Wednesday, 1 November 2000

RANTING & RAVING

I was flipping around the satellite channels Monday night when I was suddenly struck by something. What was it that made Dan Aykroyd into a star? I flipped around some more and ran into Castaway, with Oliver Reed and Amanda Donohoe. They are naked through much of the movie, and as I watched Reed flop around in some mud, I noticed something familiar… my back. I am built a lot like Oliver Reed. Perhaps that's why I had such an affinity with him as an actor.

But what makes him Oliver Reed and not David Poland? What makes Dan Aykroyd a great performer in movies like The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters? What did he have that other improvisers didn't have that took him from the improv stage to SNL to movie stardom? What makes Amanda Donohoe that much more perfect than any other naked woman?

Magic.

As I ride through my life of professional cynicism and business-oriented worries and near-obsession with movies achieving true greatness while the bar for the rest of films drops, it is easy to forget about the magic. There is a light inside some people. They have a gift that allows them to share something inside with us on the outside. By normal standards, these people aren't necessarily pleasant or joyous to be around, or even good human beings. But they are magical.

Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore have it… and that will keep afloat the turd of a movie that one has to concede Charlie's Angels to be, judging by any real cinematic standards. Will Smith has it… and even though The Legend of Bagger Vance is a mess, every time he’s on screen, the movie works. Arnold Schwarzenegger has it, but people have forgotten… The Sixth Day is beginning to sound like the first film in a long time that carries Arnold, rather than the other way around.

Charlize Theron seems to have it to such a degree that she clouds the minds of directors. She shows up and suddenly movies get cut to give us more Charlize… too much Charlize, considering that her last two big films (The Cider House Rules and now Bagger Vance) were not about her character. Give the girl a real starring role and all will make sense.

TANGENT TIME: In the middle of the Bagger Vance screening -- and tags of "Bag of Gas" are just people trying to be clever… the movie fails not because it's too windy, but because it doesn’t have a three-act structure even though it clearly wants to… more on that in Friday's review -- anyway, in the middle of screening, it occurred to me that DreamWorks has been making the same film over and over. In Bagger, Theron plays a woman whose father is too weak to continue fighting for his dream in the face of adversity. She then gets involved with a man who needs her strength. She's not the lead, but she is as strong as any man in the movie… stronger.

Did you see Gladiator? (Lucilla and Maximus)

Did you see The Contender? (Laine Hansen & The President)

Did you see Deep Impact? (Jenny Lerner & The President)

Creepy, huh?

Back to my point: Every once in a while, it occurs to me how easy it is to forget that movie stardom is indeed something special. They are different from you and me. Not necessarily better. But different. They have a gift. It's funny… in Bagger Vance, Will Smith's caddy, trying to bring golfer Matt Damon's swing back, talks about the swing as a gift that Damon's character was born with, and that getting it back is a matter not of looking for it but of allowing it to come. I agree with that philosophy.

There are women out there who have the physical assets of a Cameron Diaz. Yet they don't have the magic. Of course, men still desire these women. But they wouldn't pay to see them at the movies. The fantasy is more than physicality. There are greater subtleties with women's feelings about male movie stars, but there are men as attractive as Brad Pitt who could never be Brad Pitt.

Deconstruction is an odd thing. It has become a regular part of our entertainment coverage. But does it ever improve the movie? Do we ever enjoy a movie more because we know who the star is sleeping with or what happened on the set or how much it cost or how much it grossed or that this one fought with that one? Yes, these are the things I make a living writing about, yet…

I am obviously reaching here… inspecting my own navel… indulging myself by sharing a thought that wanders through my skull now and again. What is that magic? Why do we react to one person and not the other? Why do so many people enjoy tearing down those whose light seems to have faded, however slightly?

Watching a movie star is like being in love… or lust… same difference. It's not that love and lust are the same, but that both are felt, not thought. We meet lots of people every day and sometimes you get that tingle that reaches deeper inside than a smile at a nice curve or exceptional physical feature. That tingle is what makes movie stars. I don't have any sexual interest in Oliver Reed, but man, would I have loved a chance to hang out with him in a bar. And lust for Teri Polo could certainly be shucked away with an angry look or unkind word or even something as banal as a moment of halitosis. But that illusion on the screen is not just an illusion. Even for the actor who plays the "nice" card brilliantly but is really a vicious dog, that "nice" person is in there somewhere. It may no longer live on the surface, but it has to be there in the reservoir.

Yet, from the outside, it's always about either deifying or destroying the image we see and connect with. It's easy to forget that we do the same thing with people who are not movie stars. We do it with our bosses and our colleagues and our friends and family. We deal with each other when we’re together and then say what we really think, for better or worse, when we are apart.

Some days, we just need to take a breath… get some perspective… make sure that we aren't so busy slinging mud that we have forgotten to love... forgotten to embrace the joy of our illusions.

Today is one of those days.

READER OF THE DAY: Lots of great mail about politics… but if I'm taking a breath, you're taking one with me. So, here's something a little lighter from JOEY!!! -- "Any publication that claims to print unbiased news should refrain from making any political endorsements. It's foolish and hypocritical.

"For a completely different reason, movies should be the same way. Movies, I think, should be relatively universal if they want to make money. When you make a movie that's obviously one-sided politically (such as The Contender), you risk alienating a huge chunk of the population, despite the critical praise.

"That's just my opinion. Want more?

"Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 was really bad. However, it was nice to see some nudity in a horror movie again.

"I don't care what anybody says, Pay It Forward was a GREAT movie!

"I think that Luc Besson should make a sequel to The Professional, with Natalie Portman of course. It can be about an adult Matilda, kicking a** and taking names after Tony gets whacked. Or maybe not, I dunno. Whatever.

"If Jet Li has truly decided not to be in the sequel(s) to The Matrix, he's making the biggest mistake of his career."

E ME: I obviously disagree with Joey about opinions… or I'd be working for Movieline. And I think he took some Larry King juice for breakfast. But there you go…. Breathe in… breathe out…