK AND STORY NIGHT, will be Friday at 7:30 at the Egyptian. Be there or spend the rest of your life kicking yourself!
Aw, crap: DARK AND STORMY NIGHT. Damn sticky M key.
Commence the kicking. Good thing I can’t kick myself in the groin. Not so good for my social life. Oh well.
I’ll be there.
Seeing State of Play tonight (i won tickets) and Two Lovers tomorrow morn (media screening). Looking forward to the latter more so. Did anybody here get around to seeing it after all the fuss with Phoenix? I’m particularly enticed by the thought of seeing Gwynnie on screen in a drama again. I miss her.
My sympathies and prayers for Mike Tyson. Seriously. All I can say is: I was luckier than him. I came too close to losing my own son. Too damn close.
TWO LOVERS sneaks up on you. Good (final?) performance by Phoenix, but more than Paltrow, I was struck by the underrated Vinessa Shaw.
TWO LOVERS sneaks up on you. Good (final?) performance by Phoenix. But more than Paltrow, I was struck by the underrated Vinessa Shaw.
jw — ‘two lovers’ felt like a lifetime/oxygen movie to me…not bad, just not very good (but i watched a screener so..that could’ve made a dif)…
right now watching eps 10-15 of ‘rescue me’….ooooh, the hard-core fans are gonna be pissed…..
Was pleasantly surprised by State of Play. Especially since I loathed Kevin Macdonald’s last film (The Last King of Scotland, which – coincidentally – starred James McAvoy who was the star of the original State of Play miniseries). Can someone please give Rachel McAdams something really great to do though? Like Mean Girls 2 (still her best work and her best film, strangely enough).
It’d be great if Dennis Leary finally “came out” on RESCUE ME.
When I saw the pic from Powder Blue on the home page, I thought for sure it must be the new Lex column. I mean, Jessica Biel as a stripper?
I assume Lex is holed up somewhere with that DVD, which is why he hasn’t posted recently.
This map is wild; check out view milestone by month before it slips out of sight.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-gmtimeline-fl,0,5345296.htmlstory
Before what slips out of sight?
They fixed that. The news about Theodore Olson and David Boies is freaking out of sight.
I’m not sure what to make of the Boies and Olson thing. The Supreme Court held decades ago that there’s no federal question involved in gay marriage. That precedent is binding on all lower courts. So they’d have to throw out this suit. And if it is appealed all the way up, I don’t see this SC overturning it. I don’t see it even agreeing to hear the case. But we’ll see. I would not put money on Boies and Olson. Not more than a dollar or two, anyway.
Strangelove restoration at Film Forum is worth checking out. Great print. The movie’s precision is much more apparent on the big screen — it really is as sick, cold, sharp and amoral as a butcher’s knife.
^ Any plans to tour it?
No idea. Tomorrow’s the last day at Film Forum though.
I hope you ALL have checked out the trailer for Herzog’s BAD LIEUTENANT on the MCN front page. Dude, what. The. Fuck.
When will people realize Herzog is totally playing a joke on us ALL in every movie he makes? Maybe NOW, finally.
I have a feeling this Bat Lieutenant will be another Wicker Man. Serious director and Nicolas Cage remaking a beloved cult movie. “You don’t have a lucky crack pipe?” being this movie’s wearing a bear suit and punching a lady in the face.
I, for one, can’t wait.
This looks hilarious to me.
I was laughing through the entire trailer.
“Shoot him again. His soul is still Dancing.”
L O L
i was looking at worldwide box office stats for shits and giggles.
Dragonball Evolution has made 46 million dollars overseas for a world total of 56 million.
Race to Witch Mountain hasn’t even passed 100 million total worldwide box office.
Wolverine passed 300 million. Monsters and Aliens is at about 350. Fast and Furious at 335.
It’s odd to think that M&A and F&F will make more than Wolverine
‘This looks hilarious to me.
I was laughing through the entire trailer.’
same here, messiah. what a train wreck. for some reason i’m still rooting for nick to come back to me after all this time (not his hair, tho. he can leave that weird-ass hinky hair behind and bring his regular hair)
All the Cage stuff looked hilarious and awesome and in keeping with his AWESOME run back in the Vampire’s Kiss, Zandalee, Deadfall heyday… but what’s with the terrible harmonica music?
And for a MASTER FILMMAKER, Herzog’s visual style looks like one of those 3am Showtime movies with no filters, no wide lenses, no depth of field. What’s up with that? Still, will be first in line, cannot wait.
Slow day on the BLOG? Might as well pimp some more puppet shows. My take on Ben and Ben At the Movies — Wish I could do better imitations of these two, but here goes nothin’:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2yI-nkVkxo&NR=1
Your last few videos have been consistently amusing, Lex.
