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The Return of the Sam
Hello Cinecast Listener,
From Chicago, this is The Dope Sheet...
Let's start with the good news: Sam's NYC sojourn comes to an end
this week. By Sunday he'll be back in the Chi and we can start having
face-to-face conversations again rather than studio-to-studio ones.
Now for the bad news: Tuesday night's cross-country recording
session of Cinecast #98, which was to feature a review of "United
93," presented a few technical difficulties. We decided that with Sam
returning on Sunday, the smartest move would be to just hold off
until he gets back and record then. That means no show today
(Wednesday) or Friday. We sincerely apologize for the delay, but
trust us... the shows will be better for it.
So here is our revised schedule, which will provide a triple dose
of Cinecrack next week:
Monday, May 8: Cinecast #98, review of "United 93,"
Massacre Theatre, Top 5 Preview, Cinecast's new name announced!
Wednesday, May 10: Cinecast #99, The Gingers (Musicals
Awards), Listener Feedback, Top 5 One-Timers Revisited. Tying in with
"United 93," we thought it would be fun to resurrect a Top 5 from way
back on Cinecast #11 -- movies that we really like but aren't eager
to sit through again because they are so disturbing.
Friday, May 12: Special 100th Episode Extravaganza, review
of Mission: Impossible III, the Most Memorable Cinecast Moments, and
our Top 5 (or 10 or 20) Favorite Performances with Special Guest
appearances by "Roger Dodger" writer/director Dylan Kidd and
"Brokeback Mountain" co-producer Scott Ferguson. Plus, we hope to
have Aberdeen City in studio for a live performance.
Any
questions or comments? Send them to
dopesheet@cinecastshow.com
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Sam's Overlooked DVD Pick: The Deep End
The
Deep End (Available on Peerflix)
OK, so maybe "The Deep End's" Margaret Hall (Tilda Swinton) is no
Atticus Finch. But as Adam and I started assembling our Top 5 Heroes
list -- a top 5 we have since abandoned, to be resurrected later -- I
tried thinking of film characters who resembled AFI's #1 hero, played
by Gregory Peck in "To Kill A Mockingbird."
Atticus Finch is many things: defender of truth, justice and the
American way; a crack shot; and a fine jew's harp player. But first
and foremost, he is a great parent. Swinton's Margaret is another
first ballot candidate for the Great Parents Hall of Fame. A Lake
Tahoe mother of three whose husband is stationed on an aircraft
carrier in the Atlantic, Margaret is walking the beach early one
morning only to discover the body of her 16 year-old gay son's
unsavory older lover, Darby (Cinecast favorite Josh Lucas!).
Assuming her son is responsible, Hall disposes of the body and
hides the evidence. To add to her troubles, she is soon greeted by a
man (ER's Goran Visnjic) who shows Margaret a videotape of her son
having sex with Darby. He wants $50,000 to keep the videotape from
going public. He may or may not also know about Darby's murder.
What makes "The Deep End" so satisfying is that co-directors
Scott McGehee and David Siegel (who also co-wrote the screenplay)
rely on the natural tension of the plot to create suspense. Swinton's
Margaret is no superhero or tough-talking femme fatale. She's just a
woman put into an incredibly stressful situation whose first priority
is keeping her children safe from harm (and getting them to baseball
practice on time). She doesn't exact revenge on her nemeses. She
reasons with them.
Why see the movie? All the performances in the film are good,
particularly Swinton's. And the (platonic) relationship that develops
between Swinton and blackmailer Visnjic is surprising and believable
thanks to McGhehee and Siegel's thoughtful and well-written script --
a literate update of the "domestic noirs" of the 1950s.
The look of the film is really effective, too. The directors get
great mileage from the ironic contrast between Lake Tahoe's crisp,
clean, sun-drenched beauty and the desperation of Swinton's situation.
For more on "The Deep End,"
read Adam's review
when it was released.
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Springtime for Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise's post-Risky Business filmography in Sweden, courtesy
of Erick Kelly:
Risky Elf, Risky Pilot, Risky Billiards, Risky Cocktails, Risky
Brothers, Risky Vietnam Vet, Risky Driving, Risky Irishman, Risky
Navy Lawyer, Risky Trial Layer, Risky Vampire, Risky Secret Agent,
Risky Maguire, Risky Pervert
Risky Frogs, Risky Secret Agent II, Risky Shattered Troll-like
Face, Risky Future Cop, Risky Samurai, Risky Hitman, Risky Alien
Invasion, Risky Secret Agent III
Thanks for reading and listening!
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