Before Midnight

BEFORE MIDNIGHT

It’s been 18 years since Jesse and Celine got off that train together in Vienna.  And in BEFORE MIDNIGHT, written and directed by Richard Linklater and starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, both who also co-wrote the screenplay, we meet up with the couple once again.

Before Sunrise was about youth and dreaming and the idea of falling in love the way young people fantasize about it.

Before Sunset was about two dreamers who had one night together who are now in different places in their lives finding each other once again.

Before Midnight asks us and them, can love really last?  That is one of many questions and idea’s raised in the latest film.  All three films are “conversation” films. They are about people talking and in this third installment we get to hear more than just Jesse and Celine talk about sex, love, life and death, but ultimately we get to be alone with them again.  Only this time the once innocent dreamers of love and life are now weighted down by the complexities of life.  Jesse is divorced and has a kid he only see’s during the summer.  His ex-wife is angry that Jesse fell in love with Celine and left her.  Celine is at a crossroads in her own life. The two of them have twin daughters now and Celine is wrestling between being a “domesticated” housewife and her independence as a woman in the working world. 

The conflict in Before Midnight is that Jesse feels guilty over not being a presence in his son’s life.  Celine fears this is the beginning of the end.  Jesse was always an optimist while Celine was always a pessimist, but they made it work.  But tough life choices now interfere with the happy ending that we all want love to have.  What makes this film work is its honesty about how love is a feeling that we navigate through when life happens. And sometimes life is unforgiving, unrelenting and just plain tough.

Both are now past 40, and are so far removed from their youth and innocence.  They feel the pressures of being a parent, being a spouse but also being true to themselves.  What we see for the first time is these lovers arguing.  And they spend a great deal of the film arguing.  But it’s that arguing that makes us wonder if they are going to make it.  It’s that arguing that makes us think about the love’s we’ve had and lost as well as the divorces and heartaches we ourselves have endured.  We want them to stay together because that fits the fantasy, but will they?

The film, as with the other two, ends on an ambiguous note.  There is a great likelihood they will not survive.  Will Jesse really sacrifice what he feels his son needs in order to stay with Celine?  Will Celine understand the importance of Jesse being a father to his son and move back to the States with him, or will they split up?

The three films feel like Apted’s, “Up” series where we revisit the same people ever few years to see where life has taken them.  Sometimes life has been kind, other times life has been difficult and unforgiving.  Jesse is complacent with Celine, but Celine seems fidgety.  She’s always been that way.  What’s so great about these films is that these characters are so three dimensional, and each sequel has shown a great dedication in staying true to these characters.

What’s difficult about Before Midnight is too watch and listen to Jesse and Celine being mean and angry toward each other.  But even the most connected couples have moments and periods of disgust, disdain and resentment toward one another.  Love is not easy and it’s not promised to be there tomorrow.  But it is worth fighting for.  And we get a sense as the camera fades that this couple will fight to stay together.

Sure it doesn’t end as sweet and beautiful as the previous two installments, but it does end honestly.  And the viewer, as with the previous two films, is asked to look inside themselves for what they believe.  The pessimist will believe this couple is doomed. The optimist will believe this couple will survive, and the realist will believe anything is possible.  We take our own experiences into these films and either connect to their experiences in our own way, or feel disconnected.

I cannot recall any other films that have given so much pure sincerity and asked for the viewer to search within themselves for what they believe love is.  I personally hope they make it, but I fear they won’t. 

 

RIP James Gandolfini

RIP James Gandolfini

James Gandolfini died today. He was in Italy.  He was fifty-one.  What can I say……

Everyone will write the same story, where he came from, what movies he did, and how he changed television for ever with his portrayal of Mob Boss Tony Soprano.

But James was so much more of an actor, as that’s how we all knew him.  We knew of his roles.  But his roles varied so much it was hard to pin him down.  It was sometimes frustrating to accept some of the roles he took.  I wrote earlier, a few blogs back, that I was frustrated with his post Soprano career choices, but now he’s gone and I will cherish every single one of those roles. I will cherish every single moment of screen time he has given us and I will remember the blue collar actor who seemed larger than life in some roles, and cowering from life in others.

