:: Sunday, April 11, 2004 ::

I've been so busy "online" with Poetry and haven't updated Movies except to finally add a still from "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" for the main page. I've been similarly busy with "making" my own little "internet movies", like the latest MikeVideo (No link yet, except to the latest download: "Beach Dreams". I wanted to write about the "Oscar Party" I attended, but that was Feb. 29th, and it's now, (heavens!) April 11th, Easter Sunday morning. The "Oscar Party" was fantastic. Debbie, Jim Zabel's sister (Jim supplies the soundtrack to my latest MikeVideo) and her husband, a retired drama professor, invite their friends to a party complete with a "pot" which the winner takes home. This isn't the most important part of the party, it's a time for old friends to get together, but it helps to "intensify" the atmosphere, especially in a predictable Oscar telecast (I'm sure glad it was predictable, as I finally got my "best Pix choice back again.) . I liked the telecast myself, and viewing it in a social atmosphere was a real treat. The food was stupendous. We had all kinds of different dishes to chow down on, including crab cakes, two different "designer" pizzas, and and some cheescake that melted in my mouth. This was a while back, now, and I still remember the food. That's always the mark of a great party as far as I'm concerned.
Sadly, I didn't "win" the party prize. But I had a great time. Hearing "Return of the King" several times (a tie for record of noms/wins with Ben-Hur I believe, at 11.) I thought "King" broke a record, but it didn't.

I've watched lots of films since I've written, as well, and some of them were, from the theater pictures first:

"The Passion of the Christ" director Mel Gibson, 10 of 10 So far perhaps the Best Picture Winner for 2004. An emotional tour de force which shows the Pain of the Passion in excruciating detail. (Better than "Braveheart with Jesus" which I first uttered when I heard about the making of the film. A reverent look at the "Gospel Truth" of Jesus' Crucufixion, which at over two hours, with sproadic flashbacks, gets painful. A magnificent film, with stunning visuals, and a heart wrenching portrait of Jesus by Jim Cavieziel from "The Count of Monte Cristo".

"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" a somewhat disappointing Michael Gondry film with Jim Carrey 5 of 10 Charlie Kaufmann did the screenplay. I wanted to like it more than I did.

The New "Dawn of the Dead" by newcomer Zack Snyder. 6 of 10 I'm a big fan of the original movie but I went for Sarah Polley, Mekhi Pheiffer, and my fave Ving Rhames in the cast, but the dead move too quickly in this version, and the original, by Romero is a classic. My favorite part was hearing the song "All the people who died, died" at the end of the end credit sequence. That was always one of Bob's favorite songs. There are some real good sequences. But the original is more disorienting, and this one is more of a roller coaster. I won't discount that it is a fairly well made film, full of action and suspense, but too much shakycam and digital fast mo for me.

"Spartan" the new David Mamet film. 7 of 10 Wasn't "prime Mamet" as far as I am concerned. Val Kilmer (a favorite, never miss him, and particularly like the noir "Salton Sea". stars. The plot is a "political thriller" but it looks like a low budget TV movie and isn't that intriguing.

Lots of rentals and DVD purchases. Even got the "Airport" "Quadrilogy" for thirty bucks. Cheeseball American Cinema at it's worst. The second and third are eminently watchable. Last movie viewed on DVD, the deplorable "Duplex" by Danny DeVito, with a powerhouse cast, some good laughs, and an awful script. I'll go into detail on some of the rentals in another post.

Need to see films in a theater right now? Certainly not "The Alamo." Do want to see "Hellboy".


:: Michael Nyiri 9:58 AM Leave a Comment on this Post ::
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