Local boy in the spotlight again

This week’s movie to see is “A Scanner Darkly”. It’s a local production from Richard Linklater and I think the previews look really good. Have not read the book, but would like to. We did not opt for the special screening with the live performance / appearance from the score composer Graham Reynolds, and did not attend the local Premiere with the director et al (all cool stuff, but took a pass this time. A $6 matinee has its benefits too)(and I can’t believe that prices have gone up to the point where $6 is considered “cheap”).

When they were about to start making this movie, I very seriously considered answering their ads calling for people who know Illustrator, Photoshop and Flash. It was so tempting I practically had to slap myself back to sensibility. What a cool job, and I think I might have been hired… buuuuuut… the reality on projects like that is that you are working round the clock, who-knows-how-many hours a week, anywhere from 80-100. The truth is that I can no longer work like that, or at least I shouldn’t, not even if it’s just for a few months…uh… years. It not only makes me ill but goes against my personal goal of having a life separate from work. My other personal demon prods me to go after the coolest job, but demons are not always the best counselors.

Anyway, tomorrow at noon, I will see the results. Linklater is really quite an interesting filmmaker. He and one of our other film dudes, Robert Rodriguez, have really produced some innovative and extremely creative projects, especially in the area of pure visual effects.

I am not necessarily a big fan of some of Linklater’s most admired projects, such as Slacker, or even Waking Life (Slacker on acid), although they are all quite interesting, but I preferred School of Rock. That’s just me and my preference for the cheeeze. Anyway, I am psyched for this one a bit.

EDIT: Two thumbs up! This is a good one. The visual effects helped it, which could have easily gone the other way. Linklater supposedly came up with this effect, and in this case it was a good tool (whereas in "Waking Life" it was more of a toy). Just my useless opinion, and I'm not about to offer any spoilers.