next generation goddess of hollywood and the quest for inspiration

I watched Pride and Prejudice last night. Doesn't seem like a big deal right? Especially considering that they've made like 10 of them (no seriously, look it up, that's not me being a smartass...they really have made that many), but I had heard good things and I gotta say I was quite impressed. Newbie director Joe Wright clearly has some chops as I didn't know it was possible to stylize and/or add visual flair to a period piece, which is part of what is wrong with the majority of period pieces (or at least my initial interest in them). Of course, period pieces aren't supposed to be a cinematographer's dream job a la David Fincher or Jean-Pierre Jeunet, but considering film is a visual medium, it never hurts to spruce up the aesthetic a little bit. But I digress. The real thing that stood out to me about P&P was Keira Knightley. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the next great Hollywood actress. This is your mission, Keira, should you choose to accept it. It is there for the taking. She has the chops for it. Now the only question is whether she will focus on the "Hollywood" aspect or the "actress" aspect. Obviously, I'm rooting for the latter, especially since it's not like there's a lack of "pretty faces who need to get a clue" out on the West Coast. It's go time, Keira. Are you going to be Julia Roberts or Julianne Moore? Jennifer Love-Hewitt or Jennifer Connelly? Sarah Jessica Parker or Sarah Polley? You get the point. Choose wisely, Keira. Don't disappoint me.

Now on to other matters. One of the drawbacks of being immersed in the Netflix universe is that there is no possible way to be consistently blown away because quite frankly, there aren't that many good films out there. At least there aren't many within the sample I've been subjected to, considering I'm finishing up with the movies of 2005 and since I've already seen most of what I want to see or thought might be good, the dregs are pretty much what's left. I guess the one advantage to all of this is that it really makes me appreciate the films that knock me on my ass. Let's take a stroll down memory lane, shall we?

- I want to see a film that makes me want to dig deeper into the mystery like the first time I saw Mulholland Drive and all I could do was try to figure out what the fuck David Lynch was thinking. I talked about it nonstop and before all was said and done, I saw the film 6 times in the theater, each time taking someone new just because I relished the experience of witnessing someone get mindfucked like I did the first time.

- I want to see a film that has a performance so powerful that there are literally moments in the film that give me goosebumps because that particular actor/actress is so in the zone. The rest of the movie might be good or might be bad, but it doesn't matter because the performance overshadows everything else. The first time I saw Gong Li's performance in To Live, I was completely and utterly mesmerized. It's a great film, but her performance is part of that greatness. Her scene at the end is so heartbreaking and tragic that I almost watch the film solely for that reason.

- I want to see a film that scares the living shit out of me like the first time I saw The Exorcist. The film that redefined what it means to be terrified. I never want to see it again, but am nonetheless grateful for having experienced it.

- I want to see an intense action film that makes me want to run through the streets screaming "Where's the fuckin' van?!" as I shoot an AK47 into the air for no apparent reason. Terminator 2 was and still is this film for me.

- I want to see a film that is so intensely disturbing it puts me in a somber mood the rest of the day where I have no desire to talk, eat, or do anything, let alone sleep. I want disturbing images to plague my thoughts like the first time I saw Taxi Driver.

- I want to see a film that makes me laugh so hard I feel like I'm going to throw up. I want to see something like Dumb and Dumber that nearly made me piss my pants the first time I saw it.

- I want to see a film that makes me hate life the way that The War Zone did.

- I want to see a film that makes me love life and look optimistically at everything the way that Wonder Boys does every time I watch it.

- I want to see a film that breaks my heart the way In the Mood for Love does.

- I want to see a film that makes me question my puny existence and bow before the awesomeness of nature the way that 2001: Space Odyssey does.

But to paraphrase Jason Lee in Vanilla Sky: "The sweet is never as sweet without the sour and I know sour, which helps me appreciate the sweet."