0:37
That’s as far as I made it through Lex’s last video. I think his humor is better suited for a blog forum.
I thought cartoons were only for losers and douches.
Herzog is a master filmmaker, but I don’t think he’s ever made a movie that relied much on lens and filter trickery. He’s pretty much a ‘put something weird in front of the camera, point, shoot’ guy.
Just curious: This blog — did it designate a next of kin?
No shit. I had to watch Nosferatu and Aguirre in class and while I liked the movies, I was like “Is Herzog the only director that can make film look like video?”
I was talking to a friend of mine who works at the local cineplex, and i asked him what trailer has been getting the best audience response.
The answer: Sherlock Holmes.
I’ve heard people talk about how the film ‘takes liberties with the characters’, but i doubt the average film goer has any real knowledge about holmes other than he’s british, he smoked a pipe, and says “ELEMENTARY, MY DEAR WATSON”. Something tells me this one could do real business.
Is there anyone on the blog who liked Terminator Salvation. And please, no apologists. Just straight up, did you like it? Did you think it was a “good” movie. If so, explain why. I’m curious.
oh, and lex: your videos are fucking painful to watch.
do you have the ability to create one that doesn’t just make fun of people? is that your gift to the world?
Why not just post pictures of them and yell ‘FAG!’ for 2 minutes? this isn’t a creative outlet, it’s just another medium for you to be shallow and act like a douche. Maddox beat you to it 10 years ago.
I don’t give two shits what you think about anyone on this board or in the film world. How about creating something original? Are you capable? Or are you just another internet wind up toy that uses all these resources of the new media to spew banal observations and make fun of people?
Make art. Not noise.
anghus: I liked T4. Probably due to low expectations, and I didn’t think it was a great movie… I just didn’t think it was bad, and I had a fun time watching it. Doesn’t hold a candle to the Cameron movies, but I appreciated its effort to do something different (as opposed to T3, which I thought was a warmed-over retread and mostly boring).
I have a hard time with T4, because i wanted to like it, i found myself hopeful that it would be good. But the two biggest problems i had was:
SPOILERS AHOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
a) making John Connor a passive figure in the future. I can’t figure out why he’s so pivotal. So pivotal that three movies were spent trying to eliminate his existence. I had been told awhile back that the original script had Connor in a small role and that the movie was really about Marcus. I think i would have been much happier with that. To spend 3 movies setting up the destiny of this kid only to find out he is merely a cog in the machine was deflating.
b) The subplot with the hot pilot. Jesus. Just bad. Like, ‘how on earth did this end up in the movie’ bad. Who cast this talentless broad and why on Earth was she written into the script in the first place? Maybe a better actress could have justified it’s existence.
So while i’m thinking “Ok, this might be an entertaining action flick” i couldn’t even shut my brain down for any length of time because Michael Ironside would pop on screen and go “STAND DOWN CONNOR!!!!!!” or Whats Her Face Bloodgod would try and act, and it would remind me how utterly directionless the story was.
And still, after 4 movies i keep wondering: What the hell is so important about John Connor’s existence? He didn’t stop Judgement Day. The machines are still everywhere bitchslapping humanity. At the end of the film, the war is still going on. It’s like one massive prologue to a series of new films Warners wants to start. But as a movie, it’s so pointless to the Terminator series. That’s probably why i like the idea of an all Marcus Salvation, because at least you are creating new characters and widening the world of the series, rather than inserting Connor into a story where he is a passive witness…. AGAIN.
Has anybody seen the new-on-dvd “Killshot”?
I know that it finished prinicpal photography in the fall of 2005, and only received a marginal release this January…in frigging Arizona. But it’s really sort of okay in a stripped down, mid ’70s grindhouse/drive-in movie kind of way.
Maybe the Weinsteins were expecting something “important” (i.e., Oscar-whoring) from their “Shakespeare in Love” dude, and it definitely doesn’t deliver on that count. Still, the performances are strong (Rourke, Lane, Levitt, even Thomas “Hung” Jane and–despite a pretty ridiculous role–Rosario Dawson), it moves along at a nice clip and I wasn’t bored for a second. I hope “Killshot” finds an audience on dvd and eventually cable, cause it sure beats the **** out of Madden’s “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.”
Speaking of Nick Cage, the “Bad Lieutenant” trailer scared the crap out of me. I really expected more from Herzog than what appears to be a tonally out of whack, straight-to-dvd-style programmer.
P.S.=Loved the new puppet videos Lex. (Have you thought about submitting any of your stuff to SNL?)
Some gems from “anghus”:
“your videos are fucking painful to watch.”
