Tuesday, 9 February 1999

MY IMMEDIATELY PRE-OSCAR® COLUMN

Good morning. This is not today's column, but a simple reminder that there will be a full column going up sometime early this afternoon covering the Oscar® nominations. But, since I hate to leave you all waiting until then to find something new to read, here are some readers' letters and the like to hold you over until I get to take a bite deep into Oscar®'s butt. That's the nice thing about reader mail. You read it once and you want to come back for more an hour later. Remember to come on back! (For the Oscar® column, click here.)

From Bob: "I don't know what ML was thinking, but Blast from the Past was Alicia Silverstone's best role yet. The Wedding Singer analogy was pretty close, since this movie reminded me of that one with its goofy charm and cute love story, but is that a bad thing? Alicia's career was going downhill pretty fast, playing the 'unattainable' fantasy girl. Here is the first time she actually gets to play a human being (well, she's still probably unattainable by the likes of most mortal men), and it's definitely her warmest performance yet. I wonder if ML thought The Wedding Singer was a career low for Drew Barrymore, too.

"It's funny ML goes to great lengths to point out that he only saw BFTP because it was free. I guess he's just too cool to dig an unpretentious, cute romance. Everyone else in the theater loved the movie (well, after a while -- it takes about 30 minutes for Brendan Fraser to even show up, and maybe 45 for Alicia), and I'd have to say, the love story was the best since... well, I guess The Wedding Singer. In fact, I was so into it, that during the [scene edited for spoliers], I was genuinely sad. My only qualm with the movie was that Christopher Walken wasn't as crazy as I'd like him to be (by the way, after Excess Baggage, you've got to wonder why he'd want to work with Alicia Silverstone ever again)."

From Pete: "Is there really any difference between Drew Barrymore and Alicia Silverstone. And even if there is, why would I care to take either one of them seriously? Ironically, Tori Spelling derserves more kudos than either of these so-called thespians."

From Donner: "How's that for cool? My SO and I decide to do the 8:00 showing of Rushmore at the Arbor in Austin, [Texas], and good thing he bought tickets early, as they were sold out way ahead of time. We got there at 7:30 and there was the local bubble gum radio station outside blaring their van with crapola music, and we wondered, 'What in the world are they doing at an arthouse theater?' Turns out, they were promoting Rushmore tonight (seeing as how I don't listen to that station, how would I know?). And, so, there we are, waiting for the movie, and one of the local DJ's says, 'Thanks for coming, blah blah, and I'd like to introduce you to Wes Anderson and Jason Schwartzman.' I know I was surprised! Wes spoke first, saying he and Owen (Wilson) started writing Rushmore when in Austin, so they thought it'd be cool to come back for opening night, so here they all were. Then Jason spoke a little, just saying it was his 14th time to see the movie, but thanked us for coming cause we had to 'pay,' and hoped we'd enjoy it. It was great! The movie was fun, and the audience was excellent, and a good time was had by all..."

From JH: "Everytime I see an ad for Payback I want to imagine that it's not going to be an average movie. 'Get ready to root for the bad guy.' As if that is some kind of new concept to make less than perfect characters into the hero. Did these people see Mad Max? Have they been alive in the '90s? Truman Capote had me wrapped around his finger with In Cold Blood, the first time I ever completed a novel in a day, and I was still sympathetic to the mass-murdering main character as he was executed. That's where Elmore Leonard comes in. Payback is what Out of Sight would have been with a mega star and money commitments tied around it like an anchor. Instead Steven Soderbergh and crew made a great book into a great movie. After reading several of Leonard's novels, I can't help but wish that he could have gotten his hands on Payback. I know I am jumping mediums, but 'Porter' even sounds like a Leonard character. That's why I may wind up seeing this movie. Just the same as going twice to see exactly why it's not good, I see it and think of what could have been done to fix it. The irony being that this movie has had way too many voices of change already."

From Debbie: "Do you think that many of today's generation has even seen or cares about Point Blank? Which brings a question: How valuable is comparing a new film with a film from another era? In the case of Psycho which was a frame-by-frame remake, it invited comparison, but others? I don't think most people are that movie-knowledgeable. Just my two cents. And, why is it that Broadway can remake a play and no ones says much about the interpretation, but remake a movie and people start screaming? I am looking forward to Payback, just to get away from the serious Oscar® movies for a while (not to mention teen comedies)."

From John: "I wonder why Deborah Unger, who's been acting for years, added the middle name 'Kara' to her screen ID not so long ago. It's not like Unger is such a common name that we'd mistake her for someone else. On the same general subject, why do so many actors (particularly actresses) have triple names lately? To fill up more marquee space? To please both parents' family trees?"

From Steve: "I found out I really enjoyed I Still Know What You Did Last Summer -- I saw it twice. Well, I felt it kind of lacking excitement the first time I saw it; somehow, I did enjoy all the fun and excitement the second time. I guess the major reason is I already knew the killer and the story, so I totally enjoyed all the blood and chasing scenes. I never paid any attention to Jennifer Love Hewitt's breasts, really. Am I a freak or something? (DAVID NOTE: Could be.) And I love H20, too. I don't know why. I has never seen a Halloween film before -- all I knew about the series was a screaming Jamie Lee Curtis, hiding in the closet. Since Kevin Williamson wrote the script, I think I just can't help it. Oh, Jackie Chan's Gorgeous (the previous title was The Glass Bottle) is gonna open this weekend in Taiwan. Jackie said it's a romantic-action. I'll send the review as soon as I buy a ticket to see it."

And this public service announcement:
THE BEST OF SLAMDANCE 1999
Thursday, Feb. 11, 1999

The Lloyd E. Rigler Theatre at the Egyptian
6712 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood
Advance Tickets: MOVIEFONE 777-FILM or at the box office
24-Hour Program Info: (323) 466-FILM ext. 2

7:00 p.m.
Audience Award-Winners for Best Short and Best Feature
12 Stops on the Road to Nowhere (18 min.)
Bill gets fired from his job, evicted from his apartment and someone he doesn't even know wants to bury him alive. Jenny awakens drugged and robbed. The two meet and things go downhill from there. Directed by Jay Lowi.

Man of the Century (80 min.)
A sharp-witted, fast-talking young journalist living in present day Manhattan is inexplicably convinced he is living in the 1920s. A zany farce typical of 1920s "talkies." Directed by Adam Abraham. Written and produced by Gibson Frazier and Adam Abraham.

9:30 p.m.
Kodak Vision Award for Best Cinematography
13 (15 min., Belguim)
When Jesus looks into the eyes of Magdalena, she thinks her fate is to become a nun. Then an angel tells her she must give birth to 13 children, each of whom must be born on the 13th of the month. Directed by Gert Embrechts.

Grand Jury Prize Winner
Chi Girl (87 min.)
A mockumentary about a documentarian guy... who stalks a very quirky girl on camera... while she's stalking her ex-boyfriend in Chicago. Directed and produced by Heidi Van Lier.

Tickets: $7 General Admission per program and $5 for Cinematheque Members.

For further information and full coverage of the 1999 festival please see the website http://www.slamdance.com.

Now, read my Oscar® column!

 

 

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