THE DANMAN CAN

TRAINSPOTTING   meets AMELIE .

The Room   (2003) is a quite the experience with a large audience and the man himself, Tommy Wiseau , present. A fun event, complete with props—in the tradition of The Rocky Horror Picture Show  (1975) — and a bit surreal. Things I'll take away from this night: how cold it was waiting outside before the movie began, Tommy  walking past the line to get in, throwing a football to fans, and lots of plastic spoons.

Based on Elmore Leonard 's novel 'The Switch' , LIFE OF CRIME   (which is a dumb title) starts out with a lot of Leonard  flavor (although derivative of  Soderbergh 's superior OUT OF SIGHT ), but loses steam pretty quickly. The tone is off overall, particularly the score a good deal of the time (which also seems derivative of  David Holmes ' score from OUT OF SIGHT .  Jennifer Aniston  is serviceable but not as good as Jennifer Lopez in OUT OF SIGHT (both seemed like odd choices for Leonard  adaptations). But it is nice to see Mos Def  and John Hawkes   (who deserved to be billed higher and whom I love - he never seems like he's acting in any movie he's in) portray Ordell Robbie and Louis Gara  respectively, characters that originally appeared in Leonard 's book 'Rum Punch'   and were portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson  and Robert De Niro   in Tarantino 's adaptation,  JACKIE BROWN . And the ending is g...

Enemy  (2013) is an eerie, unsettling film that is equal parts Lynch , Kubrick , Fincher , Cronenberg and Kafka . Both films that I've seen by director Denis Villeneuve (this and Prisoners   (2013)) have been excellent.

Focus On Film   Episode 23  is up! Download the MP3  HERE . In this episode: February 2015  Criterion Collection   Titles Announcement Best/Worst Of The Month  – HALLOWEEN H20: 20 YEARS LATER  (1998), NIGHTBREED  - Director's Cut (1990/2014), BIRDMAN (2014), NIGHTCRAWLER (2014) "Criterion Most Wanted" Link to MULHOLLAND DRIVE Salon article "Focus On Film Theme"  & commercial music:  Daniel Sardella