James Gandolfini joins the ranks of Brando, DeNiro, Pacino, etc., but not because he is dead; he had already achieved that status long ago.  But his death reminds us of what category of actor he was.  And it sickens me to write about this amazing man in the past tense.  It always hurts to reflect on someone so amazing who dies so suddenly at such a young age.

It’s amazing how we respond so emotionally to people we’ve never met, but watching their work created a connection to them.  And so hearing about James dying today hurt my heart and was so unexpected that it felt like a punch in the gut.

The world is again an emptier place without James in it, and the film world is short another amazing talent.

God Bless you James.  May you rest in peace.  And may you never be forgotten.

 

Why I Hate Johnny Depp

Why I Hate Johnny Depp

I hate Johnny Depp.  I hate him so much I have become obsessed with the Depp.

Depp came onto the scene with a small role in Wes Craven's, A Nightmare on Elm Street, where he got sucked into the bed with his TV and was dead.  Oh how I wish that was real life.

Is this a photo of Depp dying or climaxing???

Then he went on to play Tom Hanson in the super cool (when your twelve in the 80's) tv show, 21 Jump Street.  He played a narc who busted teenagers for being teens, only actually these teens were into prostitution, extortion, drug dealing, terrorism, election rigging.....ya know the usual trouble teens get into.

But Depp became a Heartthrob otherwise known as extremely popular and that of course pissed him off because he is a rebel so he left the show.

He started along in movies, which and I am not going to go over movie by movie, but for a long time he was in movies where he played odd characters.  Ed Wood, Ed Scissorhands, Benny, etc..

He became more popular. And he became the Robert DeNiro to Tim Burton's, Scorsese.  These two have worked together countless times.  But it should be noted that Tim Burton has never done anything original, and seems hell bent on remaking and ruining everything he touches.  So Johnny Depp has joined him in ruining Alice In Wonderland, Charlie and Choc Factory, Dark Shadows, and this summer came Depp's biggest bomb, albeit without Tim Burton who I am sure is hard at work ruining another beloved film.

So what is my problem with Johnny Depp?

Simple, he never plays a regular person in any of his films.  And he is at the point of being typecast into only playing oddities and larger than life strange people.  At this point, when so many other superstars can still play normal everyday people. Johnny Depp has relegated himself to playing Freak Show characters in his films.

He attempted to play a human being once in The Tourist and that filmed bombed harder than the Enola Gay during WWII. (dated reference I know)

Johnny Depp wasn't even popular until he played Jack Sparrow in the awful, but successful Pirates of the Caribbean movie.  And even then he played an over the top Keith Richards wanna be pirate.

Johnny Depp's films fail over and over and over again.

In the last four years we've gotten...

The Tourist....FLOP.
Rum Diaries...FLOP
Dark Shadows....FLOP
Lone Ranger.....FLOP

How does this asshole find work?

Last year the Rock made more money than Depp.  And he is a former wrestler.

So what is drawing people to Johnny Depp's movies....oh wait I forgot nothing is because no one is going to see his movies.

Maybe Johnny Depp should do some small independent film where he plays an alcoholic writer who loses his wife and must raise his autistic daughter. (Just a thought.)

Something that reminds us he is an actor, not a circus attraction.

Get off your ass Johnny Depp and start acting.


I'm so cool and rebellious.  I reject acting and
successful movies.

The Christian Slater Curse: Straight to DVD

Straight to DVD: The Christian Slater Curse

There are a string of actors who have become 'Straight to DVD' actors and sometimes it is shocking who has a movie that goes straight to DVD.
It should be noted that just because a film didn't open in your neighborhood, doesn't mean it didn't open in a theater, but odds are if it only opened in New York or Los Angeles for a week, it still sorta counts as a Straight to DVD film.

Here are the power trio of actors....

Christian Slater- He is the reigning king of straight to dvd.  He hasn't had a film hit the theaters since that awful UWE BOLL film a few years back. And let's face it if you're in a Uwe Boll flick at all your career is in trouble.  Christians career hit the skids years ago because, of course, he got into drinking and drugs and domestic abuse, etc. and hasn't been able to recover since. He's also tried two tv shows that combined didn't last a single season.  I bet he feels lucky to be getting any work at all.

