Here are a few things that I have enjoyed recently.
The idea of Mickey Rourke playing Gareth Thomas in a movie. Gareth Thomas is a Welsh rugby player . He played for Wales over 100 times, switched to rugby league and came out as gay. He's in his mid 30s. He looks nothing like Mickey Rourke.
Mick is nearly 60, with a face that looks as though it has been run over by several buses. He is American, has never played rugby and looks nothing like Thomas. Unless this is a major wind up, this has to be the silliest film idea of the century.
A man who no one has ever heard of has been nominated for Best Actor at this year's Oscar ceremony. He's called Demian Bichir, and he is the star of a film called A Better Life. He's nearly 50, has appeared in dozens of films you've never heard of (though he played Castro in Soderbergh's Che), and he'll be up against the likes of Gary Oldman and George Clooney. He won't win, but it's great that he's nominated.
I'm equally thrilled about the likelihood/possibility of The Artist running off with a lot of top awards. Like The King's Speech last year, it was my favourite film at Toronto, and I knew that it would be popular, just not this popular. How wonderful it would be for a black and white silent film to wn Best Film.
I'd also love Christopher Plummer to win an Oscar for Beginners.
Whatever people may say, the film business is no worse than it was 10, 20, 30, 500 years ago. Nostalgia sucks. Sure there were classic movies then, and there's a lot of terrible films about these days. But take any year, go back in time, and see how much dross there was on offer in 1939, 1954 or 1972, for example. We just get the best of the past, and anyway it's too soon to know if a new film is a classic.
And we have two huge advantages over the past. One is the availability of films from all over the world, which is a modern phenomenon. The other is the availability of films, period. Pretty much anything ever released can be bought, rented, or watched in one way way or another, with a good quality picture and sound reproduction. Plus no one smokes in cinemas any more.
Be grateful, and enjoy what's out there.
