20 posts tagged “movies”
Erika Abrams, Fatih Akin, Yves Alberty, Stephane Allagnon, Woody Allen, Pedro Almodovar, Gianni Amelio, Wess Anderson, Michel Andrieu, Roger Andrieux, Jean-Jacques Annaud, Tomas Arana, Frédéric Aranzueque-Arrieta, Alexandre Arcady, Fanny Ardant, Asia Argento, Marie-Hélène Arnau, Darren Aronofsky, Olivier Assayas, Alexander Astruc, Gabriel Auer, Zdzicho Augustyniak, Alexandre Babel, Vladimir Bagrianski, Lubomila Bakardi, Fausto Nicolás Balbi, Eleonor Baldwin, Jean-François Balmer, Alberto Barbera Museo nazionale de Torino, Luc Barnier, Christophe Barratier, Ernest Barteldes, Carmen Bartl, Pascal Batigne, Anne Baudry, Juan Antonio Bayona, Xavier Beauvois, Liria Begeja, Matthieu Béguelin, Gilles Behat, Jean-Jacques Beineix, Marco Bellochio, Yannick Bellon, Florence Bellone, Monica Bellucci, Véra Belmont, Jacqueline Belon, Jean-Marc Benguigui, Djamel Bennecib, Luc Béraud, Jacob Berger, Alain Berliner, Gael Garcia Bernal, Pascal Berney, Xavier Berry, Bernardo Bertolucci, Giuseppe Bertolucci, Jean-Marie Besset, Marlène Bisson, Arnstein Bjørkly, Lucien Blacher, Virginie Blanc-Brude Bard, Jean-Marc Bloch, Léa Bloch, Catherine Boissière, Anne-Sylvie Bonaud, Olivier Bonnet, Thierry Boscheron, Renata Bosco, Freddy Bossy, Patrick Bouchitey, Cédric Bouchoucha, Paul Boujenah, Frédéric Bourboulon, Katia Boutin, Ian Brady, Jacques Bral, Sophie Bramly, Paulo Branco, Patrick Braoudé, Guila Braoudé, Edwin Brienen, Adrien Brody, Isabelle Broué, Max Brun, Merima Bruncevic, Anne Burki, André Buytaers, Emilie Buzyn, Anthony Byrne, Marco Cacioppo, Gerald Calderon, Monica Cannizzaro, Peggy Carajopoulou-Vavali, John Carchietta, Christian Carion, Henning Carlsen, Jean-Michel Carré, Esteban Carvajal Alegria, Lionel Cassan, Bryan Cassiday, Miss Catadler, Mathieu Celary, Teco Celio, Muriel Cerf, Dabiel Chabannes, Thierry Chabert, Chagi, Jean-Yves Chalangeas, Daniel Champagnon, Christophe Champclaux, Georges Chappedelaine , Fabienne Chauveau, Claire Chazal, Patrice Chéreau, Brigitte Chesneau, Michel Chevalier, Mishka Cheyko, Catherine Chiono, Catherine Chouchan, Elie Chouraqui, Elie Chouraqui, Souleymane Cissé, Jean- Pierre Clech, Henri Codenie, Robert Cohen, Catherine Colassin, Suzanne Colonna, Jean-Paul Commin, Anne Consigny, Alain Cophignon, Alain Corneau, Jérôme Cornuau, Guy Courtecuisse, Miguel Courtois, Antoine Courtray, Guillaume Cousin, Morgan Crestel, Rudyard Cretenet, Dominique Crevecoeur, Penelope Cruz, Alfonso Cuaron, Estelle Cywje, Frédéric Damien, Sophie Danon, Olivier Dard, Luc et Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Isabelle Dassonville, Bruno de Almeida, Bruno de Almeida, Marion de Blaÿ, François de Lamothe, Hervé de Luze, Artus de Penguern, Valérie de Saint-Do, Virginie De Wilde, Olivier Debert, Viviane Decuypere, Guillermo del Toro, Benoît Delmas, Michel Deloore, Jonathan Demme, Nicolaine den Breejen, Ruud den Dryver, Louisa Dent, Edwin Dervaux, Dante Desarthe, Romain Desbiens, Sophie Deschamps, Thomas Desjonquères, Alexandre Desplat, Chris Devi, Rosalinde et Michel Deville, Guillaume D'Ham, Christelle Didier, Kathrin DiPaola, Claire Dixsaut, Julien Doger, Xavier Dolan, Ariel Dorfman, Jean Douchet, Jean Douchet, Fabrice du Welz, Marina Duarte Nunes Ferreira, Danièle Dubroux, Marc Dufrenois, François Duhamel, Sissi Duparc, Jean Dusaussoy, Georges