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September 16, 2008

John Ashton

So how does one go about getting an autographed picture of John Ashton? Is that too much to ask for? His web site sucks with no 'contact' info and there is nothing on Facebook.

January 03, 2008

The Box with Cameron Diaz

Last November I was jogging on Brooke Road in my town and saw a bunch of trailers parked at a local elementary school. I also started to notice signs around town that said “Crew” with an arrow pointing the way to some location. Then two weeks ago, on Dec 18, I was leaving my house at 9AM to go to my daughter’s school holiday concert and at the corner of my street, going down the cross street, was a ton of activity. I live on a dead end and in a pretty quiet neighborhood, so a bunch of trucks, people out in the cold and snow (it had just snowed a total of 20 inches with no warm weather), and other nonsense, I knew something was up.

I stopped a guy and asked him what was going on and he told me they were filming a movie. Ah, a movie. The Box. I had heard about it but these kinds of things don’t usually interest me. I like going to the movies, and I think the entire process is interesting, but I have other stuff to care about. So it turns out they have been filming a Cameron Diaz film in my town for the past couple of months. No one called me to fill a role in it.

Anyway, if you are interested, there was an article in the Globe today about what’s going on. So not only is Milton the 7th best place to live in the country, and home to our governor, and home to the 17th richest person in the nation, it is a place to film a movie.

By the way, my neighbor worked detail for one day of shooting, and said Cameron Diaz is very nice. And very pretty.

thought I'd share.

October 20, 2007

Joy Division

For anyone who grew up listening to music of the 1980's, and especially listened to WLIR 92.7 in NY, this movie about Joy Division might be interesting. Just released.

September 10, 2007

Title of new 'Indiana Jones' revealed

New York (AP) - The title of the new "Indiana Jones" movie, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Harrison Ford, has been revealed.

"Grandpa Jones and the Home for the Elderly Active" will be in theaters May 22, 2008.

The title of the long-awaited fourth installment of the adventure series was announced by Wilford Brimley at the Seniors Bingo Award Banquet in Pearl Valley, Florida on Sunday.

The new Indy adventure, which is set in the 1950s, is the next installment that began in 1981 when Harrison Ford was already old.

It will be shown in theaters no later than 8PM and is jointly promoted with The Red Lobster and Ensure.

July 24, 2007

How to Eat Fried Worms

Not a bad kids movie. A little disgusting, but kind of entertaining. Reminded me of The Sand Lot mixed with I Want My Two Dollars. It's hard to find movies that I can watch with my kids that keep me entertained. This is one.

Thought I'd share

October 23, 2006

Walk The Line

A couple of years ago I watched a PBS American Masters show called "Sun Records" or something like that, a documentary of Sun Records, in Tenn, who signed some legends like Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis. They signed some great artists but the 2 hour show was more about some of the coulda-been performers. It was great.

Anyway, one of the artists in that time period and out of that studio was Johnny Cash. Ever since I heard Third Eye Blind do a remake of Cash's Cry Cry Cry, I was kind of interested in Johnny Cash. I never listened to him growing up but knew who he was, man in black and all that stuff.

So Saturday night Patti and I watched Walk The Line, a movie staring Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter. Couple of thoughts.

- Very good movie. I love movies that are based on history (JFK, Malcom X), love musicals (The Commitments) and like that style of music. So it was a really fun movie to watch. It kind of gets uncomfortable with Cash's drug use, and Joaquin Phoenix is a little creepy anyway, but good movie. Unfortunately I can't say it was great. Something missing. I can't really put my finger on it, but I didn't think it was detailed enough.

- Phoenix and Witherspoon were up for Oscars for best performance. Phoenix didn't win and Resse Witherspoon did win. You can tell why she won. It was unbelievable how great she was in this movie. I usually can't stand her, she is just Drew Barrymore without a speech problem, but she was great in this. Phoenix was ok but not Oscar worthy. She was. Watch it just for her. Both do their own singing.

- There are other great, smaller characters in this that make it fun to watch. The guy who runs the studio is from The L Word. James Keach has a small part. The guy from Terminator Two is in it. Even the guys who play backup for Cash, and the actors who play Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis were fun to watch.

- Here is the strangest part. Cash first became known for a song called Cry Cry Cry. They mention it in the movie but for some reason they never played it in the movie. They didn't even play it at the end when the credits were rolling. I don't get it. Weird.

