Rosenbush Cafe

Here I am in the cold and breezy aftermath of another early morning storm, followed by blustery sunny skies. That was Tuesday, the day of my minor but necessary surgery that has left me sore and for a few days unable to function normally in writing, driving or pulling the chain of a saw. That was the last thing I heard before inhaling normally; “No driving, writing checks or using a chainsaw.” Lucky for them, I wrote the check for my co-pay before the administered shots to make me “feel relaxed” and incapable of such ordinary and mundane considerations.

I am taking breaks from snoring and editing the latest work to adorn the Milo Institute of Feline Well-Being Tabitha B. Guinness Library by Henny Ben Tassus and mother Kara Mia Pia; Animals in Surrealism and Dadaism which details their study of Max Ernst collages, re: Une Semaine de Bonté and M. C. Escher’s Persian Man-Bird and his use of birds and fish - yum!

I am putting the finishing touch on The Obsessive Collector album design piece for this weekend. It has been a long and intensely personal journey through disused vinyl, feeling the wonderful touch of a needle after years of being the unintended forgotten.

Politics give me a rash…

It was bad enough in the George Wallace years, when he was governor repeatedly much like the Roosevelt administration controlled the White House for four consecutive terms during the Great Depression and WW II.

I still remember Wallace getting two large snow plows, in the mid sixties, for a state that rarely has significant snowfall, but one day when we finally needed them they were never found! The grand old days of kickbacks and missing state vehicles!

As a former member of the Press from 1972-1985, I have seen the sloppy and irresponsible reportage first hand in Laurel, Mississippi, Boaz, Alabama and Moncks Corner, South Carolina in the early 80s when I was an editor of a small, but influential weekly paper. My employer was the general manager, rather than publisher, although he acted in that capacity, and believed anything he printed became instantly unequivocally true by the mere fact it was published in print. He loathed the broadcast outlets from Charleston and Columbia but freely used their coverage copiously. Selective education, I must report, as his opinion was rampant with ego and disdain for whomever was the topic of the week. If the pen be mighter than any sword then certainly in the pre-computer era, the typewritter was a lethal weapon.

My point is, there were dumbasses in South Carolina in 1980-83 when I worked diligently to education the subculture of “don’t care ’bout that” personage I frequently met. Has it changed? There are as many of the uninformed and unrepentantly unenlightened now as ever and you can see them daily in classrooms across the nation. They will lead us like lemmings if we let them.

When at my final newspaper assignement in New Smyrna Beach, I was curtly informed on my first day by the one-eyed editor (no fooling) “We don’t print shark stories.” This to a question about the beach that ran from NSB to Daytona Beach, Florida. “So no one has ever been attacked by a shark,” I asked to which she replied, “Didn’t you just hear what I said?!”

Loudly, there may have been shark attacks but they were never reported. Again, if it is written as fact, I can now believe if it is not written at all then we have survived this arcane codicil to the write about the stiff penalities for killing manatees with outboard motors! God forbid any manatee was ever attacked by a shark.

Chigurh prepares to switch vehicles
in No Country For Old Men,
which earned him an Oscar.

The Coen Brothers, Joel and Ethan, took Best Director Oscars for their noirish crime thriller No Country for Old Men at Sunday nights 80th Academy Awards. Despite the earlier writer’s strike, the Award turnout was still the gala event with NCFOM also winning Best Picture, Javier Bardem as best supporting actor and an Oscar for adapted screenplay by the brothers. Daniel-Day Lewis took his second Best Actor (also, My Left Foot) award for There Will Be Blood and Best Actress honors went to Marion Cotillard for her splendid performance in La Vie en Rose. Tilda Swinton took home a statute for Michael Clayton.

A tasty tidbit about this year’s Oscar telecast; in the last 20 years of importance from ratings, it was the smallest audience on record, according to Variety, with approximately 32 million viewers. “A batch of films with mostly grim themes, combined with an awards season that lacked any real momentum thanks to the writers strike, contributed to this year’s alarming 20% falloff,” according to Variety staff writer Rick Kissell. Win or lose, everyone who was nominated was able to see themselves on the big screen when they lost to a competitor.