Dybman, Daniel Edinger, Arne Eickenberg, Yaniv Elani, Gerónimo Elortegui, Gerónimo Elortegui, Elrem, Sam Enoch, Peter Lucas Erixon, Ernest, Ann Eyckmans, Jacques Fansten, Joël Farges, Gianluca Farinelli (Cinémathèque de de Bologne), Etienne Faure, Maud et Romain Ferrari, Michel Ferry, Jean Teddy Filippe, Aurélie Fiorentino, Alan Fischer, Martine Fitoussi, Sebastian Fleischhacker, Joy Fleury, Michael Flynn, Hugues Fontenoy, Scott Foundas, Werner Fraai, Jean-Robert Franco, Stephen Frears, Marion Frelat, Thierry Frémaux, Marc Freycon, Nadine Fruchard, Sam Gabarski, Jean Francois Gaillard, René Gainville, Sara Gandolfi, Matteo Garone, Yves Gasser, Tony Gatlif, Catherine Gaudin-Montalto, Jean-Marc Gauthier, Costa Gavras, Nathalie Geiser, Lizi Gelber, Isabelle Gély, Jean-Marc Ghanassia, Alain Gil, Véronique Gillet, Terry Gilliam, Christian Gion, François Girault, Stéphane Gizard, Nelson Gonzalez, Carlos Miguel Bernardo González, Christophe Goumand, Michel Gras, Eric Gravereau, Martin Gregus, Thierry Grizard, Philippe Gruss, Florent Guézengar, Marc Guidoni, Marta Gutowska, Mikael Håfström, Ronald Harwood, Dimitri Haulet, Geert Heirbaut, Buck Henry, Nicole Herbaut de Lamothe, David Heyman, Laurent Heynemann, Joshua Highfield , Dominique Hollier, Isabelle Hontebeyrie, Frédéric Horiszny, Robert Hossein, Jean-Loup Hubert, Wendy Hudson, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Gilles Jacob, Eric et Veronique et Nicolas Jacquelin, Just Jaeckin, Thomas Jahn, Olivia Janik, Jean-Baptiste Jay, Anne Jeandet, Marie Jergan, Alain Jessua, Renate Jett, Sébastien Jimenez, Arthur Joffé, Pierre Jolivet, Kent Jones (World Cinema Foundation), Peter Josy, Alexandra Julen, Paola Jullian, Roger Kahane, Pierre Kalfon, Elisabeth Kalinowski, Reena Kanji, Nelly Kaplan, Wong Kar Waï, Nicolas Kermel, Darius Khondji, Ladislas Kijno, Muriel Kintziger, Richard Klebinder, Jonathan Klein, Harmony Korine, Jan Kounen, Chantal Krakowski, Sylvia Kristel, Diane Kurys, Elzbieta Kusak-Majchrzak, Emir Kusturica, Irene Kuznetzova, Jean Labadie, Eliane Lacroux, Eric Lagesse, Michel Laigle, Stéphane Lam, John Landis, Claude Lanzmann, David Lanzmann, André Larquié, Pauline Larrieu, Jacques et Françoise Lassalle, Marc Latil, Carole Laure, Christine Laurent-Blixen, Pierre Laville, Emilien Lazaron, Eric Le Roy, Pierre Le Scouarnec, Fábio Leal, Vinciane Lecocq, Patrice Leconte, Linda Lefebvre, Béatrice Lefoulon, Delphine Legros, Claude Lelouch, Ann Lemonnier, Julieta Lencina, Alain Lenglet, Gérard Lenne, Les Nanaqui, Larry Levine, Charlotte Levy, Lorraine Lévy, Pierre et Renée Lhomme, Katarzyna Lipinska, Jean-Claude Irving Longin, Marceline Loridan-Ivens, Michael Louis Wells, Boris Loundine, Rachel Lowenstein, Catalina Lozano, Hugo Luczyc-Wyhowski, Flore Luquet, Laurence Lustyk, David Lynch, Bania Madjbar, Krzysztof Majchrzak, Laurent Malet, Tim Malieckal, Guy Malugani, Erling Mandelmann, Michael Mann, Yvon Marciano, François Margolin, Jean-Pierre Marois, Tonie Marshall, Alain Martin, Sandrine Martin, Danielle Martinetti, Florent Martinez, Didier Martiny, Mario Martone, Thierry Mathelin, Christine Mathis, Esmeralda Mattei, Nicolas Mauvernay, Yannick Mazet, Christopher, Spencer et Claire Mc Andrew, Natalie Mei, Guillermo Menaldi, Mathieu Mercier, Muriel Mercier, Frédéric Mermoud, Laura Metaxa, Allison Michel, Radu