Ruby Sparks and The Case of The Unintelligible Scribblings

Behold ~ my favorite piece of movie swag thus far this year.

Movie swag -- It isn't just for clutter anymore!

Nothing beats useful movie swag. When the notebook first arrived I thought, 'What a thematically appropriate gift and how perfect for the movie blogger. I can't wait to take notes on her about her own movie.' But then Magic Mike broke her hymen and strangely the invite to her own screening never came. Now even Total Recall has had its way with this formerly pristine book and I still haven't seen Ruby Sparks (!) despite really wanting to. 

Last night I saw The Odd Life of Timothy Green and its plot, like Ruby Sparks's own, involves a real human life springing from fantasized words on the page. If my own notes, scribbled in the dark of movie theaters, ever took human shape, the inky actressy monstrosity that emerged would not be pretty. She would sport bizarre squiggly features which occassionally reshaped themselves into rectangular recreations of movie frames. The ink monster would be weirdly silent but for Tourettes-like outbursts wherein she would shout out only half-remembered movie quotes or long unintelligible sounds (I cannot read these notes). Once every half hour or so she would achieve a moment of lucidity and, without so much as a 'spoiler alert,' she'd calmly reveal a major plot point of a movie she'd just seen.

Moviegoing Diaries: Magic Mike

[Editor's note: We're toying with a new multi-author series about our experiences at the movie theater. We'll let Beau kick it off from the West Coast with Magic Mike.] 

I blame Channing Tatum’s ass.  

The date had been going along fine. He wasn’t terribly cute, but he was attractive. That’s a very important distinction. We both shared a similar affinity for film, both were heavily involved in productions in and outside of college. (He adored Soderbergh, I’m a Bergman and Ashby kind of guy. Come to think of it, I wonder what they thought of each other. Ashby being an addiction-ridden humanist hippie, Bergman being the son of a preacher man who’d engaged in more onscreen love affairs than Warren Beatty.) We’d already argued about Jeff Nichols’ Take Shelter, laughed heartily at the Pitch Perfect trailer, my reservations slowly subsiding, trying to remind myself to be open to the experience. (The Schizo Gay Cupid on dates is so frustrating.)

And then, the goddamn film started... 

Click to read more ...

Mass Shooting at "The Dark Knight Rises" Midnight Show, Colorado

Woke up to terrible news about a man entering a midnight screening of the new Batman in a gas mask and rifle, threw out a cannister of hissing gass and opened fire. Horrifying news. Every time I click on a news link the number of dead rises. (Here's an interesting snapshot of how public news like this travels in real time.)

So sad that for each new gun massacre there is not a new gun control law. We never learn. 

News Update: 12 confirmed dead and 51 more injured. Suspect James Eagan Holmes surrendered to police.
Related: Christopher Nolan's statement and The Atlantic's fine essay on the matter.

Truth in Advertising

My friend sent me this photo of a marquee on the East Side yesterday.

Ha! I guess that means he read my review. 

Do the Right Link

Classic
Cracked 5 true (?) stories of dangerous movie scenes. Reckless endangerment on the sets of Inglourious Basterds, Evil Dead and Carrie, among others.
After Elton "Best Movie Ever? Truth or Dare" well, it's one of them at least! Anyone who ever questions Madonna's magnificence, needs to watch it.
Gothamist The Zeigfeld Theater in Manhattan is losing a million a year and may close. This is terrible terrible news for cinema since it's the only grand theater left in one of the two most important movie markets. It's hallowed ground. The place where I first saw Moulin Rouge! and first saw Michelle Pfeiffer in the pflesh. And so many other great experiences.

Current 
BadAss Digest theories on an important deleted scene in The Amazing Spider-Man
Vulture has an excellent interview with Spike Lee on his new film, Hollywood today, and the Obamas.
Salon Who are you, Katie Holmes? 

...and this is my pick for Tweet of the Weekend from Allie Goertz

Hee.

Future
Coming Soon The Dark Knight Rises and... Charles Dickens?