I finally saw Righteous Kill, the awful Robert DeNiro/Al Pacino movie that sucked so badly it only scored 21% at Rotten Tomatoes.com.
Other than the tremendous waste of talent that this movie represents, the only significant thing about it is that they filmed several scenes at The Star Cafe, a bar about 1/2 mile from my house last year. Here's some photos and screen caps (click on them to show full size):
This is supposedly the exterior of the bar, taken at another location. It establishes the fiction that the bar is located in a downtown NYC area, rather than the suburban street that the real bar is on.
This is the actual exterior of the bar, with the windows blacked out because either they knew the movie was gonna bomb and they didn't want anyone seeing it, or more likely because they were shooting scenes that represented nighttime and they didn't want sunlight streaming in to ruin the effect.
The next two images are screencaps from the actual film. Basically, it shows some of the inside of the bar, but it looks much nicer on film than it actually is. But I think that's because they dressed the set with lots of extra lights and things that make it look more colorful than the drab, rundown pub it truthfully is.
(I hope the owner isn't reading this; someone said he heard the guy threatened someone who referred to his beloved cafe as a "seedy" bar!)
Today I met and chatted briefly with actor Michael K. Williams (IMDB listing) at a broadcast of the XM satellite radio's "Opie & Anthony Show".
Williams is an amazingly talented actor, probably known best for his intense portrayal of the gangster "Omar" on HBO's gritty and ridiculously underrated series "The Wire". He's also been in recent movies such as "Gone Baby Gone" and the new Spike Lee joint "Miracle at St. Anna".
We spoke briefly, and he was genuinely pleased that I complimented him on a very funny line he tossed out in a room full of comic heavyweights. We shook hands, and a guy in the audience took the photo.
The camera was messed up because it's so old, and the image had a weird blue tint covering it, so I converted it to B&W and lightened it up a bit, which is why the photo is so grainy. But it was really a great pleasure to meet such a gifted and intense actor.
It's getting to be that time of year again, when the fall foliage will begin turning, and I'm going to make another trip to bike the Air Line Rail Trail up in mid- to north-eastern Connecticut. I'll probably bring my camera again and make an updated version of this movie.
In the meantime, here's a higher-resolution version of the 2005 documentary that Joyce and I created. Enjoy!
BRIDGEPORT — A former state Democratic Party chairman, once a lawyer for the team chosen to redevelop the former Army engine plant in Stratford, testified Wednesday that federal officials refused to close on the deal unless one of the team's partners was barred from remaining active in the project.
Edward Marcus, who had been a lawyer for Hollywood East/Area 51, LLC, until a bitter internal fight for control erupted in May, was allowed to testify in Superior Court over vehement objections from lawyers representing the partner in question, Hector Natera, and his brother Ed.
They have filed a lawsuit seeking to oust Allen Christopher as president and CEO of Hollywood East, which was selected in March after a bidding competition conducted by the federal General Services Administration. The team plans to redevelop the 78-acre property bordering the Housatonic River into a multi-faceted production complex for movies and other entertainment ventures.
Sadly, this power struggle is endangering the entire project and may cause it to be delayed indefinitely.
Here's a couple minutes of people dressed as Revolutionary War soldiers and their ladies, pretending to kill each other. Even though this video doesn't do a great job of showing it, the good guys won in the end.
Although, those Brits were definitely more stylish. They get points for fashion.
He soon lost interest in sports. His grades started slipping at school. Ricky's friends noticed a change in him and started avoiding him.
The shame gnawed at Ricky during his every waking moment.
Ricky's parents sensed a deep sadness in him, but it was the 70's and parents weren't as knowledgeable about the warning signs of depression as they are today.
Plus, Ricky's mom was usually hopped up on Valium when she wasn't hitting the bottle. And Ricky's dad often worked late at the office, although Ricky's mom suspected he was having an affair with his secretary, a sexy young thing named Jennifer. Jennifer always wore short skirts to work, even though it was the middle of winter.
So Ricky never got the attention he needed.
Months later, Ricky took his dad's shotgun and slaughtered his entire family, before turning the weapon upon himself.
All of Ricky's friends and relatives were shocked and appalled at what happened. Ricky didn't leave a note or confide in his friends about what he was going to do.