Mihaileanu, Jean-Louis Milesi, Claude Miller, Lionel Miniato, Nelly Moaligou, Jean - Marc Modeste , Mario Monicelli, Jeanne Moreau, Frédéric Moreau, Sarah Moreau-Flament, Gael Morel, Omayra Muñiz Fernández, Stephanie Murat, Christian Mvogo Mbarga, Anna N.Levine, Charles Nemes, Juliette Nicolas-Donnard, Sandra Nicolier, Rachel Noël, Rui Nogueira, Olivier Nolin, Alejandra Norambuena Skira, Fabrice Nordmann, Fabrice O. Joubert, Marc Obéron, Michel Ocelot, David Ogando, Mariana Oliveira Santos, Szentgyörgyi Ottó, Martine Pagès, Eric Pape, Abner Pastoll, Alexander Payne, Nicola Pecorini, Richard Pena (Directeur Festival de NY), Lindsey Pence, Olivier Père, Suzana Peric, Jacques Perrin, Cesare Petrillo, Thomas Pibarot, Michel Piccoli, Arnaud Pierrichon, Stéphane Pietri, Anne Pigeon Bormans, Samuel Pinon, Claude Pinoteau, Michele Placido, Sabrina Poidevin, Agnès Catherine Poirier, Jean-Yves Potel, Stéphane Pozderec, Harry Prenger, Jean et Marie Prévost, Gilbert Primet, Marie-Hélène Raby, Philippe Radault, Tristan Rain, Florence Raphaël, Florence Raphel, Jean-Paul Rappeneau, Joseph Rassam, Rolandas Rastauskas, Brett Ratner, Raphael Rebibo, Carol Reid, Jo Reymen, Laurence Reymond, Yasmina Reza, Christiane Rhein, Jacques Richard, Dominique Robert, Margarita Robski, Jean-Jacques Rochut, Christian Rogler, Yannick Rolandeau, Paul Rondags, Avital Ronell, Frank Roozendaal, Graciela Rosato, Elisabeth Roudinesco, Kontochristopoulou Roula, Laurence Roulet, Joshua Rout, Paolo Roversi, Isabelle Ruh, Martin Ruhe, Sonia Rykiel, Anita S. Chang, Esteban S. Goffin, JOAQUÍN Sabina, Marc Saffar, Ludivine Sagnier, Gabriela Salazar Scherman, Walter Salles, Jean-Paul Salomé, Jean-Frédéric Samie, Marc Sandberg, Léo Scalpel, Jerry Schatzberg, Richard Schlesinger, Daniel Schmidt, Georg Schmithüsen, Julian Schnabel, Pierre Schoendoerffer, Barbet Schroeder, J. Neil Schulman, Pierre Schumacher, Pierre-Alexandre Schwab, Ettore Scola, Luis Gustavo Sconza Zaratin Soares, Martin Scorsese, Carole Scotta, Steven Sedgwick, Andrea Sedlackova, Frank Segier, Michèle Seguin-Sirhugue, Guy Seligmann, Elis Semczuk, Lorenzo Semple Jr, Julien Seri, Joël Séria, Catherine Sermet, Ken Seton-Vyhnal, Sophie Sharkov, Boris Shlafer, Antoine Silber, Pierre Silvant, Charlotte Silvera, Noel Simsolo, Christophe Sirodeau, Abderrahmane Sissako, Beatrice Sisul , Petter Skavlan, Marcin Sokolowski, Loïc Sorel, Paolo Sorrentino, Vassilis Sourapas, Roch Stephanik, Karen Stetler, Denise Stieglitz, Guillaume Stirn, Bernard Stora, Gérard Stum, Jean-Marc Surcin, Tilda Swinton, Piotrek Szymanek, Jean-Charles Tacchella, Radovan Tadic, Mickael Tanguy, Danis Tanovic, Bertrand Tavernier, André Techiné, Cécile Telerman, Harold Alvarado Tenorio, Marie-Ange Terrier, Alain Terzian, Christian Texier, Jean-Paul Thaens, Valentine Theret, Virginie Thévenet, Pascal Thomas, Jeremy Thomas, Marc Thomas Charley, Cyril Thurston, Giuseppe Tornatore, Serge Toubiana, Daniel Treichler, Nadine Trintignant, Julie Turcas, Mitja Tušek, Tom Tykwer, Alexandre Tylski, Stephen Ujlaki, José Antonio Valdés Peña, Jaques Vallotton, Phil van der Linden, Betrand van Effenterre, Leopold van Genechten, Christophe van Rompaey, Dorna van Rouveroy, Elbert van Strien, Vangelis, Alessio Vannetti, Lucília Verdelho da Costa, Christian Verdu, Jean-Pierre Vergne, Sarah Vermande, Julien Veyret, Francesco Vezzoli, Régine Vial, Vivien Villani, Marc Villemain, Jean-François Villemer, Daria Vinault, Verde Visconti, Alain Vorimore, Thomas Vossart, Gilles Walusinski, Eric Watton, Monika Weibel, Dominique Welinski, Wim Wenders, Andy Whittaker, Anaïse Wittmann, A Wolanin, Margot Wolfs, Peter Woltil, Arnaud Xainte, Steve Yeo, Paule Zajdermann, Christian Zeender, Terry Zwigoff.
