RANTING & RAVING

Beware the Ides of August….

This is a hard time of year.  The movies get brain damaged.  People are taking off on vacations that seem redundant at the end of a long slow summer.   And blood slowly trickles out of company after company, anxious to purge or merge before the leaves change color.  There will be a surprise hit in the next four weeks… but there will be a lot more write-offs. 

For me personally, this is a time of change and hyper-tight scheduling.  With just six months until MiFF 2002, there are a lot of decisions to be made.  And it’s easy to forget that an entire world of other people are involved in those decisions.  Having a vision is great, but bringing it to life is a lot of hard work… mostly for other people. 

It’s one of the things that’s funny about being in the entertainment journalism game.  It’s probably stretching an analogy beyond reason, but I think about the conflict between minority groups when I think of how we all treat one another.  Why would a group that has survived slavery and a group that survived the WWII holocaust be in conflict?  Could any group understand another group better?  More empathetically?  But no.  In this game, most organizations on both sides are after the same things.  Only writers who want to do more than promote and embrace can legitimately be expected to be outsiders. 

I was reading Jeannette Walls’ ode to the old days in the new Premiere in which she quoted Hedda or Louella (which is which?) saying that fear built her house.  Indeed.  The reason that serious entertainment journalism only tends to exist in major outlets is that only major outlets can scare the system out of reprisals for their honesty. 

Also in Premiere was Kevin Smith’s comment that “It would be nice if (kids) broke out and beat the shit out of those gossiping Internet teens.”  Ironic, since those gossiping Internet teens are a big part of Smith’s excellent ViewAskew.com site and, of course, Ain’t It Cool, a site of which Smith has long been seen as a supporter.  His specific anger in the Premiere piece is directed at filmthreat.com’s Ron Wells, who ripped Smith in the process of ripping Dogma.  I never read the review, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find that I agreed with Smith, since Ron Wells is quite capable of getting a little too personal and nasty for my taste.  Nonetheless, R.W. is no teen, tattooed or not.  Equally ironic is that the interview was conducted by Mark Ebner, a self-styled bad boy who has been on and off the net throughout his career, every bit as abrasively as Ron Wells, though both men would likely claim that the other is not up to their journalistic standards.  (For the record, Ebner ghostwrote the soon-to-be-released-by-AOL/Time-Warner Harry Knowles book.)

Kevin Smith may or may not believe me, but I really do want to love Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.  I would have loved to have loved Dogma.  I respect people who respect movies and Smith clearly does.  I’m pretty sure that I’m the only person on the net who hasn’t been invited to see the film early, but so it goes.  There is a very good chance that Smith is just at the beginning of his artistic muscle-building and that his films will get better and better as his experience increases. 

My journey into the heart of darkness pierced by light starts with Telluride, the ultimate festival of the people for the culturally elite.  Four days of movie passion, tromping from theater to theater, eating on the run and realizing how wide the expanse of film art really is.  The Canadian canyons of Toronto come next, inviting efforts to see 30 films a day, dancing with publicists and running from the grandeur of premiere screenings to the 120 seat magic of films that find an audience they might never otherwise see.  My first trip to Spain is next, heading to the San Sebastian festival, which is supposed to combine the beauty of the area with the ferocity of passion that reflect both the Spaniards and their films.  And finally… phew… on to New York City to get to the Independent Film Project market, seeking to ferret out films some of the great films that won’t quite make it to Sundance… and even some that will. 

It’s a six-week movie orgy, surfing the international waves of celluloid until I reach the shores of Miami again, ready to bring my catch to our festival.  In some ways, I will be the embodiment of commerce that pollutes these pure 24spf beaches.  But, as in my original analogy, the relationship is intimate and necessary for both sides.  The challenge is to not fall too much in love and not to be too worried about pandering to ticket buyers.

In the meanwhile, back in Miami, the heavy lifting will continue.  They’ll be stuck with the chicken wings while I fly through the festivals on gossamer wings.  I am a lucky man.  Even as we burn through the Ides of August.  Let’s all remember that the dog days will pass and salad days are coming.

READER OF THE DAY:  Not DeNiro responds got stuck on the pie, American Pie 2… and the rest of the summer too.  He wrote:  “Saw it (AP2) and thought it was a poorly executed follow-up to a movie that, while not terrific, was a pleasant little summer juvenile diversion.  Didn't hate  it, but wouldn't recommend it, either, although Eugene Levy is utterly fantastic in the few scenes he's in.

Summer report card of movies I've seen--

CLASS OF ITS OWN
Apocalypse Now Redux

TOP-NOTCH
Made
Memento
Moulin Rouge
The Score (overcoming the bad buzz and turning out to be a pleasant, satisfying entertainment)

PLEASANT SURPRISES (movies I had little intention of seeing...but did...and loved them)
Sexy Beast (this year's Croupier)
Shrek

WASN'T EXPECTING MUCH...BUT GOT A LITTLE
Kiss of the Dragon

WASN'T EXPECTING MUCH...AND GOT FAR LESS
The Fast and the Furious
Planet of the Apes

SLIGHT DISAPPOINTMENTS
A.I.
American Pie 2
Baby Boy

BRUTAL DISAPPOINTMENTS
America's Sweethearts
Original Sin
Pearl Harbor
Scary Movie 2

COULDN'T MUSTER UP THE PASSION TO SEE THESE FUTURE RENTALS/LATE-NIGHT CABLE MOVIES
Jurassic Park 3
The Mummy Returns
Rush Hour 2
Tomb Raider”

E ME:  How did you summer look?