Thanks! “My next one will be twice as good.” I’m asking this in all sincerity (knowing you won’t respond), but by all means, please post some of your creative works or put up a link, o master of “Make art, not noise.” What a pretentious asshole. What, did some rant I made hit too close to home because you’ve been floundering on the fringes for a decade-plus too, and nobody knows your name? If anything, you should be agreeing with me because YOU’RE IN THE SAME BOAT. You’re not an artist, you’re not a somebody, you’re probably a guy who works a bullshit day job, still banking on that break that’s not gonna come and trying to sell yourself to people WHO AREN’T BUYING.
“do you have the ability to create one that doesn’t just make fun of people? is that your gift to the world?”
Says the humorless prick who ONLY logs into the Hot Blog to bust my balls or go after Poland in the angriest, pissiest way possible. You must be a BARREL of fucking laughs at the pub, tough guy.
“Why not just post pictures of them and yell ‘FAG!’ for 2 minutes?”
I don’t know, maybe because I’m not homophobic and don’t use that word. Where does that comment even come from?
“this isn’t a creative outlet, it’s just another medium for you to be shallow and act like a douche. Maddox beat you to it 10 years ago.”
I don’t know or care who “Maddox” is. Besides, what did I ever do, specifically, that’s got you THIS amped up? What, I liked some MOVIES you didn’t like or some actress? OOOOOOOOH, crime against humanity. Again, how about some LEVITY and PERSPECTIVE?
“I don’t give two shits what you think about anyone on this board or in the film world.”
Then don’t fucking read it, douchebag.
anghus: we’ve never yet seen the John Connor who’s pivotal to humanity. That happens in the final battle when Skynet’s defeated and forced to time-travel. I’d argue that T4 was the first part of the story of him ascending to leadership. (The odds aren’t great on the rest of this “trilogy” being made). And yes, it’s clear T4 is Marcus Wright’s story — and it’s not a bad story at all.
Maybe it was the marketing, but someone everyone seems to have fixated on T4 being about the major future war and how John Connor kicks total ass. It’s not that at all, but that doesn’t mean it fails totally at what it was trying to do.
That being said, I wish the writers, McG, and Bale had done a bit more to round out JC’s character instead of him being Mr. Intense the entire time.
I stand by my assertion that the John Connor/Terminator/Skynet mythology is a piss-poor franchise and if nothing else, severely forced and ill-conceived. I also think Arnold popularity back in the day is what made the films so lucrative. It was the first time in a long time (I think?) that a big 80’s hero type played bad or evil and kicked some ass.
And anghus-
When I saw T4, the trailers that killed were “The Hangover”( Lex G.’s lifestory sequel?) and “Bruno.” There were 4 factions of people behind me that were -literally- on the floor during the “Bruno” trailer. Mixed groups too….1 black three some and the rest white just dying of laughter and OMG’s.
Some gems from “LexG”
“Thanks! “My next one will be twice as good.” I’m asking this in all sincerity (knowing you won’t respond), but by all means, please post some of your creative works or put up a link, o master of “Make art, not noise.” What a pretentious asshole. What, did some rant I made hit too close to home because you’ve been floundering on the fringes for a decade-plus too, and nobody knows your name? If anything, you should be agreeing with me because YOU’RE IN THE SAME BOAT. You’re not an artist, you’re not a somebody, you’re probably a guy who works a bullshit day job, still banking on that break that’s not gonna come and trying to sell yourself to people WHO AREN’T BUYING.”
Lex, you are so far up your own ass you could probably give yourself a colonoscopy. I’m not like you, some sad fuck who sits around ranting and raving from the ID acting as if anything you say is novel. I’m nothing like you. I don’t sit around worrying about what i don’t have. I don’t get drunk and cry to the world about what i’m not. I’m not waiting for a big break. There isn’t going to be one for me. I’m not out there hitting the street waiting to be plucked from obscurity. I am obscurity. I’m the guy who writes stuff, sells stuff occassionally, and publishes stuff for no other reason than i like it. As for my creative output, i’ve sold a half dozen scripts (all indie stuff), done more ghost writing jobs than i can ever admit, and am proofing novel #2 as i write this. And you know what? It doesn’t matter at all. Because i make it for the sake of making it. And if the only person who ever loves it is my mom and my wife, i’m fine. And to date, my wife barely likes any of my output.
I’m not even on the fringe Lex. I could probably say that i’m not even a part of the industry. I have one guy who has managed to take my scripts and get them made and keeps me decently paid for doctoring other scripts going into production. I have a couple of alt weeklies that publish my weekly rants. And i spend most of my time working on books and comics for little to no money. You can’t really hurt a guy by calling him a nobody when he doesn’t really care.
If i wanted to be you Lex, i’d pack up, move to L.A., waste a decade then whine like a bitch about what i don’t have and post it for the world to see. Then when given an opportunity on a film web site, i’d put together shitty videos bashing on easy targets. You are literally, the last person on Earth who should be chucking stones at anyone for their level of success or creative output.
