This is one of the two films I am most excited to see this summer. I'm taking the family for fresh pasta outdoors, and then to the premiere. This is one of those films that I am probably more excited to see than the beasties are. And everyone has been saying Wahhhhhhllllllll-eeeeeeeeee for months in the car when we talk about it. Isabel does it the best.
Indy was great. It was all over the place - those guys threw everything and the kitchen sink, and one large lead-lined refrigerator into the movie, some worked some didn't - but it was a lot of fun, and there were some really good scenes. Harrison was Henry Jones again - I don't want to spoil anything for anyone by talking about the parts I really liked- but he was really in character. Thumbs up from the Sloth. I'll be going back again, and there's not many things I want to see more than once these days.
Isabel is out of school! One down, two to go and then Summer begins in earnest. I collected Isabel from her little class party and watched as she received the "Best Artist" award, following in the footsteps of both Kelly and Alex who both received the same distinction from the same preschool. She was so excited to tell me, "School all done!" and then remind me that, "Tonight we see Indy-Jones!"
I have worked really hard outside the studio today, cutting steel and bending hundreds of new pieces, so that I'd be ready to go as soon as the big kids came home. They're back now and I need to shave, shower and get ready for the premiere.
I've been trying not to get too excited, or too detached, but now that the day has arrived I find that I am quite interested in seeing what Steven, George and Harrison have concocted after 20 years. Can they recapture the magic? I miss Harrison Ford from the Blade Runner, Mosquito Coast, Witness days. I miss him sitting in a bar in Raiders when he thinks he's lost Marion and his nemesis comes in to gloat and he stands up ready to end it right there . . . only to be saved by a gaggle of children. I miss him world weary, ready to rest for the first time in a long time, only to be wounded more by Marion's affectionate attention.
I was Kelly's age when the first film came out. Perhaps I can revisit my childhood tonight.
Speed Racer was a disappointment to me. It would have been a nice 20 minute short film. The action scenes were too chaotic to comprehend what was happening, and while I commend the Wachowski brothers for their concept of vivid colors and surreal imagery, they suffer from the same over-indulgence that plagued George Lucas in his prequel: throwing everything and the kitchen sink into every frame. There is no sparse framing, with something to draw the eye from one point to another. No focal point. Just chaotic color and movement. There is a point where less is more. You should build an action scene the same way you build dialogue between characters.
Alas Speed Racer grows quickly tiresome. As it was, I simply thought of what I would have done to pare down each race to show how the track really worked, how I would have developed each race and each scene.
Isabel loved it however. She went on and on about it during the movie.
Kelly won her baseball game on Saturday, drove in a run and scored two. Alex won his soccer game. We got out on the lake for a glorious day of mud castle building and basking in the sun. We had a great dinner on the boat and a long night's sleep listening to rain pound the roof.
Happy Mothers Day to all you wonderful moms out there.
I have four tickets to tonight's Iron Man premiere at eight o'clock. Which means me and the beasties will be among the first in the country to see it on the silver screen. I'm taking the kids for ice cream, to play in the commons and perhaps get a glass of wine for dada at the cafe before the show. Then the biggest tubs of popcorn they have, slathered in lots of butter and gigantic Coca Colas for everyone.
The Summer Movie Season gets off to a roaring start tonight and I have very high hopes for Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau's creation. Buzz is really high on this one. The clips I've seen have shown great promise. Take a look for yourself . . .
April is the cruelest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain.
~ T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land
It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.
~ Charles Dickens
The basis of optimism is sheer terror.
~ Oscar Wilde
Painting is so poetic, while sculpture is more logical and scientific and makes you worry about gravity.
~ Damien Hirst
My diving bell becomes less oppressive, and my mind takes flight like a butterfly. There is so much to do.
~ Jean-Dominique Bauby
Nature knows no pause in progress and development, and attaches her curse on all inaction.
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Philip: 'Mr. Fennyman, allow me to explain about the theatre business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.'
Hugh: 'So what do we do?'
Philip: 'Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well.'
Hugh: 'How?'
Philip: 'I don't know. It's a mystery.'
~ Shakespeare in Love
Recent Comments