The movie tells the story of people who try and trust one another before they are capable of trusting themselves. Even though deception is not becoming, the four people in this story seem to find it just as attractive as they are.

Loved the writing of Patrick Marber.

The dialogue was so well written, it made me realize how few movies have such eloquent dialogue spoken by really intelligent characters. As for the directing, Mike Nichols did a wonderful job with a script that was clearly made for the stage.

Starring:
Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Clive Owen

Directed by:
Mike Nichols

From 1990 until about 1996, I was obsessed with Shark Week. Shark Week was (or maybe still is) a television program that aired annually, every night for one week straight, always taking place during the second week of August. Every night, the program focused on a different type of shark and while the cameramen were swimming with the sharks, the narrator told us every little detail we could ever know about that specific type of shark.

During the commercials I would wonder about these people with cameras hanging around the sharks; how long had it taken for them to get the footage of the shark? Were there ever any tragedies when swimming amongst the sharks? How do they know where to look for the sharks?

After seeing The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou on Sunday, I now know all the answers from an Anderson/ Baumbach perspective. Thanks Wes! Thanks Noah!

The update is no longer an update because it's nine days overdue. Let’s call it gloating, it was a live performance therefore I am allowed.

Spaghetti Night exceeded any expectations that I may have had regarding the new style reading series…well, new for The Roundtable. I have to admit that all of the work which went into the evening paid off; reading various screenplays, choosing screenplays, casting actors, contacting the actors, editing the screenplays, rehearsing for the reading, etc...

Being that I am my own worst critic, I had a most joyous evening and am grateful to the exceptional actors and writers who participated and made the event one of my favorite Roundtable events in all seven seasons. Not to mention, we had an incredible audience.

The very talented screenplays that were submitted and then chosen were:

Adam, Carissa & Lloyd by Mark Brewster Smith (drama)
The Push by Bryan Blatstein and Stephen Camelio (comedy/drama)
The Product of 3C by Michelle Pilar Hamill (drama)
Single Bullet Theory by Mike Bencivenga (romantic comedy)

The superb talent who participated in each of the readings:

Sarah Bloom
Jason Dietz
Mike Hall
Justin Henry
Julie Hera
John McDermott
John Pasha
Karyn Plonsky
Susan Stewart
Van Troung

The cast & crew of Four Eyed Monsters are gearing up for Park City and the Slamdance Film Festival. It's exciting to watch their efforts come alive, especially because I really believe in their film and thier visions.

They confirmed the lodging for their cast and crew today and are going out on a limb for everyone. They're staying at 'The Woods' in the Silver Lake area of Upper Deer Valley.

They called and asked me about that location, I told them if they're planning on staying in Upper Deer Valley that means they've gottta have a killer Four Eyed Monster Party!

By Bob Tourtellotte

LOS ANGELES, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Oscar officials have refused to revive a dormant category for musicals at the Academy Awards, leaving some filmmakers singing the blues after a campaign to restore the genre to its old Hollywood prominence.

Officials at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which gives out the movie industry's top honors, decided on Tuesday there were not enough movies in the musical category to meet Academy Award standards.

The decision was made even though there were enough -- five, in all -- to make the category eligible for revival. Filmmaker Dan Mirvish, who spearheaded the effort, claimed the Academy was biased against independent films.

"I can't tell you the number of times I talked to Academy staff over the months who said, 'If you are eligible, it doesn't matter how big the film is. It doesn't matter how good the film is. If it's eligible, it's eligible," Mirvish told Reuters.

After recent years of musical spectacles like "Moulin Rouge" and "Chicago," Hollywood has set about reviving the movie musical.

This year is a banner year with Andrew Lloyd Webber's splashy "The Phantom of the Opera," actor Kevin Spacey's flashy "Beyond the Sea" and the soulful "Ray". The problem is, none of these movies qualify as musicals, since their
tunes were not composed originally for the movies.

Mirvish's films do qualify. He made "Open House," about a day in the life of house hunters in Los Angeles. He and partner Robert Peters also produced "Big in Germany," a $5,000 movie about a self-help therapist on a book tour in Germany.

The other films that would have been eligible were puppet movie "Team America: World Police" by "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the Disney cartoon "Home on the Range," and "Greendale," rock star Neil Young's movie about people in a small California town.

In a statement, the Academy's Board of Governors said it concluded three of the five films would be guaranteed nominations, and that such a ratio was "not in keeping with the level of accomplishment" needed for an Oscar nomination.

"It's very disheartening that they would actually eliminate a category that for a long time defined Hollywood," said "Greendale" producer Elliot Rabinowitz.
Reuters/VNU

Susan & Arin are doing the lawyer thing today. They have made appointments to meet with a few different lawyers to see which one they "have the most chemistry with".

I recommended my lawyer Peter Fields...because he rocks.

We'll see who they choose.

My friend's film, Four Eyed Monsters, is one of eleven narrative films selected in Slamdance's competition this year.

