February 20th, 2003 11:02pm
Susan Snorts And Has Hallucinations
Here’s an excellent interview with Meryl Streep from the Wall Street Journal. (Via the Adaptation blog on Susan Orlean’s site.)
Here’s the best bit, also quoted on that blog:
“What we do now is withhold films from most of America, which is shocking. And what do we withhold? The best films. If you live somewhere 30 miles out in mall-land, you can’t see all the great movies. Same with the rest of the world: We export the crap. And then we wonder why everybody hates us and has a distorted picture of what Americans are. We should export the best movies we make.”
This is one of my personal bugbears lately; I can’t stand that most of the nation is subject to this system of film distribution which is an insult to the intelligence of the average American. I think that it is a big problem that most of the best films are withheld from the majority of theatres. It’s crass, it’s elitist, it’s bad business, and it’s ultimately very damaging to the culture. When most people go to the movies, they usually just pick a movie from the handful on offer, and if you only offer people junk, they’ve got no choice. A film like Adaptation isn’t for everyone, but it does have a large niche audience that is dispersed throughout the nation. Every film doesn’t have to be in every cineplex, but there are smaller movie theatres nationwide which really should not have to wait months on end for the chance to show a film that’s by then old news in NYC and LA. I hate that when I consider moving to other parts of the country, one of the things that goes through my mind is “well, if I go away from NY, I won’t get to see new movies anymore.” That’s very unfair.
There’s A New Thing Going Around
For Brandon and Russ:
Otis Redding “Try A Little Tenderness”
Harness The Beauty And Power
Excellent/entertaining posts on other people’s blogs that you really should read if you haven’t already:
* Amy’s tragic love letter to 50 Cent on Lot Vogue.
* All of Andrew Earles’ recent entries on Failed Pilot, especially 2/13, 2/11, and 2/05.
* 30 concise movie reviews written by some guy named Hoffman, presented as a blog-within-a-blog on Freezing To Death in the Nuclear Bunker. Jody’s review of Rosemary’s Baby is a must-read too.
* Phantroll discusses The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” over on Waking Ear.
* Paul writes about Shudder To Think’s Pony Express Record in the 2/18 post on The Rub.
* Jack Fear writes about Blue Crush, of all things, in his 2/14 entry.
* Kevin explains why Ted Leo and Loose Fur are good so that I don’t have to over on Deviated Septum.
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