(Bold emphasis mine to indicate names I've heard of.)
This is what they signed:
Petition for Roman Polanski
We have learned the astonishing news of Roman Polanski's arrest by the Swiss police on September 26th, upon arrival in Zurich (Switzerland) while on his way to a film festival where he was due to receive an award for his career in filmmaking.
His arrest follows an American arrest warrant dating from 1978 against the filmmaker, in a case of morals.
Filmmakers in France, in Europe, in the United States and around the world are dismayed by this decision. It seems inadmissible to them that an international cultural event, paying homage to one of the greatest contemporary filmmakers, is used by the police to apprehend him.
By their extraterritorial nature, film festivals the world over have always permitted works to be shown and for filmmakers to present them freely and safely, even when certain States opposed this.
The arrest of Roman Polanski in a neutral country, where he assumed he could travel without hindrance, undermines this tradition: it opens the way for actions of which no-one can know the effects.
Roman Polanski is a French citizen, a renown and international artist now facing extradition. This extradition, if it takes place, will be heavy in consequences and will take away his freedom.
Filmmakers, actors, producers and technicians - everyone involved in international filmmaking - want him to know that he has their support and friendship.
On September 16th, 2009, Mr. Charles Rivkin, the US Ambassador to France, received French artists and intellectuals at the embassy. He presented to them the new Minister Counselor for Public Affairs at the embassy, Ms Judith Baroody. In perfect French she lauded the Franco-American friendship and recommended the development of cultural relations between our two countries.
If only in the name of this friendship between our two countries, we demand the immediate release of Roman Polanski.
Taken from:
http://www.sacd.fr/Tous-les-signataires-de-la-petition-All-signing-parties.1341.0.html
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Every one of them should be called to account. Every one of them should explain their reasoning behind affixing their good name to this petition, which asks that because a crime is old, because the victim has forgiven the criminal in order to move on with her life, and because the criminal had a) a hard life and b) is basically a charming rascal who makes great movies -- he should be set free once and for all.
To which I cry bullshit. Like Polanski's films or not (and I generally do), he's not above anyone else. Here's the grand jury transcript from the trial, read if you have a strong stomach:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/polanskicover1.html
-- if that had been your 13-year-old sister, daughter, friend ... would you care that it had been decades since it happened?
No, you would not.
