In Bruges. I thought this was a well-made, well-acted but, in the end, silly film about sentimental, conscience-ridden hitmen (yes) hiding out, for some reason, in the medieval section of Bruges, Belgium. Colin Farrell does a good job with his conflicted character, and the other actors are fine. The dialog is sharp and sometimes humorous. But the plot over-stretches credibility, especially near the end.
Why Bruges? It seems the only reason is to provide some beautiful cinematography. As "Ray" (Farrell) says, "Why not the Bahamas?"
Less here than meets the eye.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Brain Dump
Ready for the funny farm animal shelter from the storm warning label. It just goes to show or tell a white lie down in the dumps him for another day job search engine of economic growth and development. As every schoolboy knows somebody cares about it anyway you want it takes a village idiot box tops. Come hell or high water the garden path of least resistance movement. Throw the baby out with the bath water is deeper you dig a hole big enough to drive me crazy.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Way I Feel
Did a lot of personal financial crunching yesterday. Felt grimly determined.... Tired of wearing a winter coat. Give it up, Frosty.... Netflix has dropped In Bruges on me. Meh.... Watched Southland, the new NBC cop show. Not sure why, except that my otherly significant wanted to watch The Office, and when that ended, it came on, and I didn't feel inspired to change channels or jab the OFF button. I don't like policers, at least not the type that attempt shaky-camera realism. Give me a dancing dwarf....
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Word of the Day: obdormition
obdormition (n)
Numbness, or the tingling felt when a limb is "asleep."
"[I] lay there in a state of obdormition, more dead than alive, but alive still, alive nevertheless, relentlessly alive to the mysterious and deathless...."
--Alexander Theroux, Darconville's Cat
Yeah, I hate limping around when my foot falls asleep; don't we all? Sometimes, late at night, I just wish my head would fall asleep.
Numbness, or the tingling felt when a limb is "asleep."
"[I] lay there in a state of obdormition, more dead than alive, but alive still, alive nevertheless, relentlessly alive to the mysterious and deathless...."
--Alexander Theroux, Darconville's Cat
Yeah, I hate limping around when my foot falls asleep; don't we all? Sometimes, late at night, I just wish my head would fall asleep.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Much Ado about NOTHING
Driving Rain
There are few activities I hate more than driving in a heavy rain in the dark.
My night vision isn't great, and the combination of pounding rain, windshield wipers that smear as much as they clarify, a shiny roadway that looks like a dark mirror (doubling every tail- and traffic light), and a pitch-black sky always tempts me to pull over and wait it out.
Windshield wipers annoy me. After a while, their rubbery scraping and thwacking sound reminds me of a throbbing headache. And the harder it rains, the faster they go.
Those sheets of rain can make the car feel claustrophobic. Poor visibility means I suddenly become more aware that I'm inside a small capsule, rather than feeling like I'm outside -- the feeling I get when I can concentrate on a clear road ahead.
When I'm out in the car on a rainy night, I often remember the "driving in the rain" scene in Psycho -- and the relief that Marion Crane/Janet Leigh feels when she sees that Bates Motel sign materialize through a curtain of rain. I can identify. Though, of course, there are worse things than a wet ride....
There are few activities I hate more than driving in a heavy rain in the dark.
My night vision isn't great, and the combination of pounding rain, windshield wipers that smear as much as they clarify, a shiny roadway that looks like a dark mirror (doubling every tail- and traffic light), and a pitch-black sky always tempts me to pull over and wait it out.
Windshield wipers annoy me. After a while, their rubbery scraping and thwacking sound reminds me of a throbbing headache. And the harder it rains, the faster they go.
Those sheets of rain can make the car feel claustrophobic. Poor visibility means I suddenly become more aware that I'm inside a small capsule, rather than feeling like I'm outside -- the feeling I get when I can concentrate on a clear road ahead.
When I'm out in the car on a rainy night, I often remember the "driving in the rain" scene in Psycho -- and the relief that Marion Crane/Janet Leigh feels when she sees that Bates Motel sign materialize through a curtain of rain. I can identify. Though, of course, there are worse things than a wet ride....
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Weekend Netflix Report: 'Synecdoche, New York'
Synecdoche, New York. A theater director (Philip Seymour Hoffman), whose life is unraveling, attempts to mount an enormous production based on his own life as he is living it. He casts actors as himself and all the major figures in his life, and as pre-production drags on (for many years), he gradually becomes a character in his own play -- though not a character based on himself. I would call this a "sad" film, but it made me laugh at times.
The director (of the film), Charlie Kaufman, has said that Synecdoche, New York is not a dream. But it isn't realistic, either. This is one of those films that seems to take place mostly in the protagonist's mind, which usually appeals to me when it's well done. And it is here.
(A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part is used to represent a whole or a whole represents a part. When Shakespeare wrote "Take thy face hence" in Macbeth, he was using a synecdoche. The word sounds a lot like "Schenectady," the city in upstate New York where the early scenes of the film take place.)
The director (of the film), Charlie Kaufman, has said that Synecdoche, New York is not a dream. But it isn't realistic, either. This is one of those films that seems to take place mostly in the protagonist's mind, which usually appeals to me when it's well done. And it is here.
(A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part is used to represent a whole or a whole represents a part. When Shakespeare wrote "Take thy face hence" in Macbeth, he was using a synecdoche. The word sounds a lot like "Schenectady," the city in upstate New York where the early scenes of the film take place.)
