Morning Espresso with Angelo Badalamenti

I'll tell you right now, you're picking up the check.

Inside the Minds of Nicole Kidman

Over at The Film Experience I posted my latest "Signatures" installment on the screen-stealing majesty that is Nicole Kidman. I couldn't help but think of all the wonderful monologue moments Kidman's had throughout her career. Some of them are expressed through song, some through John Hurt, and some of the best are without any words at all. I'm referring to moments such as the devastating and beautiful symphony scene from Birth, the grim "light bulb" moment from To Die For, and the knowing looks in Eyes Wide Shut. Kidman has a way of revealing the true arc of her characters with stunning ease and remarkable precision.
We can never know exactly what thoughts ran through Kidman's head during those classic scenes, but they may have gone something like this...

Margot at the Wedding: "Do I write today, or just belittle someone? ...I wrote yesterday."

Eyes Wide Shut: "It's so easy to fuck with my husband... Imagine if I told him what really happens in my dreams! Or about all those affairs."

Birth: "Could my husband have been cosmically reborn into the body of a little boy? Would Miss Cleo lie?"

Dogville: "This one's for all the avid Hummel collectors!"

Moulin Rouge: "If I choose the Duke I get diamonds, but I get treated like a whore. If I choose Christian I get true love, but I have to read his manuscripts."

To Die For: "If my husband's dead I'm that much closer to hosting Dateline! I wonder if Diane Sawyer knows where to buy an unregistered handgun..."

The Hours: "Do I write today, or just contemplate death? ...I wrote yesterday."

The Right Man for Winona Ryder

The tabloids have romantically tied Winona Ryder to the likes of Johnny Depp, Tom Green, and that guy from Salute Your Shorts. A downward spiral to be sure, but no match for her cinematic love life. Worrisome indeed when Mr. Deeds gives anyone their happiest ending...

If Winona's unlucky in love, is there hope for any of us?


1988: Winona is tempted via cherry slush into the arms of sociopath Jason Dean. He's socially conscious and highly motivated, and also heavily armed. His attempt to terminate the student population brings them together as quickly as it tears them apart.


But Big Fun while it lasted.

1990: Winona falls for the bad boy yet again, but then his dad IS rich. Never mind that he's Anthony Michael Hall...

Winona is finally tempted astray by her first glimmer of true love -- the one that got away. She has a fantastical fling with a half-man-half-doll named Edward, whose handicap and reclusive tendencies make him an instant outsider and an instant curiosity.


Fittingly their romance blossoms once Edward's accused of stealing. It all ends devastatingly fast with the corpse of Anthony Michael Hall on Edward's front lawn. Hence Edward goes back into hiding, and as for Winona, she turns her eyes to a more socially acceptable man.

Like... God. Winona is "Born Again"... or maybe she's just "Born." Either way her attempts at religious celibacy fizzle rapidly over lustful kisses at church, and the fear that she might be carrying the next Jewish Italian Messiah.

"Please God don't let me fall in love and want to do disgusting things... Dear God, I love the way he throws. "

1991: Winona's tempted back to the dark side with her baddest boy yet. She finally gets her chance at epic, timeless love, and it's with one of the most famous men in the world. The drawback is that he's really, REALLY old, but age and experience have made him infinitely more interesting than Keanu Reeves. Alas, promises of sharing an eternity together mean very little when being staked through the chest.


1994: Drowning her sorrows in flannel and Lisa Loeb, Winona dares to dabble in the dating world again with both Ben Stiller and Ethan Hawke. With Winona we can anticipate the outcome. Ethan and Winona share a special bond over coffee, cigarettes, and unemployment brought on by petty theft.


What's this? A happy ending?! Only in the movies... Well, the movies tampered with by studio execs to score higher with test audiences. Please... Ethan was out the door the minute Winona's gas card maxed out.

2000: In the meantime, Winona's gotten age-old romantic with Daniel Day-Lewis and accused his wife of being a witch -- both ending with some disappointment. What she needs is the comfort of an older man, and Richard Gere will suffice. Their romance ends tragically, and about as quickly as it hit the collective gag reflex.