Those who support this should be held accountable. Here are their names. Make them explain themselves.
Please feel free to repost this on your own Facebook or blog page.
Number 1: I joined Facebook. I know, I caved. Now I have more things to waste my time than ever before!
Number 2: I became art. Thanks to LeendaDLL, for the idea!
Number 3: I learned that the monster you make up is always more scary than the real-live thing. (I had to tell my boss something I thought could turn so unpleasant I might have to resign, and instead he just said "okay" and all was well.)
Number 4: I abandoned the phrase "jump the shark" for good. Because there's a much better one now: "nuke the fridge." (And if you realize what that refers to before you hit the link, it's so much more delightful.)
This isn't one of those calculated-to-be-cool answers; I didn't go through the algorithms of:
old picture (good)
+
legendary actors starring (good)
+
not the obvious choice (i.e. Casablanca, Citizen Kane) (good)
+
not a camp selection (in order to downplay cheesiness) (good)
=
cool choice
It does fit all of that, but that's not why it's my choice. It's damn funny, for one thing, even by today's standards. That's when they really wrote a script, with jokes that were intelligent and verbal, not having to do with farts (farts are funny, but not all the time) or overt sexual innuendo (though there's plenty of sex under the surface), and you could apply the phrase "verbal repartee" and it would mean something. Then it has The Sexiest Man Ever to Grace The Screen Who Isn't George Clooney (that would be Cary Grant), and then it has my favorite actress of all time as the star: Katharine Hepburn.
I just dig her. In real life, she was way ahead of her time; a feminist before anyone called anyone that, wore pants before women really did that -- literally and figuratively. Then, after taking her bumps in the industry (she was called Katharine of Arrogance, there was that legendary review from critic Dorothy Parker who said of Hepburn's appearance in a play, "She runs the gamut of emotions from A to B"), took charge of her career in a way few actors, much less actresses did. Yes, she had some patrons: family friend Philip Barry, who based "TPS" very much off of the Hepburn household, and Tracy Lord on Kate, and Howard Hughes, her onetime suitor who helped her buy the rights to "TPS" the play and then "TPS" the movie so that she could star and restart her career. Which is exactly what happened.
But it's not even just those things I like about "TPS." I really like Tracy Lord throughout the film (I've never seen the play), and I always feel like she gets a bum rap. She's got a philandering father, her ex husband was a drunk, and all around her people are fools, silly, incompetent or some combination thereof. Can she help it that she's, well, none of those things? I find her sympathetic early on, then everyone starts calling her on being cold and insensitive to human frailty and I'm thinking -- well, yeeeees, but ... come on, y'all are morons! But Tracy takes it on the chin and starts actually hearing all of them for the first time, gets drunk at her own party and nearly gets it on with Jimmy Stewart (and after he woos he at the pool, who wouldn't?) and passes out. The next morning she's quite sure she has done the nasty with Jimmy, and is all contrite and very much, "Well, y'all were right, I'm no better than the rest of you." But she didn't! Maybe only because she passed out, but the point is that everyone else with all their "human frailties" all around her are still just the same incompetents they were before, while she just got drunk.
Still, you go along with the fact that Tracy Has Learned to Be Human and it all wraps up quite nicely at the end. I do have this argument with the film -- especially a scene where her dad insinuates that if she'd been "the right kind of daughter" he wouldn't have been a philanderer, which to modern ears has an ick level you don't really want to think about, but even that aside sounds deeply condescending and void of responsibility; Mr. Lord is my least favorite character in the picture -- but it doesn't stop me from absolutely loving this picture. I even love the musical version, "High Society," with Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra in the Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart roles, even if Grace Kelly was in the lead. She's not bad, but she's the Gwyneth Paltrow of her day and I don't like GP either. (Plus, "HS" has Louis Armstrong so you can't miss there.) "HS" also has one of my favorite musical sequences ever:
Which leads me to what I was doing tonight. Katharine Houghton, Kate's niece and Sydney Poitier's other half from "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" gave a talk tonight at the Metropolitan Museum of Art about her aunt, and talked us through the early arc of Kate's career, from the gender-bending flop of "Sylvia Scarlett" to the fighting-for-her-life ensemble "Stage Door" to the career resurrecting "The Philadelphia Story." Over an hour and a half she scattered anecdotes from her aunt's history with critical notices and clips from the films; the museum is going to screen all three tomorrow (I decided I could have my own marathon at home if I wanted, since I own all three). I'm sad that I never got to meet Kate, and Houghton is not exactly a pale imitation -- she's no imitation at all -- but I do love jumping at the chance to enjoy some Kate history with someone who at least knew her. (She came on the stage in some kind of fur-trimmed vestment carrying a glass of clear liquid and assured us it "wasn't gin" before she went to the podium.)
Right, so there was a point here.
The point being: "TPS" and "HS" -- if you haven't seen either, get 'em now. Fantastic films.
************
Unrelated: I applied for "The Alaska Experiment 2" today. I'm quite sure that a) I won't get chosen and b) if I do get chosen my current job will disqualify me, but we'll see. Frankly I'd be terrified to do it, but it's also one of those once-in-a-lifetime things. I have no interest in being on TV, but arguably if there's a camera crew watching you do all this stuff, you're less likely to get killed in the process. Arguably. At least the whole first season cast came back intact, so there's that going for it.
Then again, maybe it's just an excuse to meet Les Stroud, who hosted the reunion special?
I sense Kate would approve of such folly, though.
What can I say, except that in addition to this blog there's the one for work, the one for the band, the one for the faded but still present obsession, and there's one they're trying to get me to contribute to but I need more hours in the day if I'm going to think about that one.
And generally, by the time I'm home from work, I'm about out of ideas. Everybody wants ideas these days, but getting the ideas I think are neat or interesting or fun accepted by whoever wants those ideas seems the challenge. Also, the place that most wants my ideas these days is cutting my paycheck, but they're also asking me to do things that -- as Peter Sagal from "Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me" might say -- are Not My Job. What's the old much-abused saying -- "First they came to me and said, 'Contribute to our blog, because it is the new and cool thing,' and I spoke up and said,' Sure.' Then they came to me and said, 'Produce, interview and appear visually in our video pieces from film festivals,' and I spoke up and said, 'Okay.' Then they said, 'Come up with issue ideas, because we love new ideas,' and I spoke up and said, 'Well, all right then.' And then they came and said, 'Come up with issue ideas that are guaranteed to sell ads or you may suddenly not be valuable to us any more,' and by that time there was no way I could protest. Now, of course, if any of these job augmentations (read: not what I was hired for, even remotely) came with a subsequent bump in salary, I'd probably have been all right, if still a bit uncomfortable at the last bit (I grew up in a time when we were taught that editorial and advertising were church and state -- but these days in the U.S. even church and state isn't as church and state as it once was, so I guess stop bitching at the Way Things Once Were is the message).
Still, it's hard to complain overly loud, because I get to do things like go to the "Sex and the City" premiere at Radio City last Tuesday. (Little did I know that there were fools willing to fork over $19K for my ticket.) I went with Cameron, and knew ahead of time it would be a madhouse -- you don't do a premiere at Radio City Music Hall and not hand out the tickets ahead of time and expect things to run smoothly -- and I was rewarded by a block and a half queue just to get the Will Call Tickets.
And then it rained. Up umbrellas, out poke eyeballs, drip drip drip on your head from the runoff. And you know what? Of all of the people in this world who should be taken out in a street and beaten severely? People who use golf umbrellas off of a course. Listen to me, people: If the ratio of umbrella skin to your own head is greater than 3-1, put it away. Or I will beat you with your own enormous umbrella myself. I sense these are the people who answer their cell phones during movies, too.
Anyway, because as we discovered yesterday I'm all entitled and up in myself, I figured there had to be a better way. Maybe ... a press line was mere feet away and here we were, waiting with the regular folk! This was not to be borne, especially not in the rain. Cameron held the space and I headed to the top of the line, which was only the near top of the line because they had metal fence barricades corralling the very head of the line off to the side, and every few minutes they'd lop off another 20 people to actually get under the tent to retrieve tickets. As I arrived, one Southern-accented blonde woman was insisting to someone with a walkie-talkie: "Really, I need to get in there. I'm responsible for 10 percent of this film's budget!" I backed her up and told them: "Let her in -- she's the New York State Film Commissioner!" At which point she turned and laughed and said hello.