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Hatching a Plot
Hey, cheese wiz... how many of these late-night cable movies have you seen?
Bikini Secrets
Mistaking aesthetics for ethics, a philosophy grad student (Harry Hamlin) convinces the neighborhood girls to wear nothing but bikinis after witnessing a hot-body contest. In the brief moments she wears clothes, Jennifer (Julie Strain) heats up the pool, the screen, and the sales figures. Richard Roundtree exceeds expectations as the Christ figure, Mitch.
Sins and Summer
Taking a break to get some surf and sun, Ashley (Ashlie Rhey) dances exotically for money to win the custody of her daughter. A sensitive hunk with a guitar (Wil Wheaton) won't let her forget the past. Todd Bridges and Dana Plato won't stop till they get enough. We've had enough the moment they appear onscreen.
Dialing for Merit Badges
Left with his kids' troop after the Scout Master falls ill, Brian (Steve Guttenberg) finds love in the yellow pages in opposition to his friends' advice. Local sheriff and recent divorcee Lisa Cliff (Shelly Long) learns the true meaning of a dead line. Marilyn Chambers tries (unsuccessfully) to hide with the scouts while disguised as a teenager.
Sins and Secrets
A frustrated poet with a flair for purple clothes (Robert Davi) hires a hit-man for a secret job on the brink of losing it all. Undersexed and underpaid, Linda (Shannon Whirry) trades what she knows for what she can never have. Tom Bosley plays the improbable "Mr.Nookie".
Intimate Desires
A man suffering from impotency (Nick Cassavetes) enters a deadly affair while attempting to commit his wife to a mental institution. Hiding her own history, the mysterious Brenda (Deborah Shelton) can't say no. Edward Albert confuses as a palmist and soothsayer.
~~~
They may sound vaguely familiar, but the correct answer is "none." These are all plots created by The Late-Night Cable-Movie Plot Generator. That last one sounds like it might make a nifty David Lynch movie.
Bikini Secrets
Mistaking aesthetics for ethics, a philosophy grad student (Harry Hamlin) convinces the neighborhood girls to wear nothing but bikinis after witnessing a hot-body contest. In the brief moments she wears clothes, Jennifer (Julie Strain) heats up the pool, the screen, and the sales figures. Richard Roundtree exceeds expectations as the Christ figure, Mitch.
Sins and Summer
Taking a break to get some surf and sun, Ashley (Ashlie Rhey) dances exotically for money to win the custody of her daughter. A sensitive hunk with a guitar (Wil Wheaton) won't let her forget the past. Todd Bridges and Dana Plato won't stop till they get enough. We've had enough the moment they appear onscreen.
Dialing for Merit Badges
Left with his kids' troop after the Scout Master falls ill, Brian (Steve Guttenberg) finds love in the yellow pages in opposition to his friends' advice. Local sheriff and recent divorcee Lisa Cliff (Shelly Long) learns the true meaning of a dead line. Marilyn Chambers tries (unsuccessfully) to hide with the scouts while disguised as a teenager.
Sins and Secrets
A frustrated poet with a flair for purple clothes (Robert Davi) hires a hit-man for a secret job on the brink of losing it all. Undersexed and underpaid, Linda (Shannon Whirry) trades what she knows for what she can never have. Tom Bosley plays the improbable "Mr.Nookie".
Intimate Desires
A man suffering from impotency (Nick Cassavetes) enters a deadly affair while attempting to commit his wife to a mental institution. Hiding her own history, the mysterious Brenda (Deborah Shelton) can't say no. Edward Albert confuses as a palmist and soothsayer.
~~~
They may sound vaguely familiar, but the correct answer is "none." These are all plots created by The Late-Night Cable-Movie Plot Generator. That last one sounds like it might make a nifty David Lynch movie.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Random Acts of Poetry
Solstice
Winter calls you back like a long-lost pearl.
The sky unfreezes at your gaze. Old stars blink out
as you rise above these ringing hills.
We can exhale at last, our faces tilting like pious flowers
at an outdoor revival. Your forgiveness
defies cold logic. Our mouths gape; we're stupid fish.
I don't deserve to live,
any more than a scabrous lizard deserves to bask on a rock
in the palm of the desert.
Ultra-violet
burnt me one summer; I could only stagger, red and tight.
I learned to fear you that year.
But the paltry days twist every misgiving inside out.
I wear layers of woolens,
my breath steams our cold panes, I shiver in the dark.
Today this spinning planet bows to sanity.
Ice will crack and slide
from the roof. Each new year, a gift.
---
My ode to spring, from a few years ago.
Winter calls you back like a long-lost pearl.
The sky unfreezes at your gaze. Old stars blink out
as you rise above these ringing hills.
We can exhale at last, our faces tilting like pious flowers
at an outdoor revival. Your forgiveness
defies cold logic. Our mouths gape; we're stupid fish.
I don't deserve to live,
any more than a scabrous lizard deserves to bask on a rock
in the palm of the desert.
Ultra-violet
burnt me one summer; I could only stagger, red and tight.
I learned to fear you that year.
But the paltry days twist every misgiving inside out.
I wear layers of woolens,
my breath steams our cold panes, I shiver in the dark.
Today this spinning planet bows to sanity.
Ice will crack and slide
from the roof. Each new year, a gift.
---
My ode to spring, from a few years ago.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Enigma
This is a picture I took of a door on my street. I want to know what's behind it, or maybe not. Isn't it more fun not knowing? Wondering?
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