April 23, 2024
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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
First!
Finally watching Amazing Spiderman and it really is the waste of time I thought it would be. I’m halfway through and he’s STILL hunting for his uncle’s killer. If they were going to retell the origin they really should have been adventurous with it, rather than being so conventional, which is the real fault of the movie. They should have called it The Paint-by-Numbers Spider-Man. I found the so-so Bono musical more interesting than this movie, because at least they were trying to do something fundamentally different.
Besides Tilda Swinton’s performance, did anyone actually enjoy “We Need to Talk About Kevin”?
Besides Rachel Weisz’s performance, did anyone actually enjoy “The Deep Blue Sea”?
I watched both of them for the first time this week. WNTTAK was just punishing after a while. No real explanation or resolution. The kid was evil since he was a baby, and that was that.
The Deep Blue Sea sped thru the romantic part of the affair and then slowed to a snail’s pace for the last hour, wallowing in pain with all the air sucked out of the room. And pauses. Between every. Spoken line.
Certainly the GOP came to an end this week. Too bad they want apocalypse now.
In other news, Psy reached 1 billion views. Perhaps this was actually what the Mayans meant…
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed “Jack Reacher.”
It’s an unpretentious “B” programmer at heart, and like a lot of early ’70s genre films (“Charley Varrick,” “The Friends of Eddie Coyle,” “The Last American Hero”) has a wonderfully, unexpectedly vivid sense of place: in this case western Pennsylvania.
While so many big Hollywood movies these days bend over backwards to conceal their Vancouver/Toronto tax-friendly shooting locations (and wind up feeling blandly anonymous in the process), “JR” is uber Pittsburgh, and that’s a very good thing here.
Cruise gives his most relaxed, engaging performance in years (you never once see him sweat), and the supporting cast is aces. (Was amused at how Pike seems to be vocally channeling “Body Heat”-era Kathleen Turner.)
Loved its unassuming modesty and the entire lack of “importance”/pretense, and dearth of budget-busting CGI.
Even the action sequences have a real human dimension to them.
My only real quibble is w/ the overly generous 130-minute running time.
Not that I was ever bored or became impatient w/ it, but they could have had a leaner, tighter film by slicing 25-30 minutes.
I guess a 95-100 minute movie wouldn’t have screamed “Tentpole,” though.
pretty good year for dp/30’s – i’ve seen 90% of them this year ..probably 150 + interviews .
cool pictures of Jessica Chastain and her hair …
Actually, I didn’t have any trouble with Jack Reacher length. Indeed, I quite liked the idea that it spent more time on some things — like the lawyer’s painful conversation with one of the murder victims’ father — that might have been rushed, if it existed at all, in another movie. And I really liked the fact that Cruise’s character tried to talk his way out of fights. Reminded me a bit of Clint Eastwood in Outlaw Josey Wales — Now, look, you can walk out of here and no one will know or care…
Krillian, I’m with you 100% on both of those movies and was shocked by the apparent love for them last year and this year. We Need to Talk about Kevin, OK, I guess I can see how people took that as a daring psychological horror movie of sorts even though you’re absolutely right — if the kid’s unredeemably evil from the start, the movie becomes laughably overwrought and reductive. But The Deep Blue Sea… is it because I haven’t seen other Terence Davies movies? Does he have some kind of cred that I couldn’t understand by simply watching his painterly and well-composed but utterly inert and, again, overwrought movie? I went in knowing almost nothing about it except that it starred Rachel Weisz, which was enough to get me interested. I came out thinking, wow, that started off a little bit interesting but by the end was absolutely painful to sit through. Then it came out and started getting some good notices, and I was puzzled, but figured, well, it’s spring, there are a lot of junky movies out, maybe some of these people were just hungry for something with this particular mood and pace. I mean, not to dismiss or condescend to people’s feelings about it… I just mean I never expected, even after some very positive reviews, to see it turning up on so many ten best lists! I’m usually all about recognizing some already-half-forgotten non-Oscar movie from the first quarter of the year, but with no other prompting, TDBS is an easy candidate for my worst-of-2012 list. I can’t think of many movies I actively wished would end so many times.
