Last week, I wasn’t working at all. I suddenly went through that little spurt of posting because I was inspired (or something) and had the time. This week, I’m on another short temporary job today through Wednesday. Today at least, I don’t seem very busy, but I don’t know that I’ll necessarily get to a bunch of the various reviews, etc. I’ve been meaning to write either. I spent most of the weekend watching films submitted to the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival (some good, some not so good, but thankfully nothing rip-my-eyes-out awful), and starting to reacquaint myself with the oeuvre of Albert Maysles who I will be interviewing later this week. I started last night with Monterey Pop (directed by D.A. Pennebaker, but Maysles was one of the cameramen) and then watched the absolutely brilliant Gimme Shelter. Those damn Criterion extras — especially the audio commentary and the KSAN radio recordings — kept me up way later than intended. I really want to make sure I rewatch Grey Gardens and see at least a few of his Christo films (which I’ve never viewed).
Meanwhile, a few small items that caught my eye:
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I suppose I’m not surprised that as Variety reported today and has been rumored for some time that there will be a Fantastic Four sequel and director Tim Story will be back at the helm with Mark “I-don’t-care-that-you-co-created-Twin Peaks” Frost. This summer’s film inexplicably made $320 Million worldwide. I say inexplicably because Fantastic Four will certainly be near the top of my worst-of-the-year/top-Razzie-contender lists. It was seriously awful in just about every way imaginable, but most notably the piss-poor script and inattentive direction. I remember turning to my friend during the film and saying, “Was nobody paying attention to anything while making this movie?” I’m not going to say Story is a director of terrible-Bay proportions based on this one disaster (although paired with this it’s not looking good), but I have no hesitation saying that Bay’s summer flop The Island was 10 times the film Fantastic Four was, and it’s depressing that so many people went to see such crappy super hero tripe.
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I saw The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe last week, and I’ll have more to say about it later. However, part of me wonders if I should bother because Ryan Stewart at Cinematical — with whom I don’t always agree — basically nailed it, mentioning just about everything I’ve thought of, including the fact that the boys aren’t nearly as convincing as the girls (especially young Georgie Henley who everyone will spend the next few weeks comparing to Drew Barrymore in E.T.).
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Oooh … I bought tickets to the Iron & Wine/Calexico show tonight at Webster Hall ages ago, and I just learned that Sufjan Stevens is suddenly opening. I’ve just gone from tepid excitement (just because I’m tired) to full-fledged excitement. Yay!
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VERY VERY IMPORTANT: You know, just under a month ago I explained why I hate everyone. It involved the pending, although still officially unofficial, cancellation of the best show anywhere on television, Arrested Development. Well, November sweeps are over, and Arrested returns to Fox tonight at 8 PM. Watch it! And then when you don’t get it or don’t think it’s so great, watch it next week. And the following week. And eventually, you’ll catch-up and figure it out. You can speed-up your recognition of its brilliance with the DVDs of course as both previous seasons are available. If you know anyone with a Nielson box, tie them up and tune their TV to Fox from 8-8:30. I don’t care if they watch it or not — just get the damn rating. Can the show be saved? Probably not in the traditional way keeping it on Fox, but I still think if Twentieth Century Fox was smart, they’d keep it in production and shift it over to the FX Network where Arrested‘s 5-million-plus dedicated rabid fans and viewers would be the cable network’s biggest audience ever.
I’ve forgotten everything else. Oh well. Until later … or tomorrow.
Out of Focus 