So it was like that. Well, as I stood and waited to see if a studio rep would come over so I could beg entry on my own merits, the line shifted forward a bit. I shifted along, and suddenly I was in among the mass of umbrellas and cranky patrons. I called Cameron. No answer. I texted: Come here now. And she came.
Soon enough we were inside -- and really, even if you have no reason to go to Radio City Music Hall for an event, get a tour. It is an art deco wonderland and has amazing acoustics. We wandered in the lobby to do what my high school friend Valerie once called "seeing and being seen," and we saw a lot of young women dressed as if they had been in the movie, in their best shoes and best dresses and their best eagle eyes, hoping to see someone famous. We saw Dean Winters and Ann Coulter. "Let's move to the left," I emphasized to Cameron once we confirmed it was the she-devil. "Way left."
The film started late, of course. They never start on time. Film executive thanked everybody, brought on the charity rep for whom the event was benefiting, brought on the director/writer, Michael Patrick King. King then introduced the lesser cast members in the audience, then brought "the girls" up on stage. I know it's cute and it's a cute film and all that, but y'know, past the age of 25 calling a woman a "girl" is demeaning in a way that gives me hives. I don't get all gooey being called a "girl," as if someone could mistake me for one, oooh, look how young I am -- I just begin to wonder what's up with the eyesight of the person calling me that. (NB: There are exceptions, of course.)
And I actually liked it. I thought I was going to be bored, or it would be depressing, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I never watched the show for itself; I only cared if Chris Noth was in it, and he's all over this version. He's also got some incredibly romantic shit to say, as well as make goo-goo eyes at Carrie, so that works for me. I think he's kind of a goony goofball in real life who doesn't care much about personal dress habits (all evidence bears me out on this) but he was HOTT in this film. I could revitalize my obsession given enough energy, but, see above for energy, lack thereof.
So here's where you get the high and low of the evening: I got to go to the after-party at the Museum of Modern Art. It's a nice space they use for these fetes, with a wide-open lower level and a wide staircase that leads to a substantial balcony where you can look down on all of the beautifully-coiffed folks. The low is I really had an assigned mission: Get a quote from one of the "girls." Unfortunately, the "girls" were all united in that they'd done all their talking on the red carpet (don't get me started on the insanity of the red carpet) and they weren't talking now. But, I was informed, Kristin Davis (Charlotte) was leaving in 15 minutes and she'd talk to me on the way out, so stand here at the bottom of the staircase. Which I did.
For an hour.
Cameron was a doll: She grabbed me a Cosmo or two (when they ran out of Cosmo mix she brought a "Miranda," which was a little tart and not very delicious), and even attempted to get in Chris Noth's personal space for a quote, but got blown off by his agent. And then, after all this time I said "Fuck it" and went upstairs to find another publicist, who confirmed for me that Davis had already left. "Didn't you see her?" Um. Apparently not.
So I went and got some food and ate in the garden with Cameron and enjoyed the last dregs of the party, which shut down sometime around midnight.
And that, I suppose, is why complaining about the gig and its demands is a little selfish of me. I suppose.
***************
For the record: Went to California. Got food poisoning the second day. (The first day was great: I took it as vacation and went to the "Law & Order: SVU" writers offices on the Universal Lot for the book and got lots of great quotes and information.) Then for the rest of the trip I just felt not quite right, was getting tired at 1pm and then crashing, so I came home early. Even canceled my trip to Monterey for Memorial Day Weekend. Le sigh: Will have to relax sometime ... later this year. Club Med, anyone?
Dear Publicists,
I am closed for any further contact about South By Southwest 2008.
My dance card is so full my feet are broken.
I am entertaining any offers to drive me to the airport tomorrow morning, however.
AT SIX.
For those who have an interest, I'll be blogging the fest here, and possibly here. When time allows. Which is never.
io9 has messed up my day.
It's way too unnerving to watch a trailer for "Doomsday" here....
Then moments later read this article, which reads in part:
The bacteria appear to be transmitted most easily through intimate sexual contact, but can spread through casual skin-to-skin contact or contact with contaminated surfaces. The scientists are concerned that it could also soon gain ground in the general population.
