Wednesday, 19 January 2000

RANTING & RAVING

Good afternoon. I'm writing this from Chicago, where I will still be as some of you read it. But not for long, as I return to L.A. before leaving for Sundance tomorrow. Gotta love those frequent flyer miles. Today is normally a Rant & Rave and it will be one, inspired, actually, by Kevin Smith. However, first there are two news stories that I think are worth covering.

First, I had a hard time finding the story, which is why it wasn't in yesterday's column, but there was, indeed, a shooting in the lobby of an AMC multiplex in Rolling Hills, CA connected to a screening of Next Friday. AMC has decided not to remove the movie from the theater, which is good. But you may recall me writing about the racist practice of opening all "black movies" on Wednesdays to avoid events like this. And every time one happens, it defines the attitude about all "black movies" all over again. And that sucks. I'm not sure what else I have to say about this, other than to mark my sadness and my disgust.

Speaking of disgust, once again the MPAA has made its prejudice against sex and its acceptance of violence apparent. When you hear that American Psycho got a NC-17, you might assume that director Mary Harron crossed the violence line in a movie about a self-possessed consumerist New York stud boy who likes to kill his dates after he has sex with them. But it wasn't about violence. It was about a sex scene between the lead male character and two women. Two bullets, good. Two women, no good. An orgy of machine-guns, good. An masked Kubrick orgy, no good. I would say "uncle," but I'd have to follow it with a word I can't print here in TNT-ville. Think South Park.

Okay, and now...

RANTING & RAVING: I got a few e-mails pointing me towards Kevin Smith's rant against Magnolia that turned up on his View Askew Website. So, I took a look. And what I found wasn't the start of the argument (...page back...page back...) I found something near the close. And it hit me, oddly enough, in a similar way to the rant of Michael Moore's that I ran over the weekend.

It started like this...Smith and one of his V.A. co-conspirators (and I mean that in the fun way that V.A. might mean it) ripped into Magnolia. Many readers of the board aggressively responded. For days, apparently. Smith's wrap-up response follows, with only the dirty words excised.

FROM KEVIN SMITH ON THE VIEW ASKEW WEBSITE: "This Magnolia nonesuch has got to stop. I don't get some of you people. If you're a fan of Magnolia, God bless you. I'm not. But why is that such a stone in your shoe? Hell from the tone of some of these posts and some of the email I've gotten, it's apparently a stone up the a** of some people.

Is that what rabid fandom is like? Do those of you who claim to be big fans of what we do at View Askew behave in the same manner as some of these P.T. Anderson apostles - by attacking those that don't agree with you and demanding justice for a fu**ing opinion? If so, then you do me and mine no good service, and I request that you stop being fans.

Honestly - who gives a fu**. It's an unfair world. There is no justice. And half the time, you're going to be in a minority. People will not always agree with your opinion. sh** - in the case of this flick, I say I don't like it, and I've suddenly got a gaggle of you attacking my character, as well as my craft! Honestly - I've got a**holes shooting off their mouths with sh** like "You only WISH you were as good as P.T.!" What am I - nine years old? Is this the fourth grade? Some di**-lick even went so far as to EMAIL me his post from the board, so I wouldn't miss it; a post, I might add, that maintained I couldn't taste the sh** on Anderson's heels - so lousy an auteur am I in comparison. What the fu** possesses some people, I ask you?

Hey man, I enjoy Boogie Nights. I didn't enjoy Magnolia. Maybe I'll cr**m my pants over the guy's next flick. But sweet Christmas! What the fu** do you care? You liked Magnolia? Wonderful. I hope it illuminated your darkness in some way and fuel-injected three hours and change of joy into your engine. Me? I found it to be cinematic root canal. I'll take Short Cuts any old day. There are very few movies that make me want lost time back, and that movie tops the list.

Oh, you precious but pesky few who feel maligned if Magnolia is questioned! From beyond my rage I thank and bless you - for this has been a life-changing, eye-opening experience for me. If this is what rabid fans are like, then I don't want any. Oh, defenders of my imagined cinematic crown, please don't do me any favors in the face of those who'd blah-blah-blah about what sh**e I be! I can fight my own battles. And I've gotta tell you: someone not digging what I do is not a war that needs waging. That's film. That's art. That's life. You make something and put it on display, you get some people nodding and some people shaking their heads. What a better world it'd be if it could stop at that, as opposed to the nodders and the shakers clawing at one another's throats for having different (not better or worse) tastes.

I only wish it were a line I'd written, but again... `Fu**ing people baffle me.' "

BACK TO DAVID POLAND: Just wanted to clarify the lines...some people get confused.

Anyway, as an on-line journalist and critic, I can really appreciate this letter. It is still the case that most of the mail I get is respectful and thoughtful. But the rage game shows up more and more often as I become better and better known. And each time it happens, it's a little shocking. Because I sit here (or back in L.A., usually) and I try to rationalize the rage. What did I do? Did I make a mistake? Was I rageful myself? And there usually isn't an answer because rage is not rational. I'm not saying that I don't make mistakes. I'm not saying that I don't go over the edge
sometimes. But how can I ever rationalize someone making an effort to have me removed from my job because Kevin Costner has a bad rep in the business?

"More Ranting"