November 25, 2004

THE EIGHTH ANNUAL
THINGS I'M THANKFUL FOR

I'M THANKFUL THAT Movie City News continues to grow in ways that I am proud of and that we remain a haven of independent ideas and argument for our readers and our writers.

That I can still be surprised… really, deeply, powerfully surprised. This year in particular has offered many of its most powerful fruits in a veil of secrecy from Sideways to Million Dollar Baby… and I am still hoping for one last happy surprise from Spanglish.

That David O. Russell and Wes Anderson and Oliver Stone and the Coen Bros and Mira Nair and Bernardo Bertolucci and others are still getting the chance to swing hard even if they strike out.

That Alfonso Cuaron and Paul Greengrass were given a chance to play in the Big Show and hit commercial home runs.

That Rachel McAdams is still so early in her blossoming... and am praying that what seem like bad choices in her first real starring forays will teach her to work to her highest intelligence.

That Clint Eastwood does whatever the fuck he wants whenever the fuck he wants to and that Alan Horn doesn't try to stop him.

I AM THANKFUL that Alexander Payne has moved more to Jim Taylor's sensibility than the other way around… and that he is so very talented in his own right.

That Morgan Spurlock made his pseudo-doc about a really big company whose profile insured that we had at least one hit documentary that wasn't an extreme stunt this year.

Thank Zhang Yimou is making movie after movie after movie…

That Mel Gibson finally released The Passion of The Christ so I could stop complaining about his paranoia and The New York Times could stop persecuting him.

That I haven't seen Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.

I THANK MY LUCKY STARS that Scorsese showed his real muscles again with The Aviator, even if the storytelling gets away from him a bit.

That Virginia Madsen is back and that Helen Hunt is not.

That Michael Mann continued to push the boundaries of digital cinema and got a star the size of Tom Cruise to not only give a strong performance, but to offer his imprimatur.

That Bill Goldman still likes MCN so much… even if nobody knows anything.

That there hasn't been an event this year, as the screener ban was last year, in which I have to fight against an entire parade of industry professionals whose work I admire and whose motives I find terribly suspect.

THANKS COME TO MIND NOW that Jeff Bridges keeps on delivering wonderful performances, as he does in Door in the Floor… even if nobody is watching.

That young whippersnappers at other web sites keep nipping at my heels, no matter how obnoxious, reminding me to be humble and careful.

That Bill Condon isn't willing to do what's easy, pushing himself as hard as any of the bigger brand artistes in the game to make complexity in the cinema an option for every viewer.

That Peter Jackson decided it was time to lose a few pounds so he and his lovely wife can now be the hottest young couple at the geek dance floor.

That we still don't have to worry much about Vin Diesel making a comeback.

THANKS COMES IN SURPRISING WAYS… WHO KNEW that Jude Law wasn't a matinee idol… and can now go back to being the character actor he was always meant to be.

That the grotesquely overrated Garden State would do less at the box office than Johnson Family Vacation, Anacondas: The Hunt For The Blood Orchid and Without A Paddle?

That Roland Emmerich could make his worst movie ever and have his second biggest hit and the fifth highest grossing film in the world this year so far?

That studios, offered a way to protect their films from piracy during the awards season, would throw up their hands and just fugeddaboudit?

That the difference between an IMAX 3-D version of a film and the 2-D version in a regular theater could be the difference between a truly spectacular movie experience and a minor mediocrity?

That a Cassavetes would deliver a documentary into the world that so powerfully reminds us of how great the movie experience can be without ever resorting to whining about the good old days.

MY THANKS ARE EXTENDED TO the filmmakers and executives who have taken time to participate in this column, anonymously or otherwise.

To Pixar for doing it differently, even if that means taking a chance.

To Sharon Waxman and others who have not taken up a collection to hire a hitman to murder me in my sleep.

To Hellboy for being as unrestrained by the rules of commercial cinema as its distributor was in the way they sold him.

To Javier Bardem for being one of the true greats of his generation and not lingering in his ego.

I'M THANKFUL YET AGAIN FOR Almodovar's relentless singularity.

For the freedom to write what I think whatever some think of what I write.

For Samantha Morton's blue-eyed DNA and the impossibility of a bad performance by Kate Winslet.

For "movie friends."

For Every Studio Exec Who Understood The Point Of This Column And Approached It With Smarts And Not Fear.

I'M THANKFUL TO the writing staff of Movie City News - Gary Dretzka, Len Klady, Ray Pride & newcomers Andrea Gronvall and Emanuel Levy - and all our other contributors, past, present & future, who bring their original voices to the table.

To the editors of The New York Times for lowering their standards so much that the difference between internet journalism and The Paper of Record is getting closer and closer. (That one was sarcastic.)

To Van Helsing for reminding us that a lot of CG is no replacement for actual storytelling.

To Bob Richardson for making The Aviator look absolutely sensational.

To Zana Briski and Ross Kaufman for having the courage to document their courage in the amazing Born Into Brothels.

To Michael Giacchino for loving movies enough to suffer cheerfully through being a publicist until he could become the musician that he always meant to be, delivering a knockout with his first major feature score for The Incredibles.

I HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN TO BE THANKFUL FOR film festivals.

For my health.

For Ginnifer Goodwin, even if both her movies tanked..

For the friends I sometimes forget that I have.

For Pat Kingsley's ability to get a story rolling… even if she is the story herself.

For the excitement of Michael Eisner's House of Drama, The New Paramount, Take 2, the year long MGM merger process and the DreamWorks IPO.

A SPECIAL THANKS to Laura Rooney, my partner in MCN, who brings her focus and energy to the table day after day, week after week and now, year after year, to a very needy child of a website. There would be no MCN without her.

AND TO YOU, my dear readers. Some of you have been with me for years…. others may be finding the column for the first time today. Thank you for participating in this dialogue. Thank you for putting up, this year especially, with my incredibly stupid schedule. I know I have tested your loyalty and your maintenance of interest. But as always, you keep me thinking and you keep me honest. And there is nothing more important for any journalist.

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. (I can't pretend that I delivered this on time.) And for those of you who are not in America… try not to hate us too much. We may be the most self-indulgent country in the world that isn't a tax haven, but you get some really cool stuff thanks to our insanity.

E-ME