an Alan Smithee production

it was a weekend of superfluous movie watching.  that's one thing that I adore about the library.  i can grab a half dozen movies that i have absolutely no intention of paying for strictly for the purpose of saying that i watched those movies.

Burn Hollywood Burn was a movie that has long been on my list of movies that i need to watch at some point before i die or go blind.  why?  well, because it has Chuck D and Coolio in it.  from what they tell you in the movie and what i've read online, it's quite difficult for a director to get his name removed from a movie, no matter how bad or ridiculous the movie might be.  apparantly if the director wants to disassociate himself from a film he must apply to the Director's Guild and keep his fingers crossed, at which point if he is successful, the movie becomes " directed by Alan Smithee."  Burn Hollywood Burn is done up to look like a documentary of a director who has one of these horrible movies he's working on - but the trouble is that his real name is Alan Smithee (well played by Eric Idle).  Certainly an interesting story, but not an overly exciting picture.  it's a must-see for anyone who considers themself slightly crazy aboot watching movies (like i consider myself), but i would imagine not even remotely close to worth watching if you can't take a 90 minute running gag.

also on the list of movies watched this weekend - War of the Worlds (the 1953 version), There's Something About Mary and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  all of these movies i particularly enjoyed.  War of the Worlds reminded me that i need to go back and re-read the novel by H.G . Wells.  an especially brilliant story considering that it was written in the 1890s - long before the concept of space ships and lasers.

tonight i will be watching The City of Lost Children .  seems to be quite the amazing film from what i've heard, but i'll have to wait and see.  as for now, my coffee mug is empty and nobody seems to be filling it for me.