1:02 – FOCUS, DAMN IT! It’s not that hard! There’s got to be a dial or knob somewhere on the camera that can do this!
1:06 – I ride a commuter train to work each day and am always interested to see how people from one town will primarily be reading one of Chicago’s two daily newspapers and then people from another town will be reading the other. I always wonder how much of this is due to the political/social differences between the two papers and how much is the result of upbringing or family tradition.
1:10 – Do people really have to be told not to trust evasive, secretive cops? You’d think this would be a natural instinct.
1:12 – Meg and Mark keep driving around and I keep waiting for Chevy Chase to say, “Look kids: Big Ben, Parliament”.
1:13 – Whenever there’s a “Learning How to Handle a Gun” scene, I think about the remake of “Cape Fear” where Joe Don (Mitchell!) Baker is explaining to Nick Nolte how not to think of it as a gun, but an extension of his fist. This then leads to thinking about “Army of Darkness” where the gun IS an extension of Bruce Campbell’s fist. This then leads to thinking about that awful “Jack of All Trades” TV show. This then leads to much weeping.
1:18 – Meg Ryan keeps opening her fridge and I keep waiting for her to see flames coming out a building and hear a voice saying “Zuul”. “Generally you don’t see that kind of behavior in a major appliance.”
1:22 – I’m just stunned by this movie. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it.
1:23 – I think I recognize Jennifer Jason Leigh’s apartment from about three other movies.
1:24 – Fully realizing that admitting this destroys what credibility I have left, I don’t like “Seven” with Brad Pitt. It’s just an awful movie in my opinion. On the plus side, it did give my buddy Todd and I hours of amusement where we would call each other and just shout, “What’s in the box?!?!?!”. Good times.
1:28 – I hate it when people correct my grammar. Really just makes me want to slap them upside the head. Especially when I’m writing. Except of course for my fantastic editor here at Film Threat.
1:30 – It might be an old and clichéd joke, but whenever I see an advertisement for psychics, I always wonder if they know who’s going to call. You’d think caller-ID would be great for them. They could pick up the phone and say, “Hello, Alan”. Their credibility goes up 20 points right there.
1:31 – Is there really anyone out there with only a carton of milk, a rotten tomato and some moldy cheese in their refrigerator? Have these people simply forgotten where the grocery store is?
1:36 – Hollywood must be the nations biggest buyer of candles. Do they buy the cheap craft-store kind or do they get the good stuff? OK, I’ve thought about this too much.
1:44 – Sorry, the movie got kind of good there for a few minutes, but it and I are both back.
1:47 – Billy Joel’s “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant” has been playing in my head for the last few minutes for no real reason. Just thought I’d share that.
1:50 – Meg Ryan keeps looking in the rearview mirror of the car she’s riding in like Sollozzo and McCluskey are taking her to a restaurant and she wants to make sure her security is still following them.
PARTING THOUGHTS – Not bad but not as impressive as I think the creators think it is. I couldn’t get my head around the movie like I would have liked to. It just kept slipping away from me every time I thought I understood what was happening. In general, I dislike dreamy/atmospheric movies where every ounce of dialogue is weighed down by the emotional baggage of the characters. Good performances by Meg Ryan and Mark Ruffalo saved the movie for me.
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Chris Thilk has an easier time remembering lines from movies he hasn’t seen in five years than he does the birthdays of people close to him. For his column this is actually a good thing. He is easily scared by snakes, low-clearance bridges and the rantings of weblog writers.
