Practicalmadness

1. Sophie, our Companion Animal Deluxe, has discovered the joys of stalking the elusive Blue Marlin Attached To A String. The Marlin is a cagey character, usually attached to a plastic fishing pole being held by one of Sophie's humans, and always stronger than kitty suspects. She doggedly persists in stalking it, certain that she will discover a way to magically turn it into food, or at least a treat from her masters for subduing the beast for them.

2. Stitch, the little fuzzy blue alien starring in this summer's Disney Instant Classic™, Lilo & Stitch, is the cutest-wutest thing on six legs. A 24-inch plushie version of hims has joined the household, where he has won an appointment to the coveted position of cuddly bedtime aminal.

We first became aware of Stitch through Disney's rather brilliant TV campaign for the film, in which he is being held up to the sun in The Lion King's "Circle of Life" scene instead of little Simba. "Hey, wait! You're not Simba!" shouts Timon , standing on Pumbaa's head. Cut to close-up of cute-wute widdle six-armed, antennaed Stitch: "Aloha!"

Disney's 'pitch' for the film is that it, like Stitch, is not quite your older brother/sister's Disney movie, which likely did not feature adorable space monsters or completely lack celebrity voice talent. Stitch is actually a stock Disney character -- the lovable misfit, who like the Ugly Duckling finds a place where he, too, can belong and be happy and buy more toys. But he is the first Disney character to be a destructive little creature with a gaping, toothy maw.

Well, apart from Michael Eisner.

3. I finally managed to see Insomnia, and a review (believe it or not) is forthcoming. 20-second verdict: ehhh. The movie (directed by Memento's Christopher Nolan, and starring Al Pacino and Robin Williams) follows the plot of the original Norwegian version to the letter (excepting the addition of a grating 'Nancy Drew' persona for Hilary Swank's local cop, and the removal of any sex whatsoever) until the grafted-on ending, which comes down to a shoot-out (of course), a catch-phrase (uh-huh) and much death. I posited years ago in my first film criticism class (back in high school) that American movies have a remarkable obsession with deaths signifying closure at the end of the film -- that U.S. audiences will not consider the story closed until someone has died, whereas European filmmakers (for example; in this case we were discussing Mike Leigh's Secrets & Lies) are much more willing to leave some loose ends laying about.

Look at the endings to Fight Club and A Clockwork Orange: the former is resolved (dramatically, at least) by a gunshot wound to the head, leaving massive plot holes but few moral dilemmas as the more sympathetic antihero manages to survive and get the girl. Kubrick's Clockwork Orange ends with the antihero restored to his former, sociopathic self -- this time with government backing. The movie denies us that warm, happy closed feeling -- nobody has died, and nobody is about to die. Something totally ridiculous is happening, we're in the shit and Kubrick up and leaves us there.

Nolan's Insomnia works best for me right now as a quick-and-easy roadmap to the original Skjoldbaerg film, as well as a showcase for a welcome return by Robin Williams to non-cloying dramatic material. Pacino is also...accomplished in the film, but much of the performance seems too easy. Stellan Skarsgaard (who played Pacino's part in the original) was much more subdued and psychological, whereas Pacino is very physical. There is a lot of subtlety in the working of Pacino's approach, but it still hits the viewer over the head like a celluloid sledgehammer.

Anyway, all this and more in the Review You Will Never See.