It was a year when Rosenbushg Café picked No Country for Old Men to win three Oscars after our review November 21, 2007. We had a 60-40 selection rate, which is no big deal. Picking costumes and special effects editing are often the surprises. We were pleased that Ratatouille won for best animated; it was a splendid film with Brad Bird (who was at the beginning of FOX TV’sThe Simpsons as their ace director and writer) and this clever story of a man and rat chef combination is riotous, poignant and very funny. A special mention to Diablo Cody for her win; she wrote the original screenplay for the comedy-drama Juno and received critical acclaim for her first credited screenplay. Her ear fir teenaged dialogue was imperative to make this pregnant teen scenario realistic but not overblown and she succeeded.

BEST PICTURE: “No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)
A Scott Rudin/Mike Zoss Production. Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers

“Atonement” (Focus Features)
A Working Title Production
Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Paul Webster, Producers
“Juno” (Fox Searchlight)
A Dancing Elk Pictures, LLC Production
Lianne Halfon, Mason Novick and Russell Smith, Producers
“Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)
A Clayton Productions, LLC Production
Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox and Kerry Orent, Producers
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)
A JoAnne Sellar/Ghoulardi Film Company Production
JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Lupi, Producers

DIRECTOR: Ethan Coen & Joel Coen - “No Country For Old Men”

Paul Thomas Anderson - “There Will Be Blood”
Tony Gilroy - “Michael Clayton”
Jason Reitman - “Juno”
Julian Schnabel - “The Diving Bell And The Butterfly”

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE: Daniel Day-Lewis in “There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)

George Clooney in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)
Johnny Depp in “Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
Tommy Lee Jones in “In the Valley of Elah” (Warner Independent)
Viggo Mortensen in “Eastern Promises” (Focus Features)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE: Marion Cotillard in “La Vie en Rose” (Picturehouse)

Cate Blanchett in “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” (Universal)
Julie Christie in “Away from Her” (Lionsgate)
Laura Linney in “The Savages” (Fox Searchlight)
Ellen Page in “Juno” (Fox Searchlight)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: Tilda Swinton in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)

Cate Blanchett in “I’m Not There” (The Weinstein Company)
Ruby Dee in “American Gangster” (Universal)
Saoirse Ronan in “Atonement” (Focus Features)
Amy Ryan in “Gone Baby Gone” (Miramax)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: Javier Bardem in “No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)

Casey Affleck in “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” (Warner Bros.)
Hal Holbrook in “Into the Wild” (Paramount Vantage and River Road Entertainment)
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Charlie Wilson’s War” (Universal)
Tom Wilkinson in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Ethan & Joel Coen - “No Country for Old Men”

Paul Thomas Anderson - “There Will Be Blood”
Christopher Hampton - “Atonement”
Ronald Harwood - “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
Sarah Polley - “Away from Her”

COSTUME DESIGN: “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” (Universal) Alexandra Byrne

“Across the Universe” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Albert Wolsky
“Atonement” (Focus Features) Jacqueline Durran
“La Vie en Rose” (Picturehouse) Marit Allen
“Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)

ANIMATED FEATURE: “Ratatouille” - (Pixar; Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Distribution) Brad Bird

“Persepolis” - (Sony Pictures Classics) Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
“Surf’s Up” - (Sony Pictures Releasing) Ash Brannon and Chris Buck

MAKEUP: “La Vie en Rose” (Picturehouse) Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald

“Norbit” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount) Rick Baker and Kazuhiro Tsuji
“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” (Walt Disney) Ve Neill and Martin Samuel

VISUAL EFFECTS: “The Golden Compass” (New Line in association with Ingenious Film Partners) Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood

“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” (Walt Disney) John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and John Frazier
“Transformers” (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro) Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl and John Frazier

ART DIRECTION: “Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount) Art Direction: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo

“American Gangster” (Universal) Art Direction: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Beth A. Rubino
“Atonement” (Focus Features) Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
“The Golden Compass” (New Line in association with Ingenious Film Partners) Art Direction: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax) Art Direction: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM: “Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)” (Premium Films) A Karé Production; Philippe Pollet-Villard
“At Night” A Zentropa Entertainments 10 Production; Christian E. Christiansen and Louise Vesth

“Il Supplente (The Substitute)” (Sky Cinema Italia) A Frame by Frame Italia Production; Andrea Jublin
“Tanghi Argentini” (Premium Films) An Another Dimension of an Idea Production; Guido Thys and Anja Daelemans
“The Tonto Woman” A Knucklehead, Little Mo and Rose Hackney Barber Production; Daniel Barber and Matthew Brown

ANIMATED SHORT FILM: “Peter & the Wolf” (BreakThru Films) A BreakThru Films/Se-ma-for Studios Production

“I Met the Walrus” A Kids & Explosions Production; Josh Raskin
“Madame Tutli-Putli” (National Film Board of Canada) A National Film Board of Canada Production; Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski
“Même Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)” (Premium Films) A BUF Compagnie Production; Samuel Tourneux and Simon Vanesse
“My Love (Moya Lyubov)” (Channel One Russia) A Dago-Film Studio, Channel One Russia and Dentsu Tec Production; Alexander Petrov

SOUND EDITING: “The Bourne Ultimatum” (Universal) Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg

“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) Skip Lievsay
“Ratatouille” (Walt Disney) Randy Thom and Michael Silvers
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax) Matthew Wood
“Transformers” (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro) Ethan Van der Ryn and Mike Hopkins

SOUND MIXING: “The Bourne Ultimatum” (Universal) Scott Millan, David Parker and Kirk Francis

“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter Kurland
“Ratatouille” (Walt Disney) Randy Thom, Michael Semanick and Doc Kane
“3:10 to Yuma” (Lionsgate) Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Jim Stuebe
“Transformers” (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro) Kevin O’Connell, Greg P. Russell and Peter J. Devlin

FILM EDITING: “The Bourne Ultimatum” (Universal) Christopher Rouse

“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (Miramax/Pathé Renn) Juliette Welfling
“Into the Wild” (Paramount Vantage and River Road Entertainment) Jay Cassidy
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) Roderick Jaynes
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax) Dylan Tichenor

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: The Counterfeiters” - Austria

“Beaufort” – Israel ”
“Katyn,” - Poland
“Mongol” - Kazakhstan
“12″ - Russia

ORIGINAL SONG: “Falling Slowly” from “Once” (Fox Searchlight) Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova

“Happy Working Song” from “Enchanted” (Walt Disney) Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
“Raise It Up” from “August Rush” (Warner Bros.) Nominees to be determined
“So Close” from “Enchanted” (Walt Disney) Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
“That’s How You Know” from “Enchanted” (Walt Disney) Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz

CINEMATOGRAPHY: “There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax) Robert Elswit

“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” (Warner Bros.) Roger Deakins
“Atonement” (Focus Features) Seamus McGarvey
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (Miramax/Pathé Renn) Janusz Kaminski
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) Roger Deakins

ORIGINAL SCORE: “Atonement” (Focus Features) Dario Marianelli

“The Kite Runner” (DreamWorks, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment and Participant Productions, Distributed by Paramount Classics) Alberto Iglesias
“Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.) James Newton Howard
“Ratatouille” (Walt Disney) Michael Giacchino
“3:10 to Yuma” (Lionsgate) Marco Beltrami

DOCUMENTARY SHORT: “Freeheld” A Lieutenant Films Production; Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth

“La Corona (The Crown)” A Runaway Films and Vega Films Production; Amanda Micheli and Isabel Vega
“Salim Baba” A Ropa Vieja Films and Paradox Smoke Production; Tim Sternberg and Francisco Bello
“Sari’s Mother” (Cinema Guild) A Daylight Factory Production; James Longley

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: “Taxi to the Dark Side” (THINKFilm) An X-Ray Production; Alex Gibney and Eva Orner

