Little Children.

I make mental notes to remember to see a movie when it comes out on DVD or cable but there still are many interesting ones that escape me.

I don't even remember if I heard of Little Children though it was up for 3 Academy Awards in 2006: leading actress, Kate Winslet, supporting actor, Jackie Earle Haley.

I was listening to a review of Watchmen on the radio. The character Rorschach was mentioned (also on the cover of my latest EW) being played by Jackie Earle Haley.

Jackie Earle Haley's name sounded familiar. The reviewer said he had been a child actor and had also been out of acting for quite awhile. Because of the similiar name, my first thought was of Haley Joel Osment (Sixth Sense), but they mentioned a couple movies that were way too old for him to have played in. Wrong actor.

I looked him up. Haley had played a couple of memorable characters: Kelly Leak in The Bad News Bears and Moocher in Breaking Away (with Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern,...). Both were misfits of a sort but always a tough, scrappy, little fighter.

(If you haven't seen Breaking Away, put it in your movie que. It is well worth it. College town in the midwest in the 1970's. Reminded me so much of my college years with the college kids and the locals co-existing together.)

Little Children trailer:

81% rating at Rottentomatoes.com

Here is a brief synopsis and plot description:

Adapted for the screen by Field and Perrotta and artfully photographed by Antonio Calvache, LITTLE CHILDREN is a bitingly funny, and nakedly honest, critique of middle class dysfunction. Though the cast is universally superb, it is former child actor Haley (THE BAD NEWS BEARS, BREAKING AWAY) who steals the show.

Set in the imploding minefields of modern suburbia, LITTLE CHILDREN follows several inhabitants of a small American town as they fumble their way through adulthood. Numb-to-life housewife and mother Sarah Pierce (Kate Winslet) finds an outlet for her yearning in gorgeous househusband Brad Adamson (Patrick Wilson), who is crippled with insecurity over the fact that his perfect wife, Kathy (Jennifer Connelly), is the family breadwinner. When Sarah and Brad meet at the local playground one afternoon, a passionate affair is sparked. In a further attempt to reclaim his youthful fire, Brad joins a night football league with Larry Hedges (Noah Emmerich), a former cop who has begun to harass a convicted sex offender, Ronnie J. McGorvey (Jackie Earle Haley)

trivia: Patrick Wilson plays an internet stalker against the quite resourceful Ellen Page in the movie Hard Candy.

(Synopsis of Hard Candy: Hayley's a smart, charming teenage girl -- but even smart girls make mistakes. She's hooking up in a coffee shop with Jeff, a guy she's met on the Internet. And even though he's a cute,... Hayley's a smart, charming teenage girl -- but even smart girls make mistakes.)

Ryan (don't call me Bryan) plus more.

Ryan Adams and Mandy Moore were in the news last week: they got engaged.

Mandy is so cute.

Ryan hates it when in concert people request "Summer of '69".

(Mainly because he is NOT BRYAN Adams.)

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals, Magick:

(he is leaving the band in March 2009, partially because of Meniere's disease).

I thought he sounded a bit like Jesse Malin, who does the next song,

(for whom Ryan has (coincidentially to me) produced records for).

Don't let them take you down:

Broken Radio, featuring Bruce Springsteen:

Snow, so much snow.

Roger members Gene.

I can't believe it will be 10 years tomorrow Gene Siskel passed away.

A sad day for movie lovers.

Paired with Roger Ebert, they made up Siskel & Ebert at the Movies.

They popularized the positive review phrase, "two thumbs up".

Roger Ebert writes a quite interesting and lengthy article about himself and Gene Siskel.

Click below at the link.

Link

From so what the fuss

The article mentioned was how much a Chicago Bulls fan Gene Siskel was.

One of my favorite basketball shots is Dennis Rodman going all out for the ball.

Directly under his chest, front row, is Gene Siskel enjoying the game.

Ezra Furman: Take off your sunglasses.

Ezra Furman & the Harpoons are a three-piece rock band composed of Ezra Furman (guitar and vocals), Job Mukkada (bass guitar), and Adam Abrutyn (drums).

Ezra is a Chicago native.

I've heard this a couple times now. I like the distinct vocals.

From NPR's World Cafe:

February 6, 2008 -

Ever since the band first formed in the dormitory halls of Tufts University, Ezra Furman and the Harpoons' music has been rooted in confrontational and challenging songs that can evoke everything from blues to punk to pop music.

The group's latest album, Banging Down the Doors, came out this past summer.

It's earned comparisons to Violent Femmes and found fan at Paste magazine, which calls the album "frightening" and "brilliant."

15 Second Video: Cubbie and banks.

TARP I guess our snow BANKS don't qualify. Damn.

Cubbie doing 15 second videos last Sunday. We have fun together in the snow. I think 15 seconds is just long enough.

Stills (pictures) saved with Picassa3 off video clips. Great software I don't use enough. Really good captures a frame at a time.

Cubbie with his weathered ball:

From Cubbie, ball, snow.

Get ready.

From Cubbie, ball, snow.

Focus.

From Cubbie, ball, snow.

Get the tongue out.

From Cubbie, ball, snow.

Finally ready:

From Cubbie, ball, snow.

And a two part 15 second video: Throw

and Find.

Stubs.

B.B. King and Etta James. Etta is played by Beyonce in the new movie Cadillac Records. I'd be quite happy with the casting if I were Etta.

B.B. was great (and ageless 15 years ago) after the show signing autographs, I didn't have a pen.