The tragedy left a hole in the community that still hasn't healed completely, even though it happened way back in the 70's.
But there IS a lesson that can be learned from this horrific event:
I can almost see it from my house. A new digital movie studio is going to take advantage of Connecticut's film business tax breaks and move into an empty military industrial site in Stratford.
STRATFORD — In the town where the once thriving Shakespeare theater put Stratford on the map as an entertainment showcase, a New Haven film and multi-media production company is planning to do it again by creating "one of the largest studio complexes in the United States" at the former Army Engine Plant site on Main Street.
Hollywood East/Area 51 was unveiled Monday by the U.S. Army and General Services Administration as the company that submitted the winning online bid last month of $9.6 million for the 78-acre contaminated waterfront property now known as Point Stratford, and the company formally selected to redevelop the site.
The property, which borders the Housatonic River and is across the street from Sikorsky Memorial Airport, has been dormant for 12 years, but is considered the key to Stratford's economic redevelopment.
After numerous failed attempts to develop the parcel, which was the site of defense manufacturing for decades, most recently engines for Army aircraft, the U.S. Army intervened last year just as the Town Council voted to sell the property to developer Monti-Posillico of Long Island.
"We are very excited about Point Stratford," Allen Christopher, president of Hollywood East, said Monday in a prepared statement.
The place is literally three miles from my house! This is gonna be great!
I posted the original video a while back. By now there's a good chance that you're one of the over 10,000,000 people who've seen this video on Youtube:
I decided to attempt the same thing, the cheap and easy way!
Now I'll just sit back and watch those millions of views roll in! I'll be a Youtube Sensation for sure!
Apparently someone over in England has a bit of a problem with American actress Teri Garr, and he's gone through the trouble of creating his own version of her Internet Movie Data Base listing; complete with full screen credits and character names that I somehow missed over the years.
I'm sure the fact that I find this hysterically funny is a symptom of some deep seated psychological defect, but it make me laugh and that's all I care about. Besides, I'm too busy to spend the required time with a psychiatrist to fix it.
Then, after you've had a loff or two, visit the REAL listing for that unique American filmmaker, cinematographer, and all-purpose bon vivant slash ne'er-do-well, known informally as Your Humble Narrator.
Michael Clayton - Reasonably taut thriller, with George Clooney in a fairly restrained performance. The always dependable Tom Wilkinson was reminiscent of Peter Finch's role in "Network", and a chilling Tilda Swinton looking icily competent. Fine movie with some decent twists.
I'm Not There - Todd Haynes scores with another off-beat flick. Some of his movies I've enjoyed were "Velvet Goldmine" and "Safe", but this one is even more remarkable. The Bob Dylan story was never told so artistically, and the idea of having multiple actors portray him, including Cate Blanchett (above) was stylistically brilliant. Great covers of many Dylan songs help make this a really enjoyable film.
2 Days in Paris - Julie Delpy wrote, directed, and co-starred in this engaging "relationship" movie. Adam Goldberg was perfect as the neurotic boyfriend to Delpy's outgoing personality. I mentioned the two Richard Linklater-directed Julie Delpy movies, "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset" in a previous post, and if you liked those movies you'll find this one even more satisfying.
Waitress - Cute movie, sadly the last by writer/director/co-star Adrienne Shelly, who was the victim of a homicide while the film was being readied for release. With perky Keri Russell and a pragmatic Cheryl Hines, this film is somewhat reminiscent of the 2005 movie "Junebug", but more cheerful overall.
Snatch (2000) - Very fun "guy" flick, with plenty of fighting, laughs, and action. A guilty pleasure. Brad Pitt's performance was hysterical (when I could understand what he was saying!)
Finally, here's Richard Kelly's long-awaited "next movie"; his apocalyptic vision of the near future.
This futuristic fantasy stars Dwayne Johnson ("The Rock"), Seann William Scott ("Stiffler" from the American Pie movies), and Sarah Michelle Gellar ("Buffy") in what has been called a train wreck of a movie.
Dwayne Johnson and Seann William Scott
I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss it, though. Yes, I thought the script could have been better. "Donnie Darko", Richard Kelly's breakthrough movie, was subtle and engaging. Southland Tales is obvious and distracting. It was reminiscent of "Buckaroo Banzai", which was fun, but very "noisy" in the sense of a lot going on all at once, and you really needed to pay attention to follow it.
