Beltmann

One of the great things about Herzog docs is that he doesn't--can't--leave his stomach out of it.

Alan Keyes is joining the Steelers?

Nice list--there's not an unworthy film on there. Here's my list, as it stands now: 1. Children of Men 2. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada 3. L'Enfant 4. Pan's Labyrinth 5. Requiem 6. The Prestige 7. The Queen 8. Sophie Scholl: The Final Days 9. Old Joy 10. Fateless The Next Ten: A Prairie Home Companion; United 93; The Puffy Chair; Tristram Shandy: A Cock & Bull Story; Thank You For Smoking; The Death of Mr. Lazarescu; Workingman

I chose those two examples because they are the most famous, but mostly because the 30-year spread shows the strategy's age. But they aren't the only examples... just two years ago the Broadway production Lennon cast 9 actors in the title role. Granted, most other multiple casting examples offer some kind of literal justification for it within the story

Welcome! This is a great and generous place. Don't know for sure, but if history is any indication, I think you can count on it.

The Top 40 is soma.

I think I'm Not There has terrific potential, especially since its director, Todd Haynes, is a genuine artist with a proven track record. To these eyes, Safe and Far from Heaven are two of the richest American movies of the last 15 years. The concept of employing various actors in a single role may not be conventional, but it's also not particularly new or strange. Considering how Todd Solondz recently used the technique for Palindromes and how Luis Bunuel used it for That Obscure Object of Desire way back in 1977, Haynes' decision to use different actors to metaphorically embody the vario

Today I took in a double feature of Pan's Labyrinth and Letters from Iwo Jima. I'm not a huge fantasy fan, but I was spellbound by Pan--I'd much rather watch it a second time than any of the LOTR flicks. For at least an hour, Iwo Jima feels like any other recent war movie, but it definitely accumulates power, especially as it takes on metaphorical meanings that can be readily applied to our current zeal for launching wars.

I agree about the performance of the judge--it's a little jarring, especially considering how measured the rest of the film is. More interesting is the Gestapo investigator, who just can't comprehend why Sophie doesn't see how the Reich has been so good to him and to her.

I think the difficulty of writing a great pop tune is vastly underappreciated, and both of these bands bring a great deal of craft and intelligence to the endeavor. That's probably why I often think of them as belonging to the same plane, but I agree with you: Guster sticks to the ribs more than FoW does.

One of my high school students loaned me her copy of the Plain White T's, on the grounds that they are the "bestest band" right now. I had to shut it off after about 4 songs... it was painful. I think it may have been the worst thing I heard all of last year. Fortunately, one of my other students recently turned in a creative project that involved painting a visual representation of a song. Her song choice? "No Depression" by Uncle Tupelo. See, there's hope.

I remember when that happened... that's classic Herzog. Good stuff.

Did anybody else see Incident at Loch Ness? It's a fake documentary about Herzog traveling to Scotland to shoot a documentary about, well, you know. Although the movie swiftly dispenses with credibility--to amusing effect, I think--Herzog, who plays himself, remains its believably aggrieved center. The man behind such gravely ambitious films as Aguirre and Fitzcarraldo exhibits the lightest, most amusing touch of his career. By the end you might be convinced that Herzog's rep as a humorless tyrant is the real hoax. Most of the buzz surrounding Rescue Dawn has been, as far as I can tell, ra

That's a great tune... best on the album, in my view.

Kamikaze Hearts - Oneida Road

Sorry if this has already been posted... Obama Announces Something

I was thinking about the Milwaukee show Feb 28, but it probably won't happen. But that's mostly due to my graduate thesis, which is systematically sucking the life out of me.

I'm passionate about Fitzcarraldo and Grizzly Man, but I agree that Aguirre is his best--it's a mad vision about madness. And I love how Kinski is such a limping, tilting snake. The discussions above are very good, but I'd like to add that I think Invincible is quite underrated. I felt like I was watching a modern-day silent film, with all the melodramatic glory and visual grandeur that implies. The settings, which are often elaborate palaces of trickery, are marvelous, and so is Tim Roth's performance as a bogus, power-hungry hypnotist.

Sounds good. I still haven't listened. I pre-ordered, and don't want to spoil it...

Summerfest? In terms of both melody and lyrics, FoW is a terrific pop band, nothing more, nothing less. (I'm a big fan of all of their albums, with the exception of Out-of-State Plates--for the most part, those were castoffs for a reason, in my opinion.) I have to believe the widespread, aggressive loathing for "Stacy's Mom" is mostly related to its overexposure. When I first heard it--long before it ever reached radio saturation--I thought it was a pretty good pop tune, but I grew pretty damn sick of it, too. I understand that nobody wants to be seen as jumping on the Top 40 bandwagon,

Care to elaborate?

Once I was helping a high school freshman study for her Earth Science exam. I asked her to define El Nino, and she replied, "Um... the guy who invented weather?" She was serious.

For me, I guess the plot was just about the least interesting aspect of the film. There are so many other things going on in terms of character and theme that the actual plot--which essentially amounts to a chase film--was secondary.