So yeah, color me shocked, too. Weisz is good, but that sure as hell doesn’t make the movie seem less like watching an arrangement of beautiful wax figures melt slowly.
Here’s my original review, which is apparently way more of a dissent than I thought when I wrote it: http://bit.ly/GRlGp4
I just got back from Jack Reacher, and though I was a little surprised to see Cruise in such a B-level deal, I did also enjoy its human scale. Low-rent in a surprisingly fun way — that car chase was pretty impressive in a Drive sort of way (rather than a Fast & Furious sort of way). But 130 minutes did seem like a bit much by the end. There are a couple of major plot turns that are telegraphed very early, and yet seem to take even the apparently brilliant Mr. Reacher WAY too long to puzzle out. I also wasn’t a huge fan of its vaguely chauvinistic attitudes toward the ladies, but I imagine that’s left over from the source material.
I can certainly see why it may not be everyone’s cup of tea but I loved The Deep Blue Sea. I feel there is a level of artistry in it that is on display in no other movie this year save The Master. The forlorn scene of the German bombing where the soldier sings Molly Malone is the most beautiful of the year. The only scene that approaches its power is the processing scene in The Master.
While Jack Reacher was a better made film, I cant deny that I was more entertained by Alex Cross. Reacher felt like a really good TNT movie.
Reacher-where was the mine explosion that was featured in the trailer? I know not everything makes it into the film, but, c’mon! I was sold an explosion!
Also, the gun violence was a little off-putting. The first few minutes of people in cross-hairs, the killer selecting his victims…ugh.
“Certainly the GOP came to an end this week. Too bad they want apocalypse now.”
That’s definitely what’s going on in Michigan. Not just ramming through Right to Work in the middle of the night during the last few days before they lose five seats, but also taking money set aside for schools to pay for Ilitch’s new stadium, requiring a physical exam before an abortion while rejecting a waggishly-suggested physical exam before a vasectomy, covering Viagra with Medicaid but not birth control, and then, their coup-de-gras, trying to allow concealed weapons into schools. Yet what’s truly breath-taking was that adults were already allowed to openly carry guns into schools.
As for the GOP/Apocalypse connection, how many of ’em would give a shit about Israel if Revelation didn’t hinge on it’s existence? Or am I the only one who noticed they’re publicly pro-Israel but privately anti-Semitic?
…and considering the NRA’s official response to Sandy Hook, I guess their proposal to stop shootings like yesterday’s is to post armed guards at churches, too?
Oh, and who is going to pay for all these armed guards? The NRA? That would be the proper price to pay for the freedom to carry guns wherever you want.
Rush Limpdick said that Wayne LaPierre was the “only adult” after his disastrous press conference yesterday – of course, how much in taxes does Rush and the gun lovers think we should pay to add thousands of armed guards to the schools they already don’t want to pay for? Exactly.
And La Pierre blamed AMERICAN PSYCHO for the shooting! Does anybody even die by gun in that? I’m sure Lanza watched that on a loop.
The NRA shot itself in the head yesterday, Finally.
And the best trailer I saw before SKYFALL and got the best audience response was for JACK REACHER…
watched reality tv series 2012 – scripted –
about a family who doesn’t know they are on a reality show –
entire series is 8 episodes – lots of unknown actors – huge cast – final episode has some really good acting …good story overall – easy to understand.
– directed and written by Adam Rifkin .
reality tv series –
learned about how rich people stay rich and powerful ..
Barclay brothers – super old dudes who are worth billions – own newspapers / retail and don’t pay tax in the UK … plus they like suing people for saying bad things about them…all the time.
why hasn’t anybody done a movie about these guys….
What’s idiotic about the armed guards argument is that unless they’re willing to post guards at each entry point to pat down everyone entering–which simply won’t happen–once the shooting starts it’ll still take these guys a few minutes to reach any trouble spot. With today’s weapons you could rack up quite a body count by then, so the result is exactly the same.
