Into the Wild. I read the book many years ago and really liked it. From what I can remember, it seems the movie deviated quite a bit from the details while staying true to the spirit of the story. Anyway, I had mixed feelings about this film. Unfortunately, I felt Sean Penn was overly indulgent, but still, there was a lot to like about the movie.
Related to pants, there was a scene in Wild in which William Hurt, overcome with grief, falls to the ground and sits on the road crying. Interestingly, the camera pays particular notice to him holding on to the bottoms of both of his pant legs, and sort of pulling them up closer to his knees. It was a very odd thing to pay attention to, but I must commend Sean Penn, in this regard, for getting something right. I think paying attention to the character's pant gripping was important. A man will do funny things with his pants when under great stress. This is too often overlooked in American cinema, and I applaud Penn for his courage in this matter.
I saw Into the Wild saturday night and Eastern Promises on sunday. Before seeing Promises I went to Bouchon Bakery in the Time Warner Center to see if they had vanilla custard doughnuts, which I've heard so much about. Sadly they didn't, so I had an apple danish, instead. I also had an iced vanilla latte. I took my stuff outside and sat by the fountain and ate.
The remnants of my apple danish and latte
This girl came and sat pretty close by. She was probably around 20. Seemed like a normal enough girl. Unfortunately, she had perhaps the most annoying voice I have ever listened to. She kept calling people and telling the same story about how drunk she got and how she threw up on the street and on her hand and woke up the next morning covered in vomit and Goldfish (the crackers). Anyway, her silly story and her awful voice greatly diminished what should have been a very relaxing time.
I then saw Eastern Promises and then came home and made an egg sandwich. I used a bagel, and on the sandwich was egg, provolone cheese, french fries, and a vinegar slaw. To make the vinegar slaw, I sauteed garlic in olive oil, then put in shredded cabbage and carrots, salt, pepper, and red wine vinegar.
I should also mention I saw a preview for There Will be Blood, the new Paul Thomas Anderson film starring Daniel Day Lewis, who is awesome. Best line in the trailer, spoken by Lewis, of course: "Why don't I own this? Why don't I own this?"