2007: It's been a long dry patch only further disgraced by the presence of Adam Sandler... But then Winona finally meets the man of her dreams! After all that pining and loss, she finally has her grip on a man whose devotion is as strong as oak. As with her previous great love, Edward, Winona's heart ultimately swells for the gentler sort of man -- and apparently the hand-manufactured one as well.

"I've never felt so alive!"

Winona's right-hand man can literally be worn on her right hand, and his sweet nothings really are just that.

There is hope after all. Here's to Gary and Winona. Long may they last, with a love carved into the ages.

Sissy Snaps!

This week I began/continued a guest series for The Film Experience that I like to call "Signatures." Sounds classy, right? Well, only until you read it...

Devoted to my favorite actresses and their special cinematic skills, this installment I take a look at the quiet charm of Sissy Spacek. A small package can carry such a big surprise...


Check it out here. And while you're at it, click here for the first volume of "Signatures" looking at the beautiful and solitary sadness of Julianne Moore.

Just do as I say, before I get Sissy to throw your ass out!

Storytelling with Ronee Blakely

"Y'know, I wanna tell you all a little secret which you might not know, and that is that last night I thanked my lucky stars that I could be here at all today to sing for you. And I heard on the radio the cutest little boy, he was nine years old -- and y'know how sometimes the DJ will play a tune and ask everybody to phone in and say how they like it, y'know... And, uh, I was listening to it, and they asked for callers to call in -- and this little nine-year-old boy called in -- and the song had voices in the background, like the way they use these backup voices these days sometimes, y'know, soundin' like little munchkins. He called up and the DJ said, "And how old are you son?" And the little boy said, "I'm nine and I think it's gonna be a hit." And the DJ said, "Why?" And he says, "Oh because it had those little Chipmunks in it." And I thought that was so cute because, well, I can sing like a munchkin myself, I don't know about you. And I'm real fond of The Wizard of Oz. And plus I live out, y'know, just a ways out here off of Highway Interstate 24 on the road to Chattanooga, so you can see why I kinda related to that... I don't know... I think me and the boys are gonna strike up another tune for you, um... Let's go boys!"

Happy Holiday Shopping

Digital Lust

I'm a simple man. All I want for Christmas are a few DVD's. There's just one catch...

They don't exist.

Where are my "ultimate, unrated, too shocking, too sacrilegious" special editions of these hard-to-find classics? Santa's got his work cut out this year after securing rights, conducting rare cast interviews, and scouring the earth for restored prints and never-before-seen footage...

Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean

And then come to DVD... Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean...

It's a stage play as much as it is one of Robert Altman's fluid cinematic dreams, centralized in a dusty town that has long seen its Last Picture Show. An aging club of James Dean devotees, still swooning over their legendary encounters with the star, reconvene years later to reveal the secrets and lies of their shared past.

It's a showcase for performances both theatrical and understated by an A-list cast the likes of Cher, Kathy Bates and Sandy Dennis. Special mention goes to Karen Black as a transsexual transformed (via a surgeon with a sense of humor) from "don't call me queer" Jesse (Mark Patton) of A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2. And he's just as gay this time around, maybe a bit less.


It's not known as one of Altman's greats if only because of some flaws within the source material, but his translation to screen is masterful, as is his clever play with time and space. Confined to a singular sleepy locale, Altman brings about the ache of his characters and their crumbling facades on par with that of their dying town.

Ideal Extras: How great would an actress commentary be? Cher and Sandy Dennis give especially memorable turns here and it would be nice to hear their experiences with the late, great Robert Altman. They could even reunite the cast at a five and dime somewhere to talk about their glory days on set together. We can always hope for some trash talk and a few life-altering tragedies along the way.

The Devils

Not on DVD? Sacrilege! Let's burn Warner Brothers!

Director Ken Russell trips out on blasphemy, orgies and eye popping art design, plus Vanessa Redgrave as a horny hunchback in a habit. Unfortunately these things don't come along everyday, and as an added bonus, this movie apparently offends Catholics.

Urbain Grandier (Oliver Reed), a corrupt 17th Century priest, is swept up in the hysteria of witchcraft after a repressive nun (Redgrave) lusts and then lies about the father's seductive powers. The far greater corruption within the church spins the web of lies into a grand panic filled with sex, sacrifice and holy sacrament. The darkly funny and fact-based film offers grand production design by Derek Jarman and a rare take on religious frenzy.


