Sorry for the somewhat lengthy hiatus. Part of it has been an increasingly busy freelance schedule, which is great because, you know, I get paid. But the other part of it is I've been watching a ton of movies, most of them with one man.
Barry Ferguson has probably been my #1 movie buddy since high school, and he's great at it. He always has thoughtful opinions, he shares his wheelbarrow full of popcorn, and he's on time. Don't underestimate how important this last thing is. A friend of a friend expressed interest in going to the movies with me on a regular basis, but it didn't work. She showed up monstrously late for There Will Be Blood (and visited the concession stand). The result: I spent 2 hours and 40 minutes getting an extreme close-up of Daniel Day Lewis's moustache.
Anyway, Barry is back from a five-year stay in Korea, and he's antsy. One of the first things he wanted to do was revive an old favorite: the movie marathon--three straight movies in one day. So, on Monday I saw Iron Man (very solid; love the casting of Robert Downey Jr. and the movie's lack of gravitas), The Lives of Others (a haunting German movie; I think that's all they make these days), and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (parts funnier than the whole).
This mini-marathon kicked off a Forrest Gump-like trek for me. Since Tuesday, here's what I've watched; forgive me for the Earl Dittman-like analysis here:
1.) Musician--Daniel Kraus' excellent documentary on avant-garde jazz musician Ken Vandermark; a review is forthcoming.
2.) Easy Money--A co-worker of mine swears by this movie and lent me his tape. I love Dangerfield, but this movie had all the organization of a rugby scrum. Best line: "You were the reason why twin beds were invented." There, I just saved you $4.00 at Blockbuster.
3.) High Noon--Who says movies made after 1960 aren't relelvant? Yowza! Will provide link to review when up.
4.) Annie Hall--I keep learning something from it. Two things this time: First, how Alvy Singer pretty much molds Annie into who he wants her to be, and then treats her like dirt. Second, Diane Keaton was pretty sexy back in the day. Either I'm very late arriving at this realization or I'm really, really tired.
Full reviews are a'coming. Stay tuned.
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