So there is my take on a movie I saw this weekend. Up next, a review of Stephen Wright's first TV special in 16 years.

August 23, 2005

Emily at the Movies

I took Emily to the movies last weekend for the first time. We went to see Apocalypse Now, the Coppola classic staring Marlon Brando and Charlie Sheen. She was fine with it but has had nightmares every since.

Just joking, we went to see a claymation movie called Valiant. It’s kind of a Wallace and Gromit/Chicken Run type of movie about a bunch of British messenger pigeons during World War 2. Ewan McGregor is the voice of ‘Valiant’, the pint size pigeon with a gallon size heart. The movie was ok, nowhere near as good as Chicken Run, but to be honest, the movie was sort of secondary to the event. This was the first time I was taking Emily to the movies. I was more excited than she was. Since Ethan is way too young, Patti stayed home with him while I went with Emily on a Saturday afternoon. Emily likes to watch TV, like 100% of normal kids, and she loves movies so she was really excited. Here is how the day went.

- We walked in and the first shock back to reality was the price. Patti and I used to go to the movies all the time but we also had much more disposable income back then. We went to a matinee so the tickets were reduced, but there is no child price so we paid 7 bucks a piece. Since we hardly ever go, not a big deal, just a surprise.

- The theater we went to is really nice. For Emily, I think it was a little like walking into a magical world of candy and carpet. Besides the video signs pointing people to the right theater for one of the 14 movies, there were huge stands where you could buy candy by the pound as well as the normal concession stand. There were velvet ropes to form lines and a lot of activity. Wonder if she thought the lobby was the attraction.

- My first mistake was letting her pick out a snack. I, thinking like an adult, proposed popcorn. I pointed at the large bin of freshly made popcorn and asked her if she would like some. Since this was her first time, I told her she could pick out whatever she wanted, but suggested the popcorn. Of course she went right to the display of bars and bags of candy, and wanted some kind of gummy worm thing that is made with liquid sugar. So that is what I got. And then instead of soda which she doesn’t really like, I got a watermelon/strawberry fruit type thing which probably has twice as much sugar as Coke.

- Then it was time for her to go to the bathroom. Always an awkward moment when I walk my daughter, a girl, into the men’s room. I know that a lot of men’s rooms are disgusting and men generally don’t expect to see a little girl in there. But since it was an early afternoon, the place was empty and all went fine.

- Then we went into the theater. It was stadium seating and we were 30 minutes early so we got to sit pretty much anywhere we wanted. The lights were on but it was still dim. I think Emily was impressed at the small red lights that were on the stairs to help people see. Keeping with the theme of the day, I asked her where she wanted to sit. Thinking that the seats in the first row, about 5 feet from the screen, or the seats in the last row, about a mile from the screen, might not work, I urged her to pick again and we sat in the middle.

- I mentioned before that we were 30 minutes early. Big mistake. Especially when 1) you are holding a bag of candy a 3 year old picked out, 2) there are ads and stupid trivia things flashing across the screen and you have to explain that those things are not in fact the movie. But I was able to ration the candy and drink, and keep her occupied by letting her look around and stuff.

- As we all know, there are coming attractions before most movies. These coming attractions might not be claymation cartoons with pigeons and thus will require a parent to explain that the coming attractions are not the movie so no need to panic. Just wanted to throw that out there in case you are ever in the same situation.

- During the movie she was fine. She sat for a while, stood for a while, sat on my lap, sat next to me on the other side, but for the most part the movie kept her attention.

- Before the movie I explained that she needed to be very quiet and if she needed something, to pull my shirt sleeve. She did not remember this the first 10 times she needed something. She kept asking me loudly enough to be heard over the very loud soundtrack if she could have some more candy, or to hold the drink, or if she could stand on her seat. But after a while she pulled my shirt before yelling.

- It bugs me that I teach Emily to be respectful of others and to not throw her garbage on the floor and she has to listen to other kids talk freely during a movie and throw garbage over the seat in front of them without their parents making them go pick it up. Different values, different upbringing I guess.

- The movie had some scary parts where she clung to my neck. But never to the point where she wanted to leave.

- I don’t think a movie about World War 2 Britain and Germany going at it was great for a 3 year old. It wasn’t terrible, but I think something “softer” would have been better.

