New

Okay, so it's a Blogger template. So sue me. One of these days I'll learn how to do it myself and make my own design, but for now I'll be lazy and take what's given to me. I wanted a cleaner look anyway. We'll see about the commenting, though. So far I'm not impressed -- it's about time that Blogger added commenting as an option, but I'm not wild about the format.

Took down most of my sidebar. It was a good place to keep a record of the movies we watch, but I'm having trouble remembering to update it as it is. We did just watch House of Sand and Fog last night, and Lost in Translation a couple of weeks ago, and something else...what was it? Brian? We saw something else that was pretty good. House of Sand and Fog had some fantastic acting but was rather routinely made. It was too perfect a rendition of the book -- the filmmaker seemed to be saying "see? see how true I am to the original?" which is all very respectful but made for a less interesting movie. It lacked...an artist's stamp. Or perhaps he just didn't have anything original to add. If the shot of Jennifer Connelly at the end of the pier while the camera whirls around and around and around her head is any indication, this guy really doesn't have much to offer the world of filmmaking. We have seen that shot before, buddy. And the speeded up film of fog rolling in and fog rolling out. And the silhouette of Jennifer Connelly in the doorway. And...and...

Lost in Translation on the other hand was brilliant and delightful. Although don't let anyone tell you that Sofia Coppolla "discovered" Bill Murray's talents as a non-comedic actor. Anyone who saw Rushmore (as she must have) already knew about it.