Which could have been good, except that most of the distraction wasn't germane to the plot. And the obvious laziness of the script was off-putting, with way too many "nods" to other films, inside references, and outright thievery in the writing, including Kiss Me Deadly, Repo Man, Mulholland Dr., Blade Runner, Buckaroo Banzai, Kelly's own Donnie Darko, and many others. I dunno, but these obvious references tend to take me out of the story and remind me that I'm watching a movie.
Sarah Michelle Gellar
The casting was a bit obscure. Dwayne Johnson has a solid career ahead of him as a B-movie action star, but his character in ST required a bit more depth than he could dredge up. Sarah Michelle Gellar seemed to warm to her role as the movie progressed. And Seann William Scott handled his unnecessarily repetitive lines with competent aplomb. A slew of former Saturday Night Live performers rounded out the cast, with a few notable exceptions. Wallace Shawn, Jon Lovitz, and Miranda Richardson were also used to some effect.
Visually, the movie is quite stunning. The world of Southland Tales is strange and awesome, but also unnecessarily confusing at times. This movie cost $17 million to make, and I wonder what it would have been if they spent around $30-40 million on it? A bit more script development and a few different actors could have made this film a huge off-beat hit. As it is, I think this film missed the mark, even though it showed the mark clearly and I get the feeling it could have hit it if it really wanted to.
Jon Lovitz and Cheri Oteri
When the DVD comes out, it'll be recut and have enough extras that it'll probably show a decent profit. Despite it's flaws, Southland Tales is destined become a sort of cult movie, and it will most likely flourish in it's second life as an intriguing DVD.
And maybe Richard Kelly will learn from it and create another movie with the same visceral impact that Donnie Darko possessed.
Frida - Selma Hayek's riveting 2002 portait of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Great performances abound, especially Alfred Molina's lofty depiction of famed artist Diego Rivera. And Selma looks great, despite the unibrow.
300 - "SPARTAAAA!" OK, look, it's just silly. A comic book movie. There's nothing new or remotely inspiring about this green-screened movie, shot entirely on location in a Montreal studio. But if you watch it with the RiffTrax commentary by Mike Nelson of MST3K fame, it's kind of entertaining.
Stardust - Decent enough fantasy from the imagination of Neil Gaiman, who also wrote "American Gods", which I really enjoyed. Robert De Niro does a turn as a flamboyant pirate, but Johnny Depp is better at it. Plus, Michelle Pfeiffer is in it as an evil witch desperate to recapture her youth. She's a WILF.
Into the Wild - Slightly fictionalized but entertaining account of a rebellious college graduate who defies...everything...to get back to...something. Then he starves to death in the Alaskan wilderness. What a dumbass.
Superbad - I watched it with proper expectations (read: none) and wasn't disappointed. Silly teen vehicle, blessedly rated "R" with plenty of Clerks-style vulgar language. Seth Rogan as a ridiculous cop adds to the fun. He was recently announced as the lead in "Zach & Miri Make a Porno", and I can't imagine a better choice for Kevin Smith's next movie.
This is England - The writer-director's turbulent childhood, set in Margaret Thatcher's England during the Falklands War. Raw and touching at times, definitely worth a viewing. The skinhead guy reminds me of a young British Bruno Kirby.
Mini's First Time - Amusing little comic crime-thriller, with Alec Baldwin and a very sexy Nikki Reed, along with boozy mom Carrie-Anne Moss, makes this a fun flick. Jeff Goldblum is in it, too. I can totally see these people all living in the same Beverly Hills neighborhood. And killing each other.
Death at a Funeral - English farce. With stiffs. 'nuff said.
Evening - Zzzzzzzz...what on Earth possessed me to watch this boring-assed chick flick? I could have spent the time better by punching myself in the head with a waffle iron. More entertaining, too.
Movies I'm going to watch soon and might discuss here:
While recently shooting a bunch of PSA-style videos of Democratic candidates, I was faced with the problem of getting them to look natural while reading their prepared statements. Cue cards didn't look natural, so I decided to build a teleprompter so they could maintain "eye contact" with the camera.
