C'mon C'mon drawings

Hey guys,

Some new things:

1.  Mike Mills had French artist Yann Kebbi on the set of the gently moving film C'mon C'mon... and these are the drawings.
   

2. In honor of Vangelis, here's one I'd always play on repeat
   
   And if you have 9 hours to spare...
   

3. The Staircase is pretty great. Reminds me of The Night Of (which nailed that cold and stiff but artfully-framed aesthetic). This feels even more essential. One reason being -- of all the great performers in it -- Toni Collette.  Her striking face is used by her and the filmmakers very effectively, as was the case with Hereditary.  Here she does her death scene in a bunch of variations, each one just as nuanced -- raw and imperfect, and filmed with a precise, objective, frigid lens that makes it all the more disturbing.
   

4. Spiritual consultants for the workplace
   

5. Thanks to Top Gun, I was fascinated with fighter jets as a kid. I remember heading to the small middle school library to flip through pages of fighter jet books. I remember a vacation with my parents to Hawaii and getting to see the naval base as our commercial plane flew over it; I'd look for the fleet of F-14 Tomcats.
   
   The sequel is an old fashioned thrill ride. It's basically a sports movie. It gets us cheering. It's updated to look great and feel viscerally real. I do wonder why they couldn't have scripted the dramatic scene lines with a bit more finesse, and why the love scene had to be so cheesy; it ends up playing as a neutered parody of the original, which I don't think was the intention.
   
   But all in all, it's one of the Cruisiest of Tom Cruise movies. This is our last real star. No one else has figured out, to this degree, how to merge the art of dramatizing a character, with the art of putting on a show... He is the magic show. He is performance art.
   
   The reason we keep welcoming it is -- you could say it's his charisma, but more specifically, it's how much emotional access he's able to give, and what those specific emotions are.  Ones we value as wholly American: drive, the need to excel, to be liked... like a puppy eager to please... which also comes with the softer qualities, something protective, the impressibility, the nursing of hurt, the overreactivity...
   
   I remember this article.  A very worthwhile dive into Cruise and Magnolia -- how we may be done with the past, but the past isn't done with us.
   

6. Cruise's upcoming escapade will tap into another childhood interest
   

7. Saw a couple parrots at a Jamaican hotel, and now I have a new fascination.
   

8. Shortly after Top Gun for me was Star Wars. I played the movies and soundtracks on loop. I read tons of the expanded universe novels. I subscribed to the Star Wars Insider magazine. The new trilogy -- specifically the third film -- and Disney's takeover in general have not been good. As the company turns every single side character and un-mined timeframe into its own series -- the epitome of the existing IP craze -- none of it really resonates, because none of it really has a good reason. Star Wars ain't what it used to be. This coming from someone that does like The Mandalorian.
   
   Also, times are changing, and Netflix doesn't seem to be an ally.
   

9. Bringing Out the Dead is one of my favorite Scorsese films, and one of my favorites in general, and one that so few know about.
   
   Some are still discovering it thankfully.
   
   I saw it at just the right time, as I was about to enter college in NYC.  The vibe stuck. The constant needledrops. The energy. The night-time streets. The world-weary sorrow in Cage's voice. Robert Richardson's flashing and glowing lights; I think it's one of the most amazingly lit films. It all felt familiar and oddly intrinsic to me. The New York I entered was not as violent as the one of the early 90s that this is set in (and not as violent as it is again now), but I identified -- it was a manifestation of my own taste. Lost souls in need of saving. Or being needed. Haunting us, troubling us, getting in our way, through all the isolated, disjointed nights.
   
   By the way, Mad Max director George Miller is a doctor. And yes, I need the upcoming Mad Max prequel Furiosa.
   
   As for Bringing Out...I remember aiming for its melancholy in a couple of my college scripts.  And for its humor in others. This is a hilarious film, never trying to be, but always finding it present in the natural flow of imperfect life. Watch it.

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Chris