Hollywood Love Fest - The 82nd Annual Academy Awards

It was fun to watch the 82nd Academy Awards and once again see all the beautiful people kick up their heels and throw their annual shindig. I thought Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin did a great job co-hosting, and for me, it was fun to see a Hollywood sacred cow like good old democratic socialist Ed Asner in the crowd, as well as an old timer like Christopher Plummer there as a nominee, even if he did not get his due. Christoph Waltz was a difficult actor to beat, I suppose.

I love the work of cinematographer, Robert Richardson, especially when he was working with Oliver Stone. He was hard to miss tonight sitting behind Quentin Tarantino with his trademark long hair and beard, now snow white, looking like a character in a kung fu movie, the old man from the mountain. He was nominated for best cinematographer for Inglourious Basterds. (I have to get the spelling right on Inglourious and Basterds!)

I was happy to see a young, acoustic guitar-strumming song writer like Ryan Bingham win the Oscar for Best Song for the theme song from Crazy Heart. He went from rodeo cowboy breaking bones riding bulls and living in his pickup truck to Oscar winner in a few short years. He paid his dues and came up the hard way. I bet his life story would make a great movie.

Quentin Tarantino did not look too happy when Mark Boal won for Best Original Screenplay. QT’s script was definitely original, but too silly, I think, to win the top screenwriting honor, and had too much white space.

There is no way any director other than James Cameron should have won for Best Director. The dedication, innovation and persistence behind Avatar cannot be equaled for a long time to come. I guess The Academy thought the time had come for a woman to win Best Director. So be it. I loved Strange Days and Point Break, by the way, both directed by Kathryn Bigelow, but no way The Hurt Locker was better directed than Avatar.

And The Hurt Locker wins Best Picture? There is like no way! James Cameron was robbed, probably by the military industrial complex and the necessary glorification of the war. I actually fell asleep at the theater watching the last twenty minutes of The Hurt Locker, but I was wide awake at the climactic ending of Avatar. The Hurt Locker was a propaganda snooze fest compared to Avatar. I know a lot of film purists and Cameron haters didn’t want to see a special effects-heavy production like Avatar win, but the movie is way too grand and magnificent to be overlooked. What a travesty! Plus it has almost grossed a billion dollars domestically! Let’s face it, it’s entertaining. Oh well, it’s not the first time a movie or director has been robbed at the Oscars. I’m sure it won’t be the last. Just look at Martin Scorsese and Raging Bull. Movies are so much fun to watch when they are good, and good is such a relative term when it comes to cinema and the Academy of Motion Pictures. An audience is a fickle thing.

We place actors on such pedestals, and make them into demi-gods, yet they are for the most part normal people who just happen to have a cool job. Just for an instant tonight watching the Academy Awards I thought I was watching an homage to great statesmen or perhaps the scientist who invented the cure for polio, not a bunch of people playing house and cowboys and Indians. I have to admit, I loved every minute of it. As an industry, cinema has only been around for a little over one hundred years. That’s the blink of an eye in historic terms. I hope I’m around long enough to see many more movies and many more innovations.

My Gonzo Take on the Golden Globes

Okay, I watched the 2010 Golden Globes. I really enjoyed the show. I thought the host, Ricky Gervais, did a great job while drinking his beer at the podium, getting an obvious buzz in a much more informal environment than the Oscars. As usual, I was jealous of all the beautiful people enjoying the limelight at the Beverly Hilton while I sat in my trailer park, glued to the screen, green with envy, and guzzling Budweiser.

It was fun to see Mickey Rourke kiss Mike Tyson… nice to see such macho guys show a little love. Seeing Colin Farrell as a presenter reinforced once again how much I wish I could cast him in my mobster script, Joey & Jeffie, as Joey (Crazy Joe) Gallo beside Michelle Rodriguez as Las Vegas showgirl, Jeffie Lee… maybe someday if I don’t get whacked first or if Harvey Weinstein doesn’t beat me to the punch.

I thought it was only fitting that James Cameron won Best Director and Avatar won Best Motion Picture. I mean, really folks, who can beat the four and a half year project, Avatar? I know all you film purists hate it, but you have to give the devil his due: Avatar is what movies are all about, i.e., it is entertaining. So suck it up - better luck next time.

And how about Quentin Tarantino? Suave… goddamn, he’s suave! I mean, I thought his movie Inglourious Basterds was an overrated version of a Hogan’s Heroes episode from a script with way too much white space, but what do I know? I still love the guy. I miss the days of True Romance and Reservoir Dogs. I’d give my left nut to be able to write scripts like that. And I just know that the misspelling of bastards must have been unintentional, but when called on it he must have said, “Fuck it” and left it at that. I mean, didn’t the guy drop out of school in the Eighth grade? And let’s not forget, this is a guy who said Oliver Stone is “an overrated Stanley Kramer.” He had the balls to say that about Oliver fucking Stone, man!