First, I searched for a free teleprompter program. I found Prompt! 7.0, a low-cost software package with a very usable free version that allows scrolling reverse-text and white letters on a black background, which I'll explain. The download is available from http://www.movieclip.biz/prompt.html
(click on any of these images for a much larger detail view)
I took an old milk crate, turned it over so the opening was facing down. Then I cut out one full side, leaving about an inch of the frame along the bottom to give it structural strength. Then I cut about a 6-inch diameter hole opposite it, for the camera. I took black construction paper and covered every square inch of the crate except for the holes.
As you can probably guess, I'm fond of that blue painter's tape for projects like this, because it doesn't leave any glue behind and it's very easy to peel off and reuse it.
I found an old picture frame in my basement and took out the glass. I put some plastic framing (it's silver here) around the glass to cover the sharp edges. Then I mounted the glass inside the box at a 45-degree angle. It's good to mount it in a way that allows you to adjust the angle slightly for fine tuning. The framing around the glass is just big enough inside the box to hold in place with friction, but I'm sure it's easy enough to come up with a reasonable mount if needed. This view is looking into the teleprompter from the actor's side, and the white square is the camera hole in the back. You can see the glass in it's frame inside the crate.
Run the Prompt! software on a computer. You can edit your text in it's built-in basic text editor. Once you're done, you can run the text reverse-image. (Update: I found out how to extend the text box to the bottom of the display, now it shows a full page of text)
We hooked up a separate flat screen and laid it on the table top. That way, we can watch and control the scrolling speed on the notebook while the flat screen is dedicated to the teleprompter.
The top of the flat screen is oriented towards your subject, so the glass that will be above it at the 45-degree angle will properly reflect and display the text. That's why you need to have the text in reverse-image in the flat screen, so it's readable when reflected in the glass.
Carefully place the box over the flat screen. You might have to change the angle of the box or the glass in order for your actor to read it. You also have to raise it up so they can read it easily. Position the camera through the hole in the back, and try to use black construction paper to matte out any places where light can get in around the lens.
Here's what the person sees. I left a little space around the camera to demonstrate where it is, but it works best when you block all the light from coming through.
Once you set the camera, you need to matte out any space around it where light might leak in, so your subject can read the reflected text easily.
This is the view through the camera hole with text projected on the screen. Because your set is lit so brightly, the text is too faint for the camera to pick up. But your actor can read the lines easily because the box is so dark.
Here I am using the cursor keys to vary the scrolling speed of the text. It's a bit of a trick to read along with the person talking when all the type is backwards. But the text is so big, you can pretty much follow along.
This was a fun little project, and it works surprisingly well. Many of our candidates aren't professional speakers, but their videos look great and we usually got it done in a couple of takes. Here's an example:
I wasn't able to be there while they were filming, but only about 1/2 mile from my house they were filming a scene for "Righteous Kill (2008)" in a little bar.
The Star Cafe is something of a dive (but don't call it "seedy") where I've drank a few Buds and listened to the occasional band, such as Long Island's "Good Rats".
Early on the day of filming, I drove by and shot this photo:
At first I thought they were fumigating the bar, but it turned out they covered the front windows and door because they were filming a night scene, and they needed to block out the daylight.
Below are newspaper photos of the actors at this location: Al Pacino, Donnie Walhberg, and Robert De Niro.
And here's a clip of a local newspaper account of the day's filming:
Pamela McLaughlin, Register Staff 09/07/2007
MILFORD — The movie crew on Spring Street needed bullhorns to be heard Thursday, but Nicole Parsell was plenty loud enough without one.
"Ahhhhhh, I touched him; Al, Al, Al," Parsell swooned with such unbridled emotion that it’s a wonder they didn’t give her a role.
Parsell’s left hand indeed had been brushed by Academy Award-winning actor and eternal hunk Al Pacino when she stretched out her arms as he entered through the side door of Star Cafe on Bridgeport Avenue.
"He has some soft hands," said Parsell.
This wasn’t about "Scent of a Woman," but rather of a man; Parsell, who lives next door to the cafe, graciously shared her fortune by letting other women around her smell the cologne Pacino had left on her palm.
Pacino and Robert De Niro, another Academy Award-winner, were in Milford to shoot two scenes at the neighborhood bar for their upcoming movie "Righteous Kill," in which De Niro plays a police investigator on the hunt for a serial killer.