“No End in Sight” (Magnolia Pictures) A Representational Pictures Production; Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
“Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience” (The Documentary Group) A Documentary Group Production; Richard E. Robbins
“Sicko” (Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company) A Dog Eat Dog Films Production; Michael Moore and Meghan O’Hara
“War/Dance” (THINKFilm) A Shine Global and Fine Films Production

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Diablo Cody - “Juno”

Brad Bird - “Ratatouille”
Tony Gilroy - “Michael Clayton”
Tamara Jenkins - “The Savages”
Nancy Oliver - “Lars and the Real Girl”

Characters get lost in Stephen King’s The Mist

Reviewed by Henry B. Rosenbush

Mutant insects from another dimension are the main attraction in director Frank Darabont’s screen adaptation of the Stephen King’s novella, The Mist. Overlong by a half hour and a downbeat ending that departs from King’s ambiguous dénouement the film nevertheless delivers in the monster department presenting an impressive assortment of small and gigantic prehistoric creepy-crawlies.

Credit Darabont for getting right to the point for right after the film title we are introduced to movie poster graphic artist David Drayton (Thomas Jane) who we see painting his latest work when a freak storm sends a large tree crashing into his studio destroying the artwork (in a wink to earlier films by Darabont, we see posters for The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption in the background). Worst still is an ominous fog rolling off the mountains towards his Western Maine home near Bridgton (actually Shreveport, Louisiana) and descending upon the local community. Leaving his wife behind to pick up groceries, after the storm has caused a power outage, David heads to the local supermarket with 9-year-old son Billy (Nathan Gamble) where it appears the entire town has arrived for the same purpose.

On the way to the store David sees military vehicles and soldiers headed in the opposite direction telescoping their later involvement in the crisis.

It doesn’t take long for the townspeople to realize something is amiss when Dan Miller (Jeffrey DeMunn) runs in with a bloody nose and some hysterical ravings about something in the mist killing a friend. With the store full of people panic is not too far off as the first victim to die onscreen is a hapless teenaged bag boy, who is attacked by large tentacles that pull him from beneath the loading dock door in view of David and three other men.

While it takes a bit longer to convince the others at the 20 minute mark we see the first creatures, huge flying insects attracted by the store lights that are quickly devoured by large flying creatures. Credit Gregory Nicotera and Howard Berger for the impressive monsters and visual effects by Café FX for their CGI creations, especially in a later scene when a handful of brave souls, lead by David, venture next door to the drug store, for medical supplies, and encounter spiders of assorted sizes with acid webs that have cocooned their victims, including a military MP, who lives long enough to tell them “It’s our fault.”

Indeed, we learn an experiment has gone awry – don’t they always – and a portal was been opened into another dimension allowing the aforementioned insects and arachnids to enter our world. There are a few dinosaur-sized monsters that while mostly obscured by the ever-present mist are still impressive.

The intellectual questions to contemplate revolve around religious fanatic Mrs. Carmody (Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden; Pollock, 2000) whose certifiable wickedness is embodied in the character who almost immediately begins delivering so many biblical diatribes and apocalyptic rants that one could be forgiven for drowning her in a baptismal pool. The inhumanity of heretofore rational citizenry is amped up by her constant denunciations and before the gory and downbeat conclusion she will have transformed most of the customers into the clichéd evil Christian Conservative Lunatics many of us fear thirsting for blood sacrifices!

Harden embodies the stereotypical over-the-top lunatic with enough shading to make her entertaining. The real monsters may well be the pious group she whips into frenzy after it becomes clear that the mist contains creatures she believes have been unleashed by a vengeful God for man’s transgressions, such as landing on the moon and stem cell research! As the climax approaches much blood has been split, mainly due to the creatures but the unfortunate private (Sam Witner) who has relayed the necessary, albeit brief, explanation as to the origins of the creatures is stabbed and then forced outside as a sacrifice.