Scheduled for release last year, the disc was pulled by Warner Brothers almost immediately after being announced. No reasons were given, but either the Pope caught wind of the nun gangbang or there was a property rights issue. We'll hope for the former.

Ideal Extras: The most important being the fully restored print of the film -- a difficult enough feat considering the many versions in circulation and cuts made around the world. The infamous (and irreverently titled) "Rape of Christ" sequence should be fully restored, or in lieu of that, humorously recreated by a modern day Vanessa Redgrave.

Love Streams

Someone buy the studio execs a farm to show them our love and devotion. That should do it.

The masterful humanism of John Cassavetes bleeds through this painful, honest and heartfelt story of a brother and sister trying to find love and express it to others by any means necessary. Robert Harmon (Cassavetes), an author and alcoholic by equal esteem, spends his days keeping his many lovers and recently reunited son at bay. Sarah Lawson (Gena Rowlands) tries to adapt to her dissolving marriage and stilted relationship with her daughter through elaborate expressions of her affection, no matter the greater distance they cause.

Stunning performances and Cassavetes' signature nuance and naturalism capture immense truth and tragedy, not to mention some hilarious comic moments as Sarah's character moves further off the deep end. Based on a play by Ted Allen, the film never feels out of step with Cassavetes' invasive realism, and it's yet another career peak for Gena Rowlands. I'd express my love for her in the most awkward and exaggerated way possible if I only knew how...


Ideal Extras: Perhaps a second Cassavetes box set from Criterion? We do still need Minnie and Moskowitz and Husbands on disc as well. Imagine rare interviews, extended footage, lost scenes and essays by Gena Rowlands. And scene selections, probably.

Looking for Mr. Goodbar

And we're still looking...

Such a vicious and tragic tale, tied to its era and told with a harrowing edge that still has bite. Diane Keaton, in one of her finest and most daring performances, plays Theresa Dunn, a teacher of deaf children by day who's seeking out illicit sex and drugs after sundown. Her encounters with strange men become an escape from the past that had kept her so contained, but ultimately lead her to a terrifying fate.

The story and novel by Judith Rossner was based on the murder of schoolteacher Roseann Quinn in 1973, which certainly adds to the film's bleakness. The psychology and themes inside are about as conflicted and distraught as the central character, but so often the film achieves a chilling and uniquely fascinating quality. Much of that is due in part to Keaton's strength and savvy onscreen, as well as the inevitable horror awaiting us as the viewer.


Ideal extras: Director Richard Brooks must have a lot to say considering the content, and every fan should be intrigued to hear the story of its inspiration. Plus, interviews with Diane Keaton in which she talks about her golden era of edgy roles and then apologizes for Because I Said So. Why? Because I said so. The cherry on top is rare extended footage of Richard Gere and Tom Berenger in their debut, looking cute and coked out in jockstraps.

Faster, Retro Posters! Kill! Kill!

(Unnatural)

He had a nose for crime. She had a nose for a sexual organ.

Really it's solid advice for any unwanted guest.


Dracula Has Risen From the Grave (Obviously)

... And he's stuck on Band-Aid brand

cause Band-Aid's stuck on her.

I Want You To Draw Me Like One of Your French Girls

Talk about a work of art. Paul Rudd makes the world a better, sexier place.

I need a glass of cold water.

How Long Do We Have to Stay Down Here?

"Go away Cookie Man."

Gloating is Free and Easy

In a post-election, post-birthday haze I return to this blog with my head held high. Sarah Palin and John McCain can take their Circle Talk Express expressly back to where they came from.


And no fear if Palin tries to stumble out of the woods again in 2012, we'll just nominate her more eloquent sister Nell instead. She's far more evolved on women's rights and has run on a strong platform of chicka, chicka, chickabee.

It's been a great birthday gift seeing an African American and progressive, literate, emotionally mature man become president. So at the same time I've become a second class citizen of sorts, but just that sweet notion of change breeds a little hope. I can't get married in California, but if I were a chicken I could now potentially take a shit a further three centimeters to my left. Sounds like some good old fashioned American values to me.

Here's to Barack Obama's glorious victory, and here's to change. Real change. Now let's let every man, woman, chicken and child be equal.

"Te in da win," I say. Te in da win, everyone.

