Hey blogosphere. What's up? It's been a while. I see you've been busy laughing, both at Michael Bay's failures and with Wedding Crashers. Great great. Me? Well, I have a confession to make. It has almost over two weeks since I've written a single word on this blog. Well, I have good reason. I hate summer at the movies. It's official. I fucking HATE IT. Whenever I ask any of my friends or colleagues why they seem to relish the endless parade of junk that is the primary business model for the film industry between Memorial Day and Labor Day, I always hear an array of embarrassing excuses and justifications for the silly season of cinema. These excuses, all of them unquestionably honest, range in scope from an appreciation of air conditioning to get one through the summer heat to the remorseless enjoyment of 'mindless' entertainment that has seemingly become popular among even the most serious minded moviegoers. While I can almost understand paying $10 for a seat in an air conditioned room, it is the almost boastful pride that many people, many of them stalwarts of the independent film community, have in their tender embrace of the junk blockbuster that has sent me over the edge. While art house box office continues to plummet this summer (art houses have air conditioning too, people!), with terrible returns trickling in for almost all independent releases, I continue to watch a parade of attention for garbage like The Island and Wedding Crashers from critics and members of the independent film community. Everyone I run into on the street is talking blockbusters! Not that all of the noise is of any help; while the decline in box-office dollars for independent films reaches near panic-inducing levels, the entire movie industry is facing a major decline in box-office revenue this summer. Apparently, you can�t just throw exploding bullshit at the big screen and be guaranteed a profit. At least, not until the DVD is released.

The Brooklyn Salute To Summer Movie Season

As the film business has begun to realize the tremendous profitability of the ancillary DVD market, there appears to be a correction at play at the traditional box office. People are staying away from the movie theater and staying home to watch movies. Why should that be? Could it be the cell-phone wielding asshole unsupervised teenage cliques running up and down the aisles? Is it the need to pack an extra sweater to brave the 'delights' of absolutely frigid air conditioning? Is it the delightfully gamey smell of nachos and hotdogs that are now on sale at concession stands and in (shudder) vending machines? Or is it a financial decision, since renting a DVD, hell buying a DVD, is a lot cheaper for a family of four than a trip to the movies? Who knows? All I know is that a summer at the multiplex has become an afternoon in the eighth level of Dante�s Inferno. And the movies themselves tend to only make things worse.

While this is terrible news for exhibitors and theater owners who already operate at the margins of profitability (although you�d never know it from concession stand prices), it is even worse news for serious-minded film fans. As the film business continues its hard migration to the opening weekend model for success, the dumbing-down of American movies continues on, full speed ahead. In Hollywood, where success has always been predicated on audience volume, the timeline for make or break decisions has been narrowed down to a single question; "How many asses can we stuff into 4000+ theaters in the first three days?" The Opening Weekend has been kind to films like Batman Begins, while the recent $12 million opening of Michael Bay's $122 million The Island must have sent some production executives at Dreamworks into cardiac arrest. The saddest part of the whole equation has less to do with the actual quality of the films themselves, and all to do with marketing. It seems that if you package shit the right way, America will come running. Who knew?!?

Well, I for one have checked out of the summer movie scene altogether. Or should I say, the blockbuster season. Instead of wasting my time and money on shit at the box office, I can simply wait for corporate synergy to wave its magic wand and catch the same shit when it invariably shows up on my own Home Box Office. Instead of honoring the infantilization of the American movie by supporting the Opening Weekend model, I head to the smaller, out of the way films that really need my $10 to have a chance. It�s my way of not only supporting quality and risk-taking in cinema, but of flipping the bird to the Hollywood suits who continue to produce shit in the hopes that they can package it well enough to dupe an audience into buying it. Problem is, I�ve seen most of the indies by now because summer is the clearinghouse time for indie film distributors who don�t want to compete with the big bucks. There is a lot of quality out there, but not much of it is making any money as turds like Stealth promise to absorb 10 screens at every theater at which they play. It�s enough to keep me knee deep in Netflix and my own, personally regulated air conditioning. Anyway, sorry for the infrequent posts. I'll try to do better. In the meantime, get your asses to the art houses, people! These films need you!

Today, my friend T and I took the afternoon to head down to The Film Forum for their Paramount Before The Code series, and what better way to beat the summer heat than with a little bit of music and some good old fashioned Betty Boop cartoons? Anyone else go? (That's right indieWIRE Shorts Blog, I'm calling you out!)

Before There Was A Britney Spears, There Was Betty Boop...

The first half of the bill was a selection of several short subject musicals (and one comedy routine) that featured some really stilted performances, but many that were utterly compelling. Highlights:

A grim, terrible day.

All of New York City knows your outrage and hurt.

I feel your loss. Please be well...

