Movies Til Dawn

Arthur Penn, who died last month at the age of eighty-eight, was, among many other things, a very nice man. I suspect you thought I was going to call him a visionary filmmaker but if you read this blog, you probably knew that. For that matter I probably can skip the professional stuff (or redirect you to his Wikipedia entry for a brush up) and jump to the personal--heading for the category now known in computerland as "My Arthur Penn." I knew Arthur on and off for twenty-five years, ever since I was an undergrad at Bard College. He came up to the school to teach a course one spring and I was one of the handful of students selected to participate in the class. (It was quite a fussy deal, as I recall--he met with a number of students, interviewed us, and picked who he wanted in the class). The focus of the class was on screenwriting and he made copies of a few of his scripts available to us in the library--one of them was Calder Willingham's adaptation of "Little Big...

So the other night on MSNBC's "Hardball" the always entertaining and frequently apoplectic host Chris Matthews is interviewing a guy named Damian Muziani, who apparently is an actor from South Jersey who is now running for political office. (Don't ask which office, who knows, "what does it matter what you say about people?" as intoned by Marlene in Orson's '58 masterwork..STOP ME...) Muziani's career switch--actor to politician--seems to remind Chris of a movie he's seen lately...a movie about a "cop" (as he mistakenly puts it) who wants to become an actor... "Did you see 'City Island'', he asks? After a little plot explaination, Chris stamps us with his approval: "Great movie!". Click here to witness the endorsement (it's in the last few seconds of the segment). And see below for my absolute favorite Chris Matthews moment--wherein he destroys a lame right wing radio host with the absurd name of Kevi...

Where do I go when I disappear into these inexplicable fugue states, avoiding the mostly pleasurable pastime of communicating with the dozen or so of you hearty souls who continue to faithfully check into this weblog, still hungry for more relentless self-promotion on my behalf, by me and for me and my movie...Jesus. Enough. Click here to read a terrific mention by Pete Hammond on Deadline.Com doping out this years possible Oscar noms . "City Island" is mentioned write there behind Roman Polanski's "Ghost Writer" and Marty Whasisname's "Shelter Island" as a possible contender. Pretty damn good given that a year ago we were a festival movie (albeit an Audience Award Winner at a big festival) with barely a distribution deal in place. Whatever happens this awards season, we have had a hell of a good ride with this movie. And now I must apologize for what I've become. Below I've posted a show called "This Week In Movies" hosted by a v...