Random musings while things settle

Hi folks - I've been meaning to post more often than I have, but I've had a run of bad luck lately and have had no energy when I've gotten home. I've even tried to watch the musical Gypsy to cheer myself up and fell asleep both times, snoozing on the couch all night - the fault of my lack of pep and not the film, I'm sure.

Here are my quick reactions to some film-related pieces I've seen lately.

Can 'Iron Man 2' beat 'The Dark Knight'? | 24 Frames | Los Angeles Times

In the opening weekend? Yes. Total box office gross? No.

The Frenzy On ...J. Lo, You Coulda Been a Contenda

What happened to her? It's really quite simple. Once she was an actress named Jennifer Lopez who starred in the likes of Out of Sight. She then morphed into a celebrity called J.Lo who appeared in the likes of Maid in Manhattan. Actress > Celebrity.


MCN DVD Reviews: April 6, 2010


The only new DVD release I'm interested in seeing is Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. The idea of Werner Herzog directing a Bad Lieutenant movie, coupled with Nicolas Cage in off-the-wall mode, is irresistible. But first I have to get through John Woo's Red Cliff, Warren Beatty's Reds or Pedro Almodovar's Broken Embraces. I only regret that Almodovar's Film isn't called Broken Red Embraces.

When is a Julian Lennon video also a Sam Peckinpah film?: 9 stylistically suspect music videos made by famous film directors 

This was a fascinating piece about film directors losing their mojo when they turned to music videos. The author is absolutely right about Brian De Palma's "Dancing in the Dark" for Springsteen and Sam Peckinpah's Julian Lennon videos - works that show absolutely none of the personalities of the directors.

But "Bad" does have Scorsese-an energy, even if it's not one of his better works. I was surprised to learn that David Fincher directed Billy Idol's "Cradle of Love," video, but stylistically it makes absolute sense - it's just surprising to see the director of Seven coming across as  horny. Maybe Tyler Durden made him do it.

Finally, the author of this piece is understandably amazed that Michael Bay's video for the Divinyls' "I Touch Myself" isn't lewdly tasteless. But thinking about this makes me realize music videos and commercials are where Bay should have stayed. He directed the Aaron Burr/Got Milk ad, one of the cleverest commercials of all time, and it's visually stylish without being incoherent. It's when Bay has to direct anything longer than five minutes that he gets into trouble.