November 21, 2003

I couldn’t be much happier tonight…

In America’s Los Angeles premiere took place at The Academy theater and despite the fact that the studio has been screening the hell out of the film for ore than a month, they had to turn people away at the door of the 1112 seat theater. And, as always seems to be the case, the audience stayed with the film from start to finish, applauding wildly during the credits, even as the young lady who sings the song over credits sang it live… the audience still felt compelled to show their appreciation to all the actors and to Jim Sheridan and to Jim and his daughters for their screenplay.

I make no bones about it. I adore this film. And after a fifth viewing – the first in a room this large – I look forward to seeing it again. It is just plain beautiful. Every time I talk to someone about it, I seem sure to embarrass myself as I sing its praises.

I’ve been touting the film for so long, often to puzzled looks on people’s faces, that the premiere felt a little like watching a beloved family member graduating. It’s not my child. It’s not even my sibling. But it feels like that nephew or cousin that you always saw that spark in and who is now doing something really special. Now it’s time for everyone else to embrace the kid. My support will soon fade in importance as the name critics start chiming in. But in the end, all that really matters is the film. And as much as I care for many other movies, my heart belongs to In America.

OH THAT LIZA: I ran into Liza Minnelli on Wednesday night, at a screening of The Missing. I was moderating a Q&A with the prematurely wise Jenna Boyd, the still young despite playing girls pushing the maturity envelope Evan Rachel Wood, and Ron Howard. Most of the SAG Nominating Committee audience stuck around for the Q&A and seem to have loved the film.

When we wrapped it up, the young man with the microphones whispered… “You didn’t call on Liza Minnelli.” Huh? Within seconds, there she was, Liza with a Z, berating me with a smile for not calling on her to ask a question. I didn’t see you, Liza. Believe me, I have a lot of questions for you.

As it turns out, Liza loved the movie (To quote, “It was wonderful… wonderful work!”) and especially young Jenna Boyd, who was the closest of us to Ms. Minnelli’s height. For whatever reasons, Liza managed to take off before even letting Evan know she was there.

This was my third look at The Missing, which has gotten better for me with each viewing. There are definitely some detractors from this film and I wish the marketing emphasized the emotion of the story a little more than it does, but I think it is a small classic that manages to be both a traditional western and a thoughtful family drama. I will say though, reading Lisa Schwartzbaum’s review, I really wonder whether one’s relationship with their father helps define one’s reaction to this film.

POOR FRANCES: I really liked Frances O’Connor from the beginning, when she broke through in the U.S. with Kiss or Kill and Mansfield Park. But her career in Hollywood has been a train wreck. Bedazzled, The Importance of Being Earnest, Windtalkers and now, Timeline… only A.I. stands a decent film, albeit a controversial one. Next, a Matthew Perry comedy.

The person I always associate with this kind of bad luck is Holland Taylor, a great actress who seemed for a while to be on failed high-profile sitcom after failed high-profile sitcom after failed high-profile sitcom, from Bosom Buddies to this year’s inevitable one-season wonder, Two and A Half Men.

Taylor has been a part of some great successes as well. I hope the same happens for Ms, O’Connor soon. A good actress is a sad thing to waste.

A MINOR TRADITION: It’s time to review the new Dr. Seuss movie…

THE CAT IN THE HAT

The popcorn was stale.
And the soda was flat.
Still we sat in the house
And watched Cat In The Hat.

I sat there with Alli.
My sister sat too.
And I said, "How I wish
This was Kill Bill, Part 2!"

Too late to run out
Cell too weak to call.
So we sat in the house.
And we just watched it all.

So all we could do was to
Watch!
Watch!
Watch!
Watch!
And we did not like it.
Not one little splotch.

CHUMP!

And then
Something went CHUMP!
How that chump made us jump!

We looked!
Then we saw him step in on the show!
We looked!
And we saw him!
Mike Myers! Oh no!
And he said to us,
"Why aren’t you laughing, you fools?"

"I know it is late
And the movie’s not funny.
But I had to do this
Or give back lots of money!"

"I know some good gags we could try,"
Said The Cat.
"I have some old tricks,"
Said the Master of Flat.
"A lot of old tricks.
I will show them to you.
Your grandma
May remember just one or two."

My family and I
Did not know what to say.
The jokes weren’t that funny on Night
Saturday.

And John Horn said, "No! No!
How that cat burns my ears!
Tell that Cat in the Hat
He draws out all my fears.
He should not be here.
He should not be about.
He should not be here
In the paper I’ll shout!"

"Now! Now! Have no fear.
Have no fear!" said the cat.
"My words are not bad,"
Said the Cat Who Said Shat.
"Why, we can have
Lots of good fun, you’ll agree,
With a game that I call
Desperate… Unfunny!"

"This is dumb!" said the fish.
"I do not like your voices!
This is dumb!" said the fish.
"You’ve made horrible choices!"

