The Magic of Groundhog Day, Book by Paul Hannam

Since February 2nd is Groundhog Day, today I’ve been exploring all things groundhog-related. One of my finds was The Magic of Groundhog Day: Transform Your Life Day by Day, a 2008 book by Paul Hannam with a foreword by screenwriter Danny Rubin.

Here’s a blurb about the book from Library Journal Review (2008): “Using the 1993 movie Groundhog Day as a springboard to illustrate the principle of repetitive thought patterns, professional entrepreneur and lecturer Hannam (Oxford University) discusses how to change one’s inner life to see the beauty in the world. According to Hannam, the ‘groundhog effect’ is the force that keeps people feeling stuck and powerless to change. Only by breaking free of this looplike effect, he posits, can they liberate themselves to enjoy healthy habits, relationships, and careers.”

Find the book at Amazon.com.

How to Write Groundhog Day, ebook by Danny Rubin

When writing an earlier post about the 1993 movie GROUNDHOG DAY, I learned of a book I’ve always wanted to read — the inside story of this remarkable screenplay — and now I can. In How to Write Groundhog Day (released in 2012) screenwriter Danny Rubin pulls back the curtain on his inspiration for the script, his writing process, and how the screenplay navigated its way through Hollywood to GET MADE. The book includes the original screenplay, notes, scene sketches, and Rubin’s personal tour of the revision process. Find the ebook at Amazon.com.

Groundhog Day, 1993 Film Release, Screenplay by Danny Rubin

Hard to believe it’s been 20 years since the release of one of my all-time favorite movies — the charming, delightful, funny, profound, original GROUNDHOG DAY starring Bill Murray. And since today is February 2nd (for the uninitiated, the day marks the annual event in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, when a groundhog named Phil determines the number of weeks until spring by whether or not he casts a shadow), I encourage everyone to kick back and (if you can get your hands on a copy) watch this wonderful film.

Applause, applause for the gifted screenwriter of the brilliant script for this film — Danny Rubin. Visit Rubin at his website (dannyrubin.com), where he’s posted all kinds of fascinating material.

Howl, 2010 film starring James Franco as Allen Ginsberg

In a previous post about the 2012 documentary THE BEAT HOTEL, I mentioned that the film dealt with, among other topics, poet Allen Ginsberg‘s sojourn in Paris during 1957. Ginsberg was in Paris awaiting the results of the U.S. obscenity trial related to HOWL, the book-length poem Lawrence Ferlinghetti had published in San Francisco through his City Lights Press.

The 2010 film HOWL, starring James Franco as Allen Ginsberg, covers a range of subjects — including the 1957 obscenity trial — in some cases using experimental techniques (such as breathtaking animation of the poem).

I particularly enjoyed Jon Hamm (MAD MEN‘s Don Draper) as defense counsel Jake Ehrlich and Bob Balaban as Judge Clayton Horn. James Franco also turns in an admirable performance as Ginsberg.

I had very low expectations when I borrowed this film (HOWL) from the library — I didn’t think there was any way to do justice to the subject matter. Basically, I expected a Hollywood botch job. Count me wrong!  I was enraptured and enthralled throughout the movie, which features the entire text of Howl in animation such as I’ve never seen before.

HOWL, the movie, directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, is original, respectful, and a fine testament to Allen Ginsberg, one of America’s most important poets. Highly recommended.

Find the DVD on Amazon.com.

The Beat Hotel, Documentary by Alan Govenar

Released in July 2012, The Beat Hotel (directed by Alan Govenar) is an 82-minute documentary that tells the story of a remarkable group of artists — including many of the prominent Beats — who in 1957 converged in a cheap Paris hotel, where some of their greatest works were born.

Hotel residents included Beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Gregory Corso along with novelist William Burroughs. Ginsberg began his magnum opus, Kaddish, in the hotel, which was located in Paris’s Latin Quarter, while Burroughs completed his most renowned work, the experimental novel Naked Lunch. Joining these Americans were artists from a variety of persuasions (photographers, painters, musicians, performance artists) who hailed from France, Britain, and other parts of the world.

I borrowed this DVD from my local library and found the film fascinating, riveting, and inspiring. It’s a story about the power of art and the power of artists to influence one another in positive ways. The most amazing part of the story was Madame Rachou, the hotel owner who only allowed artists to reside in her establishment — and charged them next to nothing to live there. She felt that artists needed time and space to create — and this was her way of acting as a patron of the arts.

