Thank God It's Over (I Miss It Already)

By Bob Strauss on December 9, 2006 10:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (129) |

Last week, a director of one of this month's many prestigious movie releases all but apologized for what he and his colleagues were doing to me and mine.
"You must be going crazy, having to see all of these serious year-end movies one right after another," he said, or something to that effect.
I almost replied "yeah/there are too many/why do they cram all the good movies into the last months of the year and make us sit through puerile crap the rest of the time/and I blame you . . . " The usual complaints you hear from burned-out film critics between Halloween and mid-December.
But I didn't. Surprising even my exhausted, overscreened self, I replied, "No. Actually, it's been a pleasure. Even if I'm running around like a maniac to two or three screenings a day and losing sleep watching DVDs when I get home, at least I'm pretty consistently seeing intelligent and artistically ambitious work."
Or something to that effect. So much cinema definitely has a deleterious effect on the memory.
But it's over now; my group, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, votes tomorrow, and after that I stop watching movies for the rest of the year (my pathetic holiday tradition is getting to go home at night, after writing all day, instead of seeing a movie). And as attractive as interfacing with the wife or reading a book or listening to music or staring thoughtlessly at the TV for awhile sounds, I'm really going to miss the movie overload of the past month-and-a-half.
Why? Because the boggling concentration of ambitious cinema reminds me why I decided to waste my life on this nonsense-loaded artform. Sure, many of the movies I've crammed into the last month or so have turned up lame or pretentious or utterly misguided in the third act, but a surprising few of them have been a total waste of time. They've shown me aspects of human nature, visual beauties and ways of looking at the world that I haven't seen before.
And then there has been at least one a week that totally took my breath away. "Casino Royale," "Venus," "Children of Men," "The Painted Veil" and, surprise of surprises, "Apocalyto" have nothing in common except their ability to fully engage me at some point and leave me wanting more at their conclusion.
Back in the day, this happened at the movies several times a month, all year long. But marketing patterns and, let's face it, a general degradation of moviegoers' standards put a stop to that decades ago.
But, bleary-eyed and disoriented from being taken to so many fantastic worlds in such a short time, I'm reminded at this time of year that my love for what good movies can really accomplish cannot be affected by commercial considerations and the fickleness of the market. And if I can recover enough energy in time, it always leaves me in a happy mood for the holiday . . . and not even wanting to bitch at a bigtime director who gets more material compensation for whatever passion he has for the movies than I do.
I feel rewarded enough. Just don't ask me how much I like the job in April.

129 Comments

Alex said:

Great site. Keep doing. http://allringtoness.blogspot.com/

March 22, 2007 3:02 AM

Jenna said:

This site rocks! Keep up that excellent work! http://samsungringtones.foros.tv/

March 23, 2007 2:45 PM

Brianna said:

This site rocks! Keep up that excellent work! http://blogs.kaixo.com/gambeling

March 24, 2007 8:54 PM

Alex said:

Really amazing! Keep working. http://www.dreipage.de/userdaten2/57950349/html/

March 28, 2007 2:21 PM

Levitra said:

Usefull information and all is good arranged. http://1cheap-levitra.blogspot.com/

March 30, 2007 5:24 AM

Alex said:

Excellent resource you've got here! http://tramadol-side-effects1.blogspot.com/

April 3, 2007 7:57 AM

Levitra said:

I just don't have much to say recently http://myurl.com.tw/d8hp

April 3, 2007 10:24 AM

Levitra said:

Wonderful articles. Thanks for such a nice information http://anne.messageboard.nl/25247

April 3, 2007 11:53 PM

Jessica said:

This site rocks! Keep up that excellent work! http://allaboutheadsets.blogspot.com/

April 4, 2007 5:38 AM

Levitra said:

Excellent resource you've got here! http://cheaplevitra1.free-bb.com/

April 12, 2007 11:25 PM

Cellphone said:

Nice resource, very interesting reading. http://s1u.net/inob

April 14, 2007 1:50 PM

Student said:

This site rocks! Keep up that excellent work! http://www.iwannaforum.com/repayment/

April 17, 2007 9:49 PM

Boiler said:

Useful information. Good job. http://houseboiler.jubiiblog.co.uk

April 20, 2007 7:14 PM

Skateboard said:

Thank you for your work! http://skateboards.jubiiblog.com.es

April 23, 2007 5:17 PM

Snowboarding said:

Nice resource, very interesting reading. http://snowboarding.iphorum.com

April 28, 2007 12:13 AM

Boxes said:

This site rocks! Keep up that excellent work! http://jewelleryboxes.vdforum.ru

May 5, 2007 3:49 AM

School Jackets said:

Really amazing! Keep working. http://jackets.blogtopia.com/

May 6, 2007 1:37 PM

Jewellery wholesale said:

Wonderful articles. Thanks for such a nice information http://engagementring.blogtopia.com/

May 6, 2007 2:25 PM

Jewellery said:

I just don't have much to say recently http://engagementring.alkablog.com/

May 7, 2007 5:54 AM

Jewellery said:

Hello, your site is superb http://jewellery.aceblog.fr/

May 12, 2007 4:01 AM

Racing jackets said:

Thank you for a very informative site. http://www.blog.fory.pl/jackets/

May 12, 2007 4:40 AM

Armani said:

Really amazing! Keep working. http://jackets.jubiiblog.co.uk

May 16, 2007 7:36 AM

Auto junkyard said:

What a great site and excellent resource you have. http://junkyard.forum24.se

May 17, 2007 8:26 AM

Diets said:

Thank you for a very informative site. http://diets.spotbb.com/

May 21, 2007 1:17 AM

Beddings said:

Really amazing! Keep working.http://blogs.krify.com/beddings/

May 21, 2007 9:38 PM

Ultrasound said:

Really amazing! Keep working.
http://ultrasound.vdforum.ru

May 22, 2007 5:35 PM

Tramadol said:

This site rocks! Keep up that excellent work! http://tramadol12.vdforum.ru/

May 27, 2007 8:33 PM

Acuvue said:

Excellent resource you've got here! http://acuvueoasys.aceblog.fr/

May 28, 2007 6:24 PM

Recliners said:

Nice to see your site! http://recliners.vdforum.ru/

May 28, 2007 9:01 PM

Composers said:

What a great site and excellent resource you have. http://ringtones.dreamstation.com/

May 30, 2007 12:35 PM

Plasticmodel said:

Really amazing! Keep working. http://plasticmodel.forumlivre.com/

June 1, 2007 6:48 PM

Gift said:

Nice resource, very interesting reading. http://gifts123.iquebec.com

June 4, 2007 1:46 PM

Ringtone said:

Useful information. Good job. http://tracfoneringtone.vdforum.ru/

June 4, 2007 6:00 PM

John S said:

ptktbse [link http://hxjz.com]test4[/link]

June 13, 2007 5:49 AM

hvgpsasbjw said:

Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! ftjyhmkwpkepx

June 14, 2007 12:46 AM

eynjupqvpg said: