Out of Focus

Tah-dah!

Here I am. Yes, right here. No I did not disappear forever, neither physically nor mentally. Somehow, I managed to, once again, find myself being ridiculous busy and not busy at all, seemingly at the same time. Don’t ask me to explain it … I can’t. All that’s important is that I am now back … at least, I think I am.

It has actually taken me several weeks just to sit and type this brief missive. I meant to start writing here over a month ago when my idol would have been celebrating his 100th birthday, had he still been living. And then, I meant to keep an online diary of my repeated pilgrimages to Film Forum for their “Essential” series. But the actual thought of sitting and typing was, for some reason, quite unappealing.

Where have I been? Nowhere really. My last post in March appeared during what was to become the busiest two months of my life. If you’re in New York and attended this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, I only wish I could adequately and concisely explain to you what it took to actually put that puppy on. I’ve been involved with the festival in some capacity during each of its five editions. Now, I run the Screenings department, among participating in other capacities as well. From mid-March through the end of the festival (May 7), five hours of sleep was a good night. I thought this year might have been easier because I had done this specific job before and would have an additional person working under me. But because of the expansion around the city as well as in days, one extra person was not enough. By the time May 7 rolled around, I was totally burnt out.

However, I was also really excited because it seemed like, although my seasonal festival position was coming to an end after a couple weeks of wrap, I may have created/found a permanent position for myself, and one that I would enjoy. Sadly, it’s now virtually August, and this job has not fully materialized as of yet. It’s nobody’s fault, and I honestly believe it still will, but right now, I find myself in a similar position as the one I was in last summer — financially and work-wise. Blech. Oh, except last summer I lived on my own in a decent apartment on the Upper West Side, and this summer I live with four other people (not to mention a couple mice and the occasional bug) in Clinton Hill. Ahhhh, life is change,no?

But enough of that. I think part of the reason I had stopped writing was that this blog had actually gotten away from its original intent. Sure, I always meant to write about whatever popped into my head — personal or otherwise — but I never really intended to create an online diary of my life. Not that I find anything wrong with the people who choose to do that; it’s just not where I wanted to point my lens. “Out of Focus” was always to be a home for my rants: film, TV, general entertainment, sometimes theater, maybe music, occasionally politics … but overall those first two would be the focus. An entertainment diary maybe; a record of my moods and living locations, not so much. I don’t have a problem with anything I’ve posted in this space, but coming back to it, I just felt I wanted to refocus things a bit. Of course, keeping with the name of this blog, even as I redeclare my intent, said focus will, I’m sure, remain fuzzy.

So what, finally, brought me back today, and (again) what have I been doing since the end of Tribeca and the return of general unemployment? Lots of miscellaneous things, and some of them will be mentioned in coming posts over the coming days. I think the actual final straw that propelled me back to my blog, however, was actually seeing Miami Vice the other night. I hated that movie just enough that a rant started bubbling in the bottom of my gut. When I went home and decided to look at some of the reviews, that crappy movie reflux was working its way up my throat. And right about now, it’s on the precipice of exploding through my fingers and onto my little corner of the worldwideinternetwebiverse.

But first things first. Hi. Sorry for deserting you. I hope you didn’t take it personally. To those of you who have been curious, thanks. I’ll try not to go away for so long again. Consider this an intro or a forward or a precursor to whatever comes next. I’ll do my best to make it interesting, or at least something the encourages the occasional stream of love letters and hate mail my spewings have attracted in the past. Ah, I miss them so.

Oh sure, I’ve been hemming and hawing for months about how overrated I think Capote is, but that film gets a reprieve from my venom henceforth because the only award it won was the only award it deserved. Meanwhile, I had this horrible feeling as the night wore on that Crash was somehow going to take the Best Picture award. It started with all the Memoirs of a Geisha love and intensified when the eventual Best Picture winner took home the Best Editing prize. It was at that point that I said, “Whatchoo talkin’ ’bout Willis!”

Look, I don’t hate Crash as much as some; I even like parts of it a lot and would not have been disappointed at all had Matt Dillon won the Supporting Actor award (which he did do at the Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday). But the film was probably the least deserving of all five Picture nominees (along with Capote), and to my mind, its win puts this year’s awards right up there with the horrors of Driving Miss Daisy winning, or even Rain Man; or, as time goes on, the continued disbelief I encounter at the very thought of Kevin Costner and Dances With Wolves (a movie that is easily 30 minutes too long) beating Martin Scorsese and GoodFellas (a movie that is nearly-perfect) for director and picture.

I have to give credit where credit is due. IMing with Karina (the now-former editor of Cinematical) last night just before Director and Picture were announced, she nailed it. She said Ang Lee would win the Director prize but Crash would take home picture. I had that nervous feeling myself, but I didn’t really believe they would split this year. But I guess what this proves is that Hollywood really isn’t as liberal as everyone makes it out to be. In many ways, Crash was the safe choice, which is often the case with Best Picture winners.