Cuba Gooding Jr. - What makes his straight to dvd career so shocking is that he doesn't seem to have a drug problem or anything and he even won an Academy Award!!!! But he no longer has films that come out to the theater.  He is going to play a small role in MACHETE KILLS in September, but then again being in a Robert Rodriguez film is not a career comeback, because like Tarantino, Rodrigues plucks actors out of obscurity and puts them in his films. There are dozens of actors who have Tarantino and Rodriguez to thank for jumpstarting their careers even if they only go another 500 miles.

Val Kilmer- There are so many people in Hollywood that refuse to work with this guy. He is reported to be a pain in the ass of mammoth proportions.  He is a prima donna who thinks he's better than the rest.  Well its great to be the greatest and not have anyone wanting to work with you.  This guy was in some huge hits...TOP GUN and he played BATMAN.  But when your attitude sucks, your looks fade and you gain 50 lbs. Your lucky to be in films at all.

Now there are a few others who have surprisingly popped up in Straight to DVD films.

Harrison Ford- This legend did a film called Crossing Over about Border Agent crap, and it has an all star cast but it wasn't good enough to be released in theaters and went straight to dvd.

Al Pacino-  He and Channing Tatum appeared in the pathetic cop film, Son of No One. Watching this film and Pacino's performance in it makes it no surprise that this went straight to DVD.  Pacino must have owed someone a favor or had to do community service for appearing in Jack and Jill, because his presence and performance in this film is just plain awful.

Robert DeNiro- Let's be honest, it should have been Robert DeNiro that died not James Gandolfini.  The fact that anything this guy does even gets made let alone released in a theater is of complete shock to me.  But he appeared in 50 Cent's film Freelancers about crooked cops.  DeNiro played a bad cop who had Fiddy's dad killed.  The film is so poorly written and acted. It stuns me that this is the second time DeNiro has been in a film with Fiddy Diddy.  Now DeNiro has a film out with John Travolta called Killing Season that has opened in a small handful of theaters but also went straight to Video on Demand the same day.  This is not good for two Giants of the film world.

James Gandolfini- Now in Gandolfini's defense he has done plenty of films that were so small they were never really meant for theater screens.  He has had some films come out at the theater but his appearance in films are merely cameo roles, much like DeNiro did in the 80's and does today.  Sadly Gandolfini recently died and we won't get a chance to see where his post Soprano's career was heading, although I wrote a blog about that....  http://doctor-teeth.blogspot.com/2013/06/james-gandolfini-what-fuck.html?zx=4e0d2953fc5ab1c3

50 Cent- This guy isn't an actor so his films should go straight to DVD, but the reason I mention him is that he produces and acts in these films and has gotten people like DeNiro, Bruce Willis, Rosario Dawson, and a few other big names to appear in his shitty films that go straight to DVD, but hey someone must like him because he has a bunch of these films, and big named stars appear in them.

***There are so many more actors who have appeared in straight to DVD films and it's not always there fault.  Some studio's decide at the last minute to dump a film meant for the theater on DVD instead because the finished product was not what they expected.  Some straight to DVD films are actually good, although naming on escapes me at the moment.

Well I have to run now as I'm sure that Christian Slater has a dvd being released at any moment.

If Jerry Watched His Own Performance

Jerry Garcia watches his own Performances

I was wondering the other day that if Jerry Garcia was still alive and hopefully sober, then what would be his reaction to watching footage of his concert performances in 1995.

I can imagine him, five years clean, sitting alone in a room and watching how his health and his addiction completely destroyed his performances and his ability to play.

I know he was self aware of his inability to perform, but what would it have been like a few years later, looking back through clean and sober eyes, at how awful his condition was and therefore how awful his performances were.

It reminds me of when David Hasselhoff''s daughter recorded him when he was drunk trying to eat a cheeseburger.  What must have crossed his mind when he watched that tape later on.

Jerry 1995
Jerry 1993

Look at the two pictures, and see how much he declined in just two years.  Its sad that at 53 he looked like he was 81, but in some weird way at least we got to see what Jerry might have looked like had he ever achieved old age.

