Weekend Wrap-Up & A Special Gift (for some, at least)

What is it about Thanksgiving weekend that invariably draws Filmbrain, zombie-like, towards the local Schlockbuster? With a perfectly good mountain of unwatched DVDs at home, he somehow felt the need to grab a small handful of this year's mega-budget releases off the shelf. He quit after the first two, realizing he should have stuck with his original plan to watch the George Romero tetralogy. War of the Worlds: Which was harder to swallow? Aliens rising up from underground to wreak havoc on Joisy, or a muscle-car driving Tom Cruise desperately trying to portray a blue-collar single parent? All Filmbrain can remember is two hours of Dakota Fanning screaming, followed by a sudden feel-good ending that was pathetic even by Hollywood standards. And remember, it's ok to murder somebody in front of your child as long as you cover her eyes with a handkerchief. Batman Begins: Fair enough -- there's nothing really wrong with Christopher Nolan's character study of the Man who would be Bat, but halfway through Filmbrain realized he just couldn't muster enough enthusiasm to give a shit about the struggles of yet another long-underwear wearing crime fighter. Nolan's direction here is far more interesting than Spielberg's, but it still seemed quite programmatic when compared to his prior films, which interestingly enough were made for a combined budget of less than half the cost of this behemoth.

Perhaps part of the problem is that Filmbrain is still all about Cassavetes' Love Streams. As mentioned in the comments of this post, he ordered and received the DVD from France in (amazingly) only two days. The quality is as good as the folks over at DVDBeaver claim it is, and it contains a few supplemental features, including an introduction by Agnès b., a ten-minute excerpt from the Michael Ventura documentary I'm Almost Not Crazy, and some fascinating footage of Cassavetes directing takes 1, 2, and 3 of scene 143 (between Gena and her bowling-alley lover). The film just keeps on getting better, and there are several scenes that Filmbrain must have watched over a dozen times. As there was some discussion in the previous post about Bo Harwood's score (and the commercial unavailability of it), Filmbrain thought he would give Cassavetes fans a treat -- an MP3 of Almost In Love With You, ripped right from the DVD. The song (which is played during the dance scene between John and Margaret Abbott) was written by Bo Harwood, John Cassavetes, and Anthony Harris, and sung by Jack Sheldon. The entire scene is pure cinematic poetry. Enjoy! I'm almost in love with you I nearly miss you, I've hardly seen you When I do, I get a feeling that something should be there I almost like your eyes, they're green not blue Your touch could thrill me What can I do, I'm not, but almost, in love with you. . . Click here to download Almost In Love With You.mp3 (3020.6K). (Right-click to save.)