Less than 24 hours after deciding he would rather leave Liverpool FC to find his dreams than stay and help make them come true, Captain Steven Gerrard has pledged his long-term future to the club in a last minute decision to stay. It takes guts to change your mind after such public declarations of betrayal, but like all sane, reasonable supporters of the club, I welcome him back into the fold after the utter rollercoaster of the past 5 days. He is our Captain, after all. The reasons I was so hurt and sad that he was leaving are the same, exact reasons I am so happy to see him back. He the face of the club, the man who lifted us to glory. He has been the heart and soul of the side, the name I have cheered to help the side when things were not going well, the person I always had one eye on as he made crunching tackles, surging runs, and breathtaking passes.

Get In, My Son: The Captain Is Back!!!

How did this saga happen? For the uninitiated, the story is as follows...

Hi everyone... Had a fun, relaxing holiday weekend. Hope you did too. Short thoughts for today...

-- Recently saw The White Diamond at the Film Forum and I loved it as much as, if not more so, than Herzog's other doc, Wheel Of Time. This film is absolutely lovely, specifically because it truly honors its subjects. One in particular, a local Rastafarian workman named Mark Anthony Yhap, was one of the most eloquent, humane and beautiful people I have seen in a film. The simplicity of his lifestyle, his desire to include his precious pet rooster on his journey, and his longing to reconnect with his family; I was truly moved by him. Forget the scientific justifications at the heart of the ballooning experiment detailed in the film; The White Diamond's flight brings hope and whimsy into the lives of the people who came into contact with it, and Herzog captures the thrill of being alive with his typical refusal to abide convention. There is all of this talk that Herzog's films are trying to describe a world view that is "against" nature, but I don't see it that way at all. I see a filmmaker acquiescing to the power of nature by embracing the glorious folly of man's attempts to conquer it. I can't wait for Grizzly Man...

Up up and away, in my beautiful balloon...

-- Also saw Elevator To The Gallows this weekend at the Sunshine. Strange place to see a retrospective screening (aside from midnight movies), but the theater itself was top notch. It looks like the good work of John Vanco at the The IFC Center is paying off... Art houses, even corporate ones, seem to be embracing older films again, which is only a good thing, I believe. Heck, there was a short before the film. Maybe it's just keeping up with the joneses or perhaps this is more than a programming trend, but I was happy to see a nice sized house on the usually slow 4th of July weekend, all there to watch Jeanne Moreau's gorgeous face in the luminous black and white of Louis Malle's noir. J thought the film was a slim Hitchcockian knock off with lots of appeal, but I felt the tension was less that of a thriller and, like most noir, more of a exposé of love and the relations between the sexes. Oh, those black widows!

Nice Poster, Rialto! (he said, coveting it from afar)

-- I've been getting my Toronto FF updates, and I am really looking forward to my trip. If you're going to Toronto, let me know and maybe we can meet up for a screening or drink or party... The only thing as fun as the films is talking about them with friends and colleagues after.

-- My list of films to see in the coming week or so:

The Betty Boop screenings at the Paramount Before The Code series at The Film Forum
Rock School
Before The Revolution and Zero For Conduct at BAM's After Vigo series

Any other suggestions? Let me know in the Comments section...

Steven Gerrard is leaving my beloved Liverpool FC. The story of how and why Gerrard has chosen to abandon the club, despite our desire to retain him and pay him £100,000 a week (that's a week, people), can be summed up in a single sentence:

He doesn't believe the club are buying enough talent to compete at the highest levels of football.

Of course, we just Won The Champions League, football's biggest club prize, six oh-so-distant weeks ago. But now, Gerrard's desire to win more silverware has him leaving the club for "greener" pastures.

Rick Parry, the Chief Executive of Liverpool FC, had this to say:
"He's made his decision. He wanted success and feels he'll get success elsewhere and it's our job now to prove him wrong."

I can't wait for us to do so. This is the lowest move he could have made; to abandon the club of which he is Captain because he sees his own ambitions as bigger than the team. What about leading us to greatness? How about putting your boots where your mouth is and being a true Captain; playing hard, consistent football week in and week out to lift the team to glory like you did in Istanbul? Not a chance. Like Michael Owen last year, Gerrard is glory hunting and leaving Liverpool behind. I, for one, do not wish him well on his journey. He helped us to glory at the Attaturk Stadium and could have stayed, helped us win the League, and retired a Liverpool legend. Now, Steven Gerrard will forever be remembered as the man who betrayed that dream in order to seek individual glory among our rivals. I assume he will end up at Chelsea (shudder), but Real Madrid and Barcelona are also rumored to be bidders for his services.

I look forward to a summer of signings with the £30 million+ that Gerrard's sale will bring us, but one thing remains eternally true:

Players come, players go. Liverpool FC is forever.

See you on October 2nd, Stevie. I can't wait to see what the Kop have in store for you.

He's scored his first goal for Chelsea! Gerrard walks away from (potential) future teammates after his own goal gifts Chelsea a lifeline, and ultimately victory, in the League Cup Final. The grass is always greener...