In other news …

Continue reading “THOUGHTS ON OSCAR: HEADLINE — UNDERDOG STEALS “MOST OVERRATED” TITLE FROM CAPOTE“

It’s a bit odd that the last post I wrote here (over a month ago) was apparently the 666th one. If I wasn’t a Jew and therefore pay no attention to the Book of Revelations, I might think that means something. But it doesn’t.

Rather, I’ve just had that dreaded combo: dearth of inspiration and (more importantly) busier than shit. Basically, on Feb. 6, I started back to work at Tribeca, i.e., the film festival. My job this year has been bigger than ever and will continue to be bigger still — in both good ways and some maybe not so good. However, I am super-excited to be working again and especially to be working there with people I really like.

This last week was pretty much hell, however, as we’ve been scheduling the festival. One of these days, once the schedule has been officially announced (in a couple weeks) I may post some pictures I took of our slotting room and talk about it in more detail. (For now, confidentiality and all that shit has to take precedence.)

In the mean time, I’ve seen a ton of movies, but nothing that’s been out in release. I’m way behind on my 2005 films; I never had a chance to do my Top 10 list, and I totally forgot (for the first time in a decade) that the Spirit Awards were yesterday.

So now here I sit, watching films in this year’s festival as I wait for the Oscars, and no … you’re not getting a prediction post or anything like that because I still just don’t really have time. But I am going to try to start posting on some sort of regular basis again this week because believe it or not, as much as I hem and haw and complain, I usually enjoy it. So for those of you (I think I count two, maybe three?) who actually care about my ramblings here, I have not left nor forsaken you. No, really.

Here’s hoping Jon Stewart is amazing tonight, and just in case you’re curious: I’m rooting for Good Night, and Good Luck, I’m rooting against Crash and Capote, and I’m betting that Brokeback Mountain is going to be the first film to win both the Spirit Awards and the Oscar for Best Picture. However, I am scared that it’s somehow going to be the immensely overrated Crash and that like Lost in Translation, even though the voters are mostly a different pool, that the Spirits would be Brokeback‘s big night.

But I guess we’ll see. Until (hopefully) tomorrow ….

You know what I’m scared of? Well, a lot of things, actually, but that’s not the point right now. I love the modern multiplex as much as the next person — the projection and audio equipment is usually top notch, stadium seating allows everyone a clear view and most of them “allow” you to see more than one movie for the one ticket price. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t miss the great, grand single screen theaters of yesteryear. I’ve been planning to mention something about a couple important theaters to me in San Francisco, but I’m waiting for my friend to send the necessary accompanying photos. Regardless, right now, I’m thinking about Manhattan’s Ziegfeld Theater. The Ziegfeld we now know isn’t even that old — it opened in the 1960s. I’ve never really known any of the true old grand movie palaces that used to line midtown like the original Ziegfeld, the original Paramount or the Loew’s State which sat on the current site of Times Square’s Virgin Megastore and was a primary host of major film premieres from the 20s through the 50s. All those old theaters were changed to multiplexes or even closed long before I came to New York.

But the current Ziegfeld, even with its mod and boxy exterior, still possesses its grandish interior and enormous screen. It was the first place I ever saw a movie in New York — Born on the Fourth of July in 1989, nearly seven years before I moved here. It was pure circumstance — my friend and I, both living in LA at the time, just wanted to see a movie. We hadn’t heard of the Ziegfeld — we just wound up there. And I loved it. I still love going there, especially for big movies. But it seems like the Ziegfeld has been hurting in recent years. With the exception of a Star Wars size opening, it’s never been close to full any time I’ve been there. I’m sure the location has a dramatic effect — who the hell wants to go to midtown anymore when you don’t have to? It also may be movie palace pretty inside, but it’s not so comfortable. Unless you sit in the “balcony” area at the back, the rake of the seats is very slight and essentially negligible. And those bathrooms … oy, they’re so small and there’s always a terrible line for both the men’s and women’s.

What prompted this missive today? Well, this: The Ziegfeld Theatre’s Hollywood Classics wich starts today and runs for the next five weeks. How cool is this, right? The Godfather movies, Chinatown, Ben-Hur, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, West Side Story, My Fair Lady, the Indiana Jones trilogy … and more, all on the Ziegfeld screen? I mean that’s just awesome, and an opportunity to see some great movies the way they were meant to be seen. (I’m not sure how to pass-up The Godfathers, Chinatown and Ben-Hur!)

