Without the Sleeping

"Let me sleep."
-Dormer, Insomnia

I went to bed last night at something like 11:30. I got out of bed around 1:30. I spent the time in between turning from side to side and thinking to myself, "Okay, I'm feeling sleepy now. Really, I am." I finally gave up and went upstairs to sort through some stuff - namely, the pile of critiqued copies of Oracle I've accumulated. I also looked for, but did not find, the binder I've been using to store hardcopies of my poems & fiction. I think it's in one of the boxes I've already moved over to the new house. I set aside two short stories, a floppy disk, and a spiral notebook so I could bring them to campus with me today. Can you guess what I forgot? Yeah. I don't think it helped that I went to bed, finally, at about 3:00 am.

Yesterday, before the insomnia, I decided to go to the movie theater. Thanks to Netflix, being busy, and nothing but crap playing, I hadn't been to the theater in a while. However, they're starting to have some interesting stuff on screen now, like Hollywoodland and The Black Dahlia. Yesterday, though, what brought me to the theater was Edward Norton's latest flick. He picks interesting movies, and aside from 25th Hour, everything he's been in is worth seeing. The Illusionist is a prime example.

Movie Review: The Illusionist. Don't let the heavy antique sepia tones scare you, it and the fuzzy-around the edges look don't last. Creatively, I can dig where they were coming from with that, but as a movie viewer, it got a bit tiring. Luckily, like I said, it doesn't last forever. The darkness and color tones do interesting things to the overall feeling of the movie. It feels antique, and mysterious, and throws a mood over you that couldn't be replicated if they'd used more true-to-life colors. The plot is a bit tangled, one of those start near the end then catch up kind of stories, but it works well and cues you in to get ready to pay attention. Here's a bit of the gist: the movie opens with Edward Norton (Eisenheim) being grabbed by Paul Giamatti (Chief Inspector Uhl) and goes into the Inspector reporting to Rufus Sewell (Crown Prince Leopold). From there, we travel into flash-back territory where the love story is set up between Norton and Jessica Biel (Sophie) who's a duchess and thus out of limits. Flash forward about fifteen years, when the magician, the duchess, and the Crown Prince meet up in Vienna. Rufus Sewell is a perfect domineering bastard and Edward Norton is wonderful as Eisenheim. Paul Giamatti proves that he's one of those men who look better with facial hair than without, and walks a line between outright bastard and "good guy" beautifully. Most important, don't assume anything, and pay attention. The filmmakers drop a few hints here and there as to what's really going on, but they're subtle and easy to miss if you're paying too much attention to your popcorn. Go see this movie.

Movie Review: Geronimo: An American Legend. Lots of history, little story. It tries to walk the line in between documentary and interesting story and doesn't quite pull off either. Netflix says, "With close attention to period detail and historical accuracy, Walter Hill recounts famed Apache warrior Geronimo's losing battle with the U.S. Army in the late-1800s Southwest." The problem was that Hill got too caught up with the big historical characters and got into a kind of "wasn't this guy cool?" mode without picking someone particular and really fleshing them out. You'd think Matt Damon would be the guy, since he narrates, but nope (in fact, his role ends up being pretty damn superfluous, and that's coming from a Matt Damon fan). Then you'd think maybe Jason Patric, who plays Lt. Charles Gatewood, would be worth really going into, not so much. About the only meat we get out of him is seeing him in-action (impressive, don't get me wrong) and hearing he's got a wife and kid back in Virginia. What about Geronimo (Wes Studi)? Nah, not even he's really human. He's too mythic. Adding to the list of important/nifty historical characters are Gene Hackman (General Crook) and Robert Duvall (Al Sieber). Interesting for historical value, though I hear there are problems there, too. However, any movie that makes me think "Is it going to be over soon?" gets little recommendation from me, regardless of a wonderful cast.