“I don’t know, maybe because I’m not homophobic and don’t use that word. Where does that comment even come from?”
Your humor is one step above a teenage kid who calls people “Fag!” to get a laugh, those mysoginistic little shits who wear their baseball hats to the side and hide their insecurities by lashing out on others. You could easily be their leader.
“I don’t know or care who “Maddox” is. Besides, what did I ever do, specifically, that’s got you THIS amped up? What, I liked some MOVIES you didn’t like or some actress? OOOOOOOOH, crime against humanity. Again, how about some LEVITY and PERSPECTIVE?”
The content of the garbage you peddle around here has nothing to do with this. It’s the fact that you have nothing relevant to say and your put way too much effort into something incredibly easy. Pissing on people is easy Lex. Surface observations are easy. I suppose my major criticism is you lack depth. You can cry “WHAT ABOUT LEVITY?” all you want, but you can be funny and say something. You’re an AICN talkbacker with too much time on your hands, and that’s saying something.
Oh, and check out this website.
http://maddox.xmission.com/
This is whose identity you’re stealing.
“Then don’t fucking read it, douchebag.”
I give everyone chances. I didn’t like your first video. Didn’t watch another one. Saw a link in here and figured i’d watch it. But lex, you infect this board with your narcisitic shit and your manic behavior. It permiates the blog like a stench.
I may take it to Dave more than he deserves. And i can be an ass. But i’m usually talking about something other than myself.
Are you capable of saying the same?
Christ, you sound like an old fuck. All bitching about the kids with backwards ballcaps on your lawn. I don’t really care or expect you to find anything I do “funny,” but do you find ANYTHING funny? To the extent that I remotely pay attention to your bullshit (barely), you seem fundamentally joyless, prickish, mean, sour, angry, and humorless about everything.
And if you are really THAT OFFENDED that a HAND-DRAWN PUPPET SHOW ABOUT BEN FUCKING LYONS is beyond the pale to your sensitive ass, I’ll also add that YOU ARE A GIANT FUCKING PUSSY.
And:
“But lex, you infect this board with your narcisitic shit and your manic behavior. It permiates the blog like a stench.”
First off, Mr. Paid Writer, there should be a DIRECT ADDRESS COMMA before and after the “Lex” (which should be capitalized) in that first sentence. Second, what’s it like to go through life being a fucking NURSE RATCHED? I don’t know you from Adam and could two shits and a fuck about your bunk-ass proofreading career or what your wife thinks of your joyless ass (though hilarious that even she by your own admission thinks you’re a tool), but if you’re gonna start throwing around AICN tags, who’s the mean-streak cocksucker who chimed in all unsolicited tearing my shit apart like a fucking rabid maniac?
Do you go to screenings or plays or comedy shows and rush the stage with a torrent of profanity and impotent threats and weak-ass insults when you don’t like what you see? Mr. Tough Fucking Guy on the Internet, coming hard at me or Poland from the safety of your fucking armchair… yet *I’m* the one “permEating” the blog with a stench. But, hey, have fun on the NO-HUMOR shortbus with fucking Lazarus while the world passes you by.
Now pardon me while I go shoot a static shot of fucking carpet for 9 minutes and 58 seconds so I can put it up on YouTube, and I guarantee you’ll sit there like a total bitch and watch the whole fucking thing, just to have something to complain about.
You sour fucking asshole. Bring the fucking jokes, bitch. Let’s see some of your HIGH-LARITY. Meanwhile while you sputter and stammer and throw out more insults, I’ll go read all my FAN MAIL, “anghus.” Nice fucking bame, by the way. What are you, British? Fuck you.
Oh, and congrats, motherfucker:
THE ANGHUS MOVIE drops tonight, only on YouTube.
Expect it to go live around 3:16am, because I want to make you wait up ALL NIGHT for it. Which you totally will. Because you’re my bitch.
i’ll bet that fan mail really fills the void lex.
you could have also made note of the fact that most of my sentences lack proper punctuation or capitalization.
What in the fuck? You two have a fight, then stop it? STOP IT? ON THE FUCKING HOT BLOG!?!?! What in the hell is wrong with this place. A guy is out of action for a while and everyone gets delusions of grandeur!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9JMwIQKwtc
YES. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.
WATCH IT. NOW. AND BOW.
To Cadavra: I went and saw Dark and Stormy Night last night (excellent work from the cast and crew as usual), but I had to work late and thus missed the first ten minutes. Are there any other public screenings planned anytime soon?
Not at the moment, but of course I will post alerts here as they occur.
Thanks! Looking forward to seeing it and Lost Skeleton Returns on DVD sometime down the road too.