But what does this say about the state of business at the Ziegfeld — when a major first-run moviehouse decides to devote an entire month to programming films that likely will not sell-out any actual showings. Maybe I’m wrong, but I went to see Raging Bull at the Ziegfeld last year, and there couldn’t have been more than 50 or even 100 people in the theater (and I feel like I’m being generous). That’s less than 10% capacity. Yes, maybe this kind of programming is simply saying that Clearview doesn’t consider any of the current crop of films strong enough to do any better than showing this kind of series, and maybe that’s even true, although I doubt it. I mean, Big Momma’s House 2 may not be good filmmaking, but it still made nearly $30 million its opening weekend. There are always some films out there making it big every weekend. I simply believe that it has more to do with the fact that people don’t head to the Ziegfeld anymore. Like all the other Times Squares theaters that became run-down and have since gone out of business (including the cavelike Loews State 4 which was in the basement of the Virgin Megastore, had existed as a discount house for the last several years while also — oddly enough — showing a selection of Bollywood fare, and ceased to operate last month), the Ziegfeld too suffers from the existence of the AMC Empire 25 and the Loews 42nd Street eWalk and its modern amenities.

I hope I’m overthinking this — I do that a lot so it’s certainly possible. But could the end of the Ziegfeld be near? Could the last single-screen large movie theater in Manhattan go out of business and disappear like the rest. Sadly, I fear the chances are better than not. A movie theater can’t survive on summer fare alone, and it seems like the Ziegfeld is barely even doing that.

Moira Shearer didn’t appear in that many movies. She was more ballerina than actress. But her first feature film role was as the lead in one is absolutely one of the greatest films of all time and (personally) in my definitive top five: The Red Shoes. That should come as no surprise as I have mentioned the film in this space on several occasions. I finally got to see it projected on a big screen for the first time at the Walter Reade Theater last April, which only enhanced my love for it. No matter how great the Criterion disc is, nothing beats seeing this magnificent film in all its colorful photographic extravagance and glory the way it was meant to be seen.

I just read on Cinematical the sad news that Shearer passed away this week at the age of 80. No she may not have had a long career as a film actress, but even just that one role was impressionable enough to make her loss felt. If you’ve never seen The Red Shoes, Netflix it already, dammit. It’s one of the greatest and most disturbing stories of love, obsession and human nature you’ll ever see.

Holy crap! As disappointed as I am in the Capote, Crash and Munich overhyping, I’m equally ecstatic about the “Best Documentary” nomination that went to Street Fight. I still haven’t actually had time to “study” all the nominations, and I’ll post more later, but seeing Street Fight listed blew my mind. Why? Because … have you heard of it? Well, if you’re a regular film blog reader (including this one), maybe you have. I’ve posted about it at least once, the last time nearly two months ago because I saw that Filmmaker Magazine Blog and David Poland had each mentioned it. I don’t remember if I wrote about it earlier last summer, but this is the documentary that won the audience award at the Tribeca Film Festival last year and for which I wrote the notes for the catalog.

I know people are pissed this year because the Academy’s ludicrous rules disqualified films like Grizzly Man (which I’m ashamed to say I still haven’t yet seen), but Street Fight is the kind of film that could really be helped my an Oscar nomination. I believe it’s the only film on the list that hasn’t had any actual theatrical distribution. It’s played on PBS’ P.O.V. once (maybe more?), and hopefully they’ll now reshow it or some micro-distributor will put it out there.

This is one of the best political documentaries I’ve seen in the last few years — a phenomenal story following the 2002 Mayor’s race in Newark, NJ, a race which is about to replay itself this May. Is it the best documentary of the year or even among the five nominees? I won’t say that. I personally liked it more than Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and as cute as March of the Penguins might be, I find Street Fight way more interesting. I still need to see Murderball and Darwin’s Nightmare, and I’ve heard amazing things about both. But Street Fight deserves this kind of notice, and luckily, those who vote for documentary have to actually verifiably sit through all five films, so it even has a chance to win. Good for you director Marshall Curry. And good on the Academy for finding a small and deserving film worthy of this kind of attention.

Adding to my malaise today is those annoying nominations announced this morning. Look, I know the Academy Awards are nothing to get all riled up about, and I haven’t even studied the whole list to really see what encourages me versus what pisses me off, but just looking at the Picture and Director categories make me seriously consider calling this the most absurd year for Oscar in I don’t know how long. I’m shocked at the nominations for Crash, a movie which I actually liked more than many and which I believe had a fantastic collection of performances, but while it explored interesting themes and ideas was far from a flawless film and wasn’t very well directed. Then there is Capote: its nominations don’t surprise me as much as disappoint me. Capote is now officially the most overrated movie of 2005. I don’t need to repeat myself as I’ve said this over-and-over again, but the entire success of that film is solely on the shoulders of the incredible Phillip Seymour Hoffman; “Best Director Bennett Miller” is absolutely laughable for this drab film.

