"The Women", T. C. Boyle, 2009

This book had me running between the dictionary (half of the time for non-existent words, but you'll know what Boyle means) and the computer (to look up referenced people and architectural feats). And it was a marvelous labor. (Most places are real, characters not.) The morphine addict is insane, by the way. Actually, FLLW. seemed to make everyone insane. And yet this story is infused with Everyman. I comprehend the angst in the book too well I fear. Boyle shows that he writes as well from the feminine as the masculine. I would nominate this novel as one of the decade's top ten. Tom (the author) is lucky enough and sincere enough to live in one of Wrieto-San's (this term coined by one of the fervent fictional characters, Tadashi Sato) concoctions, the George C. Stewart House. His other top five novels are (opinionated): "Riven Rock" (his best and another historical novel; worthy of a best of the 1990s), "The Road to Wellville" (about the Kellogg cereal nut), in a different vein would be "Tortilla Curtain" (his 2nd. best), "Budding Prospects" for stoners, and "East is East" with a worthy Japanese main character (like "The Women").

Ang Lee

"Lust, Caution" (original theater release 2007) is the English "translation" for this A. L. flick. Despite it's cultural chasms, it's an appealing challenge in which the good girl sexes the bad guy for the cause, to ensnare him. Something goes wrong though. She becomes his lover instead of his mistress, as she had intended. She should have eaten the cyanide. I had thought I would, but I liked the film. In the end, I got enough interpretation.

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As a Directorial Debut, Just Not as Good as "Blood Simple"

Written and directed by Charlie Kaufman, "Synecdoche, New York" is the most disorienting and disconcerting movie that I've seen since "Eraserhead". Yeah, yeah, that one's a cult classic. C. K. wrote "Adaptation" (o.k.), "Being John Malkovich" (good), and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (lousy, and ruining our great physical comedian, Jim Carrey). Syn... is loaded with good actors, but it still got ruint. Roger Ebert said "See it twice". I wish I wouldn't have seen it once. This is a story about a paranoid who spends about 100 years filming in a New York City replica. Touchingly stupid. The film seems to be 100 years in length. Even Philip Seymour Hoffman didn't save this one for me.
Speaking of which P. S. H. is my new fave actor. Good gosh, Jack Nicholson and Dennis Hopper are as senile as I am. Philip is never brilliant, just great. Effective is his modus operandi. I guess his first major flick was "Boogie Nights". I don't remember him, just Burt and the girls. This guy is in his early 40's, so we hope to see much more from him. Can you imagine the same person playing Truman Capote and a parish priest (no, not in the same movie) equally effectively? Philip pulls off anything that he tries.

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Directed and Produced by...

Charles Ferguson. As I watched the documentary "No End in Sight", I had to wonder. Does the nickname "Rummie" mean "Rum Dumb" or "Redrum"? He seems to be the only one "getting" the jokes in his press conferences. By instigating (with distinguished help) the abolition of the pro-U.S.A. Iraqi military squads (and putting them out of work), he achieved, presumably accidentally:
1) An effective genocide, by "allies" against U.S. troops.
2) Anarchy of the worst kind in Iraq.
3) Creation, perhaps, of a solid 3 country bloc against us (of fundamentalist extremists). Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq, as a single, focused entity, will be a powerful "Axis of Evil".
Oh well, stuff happens Henny Penny. Comical.

It occurs to me that no North American administration (hopefully) will ever foster the expose' like the Bush guys of the early 21st. century.


Robert Redford. Oh alright, he's not an off-beat director. But he does have an off-beat persona. I had resisted seeing "The Legend of Bagger Vance" for years. Looked sappy. I didn't realize that it was a "sweet" golf movie. I love golf! And I liked the movie. Will Smith, great. Matt Damon, great. J. Michael Moncrief, great. Charlize Theron, you know. It's the first time that I thought I was wrong and I was right. What?

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The Late Great Stanley Kubrick, His Best