Its been said before that truly special, magical artists are usually short timers on this planet, but does that always have to be true?

At least Jerry in 1995 didn't look like Jerry in 1981....


As a recovering addict I wish Jerry would have gotten a chance to hear his performances. And what do I know maybe he did. There was a reason he turned his volume down in the mix during the final months.

At the end of the day I would love to be able to read an interview where Jerry reflects on his years of addiction and what it did to his music, but that would also mean Jerry would still be with us and I think truly that is what I wish for the most.

But I would rather have him dead as an addict then alive if he wasn't ever going to recover.

And with his track record, I don't think he would have cleaned up his act in 1995 if he hadn't died. I think Jerry was meant to be an active addict until the end.

That's what happens when you're rich, and surrounded by people who won't tell you the truth.

Celebrity's a bitch.  Just ask Jerry.

When I Fall in Love.....

I woke up one morning to find myself in love with the most amazing and wonderful person I have ever met.  Although we have not known each other long enough to justify our feelings to others, we are justified to ourselves.

Shortly after 2014 began, it hit me like an anvil from an old Popeye cartoon.  We had a phone call, probably our 40th in 40 days, and things went a bit south.  We hung up and I panicked.

When I woke up the next morning I felt as if my soul had been ripped from my body.  I felt as if my heart was on life support.  It was at that moment that I realized I had fallen in love with her.

I cried so very hard that day worried that she wouldn't be around anymore.  It was then that I realized that I couldn't imagine my life without her in it.  An emotion wrought with both excitement and fear.  To feel so attached to someone, quickly or slowly, does not matter, but to be attached was to realize that I really had fallen in love with her.

We met at work while I mindlessly polished silverware and she told another about her cat.  I looked up and saw the most beautiful woman ever.  And for the next several weeks we connected and I felt like she and everyone else could see right through me.  I couldn't hide my growing feelings for her.  And everyday we were together at work, was another day I felt excitement growing. 

I left that job but didn't leave her. And she didn't leave me.  We talked endlessly on the phone night after night, growing closer and closer, connecting deeper and deeper. There was an intensity and an immediacy in our hearts.

It didn't take me long at all to fall for her.  No one has ever made me laugh and smile as much as she.  No one has ever made me as calm, comforted and accepted as she. And I guess in return I made her feel exactly the same.

I feel like I've been searching for her my entire life. I am scared when I think how close I came to never meeting her.  I sit in bed and think to myself how lucky I am that she has chosen me too.

She loves me, and I so love her.  I never want to be apart from her.  I never want to know what it would be like if she weren't around. 

I love her.

While I Shovel the Snow in 2014

It has been an interesting winter so far. Cold, snow, more snow and really fucking cold.  And I have also been sick for about two months.  What a way to end 2013. 

I also met someone whom I feel took my heart and put it in her pocket. Never felt this way before.  Gravely voiced from phone calls that last til 3am. Getting to know someone over the phone has been a new experience for me.  And a pleasurable one at that. 

 

School starts up again soon. I feel like I've been on break for months.  I am nervous about the new semester but am getting closer and closer to reaching my goal and changing my life.  Soon I will no longer have to wait tables and run around like a gagoots.

 

Holiday time spent with my family was amazing and reminded me of why I love this family and remain so dedicated to them after an unfortunate 10 year absence.

 

New Years eve was a headache and I hated that she and I couldn't be together.  We both were stuck working.  But two days later we met for a mini shopping trip after a bumpy New Years Day.  That moment on NY day made me suddenly realize how much I care about her and how nervous I was that she may have left my world.  I've gotten used to having her around. And don't want her ever to disappear.  Bold words from a man who didn't even know her three months ago.

 

To me she is the definition of beautiful.  She makes me dizzy.  She makes me laugh.  She makes me smile.  She makes me live.

 

I feel like dedicating this entire blog to her.  LOL, I guess I need somewhere not so public to express myself.  Facebook is so nosey.

 

Kara, the sun is starting to rise and set with you.  And as I sit here shoveling the snow I wish you were in my arms. I wish you were next to me.  I wish.....

 

What's a man to do when touched by an angel?

 

Less Than 3.......