Conference bookie::movies

    I really enjoyed "Smoke".  It was simple and well acted.  The plot
    didn't really seem to go anywhere, but in the end, I felt as though I
    had seen a small glimpse into the lives of a few Brooklyn residents.
    
    William Hurt was especially good, as was Harvey Keitel (I became an
    overnight fan of his after seeing Pulp Fiction).
    
    -Steve
    

    I saw a cute little movie last night with Harvey Keitel called "Smoke".
    It's nice to see that Hollywood can still make a movie like that. Good
    simple story with good actors. It's about a moment in life of some
    ordinary folks in NY who have as a meeting place a smoke shop.
    
    rating 4/5 
    
    Richard

Note 880 also deals with the movie Smoke.  Smoke and Blue in the Face are both
Wayne Wang movies.  I think Blue in the Face is due out in September.  As far as
I know the two films are not related, although the Harve stars in both.  He also
had a hand in both scripting and the stories but I do not think he gets onscreen
credits for it.

Another Harve movie coming out soon is Clockers which I think is a Spike Lee
movie.  The Harve is up in Bath, Maine, making yet another movie which will be
out sometime late this year.  It seems a shame that more attention is not being
given to his body of work.  For example, Imaginary Crimes, a really fine little
movie, came out about the same time as Pulp Fiction and it got short shrift in
the theatres--although it received a number of awards and good critical
attention.  Not a lot of attention has been given to Smoke and I am afraid the
same think will happen to his other movies.  I know the Harve is very selective
about who he works with but it seems as if he is not as careful about the
promotional end of things.   He is building a wonderful collection of fine films
and a lot of people do not know it except for the big name movies such as The
Piano and Pulp Fiction.  

I first began to really notice the Harve when I saw him in Tarantino's The Bad
Lieutenant, and then he had that nice little role in Thelma and Louise.  After
that I went back and rented some of his early films, such as Martin Scorcese's
Mean Streets.  He has grown considerably over the years as an actor and he makes
it look so effortless.  

I am rarely this effusive about an actor but I think he is one of the smart and
ones on the American scene.

Ruth Ann

    I went to a showing of "Blue in the Face" yesterday, having seen and
    enjoyed "Smoke" last year.  This is a much looser, more or less
    improvised group of vignettes and sketches and monologues set in
    Augie's Brooklyn cigar store, with appearances by Lou Reed, Jim
    Jarmusch, Roseanne, and Madonna, as well as Keitel and some of the
    supporting cast of "Smoke." (Not Whitaker or Hurt or the big-name
    female co-star of "Smoke," the mother of Augie's daughter, whose name
    escapes me for the moment.)  There are also videotaped interviews with
    real Brooklynites.  
    
    I enjoyed it.  It's easy-going and pretty funny in places.
    
    -Stephen

    The female co-star of "Smoke," who does not appear in "Blue in the
    Face," is Stockard Channing.
    
    -Stephen