i got the scoop on scoop

I just got back from an advance screening (so advance it wasn't even 24 hours before the first showings tomorrow) of Scoop. It was absolutely hilarious! God I love Woody Allen. He's still got it, and yes, he belongs in his movies. The man may be going on 71, but he doesn't look or act it. And he's as mentally sharp as ever. There were so many lines in it that I said to myself, "I need to remember that one!" One of my favorites: "I was born into the Hebrew persuasion, but I later converted to narcissism." I even tolerated Scarlett, though she overacted which is better than her usual underacting. And Hugh Jackman in those suits? I could barely control myself. It was brilliant.

i'm going to reverse the trend...

It has been the near universal trend to trash the fuck out of Lady in the Water, but I'll tell you, these people are out of their minds. I'm even going to go out on a limb and argue that critics hate this movie for the opposing reason they loved Sideways. The latter was about a critic, which film critics latched on to and blew their enthusiasm out of proportion for the movie (seriously, very Overrated, yeah with a capital O). On the other hand, M. Night Shyamalan doesn't like film critics, and in case you didn't know that, this movie blantantly tells you so. So yeah, I think they are juvenile enough to be reacting to a difference of opinion rather than the actual technical and artistic merits of the movie. God knows it wouldn't be the first time.

Anyway, at times the message and style were a little too heavy-handed, but I still think it was quite an enjoyable and different [than others] film. It just felt a little clumsy to on one hand do a very typical, hokey film thing (the hokiness of how the message was delivered through an obvious metaphor designed as a children's bedtime story) and on the other hand make fun of conventional film structure and approach. Yes, ordinarily I'd love that sort of thing, but there was something about the delivery that was a little off. But I don't mean to dwell on this, because I really enjoyed the movie. I still prefer The Village (yes, you fucking heard that right--that is one brilliant movie), but damn, you have to appreciate a film that above all else places storytelling as a (the?) valid way to understand the world.

fuckin' synergy

I learned something very interesting today. Well, "very" being relative to what else I learned today. Do what you will with it (I did also sort Lego pieces).

For nearly a month I've been working at a historic preservation firm in Hollywood. It's located in a 1910s Dutch Colonial Revival bungalow court (i.e. it used to be multifamily housing and it now houses office space, most of which is entertainment industry related). Because someone came into our office looking for something else, I learned that Paul Weitz's production company, Depth of Field, is located in the same bungalow court as my office. After I found this out I may have even seen Paul or Chris. Probably not, but I will have to go study their photos so I'm ready. And who knows who could show up to see them! I mean, shit, Hugh Grant or Topher Grace could walk through the court and then they wouldn't know what hit them. Apparently Julianne Moore was there a couple of months ago wearing overalls, yes, fucking overalls.

What makes this a little more interesting is that long ago I noticed a pair of director's chairs sitting in the front room of their building that say "Synergy" on them. I immediately thought of In Good Company, but at the time thought it was somewhat of a clever name for some entertainment company. Well, now I know why those chairs are there. In Good Company was originally titled Synergy.

It's all fuckin' synergy.

see the groomsmen and skip the puffy chair

I just returned not that long ago from The Grove (you know something must have really drawn me to get me to go there let alone on a weekend afternoon) where Edward Burns talked about making The Groomsmen on a Mac with Final Cut Pro at the Apple Store. It was a pretty interesting Q&A session. He's really down to earth and hot as hell. Man, I always thought he was attractive, but he's getting better with age. Though knowing he's married to Christy Turlington, I know I'm certainly not his type (aside from my refusal to knowingly participate in adultery). Anyway, the questions were pretty decent too. Nothing with the attitude of "I clearly want to get in the business, can I mooch off you as much as possible?" I even asked a question!

I happened to see the movie on Thursday night as a free advance screening that was clearly underpromoted. I was by far the youngest person there; next up were people in their late-to-mid 30s, I kid you not, and there were lots of elderly people. Very odd. Anyway, excellent film. It's my favorite of his (as writer/director/star). Although it completely revolves around men in their 30s who are perhaps aging without growing up much, it wasn't alienating to me at all (unlike so many other male-bonding things I cannot understand the appeal to like Swingers and Diner). And it's very funny. And it's shocking as hell to see Matthew Lillard in a role where he plays his own age, let alone a father of two sons over ten! and Jay Mohr who has been where lately?? as a totally over-the-top overgrown child. Go see this movie, if you can! He made it for $3 million (he said he had to get Brittany Murphy to play his fiance in the film as a favor in order to get it made... who knew she was considered bankable?) and so far it's only getting released in NYC and LA this Friday. If it does well it will move elsewhere. It was interesting to see how someone who's been plugging away at this for awhile and gotten a fair amount of attention (even he doesn't consider himself indie-indie) has such a hard time.

On Wednesday I saw The Puffy Chair as a free drive-in style screening. What a boring piece of shit, and all three characters were quite annoying. The drive-in experience was pretty cool, though, since I've only been to a drive-in once. I think the novelty has finally worn off. It's more comfortable in my bed or even in a theater.