A Virtual Road Trip

I have some good availability in the coming days. I thought it might be nice to take a trip to some other websites and blogs and write something for them. Will be nice to write something fresh and different.

Whether you're a giant film site or a tiny blog about cats, get in touch if you'd like me to write for you! It'll be fun, a two day web-based road trip.

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Over-Crowdedness

The opposite of productivity isn't laziness, at least not with me. It's over-crowdedness. And not in some cool I've got so many ideas way.

Just crowded like the London trains during rush hour. You're crammed in tight, and you have to put up with it if you're gonna get through the journey to the other side.

The brain is cluttered, in part with ideas, but a huge part of the clutter is just bullshit. Noise. Like I'll obsess over an email from three days ago but then I realise I can't even remember what the email was, I'm just fixating on a figment.

You don't sleep because you feel like you should be somewhere. And you don't stop looking around cause you feel like there's someone you're meant to know who you haven't met yet. The problem with being over-crowded is that you just don't get anywhere.

So you clutter up on de-cluttering techniques and meditation and whatever makes you feel good about yourself. But with me it's not even specific clutter, it's just my brain running around a bit lost like the London Transport System on a weekend when half the trains are being repaired and no-one knows how to get anywhere.

Part of it is that I have lots of ideas. Lots to say. I just don't know what any of it is. Sometimes the brain just wants to force out the junk, it's like selling loads of crap at a yard sale that nobody really wants but someone will pick it up anyway. I guess that's what these recent blog posts are, bullshit that I'm forcing you loyal readers to sit through.

It's relevant, because I've always done my best to blog honestly about creativity. Sometimes I write cheesy 'we can achieve anything' posts and sometimes I write depressive stuff about being blocked. And sometimes I write about being over-crowded. I'm just trying to share a bit of everything. I don't know if it makes sense and I'm not sure if it matters.

Creativity isn't a flowing river. It's not something that arrives every morning. I mean sure, the gurus say it is, but we're human beings and everything ebbs and flows. Over-crowdedness is just where I am on this day. It could mean 'rest', it could mean 'listen to all ideas', it could mean 'write something insane!', it could mean nothing. All I can do is be along for the journey. I'm not looking for advice or your ideas, I'm not suffering, I'm just in the middle of a process and I'm doing my best to describe it.

I'll get back to reviewing shit studio movies soon.

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Blank Slate

Sometimes I want a blank slate. A clean brain without my outlook, prejudices and self-criticisms.

Maybe it'd be more romantic, or risky. Maybe it'd know how to spell necessary without using spellcheck.

Sometimes I think that's what creativity is. You don't look for an insight, you just look for an empty room inside your head, some place that hasn't been decided yet.

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Love

I love when Forrest Gump finds out he has a son.

I love the way they used the Sheryl Crowe song 'I Shall Believe' in 'The Pallbearer'.

I love that Marilyn Monroe chose to be in movies.

And Jack Lemmon, too.

I love that Peter MacNicol and Greg Germann were cast together in 'Ally McBeal'.

I love it any time Cat Stevens' music is used in a film.

I love black and white movies.

I love colour movies.

And silent ones.

I love everything about 'Adventureland'.

And 'Jerry Maguire'.

I love the dialogue of Billy Wilder, Aaron Sorkin and Woody Allen.

I love the camerawork in 'Manhattan Murder Mystery'.

I love how the film E.T. makes me feel inside.

I love seeing Josh and Donna's relationship grow and change in 'The West Wing'.

I love the moment in 'Studio 60' when Matt admits the reason he got successful was because he was trying to impress Harriet.

I love Dawson and Joey.

And Ross and Rachel.

And Frankie and Johnny.

And Kathleen Kelly and Joe Fox (F-O-X)

I love 'Malena' and 'Cinema Paradiso' so much that I go to Sicily just to feel closer to them.

I love Dito Montiel's New York.

I love Staff Benda Bilili.

I am IN LOVE with Natalie, Scarlett, Greta and Ellen Page.

I love seeing Michael Rapaport act.

I love when Bill Murray turns his shirt inside out in 'Lost In Translation'.

And in that other movie when he thinks he's God. Or at least, a God.

I love Needlenose Ned.

I love Charlie Chaplin.

I love Robin Williams in 'Dead Poets Society'.

I love it when a movie is SPECTACULAR!

I love it when you're walking down the street minding your own business and them BOOM a great movie moment flashes into your head and makes EVERYTHING BETTER.

I love the way Cameron Crowe uses Tom Petty's music in nearly all his movies.

I love Will Smith's performance in 'Seven Pounds'.

And Henry Fonda's in '12 Angry Men'.

And Charlize Theron in 'Young Adult'.

And Samantha Morton in 'Sweet & Lowdown'.

I love the film 'Beautiful Girls'.

And I absolutely love 'Anatomy of a Murder'.

I love when Jack Nicholson is in his car with the top down playing Van Morrison in 'As Good As It Gets'.

I love Helen Hunt in everything she does.

I'd love it if she had more roles.

I love the power of documentary.

I love 'Senna' so much that I scream about it nearly every time I meet a new person.

I love it when artists don't hide their influences.

I love YouTube.

I love getting a sense of the writer or director's VOICE when I'm watching a movie. 
I love 'Frasier'.

I really really really love 'Frasier'.

I love empty cinemas.

I love full cinemas.

I love going into the cinema lobby just to get the smell of the popcorn.

I love that movies remind me of where I've been.

And where I'm going.

I love the impact Tom Hanks' films had on me growing up.

I love the crazy movie 'Bubba Ho-Tep'.

I love Danish films.

I love that we're in an age where anyone can pick up a camera and do something.