"Have no fear!" said the cat.
"It will get better soon.
I will do some dick jokes
You’ll be out before noon.
With fast waving hands!
And a kick in the balls!
I can also throw weird stuff
All over the walls!”

"Look at me!
Look at me now!" said The Rube.
"With a smirk and a snort
At Ms. K. Preston’s boobs!
I can hold up release!
I can just not approve!
And a little tantrum!
Is the best thing to use!
And look at how clever!
I can chew the paint off the sets!
But that is not all!
Oh, no.
You can bet...

"Look at me!
Look at me!
Look at me NOW!
It’s fun to overact
But you have to know how.
I can upstage you all
All the sets and the color!
I can upstage the kids!
And the CG fish feller!
I can wave my big hands
Like a spazed out show off!
And I’ll go for the groin
Turn your head and then cough!
I can irritate fans
As I give it my all!
But that is too much.
Oh, yes.
Too much is all..."

That is what the cat said...
Then the box office fell!
Though the first weekend worked
The next weekend was hell.
And my family and I,
We saw ALL the things fall!

"Now look what you did!"
Said the fish to the cat.
"Now look at this studio!
Look at Hulk! Look at that!
You sank our director,
He has talent to spare.
But you sucked up the film
Never came up for air.
You SHOULD NOT be here
Where he acting is not.
You get out of that mask!
Jim Carrey you’re not.

Then the reviews came in
A thumb up, one or two,
"We don’t care ‘bout the critics
Do they think that we do?"

And my family did not know
What to say.
Should we tell them
How boring their film was that day?

Should we tell them about it?
How to be nice but true?
Well...
Smile and keep walking
Like the publicists do.

READER OF THE DAY: NOT GERMAN,NOT BEAR writes: “Regarding multiple viewings of films being a generational thing... I'm 46 and have seen well over 3,000 films, but probably only a couple hundred of those more than once. There are a select group of favorites that I've re-watched numerous times over the years, but it's not a long list. In future, as memory fades, I expect that number will grow as I begin to revisit films I haven't seen in years (or decades).

I have no doubt that this is the result of growing up in the years before cable and home video. Kids love to repeat experiences they've enjoyed. But prior to these technologies, about the only way you could get a second look at a favorite film was in the theater during its original or second run, or a few years down the road when it hit network TV. In my case, growing up in a small town with only a couple of screens, I'd never pay to see a movie twice, preferring to save my meager funds for next week's attraction. On rare occasions, I'd sit through back-to-back showings (some theaters used to allow that).

Things have changed. My mind boggles at how many times my niece has seen Sleeping Beauty, for instance, on video. People can now "pop in a movie" the way they do a CD. This is a great thing in many ways, but I wonder if it fosters in some kids a preference for familiarity over novelty. Why move on to more challenging art when you can bask in the glow of Air Bud for the 20th time? I assume that by now someone's done a bunch of studies about all this. I find it most interesting that the same generations who are thought to possess MTV-shortened attention spans somehow manage to have the patience to sit through a few dozen viewings of The Matrix, even after they've memorized every shot, line and gesture. I guess my philosophy has always been, "So many movies; so little time!"

MR NO CANCELLATION writes: “I think that HBO and DVDs have taken the multiple-viewing phenomenon in new directions, but they certainly didn't create it. When my dad was at Harvard in the 1950s, he and his friends saw CASABLANCA every Friday night for God knows how many consecutive weeks at the Brattle Theater in Cambridge. And in the days of yore, it wasn't just revival houses like the Brattle that thrived on multiple viewings--before the JAWS changed the distribution biz by introdicung the concept of massive simultaneous wide releases, theaters would just show movies as long as people came to see them. I know a couple of people who saw 2001 as many as 15 or 20 times during its initial theatrical run in L.A., which I believe lasted more than 12 months in 1968-1969, and I remember hearing that a theater in Minneapolis that opened HAROLD AND MAUDE when it was new in 1971 wound up running it until 1977 if not longer.”

And THE HAPPY BULL writes: “your generation didn’t create multiple viewings… Truffaut had already made that in his childhood, when he skipped school to go to the movies, and then, when his parents took him to see the same movie he saw in the morning, he just had to stay quiet and see the whole movie again. That’s when he began to see the pleasure of seeing movies twice (or three times, or four times...)

Later, he and the CAHIERS DU CINEMA generation (Godard, Rohmer, Rivette, Resnais, Chabrol) continued to see the movies they loved multiple times, to understand why they liked it or hated it. And you know what? It is an act of respect that every reviewer should have towards the object of his/her critic.

But (and there is always a but) it’s always good to see several times the movies we love... Could we say the same about the movies we hate? Should reviewers see many times (just to be respectful) the movies they hate? It certainly would be fair, but would it be a dispensable pain in the ass? What’s your opinion, David? Did you see KILL BILL twice?”

E ME: Three times, actually. Some films command a more detailed effort… even when you don’t like them… and sometimes because you don’t like them. Weekend is here… what are you going to do with your movie loving time?