how long do i have to climb/upon the side of this mountain of mine?

many good things on this day off.

*I finally saw KAGEMUSHA. Another beautiful film by Kurosawa. It's one of his most painterly films (in my world, Kurosawa is cinema's finest painter, Kasi Lemmons it's finest poet- rent Eve's Bayou and TELL me that movie isn't poetry on celluloid- not just the dialogue & story, but the narration, which pours forth like honey from Tamara Tunie's beecharmer voice, but Amy Vincent's cinematography, the editing of Terilyn Shropshire and Terence Blanchard's haunting score. There's a reason I remember these names- I was that impressed.) You can definitely see how he progressed from KAGEMUSHA to RAN. I guess I do have more to be thankful to George Lucas for something other than the original Star Wars trilogy- It was the profits of Star Wars that he used to co-finance KAGEMUSHA along with Francis Ford Coppola. I only wish he'd gone back and studied Kurosawa's films before embarking on the god-awful PHANTOM MENACE. But that's a rant for David, I think.

*I got a free itunes download from my pepsi! I downloaded the new Coldplay single "Speed of Sound". Who would have known that when my very favorite Matt (right up there with Keeslar) told me to pick up an album called PARACHUTES that one day they'd be one of the most ginormous bands in the world? Good call, Matty.

*I saw BIRTH. I can't express how much I hope everyone will check this movie out. I've been reading some of the reviews on IMDB and people really seem to either love or hate it. There's the creepiness factor, yeah... (A woman meets a 10 year old boy who says he's her dead husband and they forge a strange connection) but it's an extraordinary movie. In fact, to come back to a (strangely) recurring theme of my blog- I'd call it Kubrickian at times. I've read complaints about the moments of silence in the movie- in particular a scene that takes place during a symphony, which was one of the most amazing moments of the film. Nicole Kidman, who is recognized for so many performances, was really not given her due for this, and I think in time people will come to see it as one of her most amazing films- and that symphony scene will be played in every Nicole's Greatest Hits montage to come. Cameron Bright, who plays the 10 year old boy does an amazing job of being a spookily mature soul one moment and a 10 year old boy the next. Danny Huston was the perfect actor to cast as her fiancée (I also find him strangely HOT) and Anne Heche? I always forget how highly I regard her as an actor because most of the time I'm too distracted by how crazy she is (And I'm speaking as someone who was a huge fan of hers 'til I read her book, "Call Me Crazy". It's okay, Brando was crazy, too, Anne) I probably can't say enough about the movie, but it was a story that hasn't been told before, and if it has, never quite in this way. Definitely give it a try. But remember who recommended it- the guy who apparently loves that which is slow, boring and/or depressing.

*Finally, on IMDB reading what other people thought of BIRTH, I clicked on the director, Jonathan Glazer's name to find that his next film is going to be a remake of Hideo Nakata's mystery CHAOS. I love that movie (although why can't people just see the original film?? Why are American's subtitle-phobic? Oh, yeah, it's that whole America is illiterate thing. I guess I take comfort in knowing that Hideo is RAKING IN THE CASH since we're remaking all of his movies- The Ring/The Ring 2 (he remade that one himself)/Dark Water and now Chaos.) Robert De Niro is attached. I'd be wary if I weren't so impressed by BIRTH. So. you know. Yipee!

speaking of Dark Water- I'm looking for a replacement- who's gonna go see it with me? Jennifer Connelly- yum yum yum! ok that only works for the straight guys. and the lesbians. and those of us who are gay but still find Connelly superhot.

-rick
on bat for the dvd player: Love Song for Bobby Long or (finally) Howard's End
in the subject line: "Speed of Sound" by Coldplay (of course)