Second Star to the Right

Let me start this blog out by saying I absolutely adore Johnny Depp. This guy has more talent and charisma than a lot of the big stars in the biz today all rolled into one. He has made some not-so-great films, but even in those, his performances have always been outstanding. He often far exceeds the material he is given to work with. I'm happy to say that "Finding Neverland" is not only another award nomination worthy performance for Depp, but it's just an extraordinary film all around. Big kudos for all the solid and sometimes heartbreaking performances given by the whole cast. Even the sometimes annoying Kate Winslet does a good job here. The kids that play her sons, and in particular Freddie Highmore who plays Peter, are excellent. (On a sidenote - Freddie will be working with Johnny again in Tim Burton's upcoming film, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.") "Finding Neveland" opens this weekend. I highly recommend it.

I also want to briefly mention how bizarre some of the screenings I have been to recently were. Tonight it was almost as bad as getting through security at the fucking airport. I know pirating is a big deal in the movie biz these days, but come on. There were people with metal detector wands and some big security guy walking through the aisles before the film started telling people to get off their cell phones. Like they could reproduce the film with a fucking camera phone! It bordered on the absurd and it's basically useless. The people who go to screenings are not the ones pirating the films and selling them on the 'net. The copies that pop up online are generally too good to have been shot in guerilla fashion. They are copies that projectionists are burning from DLP prints or shooting from the booth after hours. I was a projectionist for a long time and I know how easy it is to copy a print of a film if you are really motivated to do it. It's the true die-hard movie fans who end up at most of these things and the 3rd degree security is starting to piss those people off. Hopefully the film companies will get a clue and stop policing these screenings so harshly. Sorry, just had to rant about that...

Go see "Finding Neverland." Johnny Depp, YAY! :)