I love when big giant blockbuster movies are done WELL. 


I love movies. 

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GRETA GERWIG - A New Type Of Acting Career

Six years ago she was doing tiny mumblecore movies -- some of them were great, some of them sucked. But there she was, putting the work in, being part of one of the most interesting film movements of recent times. Some of them she co-wrote, one of them she even directed ('Nights and Weekends'). For those who aren't familiar with the term 'mumblecore' - they're essentially films that are shot with no money, in a very naturalistic way, that focus on character rather than explosions.

She was a revelation, because she was just so natural and real. Along with people like Mark Duplass and Kate Dollenmayer, they became some of my favourite actors.

It's important to look at their careers, because they did it in their OWN way. The mumblecore movies (as much as those involved dislike the term) answered to no-one, they followed their instincts and sensibilities. When you see 'Nights and Weekends' or 'The Puffy Chair', whatever you think of them, you can't knock their integrity.

That's why I'm so excited to see the trailer for 'Lola Versus'. Here is a studio-produced (partly) movie that has Gerwig as the lead. She's gone from these tiny personal movies to a Fox Searchlight produced flick, yet still retains that personal touch. The thing about Gerwig is that you believe her, she's one of us. That's not a feeling you get when you watch Mila Kunis or Megan Fox.




Greta got there on talent, hard work, and originality. And by originality I don't mean that she reinvented the wheel -- I just mean that she remained herself. The same thing goes for the Duplass brothers. The studio did their best to interfere with 'Cyrus', but eventually they clawed it back and made the personal movie they wanted to make. I just saw the trailer for 'Safety Not Guaranteed'. It's crazy. I'm in love with it! Not only is Mark Duplass in it, but him and his brother were producers on it.




There's a new way of making films, and we're all included. It's about independence and art. You don't need the studios. Yet if you do something GREAT, the studios will want in.

Kate Dollenmayer's performance in Andrew Bujalski's 'Funny Ha Ha' blew me away. But get this, she never acted again! That seemed crazy to me. And then you see that in 2009 she was involved in another Bujalski film, but as 'assistant camera'! Don't you just love that? There are no rules anymore, it's about collaboration. The important thing to take from mumblecore is that they are incredibly personal movies. Now those responsible for the movement are quietly moving up in the world by making films that are involved with (at least partially), the studios, yet they've remained themselves.

Greta Gerwig has something that most Hollywood actresses don't have. Her IMDB board is a bit shocking, because there are people attacking her looks and slamming her in a variety of ways. But they miss the point, she's ONE OF US! She's real. Have you seen 'Greenberg'? She'll blow you away in that. She feels like your ex-girlfriend, or your best friend from high school - she's real. Even in 'No Strings Attached' -- she's a breath of fresh air.

That's why it's a new type of acting career. She gets cast in the average studio fare like 'No Strings Attached', and she gets the lead in an Indiewood feature like 'Lola Versus', AND she's in the new Woody Allen film! And it's all on her terms. I don't know what you think of her. You might be inspired by this post to check out her work then you'll find her boring and lacking charisma, she's had that criticism before. But that's kind of my point, it's personal, she's personal. She's the friend that some people enjoy being around, some people fall in love with, and some people dislike. But that's infinitely more interesting than what we usually get. It's something real.

She's playing by her own rules. How many people in the industry can you say that about?

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MOVIE ENDINGS: Ooh La La / If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out

I don't love 'Harold and Maude' as much as the people who really love 'Harold and Maude' --of which there are many-- but I do love the ending. It's so subtle and beautiful and wonderful that it makes you want to scream YES YES YES YES THIS IS WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT!!!!

In fact, I just did that. Give me a moment to compose myself.

Yes.

I guess you need to know the whole film to truly feel the ending, but maybe not. There's something so sweet and quiet about it that it could resonate with you simply by watching the video. The whole bit with Cat Steven's "Trouble" beforehand is wonderful, masterful filmmaking. But for me, what really makes me SCREAM SCREAM SCREAM GOING YES YES YES THIS IS WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT!!!! -- is from 3.20 on the video.

It slowly tilts upwards. We see him. He's still alive.

We cut to a closer angle.

Then he starts playing.

And we hold on this one shot as he turns and walks away -- the beautiful chords of 'If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out', and then Cat Stevens fades in as Harold dances to the left of frame. YES YES YES THAT IS WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT!

And then there's the ending of 'Rushmore'.

I love the idea that a world exists where a guy can make a hand gesture to a DJ, and by that alone he'll know to play 'OOH LA LA' by THE FACES! I mean, that's just not the world we live in is it. But that's why we have movies! We get to geek out and imagine life really is that COOL.


I don't know if it's the whole film or just the final scene that I love or maybe just the fact that 'Ooh La La' is one of my all time favourite songs. You know how some songs, you just feel like, YES, THAT IS ME! THAT SONG IS ME! 

Well that's how I am with 'Ooh La La'.

So any film that ends with slow motion dancing to the track is going to be one of my favourite films.

"I wish that  I knew what I know now, when I was younger."

Yes.

Isn't it sad that movies have to end? Sometimes you want them to last forever. They give us these wonderful characters for a couple of hours, we get to love them, and then they take them away!

Luckily, 'Ooh La La' and 'If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out' are regular visitors to my headphones, always with me.

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A Magic Moment in THAT THING YOU DO

This is one of my all time favourite film scenes. Sorry the video quality is so bad, I just found it on YouTube. You'll still feel the magic.

Creative people are mostly struggling, pissed off, and hugely self critical. But then, IT HAPPENS. The hard work pays off. YOUR SONG GETS ON THE RADIO! This scene captures the PURE JOY of the moment.

LOVE IT.

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