What has Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, Christopher Walken, Samuel L. Jackson, James Gandolfini, Chris Penn, Tom Sizemore and successfully achieved what Heat could not?

If you answered True Romance, you're not half the slouch one would think given your practice of reading this website. While not for the sleight of heart or those who did not enjoy films such as The Bad Lieutenant or Blood and Concrete: A Love Story this modest work successfully made use of its preverbal who's who of Hollywood's more unique brand of player.

One of my life mantras states that if it's memorable, it is your friend. Such was the case with an email I received last night in that it possessed one of my favorite sign-offs I've read in recent history.


Thanks for the added thought j-man and in the immortal words of one Sailor Ripley I reply, "Ahh, hell peanut."

I do not understand the general public's expectation of film. Many people seem to want something familiar, not leaving their room of experience, therefore understandable and by god it better have closure and that closure better make sense. My definition of film has always lived on the other side of the protractor. Take me for a ride, show me something I've never seen, challenge my neurons, etc. Magnolia took my passion to heart and then opted to get zany.

In addition to challenging vanilla-viewers plot-wise expectations, magnolia does not conform to the 90 to 120 minute format. It views kind of like bill murray's groundhog day but groundhog spans an hour and twenty minutes while magnolia eats up a staggering three hours and eight minutes. Difference is one watches like a bad date and the other like a too-long vacation (Yeah, sucks to be you).

After seeing this film I'm still not entirely sure what it's about or what its purpose was, but I absolutely feel like I've realistically viewed lives that I otherwise would not have. It was beautifully acted, dementedly inspired and concisely organized into one fluid work. However, do not misinterpret me, I'm certain most of the free world would absolutely detest cruise and company. And given this, I would refer only a handful of people to its door. As a final note, I'd pay tall money to see a collaboration between magnolia's P.T. Anderson and the Wachowski brothers, of matrix fame. I think theaters would have to post medical staff at the exits.

so many movies coming out of hollywood today attempt to blend action, romance and humor into a fun-fest to be enjoyed by all market groups. never has anyone succeeded in this task like ang lee, (of ice storm fame) in his latest opus crouching tiger, hidden dragon. the cinematography is incredible, the acting sincere, the humor well-crafted, the gender-roles discarded and the fight-scenes absolutely mesmerizing in this classic homage to such films. all elements in this work were so concisely fused, i think any willing-minded person (subtitles, complex plot, fantastical) could enjoy it at all levels.

and, in the previews, i spied the trailer for the coen boys next film, o brother where art thou and it looks like they may be up to their old tricks.

i watched american beauty last night for the first time since falling in love with it at the theater. seeing it again reminded me how thoroughly i enjoyed the plentitude of heated discussions it spawned. the most special of these revolving around how differently men and women perceived the flick. a great majority of women dismissed it as a serious work claiming it to be too outlandish and farcical while most men deemed it a stellar effort and just short of a documentary on the american male.

this is obviously one arena where we are not all on the same page.

when seeing jim carrey and ron howard's latest project How the Grinch Stole Christmas this holiday season make sure to look for Little Cindy Lou-Who. I see her most mornings on my way to work waiting to go to school in that she lives two doors down from me. aint nothin' to have celebrity on the block. kudos taylor.

ever wonder why something called a 'trailer' comes before the main event? well, once upon a time the feature presentation preceeded the coming attractions. sure it makes sense, but like so many other things being forced down our throat (notice how tv commercials have made their way into our paid movie watching experience) , there they are in the forefront.

the most unfortunate modification to this mini genre has been that the pre-release teaser has become a cliff notes version of the movie. for this reason, on any movie i may hope to see you will find me with plugged ears, looking down and moving my jaw around (helps drown out the noise). i wish the decision makers in this field would stop dumbing everything down and take a crack at something creative and truly tantalizing. i serve up the following efforts as evidence that it is in fact possible:

  Alien
  easily one of my favorite trailers ever
  Mission Impossible 2
  hard to go wrong with the ska-based theme
  Titus (?mb)
  lots of beautiful footage to work with

The new arthouse effort The TAO of Steve effectively eradicated the stench that the SKULLS left on my soul. Like any Kevin Smith or Quentin Tarantino film, this flick handles modern conversation with the skill of a Woody Allen restaurant scene. with a smart eye for dating philosophy this should be a requisite see for any single folk out there. Is it any wonder that a guy named steve suggested i see it. he was absolutely right and i should've known because he is reputed to take care of his kids. thanks brother.

The Skulls. Although, if I had the mental strength to see the certain atrocity Coyote Ugly , I may have to re-tally the votes. But this extension of wednesday night television will certainly serve as a hands-down winner. This was one of the most agonizing movies my VCR has had the misfortune of tracking. What in the hell were the producers of this film thinking? After asking where the logically amiss laugh-track was, I'd demand a full and absolute refund. I've seen lesser crimes tried on court tv.

Furthermore, what is with this Joshua Jackson tool. You can at least assimilate why most teen-beat phenoms are on the cover of said rag, but this guy baffles me. I haven't seen so many exaggerated bullet-proof, mensa-bound and hyper-sensitive traits on a water-retented adolescent since, well, bruce willis mastered the ludicrous type-cast in each of his films starting with Die-Hard. At least the Terminator was an android.

In my list of the best things to come out of the new millennium, all of the BEST OF lists rate as number one. There was a "Best of" list for every conceivable topic around. See how you fair against myself in exposure to what the pundits say we should have all read or viewed. On paper, I'm not half the renaissance man I thought I was.

And, make sure to check out the readers poll. You wanna talk about people being all over the map. I wouldn't try to make sense of it, cuz it just don't add up.

   AFI's top 100 films
   AFI's top 100 comedy films
   Modern Library's top 100 novels
   Radcliffe's top 100 novels
   Modern Library's Readers top 100 novels
   NEA's Top 100 Children Books

The Castle is for anyone who has ever had a family...which is most of us I hope. It was a few years old before making it to the states (Australian made) but tore through theaters and then video stores with great rapidity and fanfare.

Raising Arizona + Vacation - My Cousin Vinny = The Castle