The fact is, none of Tarantino’s movies come even close to Platoon or Born on the 4th of July. Inglourious Basterds nominated for Best Motion Picture? Knee grow, please. As one astute observer at the Cannes put it, Inglorious Basterds is “…an action movie with no action.” But Tarantino was a huge influence on me, and is one of the reasons I decided to write scripts. I fell for the whole million dollar ad campaign paid for by the Weinstein’s of the video store clerk turned movie auteur. And I always go see everyone one of his flicks when they come out. I’m just jealous! Okay?

And the rest of the show? I didn’t see most of the shows that were nominated or that won. My cable TV got cut off almost three years ago when I sold my soul and spent every extra penny I had to make my own shitty little movie. But I’m happy for everyone, okay?

I’m happy for Jeff Bridges. I always liked his dad, Lloyd Bridges, in the television show, Sea Hunt, which aired back when Methuselah was a baby. I will eventually see Crazy Heart.

Meryl Streep? You can’t go wrong with the greatest living female actress on the planet. Unless maybe with Jessica Lange as a serious contender for that slot?

Robert Downey, Jr.? He’s like the new Brando, right? Or he’s at least in contention with Christian Bale for that title, right?

I would love to see Precious, but jeez, what a downer of a movie it must be… after watching the trailer I was reaching for my hanky and felt like I’d been punched in the gut. I will say, however, that the best golden globes at the 2010 Golden Globes were on Mariah Carey. I will see Precious someday, too.

Maybe this year I’ll get my cable hooked back up and have some extra bread to see some cable TV and some flicks, man. Hell, I might even get to make another flick myself… who knows what the future holds?

Avatar Rocks the House!

Avatar… n. [Skt avatarah descent fr. Avatarati he descends fr. Ava – away tarati he crosses over….] (1784) 1 : the incarnation of a Hindu deity (as Vishnu) 2 a : an incarnation in human form b : an embodiment (as of a concept or philosophy) often in a person 3 : a variant phrase or version of a continuing basic entity 4 : an electronic image that represents and is manipulated by a computer user (as in a computer game or an online shopping site)
[From Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition]

I saw James Cameron's Avatar a few days ago. It has breathtaking special effects, and is a pretty good story. I thought it had a brief slow period in the middle, and almost got just a little too Disney, based on the amount of time his avatar spent orienting to the native way of life. I suppose it was necessary for the story development. However, the climactic ending is superb! Disney on steroids! It will probably be the first movie to gross over a billion dollars. It is an absolute must-see. Be sure and see it in XD 3D. It is very, very cool.

Avatar is a spectacular movie, a great achievement for James Cameron, and a milestone in movie making. All the hype is for real and well-deserved. The XD 3D version comes so close to actually putting the viewer in the jungle with the characters. I wonder if the next innovation will be infusing the theater with the aroma of the jungle, so that the viewer smells the flora; or infusing the theater with the humidity of the jungle, so that the viewer feels the atmosphere. Who knows? I'll stand in line to buy a ticket for that milestone, too.

Avatar is a beautiful movie: part science fiction, part action-drama and part love story. James Cameron, the man who has been called “the scariest man in Hollywood," has once again set the bar very high for other filmmakers. I know I will have to go see Avatar again, in the same way a poem should be read twice.

He Liked His Beer, He Liked His Pot and He Liked His Acid

He liked his beer, he liked his pot and he liked his acid. “Oh, hell yeah, are you kidding, in my college days, I absolutely enjoyed acid,” he says. “I was a trippy guy already, and roaming around the universe of your brain at light speed – that’s a lot of fun. But ultimately I don’t think it’s very creative, because it’s not like you can create while you’re tripping. You can’t do shit.”
James Cameron
Rolling Stone Magazine
December 2009
Profile by Erik Hedegaard

So now we know... the director of the highest grossing movie of all time (Titanic) tripped on acid in his college years, per Rolling Stone. Who'd a thunk it? Of course, most kids were tripping on acid those days. The article also stated he "...has never shot a Hollywood movie that did not make money, spending more than $500 million in the process but returning a gross of $3 billion...." Wow, pretty good for a geeky acidhead.

I don't know about you folks, but I'm really looking forward to seeing Avatar, sans acid, of course - I'll just have to settle for 3-D. Usually a PG-13 rating is a turnoff for me (I prefer a strong R rating), but I'll give this one a chance just to see the new innovations and to see what $230 million dollars can do.

The article in Rolling Stone also mentions that while filming The Abyss, Cameron "...ran his production in such a way that Ed Harris burst into tears," and that "On one shoot, crew members wore T-shirts that said YOU EITHER SHOOT IT MY WAY OR YOU DO ANOTHER FUCKING MOVIE."

There is an old saying, "In order to make an omelette, you have to break some eggs." It sounds like if you work for James Cameron, you better bring your A-game, and have very thick skin.

The profile on James Cameron in this month's Rolling Stone is a good one. I recommend it. Rolling Stone is a great magazine, and revered text in my household.