All in all a fun time. I think the next movie will be a full-out cartoon like a Disney or Nickelodeon one. But Emily had a good time and I got to do something special with her, which I rarely have the opportunity to do.

July 19, 2005

Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle

Trust me on this one, if you see Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle is going to be on cable, watch it. You will not regret it. How did this movie not become a cult classic?

Kalpen Modi, or Kal Penn as he goes by, is going to be a star. He is a cross between Mathew Broderick in Ferris Bueller, Michael J. Fox and David Spade. I am going to follow this guy, believe me, and I am never wrong on stuff like this. Maybe once or twice but usually am dead on.

This movie is so damn funny it reminds me of when I discovered Super Troopers. Kind of like finding a new drink to order or a great pizza place near the office. We need more movies like this.

But, in the off chance you think it is stupid, well, maybe you are STUPID...oh, sorry, I didn't mean that. Yum funny super glue, this move might not be for you.

Vote for Pedro.

July 17, 2005

Harry Potter and the Filthy Rich Author

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Hogwarts and Muggles and give me a break. All this Harry Potter crap is driving me nuts. People waiting on line for 14 hours, let me correct that, adults forcing their kids to wait with them on line for 14 hours to buy the first book available at midnight. Harry Potter parties. Otherwise normal adults dressed up and speaking it that fake wizard voice. Give me a break.

Look, I am glad that kids are reading and not playing video games. I get that. They talk about that benefit all the time. Good for them. But how about this. Get those kids off the couch and outside. Because while reading is good, you are taking some fat lethargic kid sitting cross legged on the floor playing Grand Theft Auto, drinking Mountain Dew and eating Doritos, and moving him to the couch, where they sit cross legged next to an end table with a lamp on, reading a book about witches and warlocks, drinking Mountain Dew and eating Doritos. I am not knocking the idea of reading, it’s just that maybe we should try to break it up a little. I am by no means an expert, but this is what I would do if my kids were old enough to read. I would dedicate an hour or two a night after dinner to sit with them and take turns reading. We would shut off the TV, turn down the radio, and sit on the couch reading Harry Potter or, I don’t know, maybe a biography on Amelia Earheart or one on history. It might not be as much fun as turning mean kids into toads and flying on a swiftvac, but something tells me if I spent the time to do it, it would mean something to my kids. The rest of the day, that being the morning, afternoon and dinner time, the kids would be outside playing, doing activities, and other creative tasks that gave them a little more exercise than turning a page.

I am not bashing the idea of reading a book. If some 10 year old wants to sit in his room all weekend reading a Harry Potter book, good for them. It’s better than watching TV or playing video games. Fantasy books are great because it helps to expand the creative thinking of children. It enables a child to realize there are other things than the small world they live in. But this insane frenzy over the book is crazy and it bugs me.

Oh, one other things. How about this for a title of a Harry Potter book – Harry Potter and the Filthy Rich Author. While it is charming to think JK Rowling’s motive is purely altruistic, something tells me book 7 will help pay for the gold covering in the champagne glass holders for her three helicopters to take her between her 7 mansions. She is worth over a billion dollars on Harry Potter and we all know her story. On welfare. Wrote the book on napkins. Sat nursing a cup of coffee at a diner. Blah blah blah. She writes these books because kids whine so much their parents buy them. Or, and this is the case in my house, the parents (my wife) love the books so much they order them to be delivered on the exact day they are available. Do you think young Stevie in urban East Boston or Harlem is waiting at the local Barnes and Noble to get his copy? His parents are lucky to afford his school books. But look at some affluent suburb outside of Chicago and you have thousands of bratty kids buying 5 books so they can tell their bratty friends at Little Princess Day Camp on Monday morning how they had one copy for each bedroom in their house. Here’s an idea. Write a book called Harry Potter and the Poor Kid Who Could Care Less Because He Is Hungry and Cold and give it away for free. Do that Ms. Rawlings.