Allman Brothers. Saw them all the time in the Chicago area at different venues. Always brought their kids.

Rolling Stones. Saw them more than the Allman Brothers. Can't match the electricity in the air they generate. First ticket to a concert of theirs, 8.50.

Jethro Tull. Saw them (Ian Anderson and company) at NIU. Love the flute and his playing while standing on one leg.

Wings. Bought a t-shirt in the parking lot. 10 bucks. It lasted about 10 years. Wish I had saved it.

Fleetwood Mac. Alpine Valley Wisconsin. Smuggled in wine flask. Guy in the tree on the lawn pee'd from his tree. We laughed.

Grateful Dead. Remember seeing a distant cousin of mine outside the venue looking for a ticket. Small world (this was in Chicago). He got in.

Led Zeppelin. Floor seats. One of their first "laser light" concerts. Saw bloody fight on the way out. Everyone lived.

Bob Dylan. He started out singing accoustic while sitting on a stool. Different but good. Hey, he was Bob Dylan.

Funny Games.

I like watching all kinds of movies.

Some I have a bad feeling about and watch anyway.

I never seem to learn.

Just last week I watched Hostel 2 on cable.

It was just as if not more disgusting than the original.

I texted Clint (with whom I had seen the first Hostel) the following:
"Just watched hostel 2. wish I could get back those 90 minutes of my life."

His followup:
"I wish I could get back the 18 bucks I spent on that movie. I bought the DVD."

That actually was kind of funny.

I forwarded our conversation to daughter Amy.

Her response:
"Like father like son. dumbass!"

Funny Games is by Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke.

I've seen one of his movies, Cache. It was dark and mildly disturbing plus I never really figured it out but I liked it.

His most successful film is The Piano Teacher.

Funny Games originally came out in 1997 and an American remake was made in 2008 - scene for scene.



I had never heard of it until I saw some listings for both versions of the DVD's on ebay.
I noticed it was showing on CineMax so I'm sure it will filter down to one of the cable stations I get pretty soon.

From Wiki, a short description:

Funny Games is an experimental 1997 Austrian horror film directed by Michael Haneke. The plot of the film involves two teenagers who hold a family hostage and torture them with sadistic games.

That should explain it.

Trailer for the 1997 version:

Trailer for the 2008 version:

Holding on to the Earth.

The Indescribable Wow (1988) is the fifth (studio) album from American singer-songwriter Sam Phillips.

Holding on to the Earth is a single from it, co-written by her and T-Bone Burnett.

It always reminds me of Earth Day (from the Holding on to the Earth.. part of the lyrics). This song was part of a local radio promotion and of course driven into my head. I like it though so no matter.

Sam was married to T-Bone Burnett, made her screen debut in Die Hard with a Vengeance, and wrote music for and scored the TV show The Gilmore Girls.

She last released an album in mid-2008 named Don't do Anything.

If I close my eyes
I'm afraid I won't wake up
If I stop and listen
I'm afraid I'll hear too much

Trying to hold on to the earth
Holding on for what it's worth

I've got a long black cadillac
marble hot tub in the back
Champagne waterfall
solid gold question mark twenty feet tall

Try to paint a world of shapes
Over the holes as we're falling
The tightened grip is our mistake
As we're trying to hold on to the earth

Looking for his name
wet on brave lips carved on road
Look for flame and mercy
Hope that tired hands can hold

The Lodger (2009).

The Lodger is a story by Marie Belloc Lowndes.

It was written in 1912.

(Link to text of it HERE at Project Gutenberg)

Based on the Jack the Ripper murders, it is about a London family who suspects that their upstairs lodger is a mysterious killer known as "The Avenger."

The novel was the basis for four movie adaptions.

It was made into a movie by Alfred Hitchcock in 1927, by Maurice Elvey in 1932, John Brahm in 1944, and as Man in the Attic in 1953.

The original movie, The Lodger, is a 1927 thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Another adaptation is coming out shortly. I'm not sure how it will stack up to Hitchcock's version but I'm looking forward to it. The Lodger is scheduled for limited release 01-23-09. With little promotion, the film will probably have a short run and I'll see it when the DVD comes out. I think I'll like it.

From Rotten Tomatoes: The Lodger

Synopsis: The tale that inspired Alfred Hitchcock's THE LODGER gets a modern sheen in this thriller that features a star-filled cast.

Hope Davis plays a woman who takes on a mysterious lodger (Simon Baker),... The tale that inspired Alfred Hitchcock's THE LODGER gets a modern sheen in this thriller that features a star-filled cast. Hope Davis plays a woman who takes on a mysterious lodger (Simon Baker), even as a serial killer is turning West Hollywood into a graveyard. But the murders aren't simple slices and dices; the killer is recreating the work of history's most famous killer: Jack the Ripper. Shane West and Alfred Molina also star as detectives investigating the string of gruesome crimes.

LINK TO TRAILER

Director: David Ondaatje
Writer: David Ondaatje

The cast: Alfred Molina, Hope Davis, Simon Baker, Shane West, Rachael Leigh Cook, Donal Logue, Rebecca Pidgeon, Philip Baker Hall

The cast (as I know them): Alfred Molina (Doc Oct, Spiderman 2),

Hope Davis (wife to Nicolas Cage in The Weatherman),

Simon Baker (The Mentalist - new tv show),

Donal Logue (dad in Grounded for Life),

Rebecca Pidgeon (The Spanish Prisoner - wife of David Mamet),

Philip Baker Hall (Zodiac, Hard Eight - just saw this, not a bad movie).