Community Development Director Robert Gregory, who spent years in community theater, played an extra sitting at the bar. Gregory, who is the city’s liaison to the Devon Revitalization Committee, said the movie is a great boon to that section of the city.
"This movie will become part of the folklore of Devon and Milford," he said. "That’s something you can’t pay for."
As early as 8 a.m. a small group of curious bystanders had gathered and all else looked as usual, except for black material obscuring the front entrance to the cafe. By 11 a.m. the place was bustling with spectators, film crews, wardrobe people, set designers and Equity actors sent in to play patrons and bar personnel.
The bar’s real crew members are normally night owls, but for this they were up with the roosters.
"I put on a little extra makeup — this is exciting," bartender Chris Burnaka said, hoping to get into a shot. She said the Star Cafe is portrayed as a "cop bar" in the movie. When asked if it was a cop bar in real life, Burnaka laughed, "No, normally they’re outside waiting for our customers."
Bar owner Ray Tooley, who also has a swing shift job at Metro-North working on the high-tension lines, said he took a sick day Thursday so he could attend the filming.
"I’d rather be sleeping," Tooley said. "If it was Sharon Stone, I’d be excited."
Tooley said he’s hoping if the movie’s a success, men will want to say, "I spilled a drink on my wife where Al Pacino sat."
The bar was chosen for the film, set in New York, by location manager Dave Diamond, who lives on the waterfront nearby. He sent his crew out looking at bars throughout the area, and Star Cafe was chosen for two conversation scenes because the inside of the bar is deep and wide. Diamond said he usually works in Los Angeles where film crews are common, and so it still amazes him that folks care to come out to watch.
The bar is clean inside — Tooley and the crew objected to the word seedy used in one press account — but has a definite everyman’s feel: pickled eggs for sale, lots of neon beer signs, three pool tables and lots of dark wood paneling and brick.
Burnaka said the crew wanted to move a string of beer bottle lights closer to the area of filming and when she offered to dust them first, the answer was, "No, they’re perfect!"
By 3 p.m. Pacino was still inside and a crowd of about 70 — by now standing behind police tape — waited excitedly for De Niro’s arrival. But then word came it wouldn’t be until evening because they were going to film until 10. By 7 p.m. the two superstars were inside shooting a scene together.
Another star, Donnie Wahlberg, also was on the set Thursday.
In the afternoon, Pacino signed autographs for a group in back of the bar, where he took breaks to make calls on his cell phone.
Kathy Smith wasn’t all too subtle in her quest to be noticed; she walked her grandson to the school bus stop wearing a white shirt that said "Sopranos" in big red letters and "Tony 1" on the back. Once he was gone, she made the corner her personal catwalk.
"I’m hoping if they see the Sopranos shirt they’ll want me sitting in the back of the bar sipping a beer," said Smith, who said she’s seen "The Godfather" at least 100 times and can finish the lines. "Even if they want to borrow it they can, but I want a picture of me and Robert De Niro. If I see him I’m going to yell, ‘Hey, Max Cady,’" she said, referring to De Niro’s role as a psychopath in "Cape Fear."
I haven't posted anything here in a while, so here's a list of movies I've seen recently. In chronological order of me watching them, along with my usual massively brilliant observations:
Live Free or Die Hard - Exactly what I expected. I do have to say that I'm getting a little tired of the overdone CGI in movies these days. I used to be impressed by regular stunts and pyrotechnics. These days the action is so amazingly unlikely that it takes me right out of the story. I remember being far more impressed by the stunts in Die Hard (I) and Lethal Weapon (I), before all that computer generated stuff became popular.
Wind Chill - Luke-cool horror flick with Emily Blunt...not very scary. But I got to see it for free.
London (2005) - Twenty-somethings getting overly dramatic about nothing much; an absurd amount of "nose candy" was portrayed being used...somebody should clue the writers in to the fact that the '70's have been over for a few decades now.
Trees Lounge (1996) - Steve Buscemi's examination of low-life boozers. Watch for a visual nod to "Resevoir Dogs".
Zodiac - Reasonably interesting but somewhat overlong look at the Bay Area serial killer's pursuers.