June 22, 2005

Zombie Movies

I read about the new George Romero zombie movie Land of the Dead. For me, there can never be too many zombie movies. I love them. Night of the Living Dead (1968), Dawn of the Dead (1978), Day of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead (2004), Night of the Living Dead (1990), the great Sean of the Dead that my friend Paul turned me on to, Children of the Living Dead, and every other zombie-themed movie out there. I love them. Not sure why but I like post-apocalyptic stuff in general, end of the world nonsense like Reign of Fire. And it’s not that I root for the under dog zombies or anything, They come across as such villains it’s hard to care about them. But I do admit I like the flesh eating. I wonder what kind of zombie I would be. I saw a film school short movie about zombies where all they wanted was equality and to be treated like a normal member of society. It was a mocumentary with zombies sitting in talk show interview chairs and all. I wonder what kind of survivor I would be. Definitely have fun shooting the zombies in their heads. I would also love the scavenger part of being alive when much of the world is dead. See what interesting things I could find when I wasn’t fending off the un-dead.

I also thought it would be a neat idea to have a weekly television drama about zombies. My first thought was to have it focus on a band of survivors and the wacky adventures they get into. But then I thought it might be interesting to also have it about a band of zombies. Maybe an undercurrent of a romance or love story. I don’t know, I haven’t fully thought it through yet.

Just thought I’d share.

February 23, 2005

Horror Movie - "Gargoyle"

Last night I couldn?t sleep so I started watching a really bad (but pretty good B-Horror level movie) called House of the Dead. As movies go, it was terrible acting, over the top cinematography, stupid plot, good looking but bad acting young cast, strange ?I know that guy? appearances by a couple of people, and stupid mingle of long drawn out scenes and a video game. Basically it was about a group of young people who use an island to have a party and get killed by the walking dead who inhabit the island. It was full of topless women which made it more awful because the scenes were so misplaced it was gratuitous. But I love, really love, movies about the living dead so of course I watched it until I fell asleep after midnight.

This morning I woke up really early, around 4:30, and while I was trying hard to get back to sleep and of course getting farther and farther away from actually getting to sleep, I heard something on the roof. It was probably a squirrel or something running around but it got me thinking about a pretty cool horror movie concept.

Here it is.

A young family...

<div align="left"> <img src="http://www.moveyourasana.com/David/pictures/Blog/VSICD-purple-gargoyle.jpg" width="100" height="100" border="0"</a>

Continue reading "Horror Movie - "Gargoyle"" »

February 18, 2005

Disney Movies, Part 2

Part of a long running and popular series is my "Real World Sequel" for well known Disney movies. Below is the third installment.

3. Cinderella

<u>Summary of Original Movie</u>

When Cinderella was young, her mother died and her rich father remarried a woman who already had two girls of her own. Shortly after getting married, I guess, her father died and the step mother treated her own two daughters much better than Cinderella. In fact, they all treated Cinderella terribly and made her their slave. I am not sure if her father died or not but I would assume so because the old lady and her daughters were really bad to Cinderella.

Anyway, Cinderella had to do all the chores and didn?t get to go to the good parties and stuff. One day the guys who took care of the local Prince really wanted to find him a wife. They threw a huge ball for all the young eligible ladies to attend so that the prince could meet someone and get married. Of course Cinderella was not allowed to go because she had to clean the bathrooms in the East Wing and then mop the attic ceiling and she was pretty upset. Her fairy Godmother appeared and turned some animals and vegetables into people and automobiles and away to the ball went Cindy.

At the ball the Prince hung out with Cinderella and ignored the other ladies. They spent all night talking but Cindy had to leave to be home by midnight, a deadline established by the Godmother.

The Prince?s handlers saw how happy he was with Cinderella so they set out to find her. Using a shoe the lovely young housemaid left behind, they went door to door looking for a foot to fit the shoe.

<u>Ending of Original Movie</u>

Miraculously there was only one person in the entire town who had what is probably the most common shoe size on the planet. Guess who that was? Yup, Cinderella. The Prince and Cinderella get married and live happily ever after.

<u>Real World Sequel</u>
There are two interesting sub-plots to the sequel. The first is that while Cinderella was busy cleaning the dining room floor with her tongue, the resentment was building inside her. When we thought she was talking to mice and birds, she was talking to herself, plotting her revenge. There was NO freakin WAY she was going to let her stepmother and the brats get away with how they treated her for so many years. Now that she was rich and had the Prince to back her, it was payback time.

Continue reading "Disney Movies, Part 2" »

February 16, 2005

Disney Movies - The "real" endings

The other day we were watching TV and a Disney commercial came on with a montage of a bunch of Disney movies. It showed a quick shot of a bunch of movies like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Mary Poppins, Snow White, etc.

