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Cinema Seen - "Validation Rocks!" By William Margold RECOGNITION! The need for it is a universal yearning that beats within all the living creatures. From birth we thrive on recognition. We look up from our cribs and grin foolishly because we are babbled at by grown ups. In school we compete for it---from gold stars to A's to scholarships to graduation certificates. In daily life, it's being noticed for doing something a little bit better than others around us. Recently, in the LA Weekly's monolithic "Look Homeward Angeleno" issue, I was "recognized"--- with multiple tongues in multiple cheeks--- by David Cotner--- for my many, many, MANY years as the film reviewer and patriarchal storyteller at the LA X...PRESS. His brief comments, although oddly punctuated, were as insightful as they were amusing. Having always bellowed "I get high on myself"... I was soaring for at least a couple days... fueled by Mr. Cotner's columnette (for the record: on page 56 in the upper-right corner under the title of "X-Man"). And now, it's time to justify his faith in me by creating the balance of this Cinema Seen page--- which as you will see (or read) consists of an assortment of wildly diverse attractions... TRANSPORTER 2 (20th Century Fox)---Drawn to this for no other reason than because of the way the lanky villainess (Kate Nauta) looked (I.ve always had a thing for ball-bustin. tom boys), I must admit to getting more than I expected from the fast-paced affair. What makes this even more interesting is that I can barely remember (for good reason, because the film was pretty bad) my first encounter with Jason Statham.s action figure. But this time, although the plotline isn.t anything to write home about, unless you are sending the message on the nipple of one of Ms. Nauta.s delightfully tiny endowments (I.ve never met or bedded a big-breasted tom boy), the production is efficient eyewash, while providing enough imagery to allow the mind (etc.) to wander off in other directions at the same time. THE PRIZE WINNER OF DEFIANCE OHIO (DreamWorks)---This very little slice of 1950.s life somehow managed to escape from the small screen to take up way too much time on the big screen. An annoying triviality about a way too enduring housewife (Julianne Moore, who is making a bad habit out of playing way too many June Cleavers and Harriet Nelsons), struggling to support her BIG family (almost a dozen forgettable kids) as well as a miserable husband (portrayed with compelling repugnance by Woody Harrelson) by entering ad jiggle writing contests might have looked good on paper, but herein it simply proves that many times .truth can be duller than fiction.. Highlight of the seeing this thing was realizing that the reels were being screened out of order, and that, in fact, besides not caring, was also realizing that not one single person in the yawning audience seemingly gave a damn. A SOUND OF THUNDER (Warner Bros.)---If you blinked.you missed this one. I had seen a trailer for it LAST Christmas, and considering that Sir Ben Kingsley was in it, I was mildly attracted. Then it literally disappeared from the play date radar screen, only to sneak out at the tail end of August. A truly ponderous .Twilight Zone. episode at best---at worst, the Ray Bradbury inspired time travel twister didn.t manage to make time travel.or twist fast enough for me to escape the thought of wishing the film had never been made in the first place. FLIGHTPLAN (Touchstone Pictures)---The presence (and persistence) of Jodie Foster .almost. makes this aeronautical nightmare .almost. work. Note that I said .almost. not once but twice---and therefore it.s enough of an .almost. that it just about justifies the film.s existence as a decent form of uncomfortable entertainment. It.s been over two years since I.ve been subjected to the rigors of flying (at least in a plane), and I certainly don.t miss the indifferent service, the cramped quarters, and particularly the rotten air. All of my bad memories came noxiously into focus when Jodie.s daughter literally disappears at 30,000 feet. But .almost. all of those thoughts were replaced by trying to figure out just what was going on. And I .almost. did. Note that I said .almost.. NOTE: Originally published column in L.A. Xpress, October 20, 2005. RECOPIED FROM LA WEEKLY, October 7-13, 2005, page 56: (http://www.laweekly.com/ink/05/46/xman-cotner.php) That free rag with all the jack-off ads and snatches of content throughout. That one. Bill Margold --- an XXX producer/director/star and journalist --- embodies the waning moments of humor and double-entendre of a male world in which love means coming in a girl's mouth and not her eyes. His weekly "Cinema Seen" column of film commentary reflects his personality: bearish-yet-bullish and irrepressibly friendly. He's worked at the venerable X . . . Press (the "Ellis Island of journalism," as he puts it) since August 1972. He brings his life into focus with the writing, most recently with his summation of themes of death and fairness in Sin City, the parable of loneliness in his Batman Begins review, and the situation of depression in the reviews of The Upside of Anger, Ride the High Country, Wild Bunch and High Noon --- with their meditations on friendship, loyalty and honor --- and are as influential on his writing as vintage hard X. Without a trace of irony, Margold calls Babe the "greatest friendship film of the 1990s." He bravely staked out his niche in this unheralded corner of entertainment journalism that isn't so much an independent press as an ignored one, for in that indifference lies freedom. X . . . Press available at newsstands throughout Los Angeles. NOTE: Originally printed in LA WEEKLY, October 7-13, 2005, page 56. |