Reign Over Me - Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle in a post 9/11 drama. So so. But probably better than "Chuck and Larry", Sandler's latest "movie".
Grindhouse - QT's love letter to the exploitation genre of the '70s. Fun ride, but I wonder when he'll finally come up with an original concept for one of his movies.
Election (1999) - Alexander Payne's comedic look at high school politics. A very determined Reese Witherspoon stars, along with Matthew Broderick. It's a cute little movie.
Visitor Q (Bijitâ Q) (2001) - While quite unique and interesting, this is one of those films that I sort of wish I could un-watch. Some scenes were so horrific that I started feeling sorry for the actors. Very twisted Japanese movie.
Knocked Up - Somewhat funny and surprisingly sweet Hollywood product. Katherine Heigl reminds me a bit of Charleze Theron, only not so "Monster"-ish.
"Two-fer" Movies: These are similarly themed and/or made by the same director that benefit from being watched together. It's a nice way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon.
Before Sunrise and Before Sunset - 9 years apart look at a young man and woman who meet each other in Europe for one night/day only. Especially effective if viewed in tandem. Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke star in this character-driven story.
Henry Fool and Faye Grim - Another pair of films that are best seen back to back. Thomas Jay Ryan, James Urbaniak, and Parker Posey star in this off-beat continuing story.
Buffalo 66 and Brown Bunny - Two of Vincent Gallo's movies, they don't necessarily need to be seen together, but I found it helpful. Gallo's style can be a bit frustrating, especially in BB where many of his camera shots are excrutiatingly long. BB is controversial only in that nobody in the viewing audience apparently is adult enough to handle a simple non-simulated sex scene without all sorts of media hype and criticism. Don't bother seeing the film just for that one scene, though; watch it for the incredibly boring overlong static shots, instead.
One Last Movie:
A special mention goes out to Paris Je T'aime, a collection of 18 short love stories by different directors, starring some major name actors. The nicest thing about this movie is that if you find any one story boring, you can go get yourself a soda and some chips from the kitchen and when you come back, it'll be wrapping up!
This was from last weekend, going over to Port Jefferson and back. It was the first chance we got to cruise this season, and two of our friend's boats joined us. Fun time!
My friend Maura posted this on My Left Nutmeg, a local political blog. This is another Hollywood movie being filmed here in Connecticut. We're becoming the Vancouver of New England! I thought it would be good to repost here. Forgive the sloppy formatting; I'm too lazy to fix it. Enjoy!
(PS: To see lots more of Kate Winslet, rent "Little Children". Yowsa!) ------------------------------------------------------------------ I mentioned in a comment thread a while ago that the new Kate Winslet/Leonardo DiCaprio film, Revolutionary Road, was going to be filming on my street last week.
Well, the shoot got cancelled last Thursday, but the crew is back today -- and they decided to prominently feature my house and my next door-neighbor's house!
The production crew arrived at 6 this morning and rang our doorbell at 6:40, asking us to move our cars out of the driveway. They replaced them with these:
It's really exciting -- the production crew are focusing on our house and our next door neighbor's, so we've gotten our tree pruned, fake blooms put on our rhododendrons, and hanging laundry in our side yard.
I'll put up more photos later this morning as filming commences, and I've posted a few below the jump. (Click all to enlarge.)
Here's a photo from the casting call on Monday in New Haven. This guy is a bit silly, if you ask me. They already casted the part of "Indiana Jones", so why would he dress like Harrison Ford in the movie? Something tells me he ain't gonna get picked for anything.
-NEW HAVEN — They came from all over, young and old, big and little, in seersucker suits and tank tops, with tattoos, fedoras and hope.
People were so excited to be extras in the fourth "Indiana Jones" movie that when casting director Billy Dowd drove into the city Sunday evening and saw people already camping out on Crown Street, he knew he couldn't wait till 1 p.m. Monday to open his casting call. (more available from link above)
So, it turns out that Sean Connery won't be in the movie after all. But there's still Harrison Ford and Cate Blanchett, and the prospect of being cast as an extra in the movie which will shoot a motorcycle chase on the old Yale University campus.