Since the montage was showing all of the romantic scenes, Patti said ?They should make a follow up movie about what happens when they get married.?

So I thought I?d take a shot at coming up with the sequel for the originals, the ?realistic? sequel. This is the first two chapters in a series of realistic endings. I plan to write more when I feel like it and there is nothing you can do about it.

Continue reading "Disney Movies - The "real" endings" »

December 21, 2004

Cotton Headed Ninny Muggins

"You're not a cotton headed ninny muggins, you're just special."

That was for my friend Brian, Squirrel Man of Watertown.

Brian was telling me about his annual Christmas party that I missed (because I was in Atlanta) and he played Santa and his roommate played the ?Elf?, including tickle fights. I went out and rented the movie that night. Watched it three times in 3 days.

I still think ?Get off the shed? was the funniest skit SNL has had in a long long time. By the way, SNL sucks so bad that I actually fast forward through 4 out of 5 skits when I watch the tape every Sunday morning. I am at the point where I think watching the a rebroadcast of game 7 of the Yankee/Red Sox playoff game in October is better than the crap SNL brings out every Saturday. Christ, my daughter writes better stuff on the wall with crayons.

September 14, 2004

Come see the violence inherent in the system

"Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony."

And my political voice continues.

June 15, 2004

Movie quotes to describe my job

There are a couple of ways to accurately describe my profession. For those who do not know me, I am a management consultant. Some of those descriptions are

- Late nights
- Early mornings
- Aisle seats and 3rd in line to take off
- Fatty foods and nice restaurants
- Coffee, vending machines and alcohol. Lots of alcohol
- Stress

But in the bizzaro world I live in, I think of things in terms of songs and movie quotes. Not sure what song would best describe my job, but two movie quotes come to mind (with words I changed in <i>italics</i>).

1 - I have more responsibility here than you could possibly fathom. You weep for your <i>invoices</i>, and you curse the <i>consultants</i>. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That those <i>invoices</i>, while tragic, probably saved lives. And that my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. I know deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you don't want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent <i>consulting</i>. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of <i>professional services </i>I provide, then question the manner in which I provide it. I prefer you said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a <i>plane ticket</i>, and stand to post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

2 - This was a great man -- a man of vision and guts. And there isn't even a PLAQUE, or a SIGNPOST, or a STATUE of him in that town. Someone <i>threw him under the bus</i>. No one knows who gave the order. When I heard it, I wasn't angry. I knew him; I knew he was headstrong -- talking loud, saying stupid things. So when he was <i>thrown under the bus </i>-- I let it go. And I said to myself, this is the business we've chosen! I didn't ask who gave the order, BECAUSE IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH BUSINESS!!

June 10, 2004

The Stepford Wives

I remember seeing the original <a href=" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073747/" target=_blank>Stepford Wives </a> in the movie theater while on a date. Just joking. I was only 4 when it came out.

But I did see the original version of The Stepford Wives years ago. It was called a horror.

I want to see the<a href=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0327162/ target=_blank> remake </a>. They are calling it a dark comedy.

I call it ?hope?.

October 25, 2003

Defining Moment

This line is the defining moment of what movie??

"Would an ape make a human doll that TALKS?!"

Hint: One of the greatest movies ever made.

Snippet - Dorothy

When these people drew near the house where Dorothy was
standing in the doorway, they paused and whispered among themselves,
as if afraid to come farther. But the little old woman walked up
to Dorothy, made a low bow and said, in a sweet voice:

"You are welcome, most noble Sorceress, to the land of the Munchkins.
We are so grateful to you for having killed the Wicked Witch of the East,
and for setting our people free from bondage."

Dorothy listened to this speech with wonder. What could the
little woman possibly mean by calling her a sorceress, and saying
she had killed the Wicked Witch of the East? Dorothy was an innocent,
harmless little girl, who had been carried by a cyclone many miles from home;
and she had never killed anything in all her life.

