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early morning thoughts Two hours into the new year and I feel good. When the magic hour happened, I was curled up on my couch watching The Green Mile for the very first time. Yes, this puts me a year behind in pop culture, but I never got around to it last year. So instead of seeing Castaway on the big screen, I am busy watching something on my television that Tom Hanks did last year. Despite my lagging behind it was probably the best thing that I have seen in a long time. The way that Paul amd Brutal treated the men under their guard was so understanding and meaningful. I've seen everyday people given less respect. I remember my buddy Nicole talking about the movie when it was still in the theaters. She had her fiance read the books before they went to see the movie. It seems that it took him forever to read them. ... Nicole means more to me than she probably realizes. Getting to know her better over the past year made work that much more bearable. She hasn't had an easy life and I take all of her stories very seriously. Some people find her to be a little immature, but she freely admits that that is the way that she copes with life. Besides she did some hard living between the ages of thirteen and seventeen. Ann and Nicole are a real contrast even though they are just months apart in age. ... Quarter after two in the afternoon. I've just returned from seeing All the Pretty Horses. It wasn't as bad as the reviews that I read about it. Granted Thornton had to compress quite a few details, but I still think that the film works by itself. Now I'll have to wait for the dvd edition to see what was cut from the film. From what I read it was at least another hour long, before someone forced him to edit it. Naturally all of the internal monlogues were lost, but I could accept that because inner thoughts get lost in almost every film. Sometimes this doesn't hurt the story while other times it does. For example if I wanted I could describe Hamlet as a story about a boy who gets angry with his mom for marrying another man after his dad dies. There is a small amount of truth there, but it isn't the whole story either. Another key factor is how well the actors can exhibit real emotion without saying everything aloud. Personally I think that they did a great job with the casting, but the film will probably be overlooked for any kind of awards. It just doesn't have that mass appeal feel good factor to it even with them trying to market it as a romance, which it isn't. Without a doubt Matt Damon was the perfect choice for John Grady Cole as was Penelope Cruz for Alejandra, but neither of them has that big of a profile in Hollywood which will also hurt them when it comes to awards. They told the story the best that they could. Now I seem to be damning with faint praise, but I don't mean to be. I just know that this isn't a film with a wide audience appeal. Seeing only seven other people in the theater with me has a way of reinforcing this opinion. Now as to whether or not I'll read the rest of the border trilogy by Cormac McCarthy, I can't say yet. His dense unorthodox prose is little trying on my nerves. Besides I've already launched into Margaret Atwood's happy little book called The Handmaid's Tale. Yes, I like variety in my reading and no it isn't a comedy. ... I've been reading some online reviews of The Green Mile and I find the negative ones to be the most interesting of the group. More often than not they say that the film was racist if not overly simplistic in defining the characters. Personally I think that they are going overboard with their criticism. Besides I never expect too much deep thought from the mind of Stephen King. I mean most people that I know who like Stephen King usually started to read him when they were ten years old.
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