Shot of the Day #326: Premature lighting

Shot with iphone, click to enlarge.

Now, Im all for getting the holiday pa'tay started when it comes to Christmas, and this year will be even more special since it's Remy's first, but this is PRE-THANKSGIVING time...and there shouldnt be lights going up just yet. This was the scene whizzing past my eyeline as we drove down Santa Monica Blvd this evening, a row of trees in the median dressed as if we're deep in the 12 days of Xmas, and we haven't even flipped the December calander yet.

I know this town loves to get a jump on things early (which is why the Summer movie season now starts in APRIL...thanks VOLCANO) but this is a little much. One week...can we just wait one week till the turkey has dried and the leftovers are in the fridge? Space it out a bit people!

Saw BAD LIEUTENANT tonight, the Herzog/Cage collaboration. Had to wait till late to see it and honestly, I could have been better served at home. Im sure upon repeat viewings Ill like it more and more, it had that gonzo vibe of R.V.R. (Repeat-viewing-reappreciation) but tonight I was just too tired to really get into what was a standard police procedural with 100cc's of CrazyCage injected in it. Like a Sweeps Week episode of LAW & ORDER, but with more iguanas. I'm not knocking it, but it takes a LOT to surpass the sheer balls (literally) of the Abel Ferrara BAD LT.; it was my first movie at the Angelika Film Center, train-ing in with a bunch of friends to the city just to see this slice of NC-17 Art Depravity, and the film still holds up as a thesis on modern guilt and morality. Keitel is fucking amazing in it, and its Cage's comic performance that in comparison shows how much restraint Harvey had...it's all in the subtle strokes (that's saying a LOT) of the original that make the reboot a practical parody.

Plus, Ill never be able to listen to Sam Cooke's "Forever My Darling" the same way again after that unsettling climax in the original.

Cage/Herzog BAD LT. trailer:


Keitel/Ferrara BAD LT trailer:


Joe