Jane handles the resourceful hero with composure while Lauren Holden, Frances Sternhagen, DeMunn and young Gamble are all first rate. Other perfs are uneven, from the group of dreadful Christian typecasts. The reliable William Sadler, most often a villain, who goes from sarcastic Maine redneck and coward to born again, provides some of the incidential humor. Vet actress Sternhagen delivers the funniest lines using cans of peas as metaphors for biblical stoning and gets an action sequence where she ignites an arachnid with bug spray and a lighter. British thesp Toby Jones is great as supermarket employee Ollie, who stands up to Mrs. Carmondy.

Kudos to production designer Greg Melton’s superb supermarket where the bulk of the film takes place and cinematographer Rohn Schmidt whose ever-moving camera captures the fear and claustrophobia of the store interior and the thick fog that conceals the horrors outside. Mark Isham’s score is minimal but atmospheric.

All tech credits are first-rate from the editing and sound design to the mist itself and mixtures of digital and practical on set special effects.

As expected, death scenes are gruesomely rendered; especially the one where thousands of tiny spiders burst from the MP to attack in the pharmacy sequence and the unfortunate fate of a pretty cashier who is stung by a flying insect.

At times it reminds one of John Carpenter’s The Fog (1979) with characters trapped in a malevolent vapor that conceals evil.

The ending has a stinging coda that was unexpected and is a provocative choice and a bold departure from the novella’s open ending. Mainstream audiences looking for a hokey feel good climax will not have reason to remain for the end credits.

Trailer

An MGM release of a Dimension Films presentation of a Darkwoods production. Produced by Frank Darabont and Liz Glotzer. Executive producers, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein and Richard Saperstein. Co-produced by Randi Richmond, Anna Garduno and Denise Huth. Directed and written for the screen by Frank Darabont, from a Stephen King novella. Camera (Technicolor), Rohn Schmidt; editor, Hunter M. Via; music, Mark Isham; production designer, Gregory Melton; art director, Alex Hajdu; set decorator, Raymond Pumilia; costume designer, Giovanna Ottobre-Melton; sound (Dolby Digital/DTS/SDDS), Paul Ledford; supervising sound editor/sound designer, George Simpson; re-recording mixers, Rich Ash, Elliot Tyson; visual effects supervisor, Everett Burrell; visual effects, Cafe FX; special effects coordinator, Darrell Pritchett; creature effects makeup, Gregory Nicotero, Howard Berger; stunt coordinator, Steven Ritzi; assistant director, K.C. Colwell; second unit director, Nicotero; and casting, Deborah Aquila, Mary Tricia Wood, Jennifer Smith.

Reviewed at The Carmike 10, February 19, 2008. MPAA Rating: R for Graphic Violence and Graphic Profanity. Running time: 2:07.

Cast
David Drayton - Thomas Jane
Mrs. Carmody - Marcia Gay Harden
Amanda Dumfries - Laurie Holden
Brent Norton - Andre Braugher
Ollie - Toby Jones
Jim Grondin - William Sadler
Dan Miller - Jeffrey DeMunn
Irene - Frances Sternhagen
Sally - Alexa Davalos
Billy - Nathan Gamble

With importing from the Movable Type Publishing Platform to Word Press and all the photos finally rejuvenated we will begin completing updates and new postings. Thanks for the patience; you will all be rewarded with plenty of Apple Strudel, Pecan Pies and homemade doughnuts.

To quote seventies rock group, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, from their 1974 triple live LP, “Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends…” Rosenbush Café returns to the web with a new look, new categories and plenty of continuations of movie reviews, Dadaism, Surrealism, feline felicitations, existential nilhism, obsessive collecting, antiques and collectibles for sale and multiculturalism.

For those new to the site, it is an authentic recreation of Rosenbush Café, which existed from 1926-71 in Livingston, Alabama. It was the impetus for my creativity and will continue to be an extention of my imagination. There will be entries from friends and we promise posts in languages other than English for our international readers; Spanish, French, Slavic and more! As ELP advised; “Come inside, come inside” and we hope you will. We’ll save you a booth by the garden and promise delicacies for mouth and mind.