There's No Business Like Video Business

Haven't worked on my script (scripts even) in a while and feeling kinda guilty about it right about now. My addictive personality has me renting videos up a storm at the moment. I've gone through 10 videos in the past week: Bowfinger, Russian Ark, 25th Hour, Big Chill, Elizabeth, Cabin Fever, The Score, Full Frontal, In The Mood For Love, Ghosts Of Mars and have still got 5 to go (Phantom Of The Paradise, the remainder of Irreversible, Leaving Las Vegas, The Tenant, The Weight Of Water) all from the dreaded Blockbuster. I've done online renting the past couple of years and have got a bit tired of it. It's nice just to walk into a store and pick up some titles (none of which I've seen before). The boss of Netflix says he plans to run Blockbuster out of business and unfortunately I can see it happening. Still, nothing beats being able to choose your mood for the night and actually talk to the person behind the counter (even if they have no idea about movies at all. Cypher? How do you spell that?). I plan on checking out a video store on the weekend if I have time (real work pending) which I remember having a lot of the harder to find titles (like Argento, lots of horror etc.) Hopefully, I'll come to and stop with this insanity next week and try and get back to some real writing and not this crap.

Plus the fact that the brick'n'mortars have stocked up on titles and have finally started to get more tv sets has got me back as well (even if the pricing structures are a bit steep! One disc of The West Wing counts as a single new release. Next stop: Bonus discs will be seperate. They already are treated as such with online).

Speaking of what I watched here's my score-card:
Bowfinger: disappointing, I'd heard a lot about this and found it mostly unfunny. Some good ideas about renegade film production though. I've got Frank Oz commentary to listen to and rest of extras I busted on.

Russian Ark: truly stupendous, a history of Russia in a single take shot in the Hermitage (I assume?). The time travel aspect is slightly hokey but allover beautiful. I think the dancing sequence is my favorite. Again, skipped on all multitude of extras.

25th Hour: the second favorite of my rentals. Spike Lee is a god and I plan on attacking most of his back-catalog across the next year. Edward Norton has also become a fav (see The Score below). Nicely sombre piece about a drug dealer with one day left before prison. Highlight is the amazing nightlclub sequence where the music, photography, acting, editing and writing collide together with a thumb. Best moment: the dropping out of sound and slowly bringing it back after the Pepper punches out Norton. Extras are solid (writers commentary is good) spoiled (surprisingly) only by Spike Lee's incredibly boring commentary - stick to directing, man.


The Big Chill: one of the better one's also, marred only by a really annoying song soundtrack score thingie (did I just say that? everyone kill me now!). I thought most of the song's really ruined some beautiful acting moments (Glenn Close is my fav.) and if I ever made a movie, by God, it'll have no songs in it. No score if I really had my way. Great documentary by Bouzereau, but where oh where is Costner's deleted scene. Missed opportunity (it's probably 'lost').

Elizabeth: really solid. Cate Blanchett is a "consummate actress". Marred only by some poor secondary acting and WTF is Cantona doing in there? No real extras here.

Cabin Fever: disappointing Evil Dead retread without the wit and style of Raimi. Lots of extras (and missing lots more from R1) but I skipped 'em.

The Score: continuing the Frank Oz / Edward Norton festival it seems is this unoriginal but hugely entertaining heist movie. Norton does a great 'dual' role in this and DeNiro and Brando are solid. Oz is the real star - who'd have thought Fozzie could make such as good widescreen caper movie. Ok extras, haven't listened to Oz commentary yet.

Full Frontal: the best I've seen in this run. I like it so much I bought the company (well, at least the DVD, for $10). I just can't find a bad Soderbergh flick (although I almost grabbed Ocean's 12 today but passed on it). Shot on the cheap, it's verite mockumentary which regularly breaks the fourth, fifth and sixth walls of it's own (it's own) reality. Fav. moment is when Soderbergh comes out to talk to Blair Underwood, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt and David Fincher (!) with a black box to disguise who he is. Soderbergh's commentary is typically great - although he continues his tradition of not really getting along with his writer, Coleman Hough, who really doesn't say a lot. Haven't savored the rest of the extras yet, but plan to soon. This is a must-see.


In The Mood For Love: again, a recommendation, and probably liked it more than I thought I would, but thought the second half literalised much of what was unspoken in the first half. It's so damned delicate and poised and becomes soap operaish towards the end. Seems this might be a prequel of sorts to 2046.

Ghosts Of Mars: hugely disappointing, although with Carpenter's track record of late, not really surprising. Have a lot going for it (too much, too many elements, genres thrown together) but foiled by poor effects, no plot, bad dialogue, average acting (Henstridge and Cube are good) and a totally pointless, uninvolving and unthreatening villian. Carpenter on his more-entertaining-than-the-movie commentary wiseacres this as a "piece of shit", and yes, it is. As I said, the commentary with Henstridge is the best thing on this DVD, so should you ever rent this, just skip the movie and listen to this instead. They bullshit each other, beautifully.

See, I've done it again, crapped on mercilessly about crap. Over and out.