KMK’S Random Thoughts

I haven’t updated in a lot time because of grad school stuff and internship tasks. Excuses Excuses Excuses. 

 

Random Thought #1

Saw a great performance this weekend: Clifton Collins Jr. in Sunshine Cleaning. He played a one armed man who enjoys making model airplanes and selling industry cleaning supplies. Will cover him in tomorrow’s Actors’ Spotlight.

Random Thought #2

Took in a double feature of Tony Gilroy’s Duplicity and Alex Proyas’ Knowing. Was pleasantly surprised by both movies. I don’t appreciate the aging Julia Roberts from the Ocean movies as much as I do the young Julia Roberts from Flatliners and Mystic Pizza, but she was very good in this. While I’m not sure if the final plot twist makes a whole lotta sense, I recommend Duplicity. Even though Clive Owen looks like a stick figure.

Knowing offers another great Nic Cage performance, this time as a single father who must try to save his son from the whispering people. To explain more about the whisper people would spoil the movie for you. Proyas manages to make a profitable film using some of his most beloved themes. Also, the disaster scenes are baller.

Brilliant, but Damaged Single Father Cage bids you adieu!

 

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The Loveless (1982)

I am  so excited about The Loveless that I am still buzzing after my first viewing. Kathryn Bigalow has always been a favorite director of mine so I decided to check out her first film, The Loveless, which is also the first movie Willem DaFoe appears in. The Loveless is a throwback to the biker movies of the 1950s which featured youths on motorcycles with bad attitudes and no future, living like they just don’t care.

Bigalow’s technique is developed throughout The Loveless. The film is highly stylish and moody, just how I like it. What is the most interesting aspect of the film is the brief relationship between Vance (DaFoe) and Telena (Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains’ Marin Kanter), which is honest and frankly sexual. Telena is a damaged girl, with a mother that committed suicide and a father who sexually abuses her. While Vance is sympathetic, he will not do anything to help because that would require him to give a damn. 

Plus, the rockabilly music is fantastic, adding to the atmosphere of the picture, which is important because the pacing of the film is quite slow, adding to the overall mood. With performances ideal to the piece, especially DaFoe’s,  The Loveless is a true marvel of a film that deserves a wider audience.

 

Freaky Thing I Saw in the Supermarket…

Sunday. Oscar Night. Upper East Side. Gristedes.

I spot this and flip the fuck out.

Ewwwwww.

 

Monologue of the Week: Independence Day

Is this one of my favorite movie monologues of all times? Yes. Do I think Bill Pullman as Thomas Whitmore is one of the greatest movie presidents of all time? Yes. Do I want to shed a patriotic tear everytime I watch this monologue? Yes.

Good morning. In less than an hour, aircraft from here will join others from around the world. And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind. “Mankind.” That word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can’t be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it’s fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom… Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution… but from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live. To exist. And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day the world declared in one voice: “We will not go quietly into the night!” We will not vanish without a fight! We’re going to live on! We’re going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day! 

I love this fucking movie. It makes me proud to be an American.

Among My Favorite Diane Lane Moments…

 

One of my favorite movie moments of all times, let alone ones that feature Diane Lane. I could watch this scene on repeat and never tire of it. This is when  Diane Lane sings Billie Holiday’s “Am I Blue?” at the opening of her club, Vera’s, in Francis Ford Coppola’s underrated classic, The Cotton Club. Diane Lane is my favorite actress of all time. She can do no wrong, which is apparent in this clip.

Actor Spotlight for Feb. 23th-March 2nd: Pell James

After going to a showing of Fanboys, I was shocked when I saw Pell James and Jamie King playing hookers that the geeks try to get with in the Vegas part of their adventures. This made me wonder, where did Pell James go? For a while, I thought she was going to be the new Indie Darling  and it seemed her career has just stalled. I remember seeing her in James Marsh’s The King with Gael Garcia Bernal and William Hurt. I was just blown away and how she held her own against such strong and established actors. James has a certain gentle grace that is almost hypnotic. After that, Jim Jarmusch casted her  in Broken Flowers as a spritely girl named Sun Green, who entrances Bill Murray for a few moments, like so many other women in the film.

I guess her chance to really propel her career was with the film, Undiscovered, starring another “why the hell isn’t he more famous” Steven Strait, as two people struggling to make it in the L.A music industry. While the plot is tired, these two promising actors couldn’t make the film work. Maybe it’s because Ashlee Simpson had a supporting role.

The last notable project she was in was Fincher’s Zodiac as one of films first victims. In her brief screen time, her death instills a fear in the audience that would continue to grow as the film progresses. Pell James is an extremely talented actress who deserves better film roles. 

Heart Broken.

Mickey lost the Oscar. My heart is shattered. I hate the Academy. You can’t make up for not passing Prop 8 (like you should have) by giving Sean Penn the Oscar for Milk.

I just want to say to you all tonight I’m very grateful to be here. A lot of people told me that I’d never wrestle again and that’s all I do. You know, if you live hard and play hard and you burn the candle at both ends, you pay the price for it. You know in this life you can loose everything you love, everything that loves you. Now I don’t hear as good as I used to and I forget stuff and I aint as pretty as I used to be but god damn it I’m still standing here and I’m The Ram. As times goes by, as times goes by, they say “he’s washed up”, “he’s finished” , “he’s a loser”, “he’s all through”. You know what? The only one that’s going to tell me when I’m through doing my thing is you people here. 

 

Best Movie Speech Ever. No wonder Mickey helped write it.