: mysterious
Well, the weekend is looming. Not sure what we're going to do with it other than go over to Savannah tomorrow.
Yep, Happy Birthday, Picasso.
New Movies Opening This Weekend:
Cloud Atlas I don't think I've ever wanted to see a movie less than I do this messy-looking epic, an adaptation of a challenging, post-modern 2004 novel by David Mitchell that was said to be unfilmable. The Wachowskis (The Matrix trilogy) direct an all-star cast that includes Tom Hanks (playing multiple roles), Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant and more. I have no idea what the movie is about, only that it's set in six different periods of history and charts how individual lives affect others throughout time and space. Yawn. A few critics like the ambition, but other critics say it's pretentious, pseudo-intellectual garbage. That's all I need to know.
Verdict: Not Interested
Chasing Mavericks I'm a big fan of director Curtis Hanson, but even I don't want to see his new film. Why? It's a surfing movie. Has there ever been a good surfing movie? It's based on a true story about a 15-year old boy/surf phenom who is mentored/guided by a local legend (Gerard Butler). The surfing footage is supposed to be very good, however. Elisabeth Shue co-stars.
Verdict: Not Interested
Silent Hill: Revelation 3D Uh, considering Julia and I couldn't even make it through the first film, I think I'll pass on this one. Radha Mitchell's back, alongside Sean Bean, Malcolm McDowell, and Carrie-Anne Moss.
Verdict: Not Interested
Terrible week at the movies, y'all!
Speaking of terrible movies, I just watched Silent House (2012), which would have been completely terrible, if not for what amounts to be a tour-de-force performance by Elisabeth Olsen as Sarah, a young woman we know almost nothing about. Sarah is helping her dad and uncle fix up and clean the family's lakeside summer home, which they are getting ready to sell. All of a sudden, it seems that there are some intruders in the house and before you know, her dad's knocked unconscious and poor Sarah is alone in the boarded-up, musty, creaky house with only a flashlight and her wits. What exactly is going on? A remake of a 2010 Uruguayan film, the film (directed by Open Water filmmakers Chris Kentis and Laura Lau) has a technical flourish/gimmick: it appears to have been shot as one long take. So for most of the movie, we are left alone with just Olsen, which is fine, because she has an immensely readable, expressive face; there's not a moment when we're not on her side. (The other actors, by comparison, stink.) Even at under 85 minutes, the movie feels too drawn-out and long; it's kind of boring. The revelation at the end isn't particularly subtle and will probably just leave you queasy. Yuck.
Grade: C-
*
A performance today for my list of the 500 Greatest Performances of All Time:
Ed Harris
as Jackson Pollock in Pollock (2000)
Harris is one of the finest actors around, and this decade-in-the-making labor-of-love for him gives him one of his greatest parts: the troubled, fractious, blustery, unlikable painter who changed modern American art. Harris isn't worried about getting the audience to sympathize with Pollock; rather, by playing the character as he probably was, he gives us the warts. It's a brave performance, intense, commanding.
*
A scary book for my readers for Halloween? Give this one a shot:
Now I'm not saying you should read every single story by Shirley Jackson in this collection. But "The Lottery" and "The Daemon Lover" are as good as it gets. Spooky, scary!
*
A prediction for tonight?
Well, I think this game has all the makings of an upset. Tampa Bay, coming off a tough home loss, is probably better than their 2-4 record. Minnesota, at a surprising 5-2, might not be as good as theirs. That said, Minnesota did beat SF and Arizona and Detroit; TB hasn't really beaten anyone. The Bucs match up well and can be explosive. But I'm kind of a believer in the Vikings right now. If this were in Tampa, I'd go with the Bucs. It's not, though, and I don't think the Bucs can stop AP or Percy Harvin.
Minnesota 26, Tampa Bay 17
Images courtesy of:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CijcaA9yq58/TK91dHmunJI/AAAAAAAAHhQ/rhg6sm8-92w/s1600/Les+Demoiselles+D%27Avignon.jpg
http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/pollock0.jpg
http://cdn1.screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/Eric-Sheffer-Stevens-Elizabeth-Olsen-Silent-House.jpg
http://northbennington.org/_images/Misc/Shirley_Jackson_The_Lottery.jpg
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