A good time was had by all in The Beat Hotel — and this documentary makes you feel as if you were part of it all. Highly recommended. 

Find the movie at Amazon.com.

Halloween in Connecticut

(Photo: Chuck Sanislow, Branford, Connecticut via New York Times)

East Coasters are not only greeting Hurricane Sandy — AKA “Frankenstorm” — with defiance (as mentioned in my previous post), but with humor, as evidenced by the photo that Chuck Sanislow shot in Branford, Connecticut.

This photo called to mind the 1945 movie Christmas in Connecticut, starring Barbara Stanwyk and Dennis Morgan (and remade in 1992 with Dyan Cannon and Kris Kristofferson). The basic plot is about a food writer who fakes her cooking skills, but has to learn fast because she’s selected to create a meal for a local hero.

Considering the speed with which Hollywood turns real-life happenings into movies for the big or small screen, is a Halloween in Connecticut film far behind?

Outbreak of Adverbs, So Suit Up! starring Dustin Hoffman and Kevin Spacey

DUSTIN HOFFMAN (as Sam Daniels): Alarmingly high fatality. All localized within a three mile radius. Incubation period: short. Appears contained. Alarmingly. Casey, you didn’t put “alarmingly.”

KEVIN SPACEY (as Casey Schuler): It’s an adverb, Sam. It’s a lazy tool of a weak mind.

From the movie Outbreak (1995), screenplay by Laurence Dworet and Robert Roy Pool

Note: For more on adverbs, see “Why the Adverb Is Not Our Friend” by Richard Nordquist at About.com.

Cold Souls, Film by Sophie Barthles

COLD SOULS (2009)

written and directed by Sophie Barthes

starring Paul Giamatti

If you like the films by Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich) and Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), you’ll probably enjoy the comedy-drama Cold Souls.

Screenwriter Sophie Barthles, who also directed the movie, based the story on a dream where Woody Allen was carrying around a jar that contained his soul, which looked like a chickpea. From this germ of an idea, Barthles has created a fun cross-genre romp that’s part sci-fi, part existential art film, and part flat-out comedy.

As an angst-ridden actor, Paul Giamatti (playing a character named Paul Giamatti) has trouble separating himself from the characters he plays, so he decides to  try soul extraction — a new technology he’s read about in the New Yorker.

During the course of the film, Giamatti has his soul removed, tries to get it back, but it gets stolen, so he borrows someone else’s soul, then decides to retrieve his stolen soul, and on and on — from New York to Russia and back. The story moves quickly, but has a lot of depth — exploring what, after all, makes us human. Highly recommended for people who find it easy to enter an alternative universe and suspend disbelief. 

Find it at Amazon.com.

Burt Lancaster’s Smile, Story by Sam Shepard

MOTEL CHRONICLES (Excerpt)

by Sam Shepard

I remember trying to imitate Burt Lancaster’s smile after I saw him and Gary Cooper in Vera Cruz. For days, I practiced in the backyard. Weaving through the tomato plants. Sneering. Grinning that grin. Sliding my upper lip up over my teeth. After a few days of practice, I tried it out on the girls at school. They didn’t seem to notice. I broadened my interpretation until I started getting strange reactions from the other kids. They would look straight at my teeth and a fear would creep into their eyes. I’d forgotten how bad my teeth were. How one of the front ones was dead and brown and overlapped the broken one right next to it. I’d actually come to believe I was in possession of a full head of perfectly pearly Burt Lancaster-type of teeth. I didn’t want to scare anyone so I stopped grinning after that. I only did it in private…

Photo: Burt Lancaster as Joe Erin in Vera Cruz (1954)

Documentary About John Kennedy Toole

The comic masterpiece A Confederacy of Dunces was published in 1980 — eleven years after author John Kennedy Toole‘s tragic death. The author’s mother Thelma doggedly tried to get A Confederacy of Dunces published and finally managed to place the manuscript into the hands of novelist Walker Percy, who recognized the book as a work of genius. Toole’s novel — which had been rejected repeatedly before it was finally published by Louisiana State University Press — won the Pulitzer Prize in 1981.

The documentary film John Kennedy Toole: The Omega Point — available online for free at jktoole.com —  offers a fascinating look into the life of John Kennedy Toole and his masterwork. I’m a huge fan of A Confederacy of Dunces and was riveted to the screen every second of this 56-minute documentary. Highly recommended!