Desperation is More Than a Stephen King Movie

I can't bear to watch American Idol, so I was channel flipping and up a couple clicks was Henry freaking Thomas. I'd totally forgotten that I'd seen him ever so briefly in an ad for Desperation last night. Apparently, he's working his way up from cable and straight to video to prime time major network. I gave his character ten minutes to live. I was wrong, he lasted until 8:20pm before being blown away. It was clear he wasn't going to be integral to the plot since his face wasn't in the promotional montage. Is it better to have been on ABC and died in the first few minutes than to have never been on ABC at all?

Movies. Saturday night I saw Art School Confidential and was most definitely not taken by the film (though it succeeded in freaking me out over how 15 years have past since I was in art school and Daniel Clowes comic was so pertinent and spot on at the time). Very strange that they'd make this movie in 2006 and more strange is how they managed to mangle the story.

Kirsten_dunst_1  I was more captivated by the one trailer (those weirdo theaters like the tiny one in Brooklyn Heights only show one preview) with French aristocracy and New Order playing in the background. What the fuck was this, and why was I liking it? I knew it had to be something borderline annoying and auteur-ish, but I couldn't help but being fascinated by it. (I suspect that much of my attraction stemmed from hearing "Love Vigilantes," my favorite New Order song. When I first moved here [jeez, this weekend will be my eighth anniversary] I didn't have any of my records [I still don't have them] and really wanted to hear this song so I made my first ever ebay purchase and bought a best of New Order cd and I never received it. Actually, it did eventually show up but a good two months passed before it made it my way. Oh, ecommerce in the '90s)

It was Sophia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, duh. SedgwickKirsten Dunst scares me in this boney white trash way. Like she's totally the kind of friend who'd get me into trouble in middle school by smoking or shoplifting or sucking cock–something that would definitely get me punished even if I didn't partake. Kyra Sedgwick has the same look in a grown up version.

TV. I'm so-so on The Sopranos but I do watch it. Sunday's episode baffled me during the scene where Vito was at the skating rink with his wife. They were quietly playing a song in the background that I knew, was completely incongruous to the show, and couldn't for the life of me place. It had to be late '90s, indie, likely from the NW. It's been driving me nuts for the past few days. Clearly, it wasn't something I liked that much or else I'd remember it

OK, I figured it out from going to the source (duh). Wow, very random, no wonder I couldn't remember. It was Gritty Kitty's "Summer Rain" from a '98 Kindercore comp that I probably haven't listened to in five years but is on my shelf. Heck, Gritty Kitty is no New Order. Perhaps they could reunite for Sophia Coppola's next cinematic venture. Maybe Henry Thomas could be given a small role where he's allowed to live for say, 30 minutes. He already did the 17th century France thing in Valmont, where he got to sport a ponytail and brocade.

5 thoughts on “Desperation is More Than a Stephen King Movie

  1. Have you seen The Closer with Kyra Sedgwick? Totally fits the trashy stereotype. It’s taken the place of of Law and Order for me now that Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) is dead. It’s just not the same without him!

  2. Even though it got a chilly reception from the gallist snobs, Marie Antoinette just looks like delirious fun … I agree with you wholeheartedly about Art School Confidential .. it was just way too cynical to be either funny or entertaining, and that murder subplot was simply ridiculous

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