"Clockwork Orange" is the greatest. One of star Malcom McDowell's great regrets: He never worked with Kubrick again. Well that was Kubrick. He certainly wasn't repetitious. The film is based on a Anthony Burgess novel. Alex (McDowell) and his gang of "droods" get their kicks out of perpetrating the good old "ultraviolence". Outstanding cinematography abounds as do great dialect and costumes. This film was unfairly shunned (although nominated) at the Academy Awards. Too "controversial". Why the controversy? Alex got "cured".
"2001, A Space Odyssey" won an Oscar for Best Special Effects. Duh, that was a tough one to vote on I bet. This is a movie I think that everyone has seen. As usual S.K. was ahead of his time. It is a masterpiece (like most of Kubrick's direction) in which an inanimate object, HAL the computer, steals the show. You'll never forget the compositions "The Blue Danube" and "Also Sprach Zarathustra" after seeing the film. The light show on display as astronaut David (Keir Dullea) goes berserk is the best that I have seen on film. A different kind of horror show than....
"The Shining" is of course based on a Stephen King novel. S. King's stories seldom translate successfully to film. It is a tribute to director S.K. and Jack Nicholson that this one works for sure. By the way, it is a great book also. Kubrick had a reputation for being too much of a perfectionist, but it didn't seem to bother Jack N. (who ad-libbed the famous "Here's Johnny!", which isn't in the book). "Redrum" is in the book and spoken well by Jack's son, Danny Torrance (child actor Danny Lloyd). That is one creepy kid. Well, Jack goes nuts. Goes?! Is I mean.
"Dr. Strangelove..." came out the same year as "Fail-Safe" (directed by Sidney Lumet, 1964) at the height of the "Cold War" vs. the U.S.S.R. It's a little different though. No one except Stanley Kubrick would have had the guts to go with this spoof at that time. Peter Sellers plays three parts to a hilarious "T". He is funny as can be as is George C. Scott. This black and white film was nominated for 4 Academy Awards, and of course shunned. Could it be controversial?
"Barry Lyndon" is on the list especially for the (18th. century period) costumes, for which the film won an Academy Award. It also won for cinematography. Both awards were well deserved. Ryan O'Neal stars as an unscrupulous Irishman who cheats his way to the top and then falls hard. It's a pretty good flic story-wise, but especially easy on the eyes. Like, unfortunately, most of Kubrick's work, it's reputation gains traction in retrospect.

Kubrick never won an Oscar for "Best Director". The system failed.

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Bros Coen, The Best of

"Blood Simple" was the great debut film by the best storyteller brothers since the Brothers Grimm. Frances McDormand, a favorite of Joel and Ethan C, stars in this crime flick. The quirky M. Emmet Walsh steals the show, in my opinion. Dan Hedaya is Abby's (Frances M.) husband and a strange ranger, of course. LOOK UNDER THE FISH BLOODY BUDDY!
"Fargo" is their best. Frances McDormand is the main character (a nine months prego copper) in beautiful, snowy Fargo, N.D. Her hubby is the reliably effective William H. Macy. Quirky actor Steve Buscemi stars also. The Coens love the crime stuff and this one is (ya hey dere you betcha) a good one. Frances garnered a well deserved "Best Actress" Oscar.
"No Country for Old Men" is J & E's (2007) nicely done film-noir, this one involving drug dealing gone violent. Who would have thunk? Tommy Lee Jones stars as the sheriff. Javier Bardem, a fine actor and Josh Brolin star also. This not too bad film took Best Pic, Best Director(s) and Best Supporting Actor (Bardem) at the Academy Awards ceremony.
"Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" is Joel & Ethan's adaptation of Homer's "The Odyssey". What? It has a great southern Mississippi soundtrack, which won a Grammy. This is the film that let me know that I had previously under-respected George Clooney as an actor. He is brilliant in this chain gang story. John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson are good as his escapee brothers.
"Raising Arizona" likewise made me respect Nicolas Cage. Holly Hunter is great too in the comedy based on the unlikely premise of a baby's kidnapping. This is a touching film by the Coen Brothers. The always funny John Goodman and Frances McDormand are in this one.

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Well Ya Play That (Quentin) Tarantino, All the Hounds They Start to Roar, His Best

"Reservoir Dogs" has a great title and has one of the greatest gangster casts ever assembled, in my opinion. Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, and Steve Buscemi (as the sweet "Mr. Pink") are not the most famous names. These guys are great character actors, though. I can't tell you much more without ruining it. Besides those four Misters, there are Mr. Blue and Mr. Brown (who is Q.T. himself). It's great and see it is what I can say. This is Tarantino violent, bloody fun.
"Kill Bill"-volumes 1 & 2 are both great action flicks. The classic two-parter featuring Uma Thurman (she worked really hard to become her character) and arch nemesis David Carradine as Bill. Lucy Liu gives Uma a little grief also. This is one of those rare instances in which the sequel is as good as the initial feature. I consider this pair must-see Tarantino. Uma did her own stunts and martial arts. The movies are worth seeing just for the moves.
"Pulp Fiction" has a pretty neat soundtrack for one thing-mostly oldies. It's a pretty neat movie for another thing. Uma Thurman again (she's the smoker on the famous movie poster), Tim Roth again, John Travolta, and Samuel L. Jackson star in this beauty of a crime film-noir.
"Natural Born Killers" is that unusual movie that you can't watch and can't stop watching. Q.T. did not direct this weirdo but did write the story. Close 'nuff. Leading man and lady Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis have some disturbing issues I would say. I hate to judge but... They are unusual enough actors without the Tarantino factor thrown in. Bonnie & Clyde on steroids. Brilliant violence, directed by Oliver Stone. He has a not so normal reputation himself.

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