Obscure Beauty: In the Mood for Love (2001)

"He remembers those vanished years. As though looking through a dusty window pane, the past is something he could see but not touch. And everything he sees is blurred and indistinct."

"The Sex Talk" with Margaret White

"I should have killed myself when he put it in me. After the first time, before we were married, Ralph promised never again. He promised, and I believed him. But sin never dies. Sin never dies.

At first it was alright. We lived sinlessly. We slept in the same bed, but we never did it. And then, that night... I saw him lookin' down at me that way. We got down on our knees to pray for strength. I smelled the whiskey on his breath... Then he took me. He took me, with the stink of filthy roadhouse whiskey on his breath, and I liked it. I liked it! With all that dirty touchin' and his hands all over me. I should've given you to God when you were born, but I was weak and backslidin'... And now, the devil has come home.

We'll pray. We'll pray. For the last time we'll pray."

A Momentary Mad Man

I'm having a bit of a Mad Men fever recently. Maybe it's that I just watched The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency, or maybe it's that certain television shows are just bred better than others. Mad Men is high class, top shelf television. Not that models forced to live in a model house in aim of censored nudity isn't making someone's life richer.


Either route it's perfect advertising.

Yet there's something missing from television all too often, just about as much as exposed nudity. That something is writing, and Mad Men has more than its share. Not just story editors either, but living, breathing writers! The episodes have plots, themes, arc, and there has been nary an autopsy or a hit-and-run. Only on AMC... the network that has whittled the namesake American Movie Classics down to include to include Pet Sematary Two. When did they get all respectable like? The executives at AMC must keep the office bar stocked. That's how they do it at Sterling Cooper.


The ladies look padded and perfect, the men talk big and fall far; the politics, well... they're a little outdated. Were the sixties really a better time? Don Draper says no, I assure you. He's fighting on and off the job, stealing namesakes... And his wife Betty certainly wouldn't contest. Lately she'd rather take out the neighborhood birds with a gun.

Points in the first season had Mad Men feeling a touch heavy in its footing, but lately the characters have settled and their depths have been reached with a subtlety I so greatly value. Beautiful production, an ace and eclectic cast, and more than enough subtext for a course on Women's Issues or Business Management. And I've said it before and I'll say it again, Jon Hamm can sell anything.

These are some of my favorite moments of recent Mad Men... Miss Holloway, hold my calls.

The Gold Violin

ep. 7

All along it was the Draper Family responsible for Global Warming. Their after-picnic littering would cause audible gasps nowadays. The family outing's postcard perfection is quickly crumpled and tossed over discussions of kids tinkling outside and sticky hands inside the car. Hysterical, sad, telling and topical; one of the best uses of the show's period-piece element.

A Night to Remember

ep. 8

What is it about Joan Holloway? Played by Christina Hendricks she practically glows as she floats about the office; a seductive sizzle of red so easily capable of masking her torments. This episode featured a lovely and revealing moment when Joan removes her bra strap and caresses the indent beneath. There's so many layers under those so many layers. It sums up her character perfectly in a single image and it's shot like the heavens of Douglas Sirk.


Although it's called Mad Men it's actually the female roles stealing most of my attention. Set in the era of emerging women's rights, we follow Joan, Betty and Peggy's richly detailed struggle with matters of choice and power. Peggy's moving up the ladder of male dominance while Betty's moving out into the world, away from the home life that suffers.

On Janice Dickinson? Apparently the Russian girl hoards carrot cake.

The Jet Set

ep. 11

When TV shows hit their stride you get great episodes like The Jet Set. Oddly enough it's an episode where the lead character leaves his element and his usual setting, but in a way Don is forever outside his element, always selling and seeking something intangible. L.A. was fertile ground for Don's developing identity and I was surprised to approach the return flight with some hesitation...


No more poolside Don! But then I guess he isn't much different from the regular Don...


The episode also featured the show's third gay character, Kurt, whose office proclamation, "I'm homosexual. I make love with the men not the women," is so charming to me even still. Seriously classy.


It gives even more promise for future material, hopefully for Kurt as well as the closeted sadsack, Sal. Kurt just gave Peggy her Bravo-style gay makeover, meaning next season he could very well move into an L.A. model house. Even for a show set in the sixties, Mad Men is ahead of its time.