The new strain of bacteria is closely related to the MRSA bacteria that have spread beyond hospital borders in recent years and caused outbreaks of severe skin and other infections. But the newly discovered microbe is resistant to many more front-line antibiotics. Both strains are technically known as MRSA USA300.
Man, I really am going to have to get three months of supplies stocked up now.
Hi folks -- in addition to posting here I often have items up at the Past Deadline blog. Here's one that should be of particular interest to foodies and New Yorkers alike: All about Urban Rustic, the new organic grocery store in Williamsburg. Click on over!
Population: Me
Contains: "The Final Cut. Three Complete Archival Versions. Enhancement Archive. Ultra-Rare Pre-Release Workprint."
And a vial of Harrison Ford's blood. Well, maybe not.
I think I'm going to have a very special weekend.
The movies I got sent over the last few weeks as part of the run-up to Oscar nominations.
These are the films that need to be watched. Last night. Today. Tomorrow.
We will attempt to tackle the movies.
Along with lots of lovely food.
And a deep fat fryer.
Viewed thus far: "Does Your Soul Have a Cold?" (documentary) and "The Counterfeiters" (German entry for this year's Oscar).
Below, a section of the edibles, and their beloved cooking container.
Stay tuned....
So, Saturday's films were:
"Atonement"
"Juno"
"Once"
"Lust, Caution"
Consumed:
Much, including:
Gingerbread cookies (some the victims of an avalanche, some zombies, pictured)
Pizza bagels (pictured)
Cheesecake
Egg salad
Licorice
In attendance:
Mike (the master chef, aka Pope Awesome), Jen & Tim (who provided the cookie feast), Cameron (who did some last minute shopping for us)
We also formed a band, after seeing "Once." We're deciding on a name right now, but "The Bad Poets" may be in the offing.
Overall opinion on the movies: A lot of WWII-related drama going on. We're very focused on that as a society. That said, there's apparently lots of romance and sex to be had in WWII. And "Juno" was quite funny and charming but suffers from the "there are no 16 year olds who are like that in the universe" effect.
Overall opinion on the food: Awesome, way too much, a little too rich for some of us's digestive system.
That said, we are undeterred and will be moving into Sunday with fresh vittles and even fresher movies.
Sorry everyone can't be here!
UPDATE LATE SUNDAY
Today's films were:
"The Savages"
"Ben X"
"Dan In Real Life"
"Reservation Road"
Food consumed included:
Pastry-wrapped brie with peppers (pictured)
Fries con queso (and without) (pictured)
Onion rings
Strawberries (with and with Nutella)
And now we are full.
Roundup: Too many movies with precious/precocious children, or set in WWII or both. Too many movies with situations that are unrealistic, even for the advancement of plot's sake. But a few movies with some moving and unexpected twists ("Atonement" and "Ben X"). If I had to make a guess I'd say "Atonement" has it down for script but not acting. "Reservation Road" might get scripting but not acting nominations. "The Savages" should get an acting nomination for Philip Seymour Hoffman. And "The Counterfeiters" will definitely get nominated for the Oscar in the foreign category.
No developments on our band, however.
Happy New Year to all!
So, I went to see "I Am Legend" with about 3,000 other screaming New Yorkers on Tuesday night. Liked it, not a whole lot but a whole lot more than Mike did.
Can we start the countdown now to Will Smith's conversion to Scientology? Because he's hanging out with Tom Cruise way too much. I get they're now BFFs and all (apparently Jada took a shine to the Cruise on "Collateral"), but TC showed up at Will's Walk of Fame appearance in LA earlier this week, and then TC stole the red carpet at the premiere. He's in like every frickin' picture with Smith.
Someone suggested to me that the Cruise might be trying to get a little more cred for being human and friendly and like, a regular guy and all by hanging out with Smith, but in my opinion, if you're going to do that you have to remove your sunglasses on the red carpet especially when the red carpet is being held at night.
The man is walking Cheez Whiz.
Will, run away, quickly.
Anyway, so then I was walking home today. For reference, here's the "I Am Legend" poster (in case you've been under a rock and haven't seen it all over the world):
And I passed by this on my way to the subway:
And at first I was like: Same font? And then: Lone guy running in the empty street? And then I had to take a second look. So far as I know, there's no tie-in with Puma/"I Am Legend," which leads me to believe just this: Piggyback!
I am dubious.
