The CrabAppleLane Saturday afternoon matinée yesterday was Michael Clayton. It was on DirecTV Pay-Per-View and included a Maltin Minute. I like everything Maltin says about George Clooney. The movies he makes between Batman and the Ocean movies are superb. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Out of Sight, and Syriana are excellent. Add Michael Clayton to that list. Excellent performances all around, particularly Tom Wilkinson, who plays a suddenly conscientious attorney. Wilkinson has one scene with Clooney where he goes from just outside of reality's grip right back into the moment with sharp lawyerly focus (See today's QOTD). It was an amazing delivery and he is absolutely convincing. Wilkinson and Clooney both play attorneys who consider themselves "janitors", because they essentially clean up their client's messes. There's another janitor of sorts in the film called Mr Verne. He "deals in absolutes". He is a truly frightening character that I hope doesn't exist in the real world. The only criticism I can level at Michael Clayton is that the ending tailed off from the rest of the film and was a little too "Hollywood" for my tastes. Still, I highly recommend it. The BOTD has a different take.
I offer two from the CrabAppleLane yard on this overcast, somewhat dreary Sunday:
CrabAppleLane Rest Stop - February 24, 2008
I found it neat that the pine cones and the azalea blooms came to rest on the propane tank. I amuse easily sometimes.
Sign of spring - February 24, 2008
This is one of the CrabAppleLane
mirliton vines. It is just now peeking out for 2008. It is a sign that spring is just around the corner. The definitive sign is when the pecan trees start to bud. We had a disappointing mirliton season last year. I think we only picked about a half dozen. I don't know how many mirlitons three vines should produce but I'm certain its substantially more than that.
Quote of the Day
Michael, I have great affection for you and you live a very rich and interesting life, but you're a bag man not an attorney. If your intention was to have me committed you should have kept me in Wisconsin where the arrest report, the videotape, eyewitness reports of my inappropriate behavior would have had jurisdictional relevance. I have no criminal record in the state of New York, and the single determining criteria for involuntary commitment is danger. Is the defendant a danger to himself or to others. You think you got the horses for that? Well good luck and God bless, but I'll tell you this: the last place you want to see me is in court.
Arthur Edens, Michael Clayton
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: "Boring and contrived does not a good thriller make and the ordeal is certainly not helped by a George Clooney who seems to have mistaken weary for depth."
I like the dichotomy between the man-made propane tank & the nature all around it. Azaleas are such lovely bushes!
I like that about this shot, too, Lana. You said it much nicer than I. :)