I rented a few DVDs this week, one was Love Liza with Philip Seymour Hoffman which I took a chance on since I had watched PT Anderson’s great Magnolia again the other day. I was thinking how Magnolia would make a good double feature with American Beauty - if they still had double features. Movies come and go so fast now, it amazes me. The other flick was Adaptation, the film with Nicolas Cage and Meryll Streep which was done by Spike Jonez and Charles Kaufman (who had done Being John Malkovich together).

Adaptation was pretty bad - more artifice than art. The story is all over the place. I guess he (Kaufman) was trying to show the “writer’s process” but wound up being more self-indulgent than anything else. Nicolas Cage is well on his way to baldness - think his uncle Francis Ford Coppola. Meryl Streep is always a pleasure and still very watchable - she’s someone who brings a lot to the table in every gig she takes. Overall, she couldn’t carry the piece alone with the script structured the way it was. Brian Cox (the first Hannibal Lechter) was also in it - he’s always fun to watch (X2, Rushmore and the original Red Dragon).

A night later I was flipping and saw Jackass on MTV. I hadn’t realized Spike Jonez was part of that crew. I am ashamed to admit it but, I love watching Jackass mainly because it can elicit some true belly laughs (and considering my ever-expanding girth those are some big laughs indeed!).

Love Liza had Kathy Bates in it (as well as the aforementioned PSH). Kathy Bates is another actress who’s quite talented. It had a good cast but again the story just didn’t hold up. Don’t believe the blurbs! Movie just plodded along at a snail’s pace with scenes connected by long montages of landscapes as perceived by PSH character who has a unique way of altering his perceptions (on the heels of his wife’s suicide). I’m not ruining anything for you if you decide to see it. I thought the cinematography wasn’t that good. It was evidenced it the opening sequence of the film and didn’t get any better.

I was doing the CostCo thing again last week when I came upon Miller’s Crossing on dvd which is a favorite of mine. Infinitely better than either of the other films and if you haven’t seen it worth checking out.