A few random thoughts before today's 'Movie A Day' . .
We went to a 'sneak preview' of Jeff Bridges' new 'Crazy Heart' last night, except there was more 'sneak' than 'preview' involved in the evening. It was one of those situations where the studio publicists give out 500 tickets for 200 seats. There is a certain seat-filling logic to that mercenary approach, unless, of course, you're #499 in line. Rather than sit with our nose a scant two inches from the screen or find ourselves sitting on a stranger's lap, we opted to skip the movie, and found ourselves in an adjacent vacated theater that was showing 'Up In The Air'. We had time to kill, so we thought we'd give it a shot, and for the most part were glad we did.
Is George Clooney the new Cary Grant? He's got charm to spare, and can run the gamut of emotions from A to B (to steal a line Dorothy Parker said about Katherine Hepburn.) 'UITA' was a tad long, but filling in a lite snack kinda way. I'm for any movie these days with a scintilla of wit, and nary a car chase to be seen for the duration of its running time. 'Up In The Air' has the patina of a slightly jaded and timely Frank Capra exercise, in a pleasant way. Eclectic gripe, tho: Where the hell did they dredge up that song score?
OK, on to today's 'Movie A Day . . .
January 9 . . 'A Rocky Start'
On this day in 1976, after years of trying to get his screenplay off the ground, the then-unknown Sylvester Stallone finally began shooting a movie that would become his ticket to stardom and his one inarguable masterpiece - a simple tale of a "ham and eggs" boxer who gets a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship and finds love. Stallone had shopped his story around Hollywood with the proviso that he star in it, as well. His perseverance paid off in a big way; the low-budget movie became a box office smash, surprising industry wags by winning an Oscar for Best Picture, and spawning a jaw-dropping 168 sequels. (OK, so it was only 5 . . . )
Stallone never managed to top 'Rocky' (1976), one of the great 'underdog' movies of all time. He wrote himself the best role of his career as simple-minded boxer with a heart of gold, Rocky Balboa. The sequels got worse and worse, but the original is a genuine '70's cultural touchstone, and still packs an uplifting emotional punch.
Yo! Check out the original trailer by clicking here! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8DlBN_LLiA
(If link fails, just copy and paste to the website address bar above.)
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