With all the controversy about the final episode of The Sopranos, I thought I'd chime in on how it should have ended:
Phil Leotardo goes to the gas station and instead of getting whacked and having his head flattened by his rolling SUV, he simply makes the phone call he wanted and orders a pizza to be delivered to his home. The dramatic point to this is that when he gets home, he finds the delivery guy had been waiting for ten minutes and his pizza got cold.
So Phil doesn't tip the pizza guy.
Paulie Walnuts is creeped out by the cat, so he brings it to the animal shelter. It's a humane shelter, and the cat is later adopted.
The ironic twist is that it gets adopted by Satanists, who crucify it during a black mass.
Tony visits Uncle Junior in the hospital, and later that day Junior forgets to eat his jello with dinner. Then he drools on himself while watching TV.
Meadow gets a ticket because she parallel parked with her tire on the curb.
Anthony Jr. hits his head and forgets to be such a whiny asshole. He later becomes a successful advertising executive.
Dr. Melfi decides psychiatry is a load of crap, and then she replaces Rosie O'Donnell on "The View".
Carmela gets heartburn from the onion rings, and has to buy a roll of "Tums" at the counter. The cashier gives her an extra dime with her change, but Carm doesn't notice.
Tony Soprano gets angry because he put a stupid "Journey" song on by mistake when he meant to hit the buttons for "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by the Rolling Stones. In a fit of anger he punches the jukebox and hurts his hand.
The owner of the diner walks over to see what the hubbub is about, and Tony apologizes for making such a ruckus. The entire family leaves to go to the Walk-in Medical Clinic, where Tony has to wait 45 minutes to get X-rays taken of his hand. Fade to black.
Viola! That's about five times as exciting as what the showed on HBO the other night!
In any case, hopefully we won't ever have to watch James Gandolfini eat again, or hear him noisily breathing through his deviated septum anymore.
Maybe Tony didn't get whacked, but it feels like WE all did!
This is the third major film directed by Darren Aronofsky (previously, "Pi" (1998), and "Requiem for a Dream" (2000); both very good films).
The Fountain stars Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz in a richly textured story of love transceding time. The plot is somewhat confusing at times, varying from the year 1500 to present day to 500 years in the future; and the ending is purposefully ambiguous, but it's a great flick to watch just for the joy of a true cinematic experience.
Anyone familiar with Aronofsky's work will recognize his use of redundant images and sounds. Whereas "Pi" was a film about the mind, and "Requiem..." was about the body, "The Fountain" explores the human heart.
Hollywood veteran Ellen Burstyn scores with a good supporting role, too. Overall, a visually stunning movie with great performances and a story that begs contemplation afterwards. Don't expect to be spoon-fed a Hollywood plot with THIS flick!
I've been watching a lot of movies lately via Netflix. Some really obscure stuff, too.
For instance, lately I've been on a little Parker Posey kick. I have NO idea why, but I've been seeing a lot of her stupid movies. Recently I rented Henry Fool, the quirky 1997 Hal Hartley flick starring Posey, Thomas Jay Ryan and James Urbaniak ("Robert Crumb" in American Splendor).
After seeing that, I found out that Hartley made a sequel focusing on Posey's character, Fay Grim. So I watched that.
Then, to absolutely convince myself that she can just barely act her way out of a paper bag (but only if the paper bag is soaking wet, and has a small rip in the side...and if she has the director hollering instructions to her from just out of camera range on how to properly act her way out of the bag), I rented The OH in Ohio, the odd 2006 sex comedy.
OK, I'm convinced. Parker Posey is cute as a button, but she doesn't have a lot of range in her skill set. Which is fine, if you want to watch her basically emote her way through a movie but never really connect with her character.
And for these movies, that's pretty much alright.
But did they HAVE to do the exact same "vibrating beeper in the panties" gag in TWO movies she was in that were released in the same year? (see "Fay Grim" and "OH in Ohio")
Next up: Who would win in a bar fight? Rachel Weisz or Kate Winslet?
This is supposedly the exterior of the bar, taken at another location. It establishes the fiction that the bar is located in a downtown NYC area, rather than the suburban street that the real bar is on.
This is the actual exterior of the bar, with the windows blacked out because either they knew the movie was gonna bomb and they didn't want anyone seeing it, or more likely because they were shooting scenes that represented nighttime and they didn't want sunlight streaming in to ruin the effect.
