NOT GODZILLA

Friday, May 22, 1998

Today there was an outing for the real Microsoft employees on the team, a special showing of Godzilla. Contractors weren't invited. This wasn't a problem to me, because I don't especially crave to see the movie, but normally they are careful to send such invitations to a team mailing list that only includes non-contractor employees, or else they put a (regretful) disclaimer in the mail that contractors can't go. They didn't do that this time, and even when I reminded the admin that sent the mail, she didn't follow up the mail with a correction.

It's times like this that I really miss my former boss Val. She always tried to make sure that I had the opportunity to go along on such occasions.

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I left work an hour earlier than usual, because I wanted to go to the Film Festival box office to pick up an advance ticket for Jon Singer. Unfortunately, when I got there they had posted a sign sayingt that advanced tickets for Nosferatu had already sold out! I was surprised and chagrined. Jon can still line up on the day, if he wants to, since a few tickets might be sold after all pass holders and ticket holders are admitted, and I could save him a seat. But I do feel bad! I could have gone to the box office yesterday or before and bought it. I knew the show would be popular, a silent classic with a live orchestra, but I'd no idea it would sell so fast!

So I had some extra time before the first movie. I visited the QFC grocery store and bought a sandwich and other provisions, then went up the street to the Venus consignment store that I got kicked out of a few weeks ago. The clothes were worth checking out, but since I had limited time, I only bought a short, dark green skirt. Another time, I want to go back and try on some of the more specialized gear they have there.

As I was walking towards the theater, I saw my festival friend A--- a block ahead with another full-series pass holder. But when I arrived in front of the theater, A--- had disappeared, and only C---, the other guy, was there. The pass holders reminded me that A--- is a platinum pass holder this year, and one of the benefits of paying the extra money is no lines! He can walk right in, and there is actually a reserved section if he should arrive at the last minute. But that section won't necessarily be where he prefers to sit (he's rather particular about that).

Doing Time for Patsy Cline
An Australian comedy, with dramatic or thriller overtones, or a drama with comedic moments, about a young man who wants to travel to Nashville and become a country singer. On the way to Sydney to catch his flight, he gets involved with a rather shady couple. Mirando Otto as the woman is completely luscious! Even though the running time is only 95 minutes, I felt this was too long, with too many switches in location -- we are with the hero present time, then past time, then with his parents back on the ranch.

Shooting Fish
This will open theatrically very soon, which normally means I'd have chosen another film to see, but the film that followed was one I wanted to see. Two young men are con artists in England (present day, thought the look of the trailer might lead you to think it's the mid-sixties) and a young girl (Kate Beckinsale) is a temp worker for them. But maybe she has secrets of her own? The plot gets a bit muddled towards the end, but this is a light, cheerful comedy.

As we were waiting in the lobby to get back into the theater, I was saying that I wondered how long Kate Beckinsale would go on being adorable in all her movie roles. I first saw her as Hero in Much Ado About Nothing, and I've also seen her in Cold Comfort Farm, and a movie where she was an art student living in Spain. She had a real "cute" thing going on in all of those movies. I didn't realize while saying this that she also starred in the next movie, where she changed her ways.

The Last Days of Disco
I really like Whit Stillman's movies! He writes, directs and produces, with a personal and unique vision. This one is set in the early eighties, the last gasp of the disco days in New York City. Young women are working in publishing, and dancing and staying out late. Kate Beckinsale is really different here, as a bitch who doesn't know she's a bitch! Or does she? The cruel, Machiavellian things she says are quite remarkable. Stillman's dialog is sometimes too similar between characters, but hers is unique! This movie is described as a romantic comedy, but it has a more serious side. Stillman manages his large cast of characters and complicated story very well. There are a few connections to his first and second movies, Metropolitan and Barcelona, but you don't need to have seen them to appreciate this one.

I hope that the themes that connected the first two movies don't continue throughout the festival. Both movies had large chunks of time where the protagonists were in prison or jail. I don't mind that, but in moderation. Both movies had major parts of the humor depending on the characters "taking a dump" as they put it, or being on the toilet at a certain time in the story. Even the short (brilliant computer animation, rather horrific) that preceeded Shooting Fish had one of the characters in the bathroom.

The short, "Geri's Game," before The Last Days of Disco was the latest from Pixar. Their work on human characters has really improved!

Then I walked home, got my email, and read journals till far too late. I need to watch those large theater diet colas; I think the caffeine had an affect!