August 28, 2003

Three movies to watch

As some of you know, I love movies. I like big production movies with big names and huge budgets and mega marketing, and I like independent films with odd story lines. But the ones I like best are the little finds. The gems. The kind of movies that roughly 1 in 10 people you talk to has ever heard of, and 1 in 20 has ever seen. Budget big enough to make watching it appealing with one or two I?ve-seen-him-before-somewhere-but-am-not-sure-where actors and decent cinematography that more resembles something you?ll rent than someone?s home 8MM camera. The kind that might not appeal to the IFC crowd who wear cool looking glasses and have funky hair cuts, but left of center enough to appeal to those who enjoy watching a film where you are not sure what is coming next. One that is left of center enough to appeal to someone who, late at night, gets so into a movie that he sits and watches it until 2AM even though he has a 6:30AM freakin flight to NY. But I digress.

While surfing the TV late at night, and hitting the many movie channels I get, I sometimes find a rare treasure that was overlooked by the casual scuba diver enthralled with the shinny bell. Three recent movies come to mind.

<a href="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0216620" TARGET=_blank>Christina?s House</a>
This one I found late night once on a Monday. Not great, but definitely worth watching if you come across it. It was like a B horror movie but with modern day camera work. Kind of like Tremors but nowhere near as great. Tremors, by the way, is top 10 or 15 on my list of likeable movies and definitely a surf stopper. Christina?s House had a couple of people you would know, but no big names. Just the way I like it. The premise behind the movie is that a family moves into a house that is evil. Or something like it. A comment posted on IMDB says it is the worse movie he has ever seen. I disagree. Swamp Thing Two is the worse. This is far from bad. This has killings and plenty of them but not gory so you can eat while watching it, a hot chick as the lead to keep you interested, her funny and troubled younger brother who actually is played very well by someone, a badboy boyfriend, single father who is overprotective of his hot daughter, and a sheriff who turns out to be, well, nothing important, just strange. You get it. It is so B horror movie that I couldn?t turn it off. Catch it if you come across it, it?s worth the two hours out of your life.

<a href="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0162346" TARGET=_blank>Ghost World</a>
This has the girl that was in American Beauty and someone who is without question a surf stopper ? Steve Buscemi. Yep. Two big names right off the bat. The Movie?s premise is this: After High School ends Enid strays away from her plans when she meets Seymour, a musically obsessed middle-age man. At least that is what IMDB says. All I know is that watching Steve Buscemi is like eating something that looks like crap but tastes great. Awful to look at but wonderfully fulfilling. He is a great actor and this role suits him. Plus Thora Birch is great as the young, anti social spoiled kid. Great role for her. Great! I have to admit I didn?t see this entire thing (Hoosiers was on TNT at the same time), but during my brief visits to HBO6, it was a good time.

<a href="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0246578" TARGET=_blank>Donnie Darko</a>
This is a must see. MUST SEE. And I stress MUST. This is how I explained it to Patti: A high school kid is apparently schizophrenic and is instructed by a demonic rabbit to commit evil acts, but sees things related to time travel ? and oh yeah, it contains Patrick Swayze and the woman from Dances With Wolves, and a jet engine crashes into this kids house but it?s really from the future, and the demonic devil tells him what to do, and a worm comes out of his chest. Yup. I know what you are thinking. WTF? But trust me, this is a good one. I love, absolutely love movies that I have no idea what is coming next and after it comes and goes, I think ?did that just happen?. This movie has humor, sadness (lots of it), drama, heartbreak, mental illness, twilight zone type themes that actually connect the dots, and good acting. It was one of those movies, like Train Spotting, where I sat still for a minute after the movie was over and had a feeling like I narrowly missed a bad traffic accident. Strangely excited and heart racing. Relieved. Happy. It was a masterpiece in keeping me off balance. For some (or many), this movie will be awful. It is very strange. After all, a demonic rabbit tells the lead character what to do. But the romance between the boy and a new girl to the neighborhood lets Jake Gyllenhaal (reminder, the boy from October Sky) bring out his character?s very real, very soft side. But then comes along his psychedelic visions and saddle with madness, and the ship starts rocking again. Mary McDonnell is excellent as the mother who loves her son despite his self awareness of mental illness. This movie is heartwarming and allows the viewer to settle into their mental recliner and enjoy someone else?s torment. Trust me on this. When the movie was over, I wanted to wake Patti up and tell her about it even though it was on Showtime 7 and 3:30 on a Tuesday. It was one of those movies. Warm cup of coffee on a cold Sunday morning, an unread paper in front of you and nothing planned.

June 26, 2003

Memorable Quotes

"It's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care."

"I did absolutely nothing, and it was everything that I hoped it could be."