And arming teachers? I guarantee that’ll end after a teacher pulls a gun on a mouthy student, which is something we’ve dreamed off many, many times.
watched – DP/30: The Hypnotist, director Lasse Hallstrom
standard dp/30 – so much back history about his old films i have no idea what the hypnotist is about . 6/10 .
the best part was when he talked about not getting to direct “catch me if you can” ..which went to Spielberg
the Lawrence Kasdan dp30 was better – talked about the old movies he did and the new movies…
Won’t a shooter just look for the armed gaurd first, shoot him (or her) and then continue on killing?
wait, viagra is covered by Medicaid but not birth control? good to see the boy’s club is no longer in charge…and heavily-armed clowns continue to hold the US hostage in the interest of weapons manufacturers – when are the people gonna rise up and say enough is enough? (‘rise up’ not a viagra pun)
The problem is a lot of Republican leaders are beholden to the NRA and the radical right because a lot of voters in their districts share those sentiments. Why should the vote for tighter gun laws when they’ll get ousted if they do?
More and more, there are two Americas, neither of which understands nor trusts the other. And that’s why we’ll have status quo in Washington for a long time.
Viagra is used by an organ on your body is malfunctioning. Birth Control is not a necessity, nor is it a response to a particular issue.
Oh, and black schools have had armed guards for years. In high school, I had to take off my shoes, and belt, and put them and my bag through an x-ray machine. Then I had to walk through a metal detector. This uproar about the armed guards stuff, is typical white people acting superior. It’s okay for the inner city schools, but god forbid it’s used in white neighborhoods. BTW, all these school shootings are white kids.
“Birth Control is not a necessity, nor is it a response to a particular issue.”
Yes, we all know you’re a moron.
Simple, legal solution: strict interpretation of the 2nd Amendment. If you want to own a gun, you have to join the “well-regulated militia”. Problem solved.
And although its public debut is still a year away, I can’t wait to see how the typically-paranoid Right will respond to Project Glass. Not only will people walking down the street be able to identify you just by glancing at your face, but I’m sure there will be apps, legal or not, that can link together a wealth of data and show the wearer any criminal complaints made against you, whether you own any guns, whether you bought a bulletproof vest recently, if there have been any restraining orders filed against you, how many classmates considered you weird….
Or just check this: 8 Features of the Google Glasses (As They’ll Really Be Used).
what Christian said.
(man those google glasses are spooky)
Those glasses are going to cause so many accidents.
4 minute video
Worst Movies Of 2012 Actually Reviewed Themselves
I rewatched “We Need to Talk about Kevin” just the other day and still think it’s awesome. Was the kid “born evil” or was he extra needy and his mother couldn’t give him the love and care he needed? I think that’s left vague in the film. She never wanted to be a mother. It’s also has some insanely dark comedy in the film. I love everything about it, in fact.
I think the problem is in reading “We Need To Talk About Kevin” literally. From the film’s opening moments, it is clear that we’re seeing a very subjective view of the world. Everything is filtered thorough Tilda’s point of view, and when we see the history of her relationship with her son, we see the way she perceived him, not the objective way he actually behaved. Was he born bad? That’s how she felt. That’s how she remembers things. Same is true of Reilly, who I don’t believe for a second really was that clueless and who probably had plenty of his own problems with his son. In her mind, it felt like he was always blind to it, and that Kevin was always perfect for him. The film is not meant to be read as a literal history of their life together. Instead, it is about a woman whose son did the unthinkable, constantly going back over her life, trying to understand it, her own memories totally suspect because of her emotional connection to what happened.
awesome 1.5 hour audio podcast with Tom Lennon – actor / writer / director / comic – he talks about Tom Cruise and writing movies … and really mean internet forum posters…
Tom is making the new baywatch movie ..
also Tom and LexG should hang out –
nerdist – Tom Lennon
finally got around to watch dark knight rises – extra long – lots of characters – huge story . same thing could be said of the avengers and i liked that movie a lot more.
my superhero directors buddies – Christopher Nolan – Joss Whedon – Marc Webb – didn’t show up for any dp/30’s .
