3 things about Dean Devlin’s GEOSTORM

Geostorm [2017]

1. Setting the story in 2019 seems awfully optimistic.
2. Gerard Butler’s fishy accent, unconvincingly explained away using a line of dialog.
3. How did he manage to get a handgun onto the space station?!

Honestly, not so bad. It’s really just a hokey 50s sci-fi movie, with acres of CGI and a glaring shortage of logic. But on that level, pretty fun. Gerard Butler has the sort of bland “tough guy”-ness that’s ideal for the part. And the movie has all the cliches that we know and love. Cute kid trying to find his dog? Check. Speechifying villain? Check. Ludicrous rescue at the end? Check. I enjoyed it. (Then again, I enjoyed San Andreas too. I just have a weakness for disaster trash.)

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3 things about Otto Preminger’s THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM

The Man with the Golden Arm [1955]

1. I don’t believe the word “Chicago” is mentioned even once.
2. Without a word she walks over to the door and locks it, then turns around to face him.
3. Changing pupils.

Bonus: did Shorty Rogers actually sound like that in real life?

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3 things about John Hillcoat’s THE ROAD

The Road [2009]

1. A sediment of grime near the drain.
2. “I can’t talk about it. Not with you.”
3. A pink fire burning in the center of his chest.

3 other things.

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3 things about John Carpenter’s THE FOG

The Fog [1980]

1. At the gas station, the sounds the florescent lights makes as they flicker to life.
2. Looking down a very tall, steep staircase, at the bottom of which is the lighthouse, surrounded by the ocean.
3. Glowing red eyes.

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3 things about Wes Craven’s A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET

A Nightmare on Elm Street [1984]

1. Dragged around the ceiling.
2. Johnny Depp is an unconvincing jock, especially in a crop top.
3. Pulled through the hole in the door.

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INARTICULATENESS: a poem about Luis Buñuel

INARTICULATENESS

Buñuel sat day
after day outside.
Smoking cigarettes, one following another.
Shot after shot of
espresso. Quietly waiting
for the ideas to come.
Coming, as he did, from the cafe
society of Barcelona,
he had little use for Los Angeles.
The automobiles going past
were like houseflies too big
to swat.

When one has nothing
to say, how does one say it?
What then? And if someone is willing
to pay him for his skilled silence,
what then? Is it
unethical?

He sat thinking.
The darkness of the cinema
encourages us to dream. The heat and light
of the endless street, the eternally empty
sidewalks and tectonic pavement plates
encourage nothing. They give courage
to nothing. Fastening mankind
into the shackles of women,
binding women
into the vices of men.

Day after day
Buñuel sat outside.
Los Angeles. Quiet.
Waiting for the ideas
to come.

September 1999

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3 things about Howard Alk’s THE MURDER OF FRED HAMPTON

The Murder of Fred Hampton [1971]

1. “Do you dig the credit union?”
2. Hanrahan: “Does anybody have a sensible question?”
3. A blood-splattered copy of Eric Dolphy’s Out to Lunch.

Riveting, a classic, another sobering reminder of how little has changed.

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3 things about John Boorman’s POINT BLANK

Point Blank [1967]

1. Dried white crusts on her lips. An empty bottle of pills on the dresser.
2. He looks down at the empty bed. It triggers that memory of Lynne.
3. Dips his fingers into the pool. “Ice cold, Bill.”

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3 things about Vincente Minnelli’s THE SANDPIPER

The Sandpiper [1965]

1. She pushes her hair back with the handle of her paintbrush.
3. “I want you Laura. I want you.” She’s speechless, stunned. Without another word he turns and leaves the house.
2. They lie on a green blanket on top of a red blanket. Greenish light in the background.

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3 things about Denis Villeneuve’s BLADE RUNNER 2049

Blade Runner 2049 [2017]

1. Four hands caressing the back of his neck.
2. He pours some whiskey on the floor for his dog.
3. A large dent in his thumbnail.

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