Rowing away from the rocks
From the category archives:
Tour dates for Bill Cunningham New York have been announced (the run opens in NYC at the Film Forum on March 16). And there is now a trailer up at the production company’s site. If you don’t know about the phlegmatic NYT photographer do yourself a favor and see this film.
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It’s funny, the way the Internet works. I saw a tweet from Paul Scheer about this “alternate ending” to the Yogi Bear movie (done by the film’s animators). Paul’s tweet cautioned that the clip would probably pulled from YouTube (and it may have been, depending on when you’re reading this). It is (or was, if it’s been pulled) a riff on the assassination scene in The Assassination of Jesse James By That Coward Robert Ford.
Watching the Yogi Bear alternate ending made me want to watch the real assassination scene, which made me want to watch the clip above, which is the opening scene of the film (the narrator’s introductory voiceover describing James). I know some critics felt the film movie was rambling and undisciplined, but it’s a beautiful epic, and I enjoyed the period-piece language of the script (the best parts of which were taken verbatim from Ron Hansen’s book). This is a sampling, from the cold open:
“He had two incompletely healed bullet holes in his chest, and another in his thigh. He was missing the nub of his left middle finger, and was cautious, lest that mutilation be seen. He also had a condition that was referred to as ‘granulated eyelids,’ and it caused him to blink more than usual, as if he found creation slightly more than he could accept.”
as is this:
“He had seen another summer under in Kansas City, Missouri and on September 5th in the year 1881, he was thirty-four-years-old.”
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In 1983 Rob Lowe and Andrew McCarthy got together for a little teen dramedy called Class. While it was panned by critics, it had its moments (including, but not limited to, giving some screen time to a young John Cusack). Moreover, 27 years later, it serves as an excellent time capsule for the first generation of post Preppy Handbook preppydom, when the WASP aesthetic hadn’t been commodified by hipsters (and Ralph Lauren’s thievery was still in its relative infancy). While all of the students at the fictional prep school dressed the part, none did it more believably than the character played by Lowe, the affable Skip Burroughs.
A plaid Pendleton serves as an excellent base layer for construction workers and moneyed WASPs.
Camel hair duffel coat with horn toggle buttons. Perfect for discovering mom is sleeping with your best friend.
Cashmere over a check pattern button down. Cozy!
Navy blue over plaid adds a degree of intensity to that faraway look.
Nothing says prep school like a morbidly depressed roommate. And a ribbon belt.
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A fascinating piece on cyberthief/double agent Albert Gonzalez. I love the use of the term “archetypal criminal cyberbazaar” to describe the network he toiled for. The description of Gonzalez by one of the men who eventually prosecuted him is even better:
“It’s like driving to the building next to the bank to tunnel into the bank,” Seth Kosto, an assistant U.S. attorney in New Jersey who worked on the case, told me. When I asked how Gonzalez rated among criminal hackers, he replied: “As a leader? Unparalleled. Unparalleled in his ability to coordinate contacts and continents and expertise. Unparalleled in that he didn’t just get a hack done — he got a hack done, he got the exfiltration of the data done, he got the laundering of the funds done. He was a five-tool player.”
When they make the movie of this guy’s life–and they will, if it’s not already in production–I hope it lives up to the great heist films of the past. Analog criminals like John Dillinger (above) had the advantage of leading romantic lifestyles (gunplay, high speed chases, loud-mouth chorus girls), which lends itself richly to film. Hackers, on the other hand, do their damage from basement lairs in suburban homes (Gonzalez, indeed, lived at home with his parents). Most of the time they end up as ridiculous parodies (cf. the character phoned in by Kevin Smith in Live Free Or Die Hard).
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I saw it in the theaters in that fateful summer of ’80, which would usher in both Reagan and the death of the eight track tape. What this means is that I am officially one of The Olds.
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Word on the street is that MGM is planning to remake Valley Girl, a beloved if episodic rom-com from the great year of 1983. This can only be bad news. But it gets worse when you realize they’re planning to remake it as a musical. From a June 2009 report that appeared on the excellent and under-read Pajiba:
The surprise here, however, is how they are “re-imagining” Valley Girl. They’ve hired Broadway director Jason Moore, who directed Avenue Q and Steel Magnolias on Broadway, as well as the Tony-nominated Broadway version of Shrek: The Musical.
Grody. To. The. Max.
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Word has is that the much-delayed remake of Escape From New York is back on track. According to New York magazine New Line is contractually obligated to call the main character “Snake.” He also has to wear an eye patch, and he must “always be a bad-ass.” Obviously.
But one question remains: Who will fill Kurt Russell’s shoes? Gerard Butler was the first choice, but he’s departed over creative differences. Sam Worthington is a contender, as is Taylor Lautner. Personally I’d like to see the role go to a more grizzled veteran, like Mickey Rourke or Viggo Mortensen. Or even Ian McShane.
Just so long as it’s not Vin Diesel.
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