superhero movies belong at comic con – will any of these moviessneak in and get oscar nomination …based on overall quality of the story .
at least Sam Mendes stopped by for Skyfall – which is close to super hero movie – end of watch guys came for adp/30 .. is it a superhero movie – watch the ending and maybe it is …Bourne Legacy – super hero movie ? maybe
but Renner didn’t show up for dp/30 …Dredd 3d – they did something different …superhero ..nobody showed up.
looks like zero dark thrity – real life sueprhero ? might win oscar.
man of steel 2013 – another big superhero movie – probably won’t get oscar – but my buddies Amy Adams and Michael Shannon could show up for a dp/30 .
Zack Snyder could have shown up for a dp/30 for the
last 3 movies but didn’t .
J. R. R. Tolkien didn’t show up for a dp/30 – probably hanging out with Peter Jackson all day making up new
crazy hobbit stories.
Okay, who wants to tell Sanj that Tolkien died in 1973?
old interview – dude was confusing back then.
DP and JRR would have out confused each other
in an epic dp/30 .
BBC ‘In Their Own Words’ – J.R.R. Tolkie
Gee, we didn’t even have to wait for Google Glasses:
N.Y. newspaper posts gun permit map, starts nasty online battle.
As I also predicted, the paranoid Right went apeshit, not only offering the addresses and phone numbers and photos of the homes of Journal News columnists, but they sure do seem to be encouraging robberies and assaults (“Nice house. Wooded lot, too. Lots of places to hide”; for Gracia Martore, chief executive of the paper’s parent group, Gannett: “House is loaded with highly valuable easily transprtable [sic] items”).
Once again, if they’ll go this crazy over publicly-available gun lists, what’ll they do in 2014 when anyone wearing a pair of Google Glasses can bring up even more data about you just by glancing at your face in a crowd?
“…the newspaper’s decision to link to the database was “highly Orwellian. The implications are mind-boggling,” he said. “It’s as if gun owners are sex offenders.”
Every breath you take
And every move you make
Every bond you break, every step you take
Google will be watching you.
I think people are overreacting a bit to google glasses – there is nothing the glasses can do that cannot be replicated by holding your phone in front of your face. That means these mythical lists of everyone’s gun permits, criminal records, credit histories etc. will have to be publicly available and accessible by google. Just like typing in someone’s name and googling them doesn’t bring up their criminal record now.
You are far more likely just to get their Facebook page and nothing else because that’s the only thing the glasses can confidently match because it has a profile picture.
But most of this information, like the list of concealed weapon permits, is publicly available, and you can bet more will be added in no time at all.
Also, holding a phone in front of your face is obviously noticeable, whereas in only a generation or two these things will look like any old pair of glasses (and if Google thinks they can just make them noticeable to counter that–like putting an orange muzzle on a toy gun–you can bet that’ll be stripped off by many as soon as the glasses are out of the packaging). Nowadays if you see someone wearing glasses you’ll guess either “bad eyes” or “hipster”, but in a year you can add “tech geek”, “internet addict”, “spy” and “voyeur” to the list.
I can easily imagine a flipped-out paranoiac in this brave new world reversing “They Live”–instead of running down the street forcing glasses on peoples’ eyes, he’ll be ripping their glasses off and stomping them into the dust.
Oh, and if anyone thinks I’m anti-Project Glass, I’m totally in favor of it, since I think the only way to prevent massacres or crimes of any sort is 24/7 surveillance of everyone on the planet, which these will help to bring about.
Foamy Squirrel, Recognizr may be the app you’re thinking of: “anyone with a camera phone can now take your picture and use it to find all the information the guy from Something About Mary needed phone taps for.” (Although this info will not be provided unless your target also has a Recognizr account, this app is still able to determine exactly who this person is based on that one covertly-taken photo.)
And then there’s Creepy, listed next in the article, which “uses your tweets, wall posts and status updates to pinpoint your exact location…If an exact location cannot be determined, Creepy will conveniently provide a list of probable hang-out spots that the stalking victims of choice mention frequently on their social networking accounts.”