The Wife is off at some swanky nightspot toasting her friend's birthday, so while I'm on daughter duty, I'm watching L.A. Confidential. For the third time this year.
I can't really say why I like this movie so much. It's one of my "comfort flicks" - like Goodfellas, The Godfather, and Jaws - that I've latched onto for one reason or another. I'm not sure what it says about me that the majority of these movies are crime-related, except that maybe I'm part Sicilian and don't know it.
Speaking of L.A. Confidential, I've been on something of a James Ellroy kick lately. Ellroy wrote Confidential, the third in his so-called "L.A. Quartet." I've read the first three of those, as well as the first two books in the "American Underworld" trilogy (Police Gazette comes out next year). I read American Tabloid and The Cold Six Thousand just recently, and am currently finishing up Hollywood Nocturnes. After four Ellroy studies of corruption, conspiracy, and mostly irredeemable humanity in a row, however, I think I'm ready to take a break.
I bring all this up for a couple of reasons. One - I'm feeling garrulous after a few Molson Canadians, and two - Ellroy's The Black Dahlia comes out in a few weeks. In these dog days of studio releases, Dahlia is one of the few movies I'm looking forward to in the coming weeks. No telling whether or not Josh "Wonder Bread" Hartnett and Aaron "The Chin" Eckhart will do as well as Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce, and the inclusion of Scarlett Johansson doesn't fill me with glee, but Ellroy himself apparently likes what he saw. We'll see what the public thinks, especially since - unlike L.A. Confidential - The Black Dahlia doesn't exactly have a happy ending.
Speaking of lackluster recent releases: two new reviews are up:
Beerfest (***) - not quite a return to form for the Broken Lizard boys
How to Eat Fried Worms (**1/2) - a film the certainly lives up to its title
Totally with you on both Ellroy and the film adaptation of “L.A. Confidential.” In fact, it goes on my list of top ten favorite movies ever.
I can’t believe you’re anticipating ANY product by Josh “Pearl Harbor” Hartnett.
You know better, good sir.
(By the way, I had a delightful time with The Wife at the aforementioned swanky nightspot. Not only is she good people, but she helped me realize that wine doesn’t have to come in a brown paper bag or a cardboard box to be drinkable; thanks to her, I’ve added even more smooveness to my bachelor repertoire . Awww, yeah—ladies, beware!)
I thought LA Confidential was great too. I haven’t read any of Ellroy’s books, but I’m going to have to pick them up!
The LA Times has a nifty retropsective of the original murders.
I’m right there with you on Dahlia. If Johannsen spends as much time in the movies as she’s in the book, then it should be fine. Eckhart seems a good choice, even though it’s not a big part.
The first three books of the LA Quartet are among my favorite books, but Ellroys…uh…word jazz just got to be too much for me during White Jazz. I really, really wanted to like the America Underworld, but I think I just liked the Quartet time period more.
I’m crossing my halves of a severed body hoping Dahlia will pay off.