First-time filmmakers, Arin and Susan, were not expecting the acceptance and seem pretty ill-prepared. Seeing the film as a rough cut, I absolutely loved it...only they have no idea how good it really is.

About a month to go until the festival and they still have so much to do.

Aside from the festivals in Park City....

This coming Monday at the Millennium (66 E. 4th St at 7:30pm), The Roundtable's first screenplay reading of the season.

Personally, I love everything about the readings, except that they're so much freaken work.

So, The Roundtable has chosen 4 screenplays to be read on Monday (12/20/04). Twenty minutes of each screenplay will be read by Roundtable actors (talented actors who have submitted headshots over the years).

It's called Spaghetti Night -- casual, fun, family-style.

The goal of Spaghetti Night is for the writers to hear their work read aloud by actors, hopefully give the writers some energy to move forward with their work, introduce the actors & writers to each other, introduce them to the audience and most importantly...have fun!

After Monday, we have two weeks off to recover from the readings and to celebrate the holidays.

Returning on January 10th with Greg.org - Part Deux. The first time around, we were given the introduction and inspiration of Greg.org...next time Greg returns for the kill. He's going to unleash his video blogs on the large screen!

On January 17th, we're having a special visit from Cinecultist.com (aka: Karen Wilson) (aka: lucky soul who just interviewed Wes Anderson for Gothamist.com). Karen started Cinecultist.com in May 2003 as a way to keep track of all of the movies she watches each week and as an easy reference for friends and family who asked "what have you seen lately?" When asked "what is your favorite movie?," she always answers, "Annie Hall."

The following week we're in Park City....

And we'll be finishing off January 2005 on Monday the 31st with the best of the best...AIVF and Every Mother's Son.

So thrilled with the film series this season, up until now....

we screened a night of amazing political films - all which were submitted at our 'political film party'

then Michelle Coe (Program Administrator) and Cindy Kridle (Marketing Manager) of Women Make Movies joined us and screened Girl Wrestler which premieres tonight on the PBS Series Independent Lens. Both Michelle and Cindy spoke to the Roundtable audience about projects which they are currently working on, how WMM chooses which films to help and their role in the indepdent film industry.

the following week Greg Allen joined the series and screened Hirokazu Kore-eda's After Life. Greg of greg.org spoke about his weblog and how he first viewed blogs as a vehicle to assist him in moving forward with his film career. Greg is a pioneer in the blogging world and is now writing for the NY Times, other well known publications, as well as producing video blogs which are compiled from films, videos, and works of art. They can be seen on greg.org.

This past Monday, Megan O'Neil - Director of Acquisitions for Atom Films, was kind enough to take time and hang out with The Roundtable. Megan, being a veteran of the short film industry had so much knowledge to share. Over the years, I've watched Megan persevere from starting out with her own short film company, Four Front Films, started by she and her husband which was later bought by Atom Films, then Megan was asked to work for Atom and was the nucleus of the short film-dot com explosion. Megan has stayed true to her strong belief in short films, still with www.atomshockwave.com she continues to buy shorts and is doing better than ever.

Degrassi, Rad, OC & P.S.A. are nicknames of girls who I've had the good fortune to work along side. Our lunch conversations don't quite resemble those in 'Sex in the City'...personally I find these much more entertaining.

Everyday Degrassi talks about the previous night's drama within an episode of 'Degrassi Junior High'. She finds the show playing on one channel or another at some point throughout the night, and watches it online. She's in love with 17 year-old Craig.

Rad says the word "rad" in-between every other word. If she's tired or was out drinking the night before, she may say it twice in a row "that's rad rad".

OC is obsessed with the show OC. She has the DVD collection and is constantly watching it over and over.

P.S.A. ends every sentence with "so, don't do it"...meaning hard drugs. It doesn't matter where our conversation began; PSA has an amazing gift to always bring it back to "so, don't do it." We can be talking about music, movies, anything and PSA will conclude, "that guy was married to this girl and his brother's sister overdosed, so you see, don’t do it.”

In "Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst,'' filmmaker Robert Stone has assembled archival footage that re-creates the timeline of crimes of the Symbionese Liberation Army, as well as the political energy of the early 1970s which instigated extraordinary two-year crime spree.

Being one of the most sensational and bizarre crime stories, the SLA set forth in 1973 to overthrow of the U.S. government, brilliantly manipulating the mass media to advance their message.

Hearst, heiress to one of America's great media empires, was kidnapped by the relatively unknown group the Symbionese Liberation Army, and transformed into a domestic terrorist-goddess.

Reminding me of last year's Oscar-nominated documentary "The Weather Underground,'' this film captures more of the political ferment and delivers amazing archival footage using the media to combine a romantic "Bonnie and Clyde" & political terrorism scenario.

Director: Robert Stone
TRT: 1 hour and 29 minutes
Genre: Documentary
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures - Watch trailer: www.ifilm.com