Zoinks!

I find it hard to believe that a giant dog turd of a movie called Scooby-Doo could sell more than $50 million in tickets on its opening weekend. The funny thing is that it cost $80 million to make it. Imagine!

Easy Riders, Raging Bulls

I’ve just finished reading an interesting book by Peter Biskind called Easy Riders Raging Bulls, about how the culture of director-driven films of the 70s collapsed into the blockbuster-driven Hollywood of today. It’s really disheartening. Imagine taking the $80 million spent on Scooby-Doo and splitting it among ten hungry young independent directors. Even if half of the films weren’t that good, at least none of them would be Scooby-Doo!

Brooke and I watched the original Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (1936) last night. The reason this movie works and the new one with Adam Sandler probably won’t is that Gary Cooper is not winking at you the whole time. You really believe he is a decent human being. Adam Sandler will instead come across (as always) as a moron.

I also finally watched Harold and Maude (1971) and loved it. I’d heard that it’s been a big influence on Wes Anderson’s films and that was easy to see. There’s a sort of gentle affection for the strange, damaged characters on the screen, along with a large dose of black humour. A really touching film, and a great Cat Stevens soundtrack.

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