JUST A REMINDER

To all who have contributed to Rachel E. Diken's project to make a documentary about me and my poetry, thank you , thank you, thank you.

It is uncomfortable for me to continue to ask for donations to something that is about me, but my motive is simply to help Rachel with a project she is devoting so much time and energy to, and to help my publishers who have had faith in my work, especially Seven Stories who are publishing a very large collection of my poems (from 1960 to 2017) this coming April.

So if you know anyone, or any foundation or arts support groups, that might be interested in helping fund the documentary, please pass this information on. And thanks again for any attention you give this project:

https://www.gofundme.com/lallydocumentary

AS TIME GOES BY

me and my youngest child Flynn in New Jersey on Father's Day 2005 [photo by Jamie Rose]

me and Flynn at KBG Bar in NY c. 2010?

Flynn and me at Star Tavern in Orange NJ 2014

me and Flynn on Thanksgiving in Jersey 2017

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING MISSOURI

This movie is getting a lot of attention, some saying it's the best movie of the year. It isn't the best, in my opinion, but it's a hell of a cinematic ride. Martin McDonagh, the English born Irishman, who wrote and directed it (as he did one of my favorite movies IN BRUGES), knows how to create characters that actors can have a field day with and, as a director, knows how to give his actors enough room to go as far as they can and then pull them back just enough to make their behavior plausible.

This is an actors' movie. The plot is complicated and rich enough to keep an audience engaged and even more focused than most movies demand, and the editing and cinematography are terrific, but it's the actors who make this a special treat. Frances McDormand commands the screen and gives us a vengeful woman who seems written for this "me too" moment (though the screenplay is actually almost a decade old), and Woody Harrelson, as her foil, does his usual great job.

Everyone in the movie is fantastic and could be singled out for praise. Peter Dinklage in a role unlike any other we've seen him in, John Hawkes with a nuanced portrayal of what could have been an obvious stereotype, Caleb Landry Jones makes a lasting impression in another role that could have been cliched but instead is as uniquely individual as any film character ever.

But the real revelation for me is Sam Rockwell in the role of a redneck racist cop. Rockwell is not a favorite actor of mine. He usually seems miscast to me, like a one-note comedian trying to play Hamlet as a comedy. And my first reaction seeing him in this movie was that same feeling that he was miscast and then...he owned the character in such a deep way his place in the film and probably a nod in many awards nominations seemed justified.

Though there are many critics voicing disbelief that the character Rockwell plays could have the kind of story line he ends up having. These same critics are also objecting to the actors playing people of color not having as rich and fully dimensional characters as the white actors (a charge I find reasonable but also missing the point of this particular piece of cinema art in which fantastic plot points and comic/tragic mashups explore the heavy-handed humor of tragedy as farce, not nuanced political analysis).

See it for yourself, and I think if you appreciate great film acting you'll be glad you did.  

SLIGHTLY EXHAUSTED LATE NIGHT MINI-RANT

Dems and progressives and leftists who think the tax bill means repubs lose the congress in 2018 maybe should remember how shortsighted most people are these days (and perhaps most days)...if the changes in deductions etc. bring some immediate gains in pocket money for many in red and purple states (and nothing else goes wrong which is a long shot, I know), which they could—even though those gains are eventually wiped out in years to come—they still might retain their hold on at least one house, if not both, continuing the destruction of the judiciary and any regulations hampering greedhead thievery of our national treasury and resources and economy etc.

AN OLDIE BUT GOODIE

ANOTHER LIST! (XMAS FLICS)

With the help of the Internet and my post-brain-operation skull machine, I have once again made a list as I used to compulsively do pre-brain-op constantly...this time of my ten favorite Christmas movies:

1. A CHRISTMAS CAROL, an adaptation of the Charles Dickens story that pretty much created the Christmas holiday I grew up with, this black-and-white 1951 version starring Alister Sim as Scrooge has stuck in my mind and heart since I first saw it when it first came out when I was a boy, and I continue to appreciate even more every time I've seen it since.

2. A CHRISTMAS STORY, a 1983 original from the legendary radio storyteller Jean Shepherd's quasi-autobiographical story collection (I used to listen to him spin his tales on a rebuilt radio I salvaged from the trash and fixed when I was a boy in my attic room) and the best heir to Dickens' classic take on the holiday.

3. LOVE ACTUALLY, a 2003 tale of several intertwining love stories that has grown in my esteem for its writing, acting, directing, and general filmmaking qualities, and as a deeply satisfying confection with moments of surprisingly profound depth, no matter how contrived some aspects of it might be.

4. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, the 1947 flop that I saw with my big sisters when it first came out that has since become a classic with help from the praise of movie masters like Scorcese, still hits home for me.

5. MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS isn't exactly a Christmas movie, more like a four seasons of the year movie, but it has one of the most moving Christmas holiday scenes of the classic Hollywood era (it was made in 1944), when Judy Garland sings "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" as a lament, and Margaret O'Brien has her crying scene in the snow (I had a crush on O'Brien for most of my boyhood, along with older actresses like Veronica Lake and Jane Greer).

6. THE BELLS OF ST. MARY'S isn't exactly a Christmas movie either but has a great Christmas scene and message, even if saturated in Hollywood sentimentality, but if you can't dig sentiment in movies you're missing one of the joys of life, and besides Ingrid Bergman co-stars with Bing Crosby and I had a big boyhood crush on her, and Bing was a prince of my people (Irish and Irish-Americans) back then (1945) as he was the dominant star of records, radio, and movies, and made it all look easy.

7. ELF took a while for me to appreciate after it debuted in 2003, but it has grown on me since, and Will Farrell has never been as appealing as he is in this film, for my taste.

8 & 9. REMEMBER THE NIGHT and CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT are two 1940s films starring Barbara Stanwyck, maybe my favorite movie actress, in two entirely different roles (though the typical Hollywood treatment doesn't allow for too much distinction in whatever roles for movie stars then) but she shines in both and makes them worth watching.

10. 3 GODFATHERS is another 1940s movie (yeah, I'm a sucker for the Hollywood of my boyhood) but this time a John Ford Western starring his favorite leading man for Westerns, John Wayne, but no matter what you think of Wayne's politics this retelling of the story of the Three Wise Men is surprisingly compelling and almost modern in its focus.

BONUS: REINDEER GAMES from 2000 is another addition to my previous lists, a movie that has grown on me each time I watch it, because of the great direction by John Frankenheimer who gets the best out of the cast, especially Ben Affleck who gives maybe his best performance, and the always terrific Charlize Theron.

[PS: I'm sure I'm missing some other great ones, any suggestions?]

UPDATE ON THE LALLY CLAN

My cousin Pat Lally's punk anthem DAMN THE MAN (gotta watch the whole thing)


And my nephew Jimmy Lally (with wife Karen, also a rockin musician, they now have a band in Florida) after he was inducted into The Maryland Entertainment Hall Of Fame with his old band from that state: The Great Train Robbery.