Monday, February 20, 2006

The Trim Bin #15


- I correctly identified the above frame-grab (from Dune) and won a copy of Class of 1984 courtesy of Film Freak Central. I've never won anything at random, let alone with a correct guess, so it put a spring in my step. I haven't seen Class of 1984 - possible writing material?

- Things are sluggish around here; the trip to Boston was a blast, but there are a dearth of good or even subtextually interesting new movies out. Consider the number-one movies in America during the last five weeks: Eight Below, The Pink Panther, When a Stranger Calls, Big Momma's House 2, and Underworld: Evolution. There's always the hope that the winter/spring doldrums will contain a surprisingly great film - The Silence of the Lambs, released in February 1991, is the best example. But more often, this is the time when we collectively bend over for a cinematic paddling before exclaiming "Thank you sir, may I have another?"

- I've had a few discussions with people lately about trying to choose a great director's worst movie, the true sign of a great filmmaker being that his/her worst film will be at least interesting and possibly better than most directors' best work. Which brings me to the next logical question: what are the best movies by terrible directors? I'll throw one out for starters: if I absolutely had to choose, I'd say that Michael Bay's best movie is The Rock.

- Writing (or pre-writing, really) is going well; dots are being connected, images are emerging. This is in many ways the most frustrating time for me, because all I want to do is share my enthusiasm at the possibilities of a blank slate (or screen) with everyone around me. But summarizing the feeling of a movie that doesn't exist yet is a poor substitute for the real thing. Any perceived tension is probably the result of this conflict. It's time to get to work.

Yessir, could be a pip.



2 comments:

Gregory Joseph said...

class of 1984 is a blast. directed by the cammando guy, its basically nonstop teenage prostitution, gang violence and sweet revenge. predating the substitute but not quite as right-wing and mean-spirited. also look for a young michael j. fox hooked on drugs and roddy mcdowall flipping out and teaching chemisty with a loaded gun. the sequel, class of 1999, i have not seen, but was reviewed in issue 2 of SD by andy.

Andrew Bemis said...

Roddy McDowall? I'm sold - his performance in Fright Night is one of my favorites.