My husband and I watched Michael Clayton last evening. We were about 15 minutes into it - at the point where George Clooney walks up the hill to wave at the horses and his car blows up - when I realized that we'd actually rented this same film from Netflix a couple of years ago. I remembered almost none of it. To be sure, it's fast-paced and an interesting puzzle of a plot, plus it has a cast full of extremely talented actors. But the problem I had was the same as with last year's Inception - I didn't care about anyone in the film. Caring about the characters is what makes a movie a classic. It's why we watch Casablanca again and again (and why they keep cranking out DVDs.) We want to know what happens to Rick and Ilsa and Yvonne and Sascha and Captain Renault and so many others. An interesting puzzle, once you watch it, becomes as memorable as yesterday's crossword.
Of course, that doesn't explain the endless sequels to Halloween.
I've been trying to get my head around something actor/producer Richard Cutting said in an online conversation a week or so ago. I'm not a linear thinker unfortunately. I think in concentric circles. My brain gathers bits of information, none of which seem related, except that they all finally come together at a common center and a lightbulb goes on. No lightbulb yet.
Black Swan is generating some buzz. It sounds reminiscent of the 1947 Ronald Coleman film A Double Life, where Coleman plays a reknown Shakespearean actor who starts thinking he is Othello instead of just playing the role. It ends with him killing himself on stage. Nothing new under the sun, as they say. I've heard good things about Black Swan, but will we care? Coleman is remembered for The Prisoner of Zenda and Lost Horizon. A Double Life was low budget and late in his career.
(A word about Natalie Portman's follow-on film No Strings Attached. I watched a review of the film on television the other night and it was the first time I'd heard this word applied to a mainstream film - the reviewer called it "raunchy." Probably a topic for another post.)
I'm booked along with other members of the cast to tape a promotional interview for a short film I did early last fall that's coming out in March - Clear and Sunny Skies. I liked the way that film was shot and have high hopes for it. It's part of a four-film package of related stories called The World at Work. Another short that I appeared in - The Golden Plate - has its first screening this Sunday, so that's on my calendar.
But no dramatic roles on the immediate horizon. Only industrials. I read yesterday that the Weinsteins are turning to TV and have 15 series in the works, including one on Mafia Wives.
Harvey! Bob! Call me! I do a GREAT Mafia wife!
(sigh)
I never handle down time very well.
Of course, that doesn't explain the endless sequels to Halloween.
I've been trying to get my head around something actor/producer Richard Cutting said in an online conversation a week or so ago. I'm not a linear thinker unfortunately. I think in concentric circles. My brain gathers bits of information, none of which seem related, except that they all finally come together at a common center and a lightbulb goes on. No lightbulb yet.
Black Swan is generating some buzz. It sounds reminiscent of the 1947 Ronald Coleman film A Double Life, where Coleman plays a reknown Shakespearean actor who starts thinking he is Othello instead of just playing the role. It ends with him killing himself on stage. Nothing new under the sun, as they say. I've heard good things about Black Swan, but will we care? Coleman is remembered for The Prisoner of Zenda and Lost Horizon. A Double Life was low budget and late in his career.
(A word about Natalie Portman's follow-on film No Strings Attached. I watched a review of the film on television the other night and it was the first time I'd heard this word applied to a mainstream film - the reviewer called it "raunchy." Probably a topic for another post.)
I'm booked along with other members of the cast to tape a promotional interview for a short film I did early last fall that's coming out in March - Clear and Sunny Skies. I liked the way that film was shot and have high hopes for it. It's part of a four-film package of related stories called The World at Work. Another short that I appeared in - The Golden Plate - has its first screening this Sunday, so that's on my calendar.
But no dramatic roles on the immediate horizon. Only industrials. I read yesterday that the Weinsteins are turning to TV and have 15 series in the works, including one on Mafia Wives.
Harvey! Bob! Call me! I do a GREAT Mafia wife!
(sigh)
I never handle down time very well.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I will get back to you shortly!