And then there’s Munich. No, its nominations certainly can’t be considered a surprise either, other than the fact that conventional wisdom was probably counting it out by this point. I still haven’t gotten around to writing about Munich — and I fully intend to (sigh) — and I also certainly didn’t hate it as much as some people. Yes, it’s the kind of sprawling epic political movie the Academy loves — that doesn’t make it great, but I guess if Oscar wants to celebrate the best of Hollywood rather than the best of cinema, Munich fills the bill.

The biggest surprise to me, actually, is that this year for the first time in recent memory all five Picture and Director nominees match up. Usually there is at least one film that doesn’t receive a director nomination and (obviously) vice-versa.

So basically for me, this year’s Oscar race is between Brokeback Mountain and Good Night, and Good Luck — two movies which along with Jon Stewart hosting should have conservative America hating this year’s Academy Awards more than ever. Huzzah.

As for the rest of the nominees and my various reactions, more to come ….

Today’s a blah day, dontcha think? Want to brighten it up a wee bit? Check out the very last Gothamist Interview from yours truly. As I mentioned last week, I’m no longer writing for Gothamist, but I did have this one last interview to do, and luckily, it’s a pretty good one. It’s with Josh Horowitz who’s new book “The Mind of the Modern Moviemaker: 20 Conversations With the Next Generation of Filmmakers” came out today. Josh also writes the blog Better Than Fudge, and while his opinion of today’s Oscar noms certainly differ to some degree from mine (upset by the Walk the Line omissions but happy about Munich attention? Blech), it’s still worth checking out every day. I mean for one thing, he actually adds content to it regularly (which is more than some of us seem to be able to do recently). For another, he’s actually funny (which is more than some of us seem to be able to do, like, ever). And that book of his is actually a pretty good read too. Go figure. Although maybe most importantly, he says his favorite movie candy is Red Vines, and anyone who has an intelligent taste bud knows that Red Vines kick Twizzlers ass!

Meanwhile, I’m just trying to break out of this funk, and the gray rain doesn’t seem to be helping. Oh well.

Today has been a pretty earth-shaking day within the business realm of the entertainment world. First the announcement of the merger between UPN and The WB and then the official word that Disney has bought Pixar.

I think in the long run, both bits of news are actually big pluses for us little folk out here in the audience. But what ramifications do they hold for their respective companies, personnel and programming? Hmmmm …?

Continue reading “WHY DOES ALL THIS STUFF HAPPEN WHEN I’M AWAY?”

Can you imagine a world where you must live through dial-up? Holy crap does it suck. Sure, I’m only five years removed from that reality, but it seems like ages ago. Except for when I visit the family in the Bay Area and stay with my Mom. This is all you need to know: my Mom just bought her first DVD player a couple months ago. She says they told her she can’t get DSL where she lives. Even if that is true, they have cable, so I’m sure some high-speed access is doable. But whatever. She doesn’t use it.

So that’s why I haven’t been online much or posted at all. No, not headaches this time, although they’ve continued a bit. I managed to bring absolutely gorgeous whether to San Francisco since I arrived on Friday. See? This is from Ocean Beach on Sunday where I went with my friend and his dog Hirschy to frolick a bit.

Uhm, on to the title of this post. Friday morning my weekly weekend Gothamist post went up. It was late for the second time as the thing was supposed to go up on Thursday. My bad. Between finishing the indieWIRE story, the ongoing headaches and doctor appointments and prepping for my first trip back to see the family in a year-and-a-half, I didn’t get it done on time. I won’t say anything more about that.

What I do need to say is that this past weekend’s “Weekend Movies” post is the last one I’ll be writing for them. I may try to continue the weekend previews here (as I was doing before I took them to Gothamist) or if some other site is interested take them there. Gothamist will continue previewing movies in some manner I suppose, but it will be without me.

Additionally, I won’t be conducting interviews for Gothamist either. Today, Lily and I posted an interview with Josh Selig, and actually I have one more interview that will be coming some time next week. But after that, I won’t be writing for the site anymore.

I don’t want to bad mouth anyone over there so I’m not going to say anything further about the details. We came to a mutual decision, and I wish their new film writer and any of their new interviewers the best of luck. We just had a disagreement about a few different things, and it seemed time to totally part ways. Hopefully this will also encourage me to write more here and I may be doing more for some other web sites in the future. I enjoyed doing the movie posts at Gothamist for the past five months or so, and I hope you all enjoyed them as well.

Meanwhile, I’ve got a ton of catching-up to do. January is certainly coming out as a wash, but I think I’m starting to feel a little better, and after I travel back to NYC tomorrow, I’ve got a lot to do in the coming weeks, plus all the stuff I’ve been promising you, my loyal reader, here. So let’s move on …