Have a Very Very Merry Christmas.... plus some musings...

Hey folks, Harry here. Well, I can almost hear Skellington upon my doorstep, and Santa thumping upon my roof. From the living room I hear the final strings of "Let it snow let it snow let it snow..." from the end titles of DIE HARD... The CHRISTMAS EVE wrapping film to end all wrapping films. "Now I have a machinegun! HO HO HO"

I'm set to dream of sugar plum fairies excised from FANTASIA 2000, and a Peters-less Hollywood. An Arnold with a reduced upfront salary, joining projects out of love of film and adventure and not for the almighty greenback... I ponder whether or not that dang GRINCH movie will be rocking me this time next year. I wonder exactly how much drool, Quint will mop from the multiplex next May when Gladiator opens.

There is so much to contemplate at Christmas time... you read of terrible horrible things in the paper, yet when you walk the malls, talk to folks, go out for drinks and merriment.... you see smiles and happy faces. I remember last Christmas... It was good. A cherry for a sundae of a year. But this year that's coming to a close has been like some sort of dream. Working with Ebert... Strange. Not necessarily a dream, but... You know. I don't have a clue how to explain that. Tonight, today and tomorrow, depending where you are... my latest journey to the balcony on ROGER EBERT AND THE MOVIES will be airing. I can't help but wonder what Harry of 5 or 10 or 15 or 20 or 25 years ago would have thought of Harry today.

25 years ago I was just a 3 year old lump of protoplasmic film loving goo. Watching GORGO and KING KONG and biting asses. Not much has changed really. heh... 20 years ago I was a child of Star Wars... on this night, personal future never would have crossed Harry's mind. I was dreaming of a big ol FALCON and DEATH STAR playset... Atari and underoos... 15 years ago, reality and ponderings... the divorce shook reality. My first Christmas without Dad. I was nothing but thoughts of my future. Not of presents, but of where I would be going... which I was determined to be back to Austin. I would be something concerning film. I would not herd cattle or plant crops. I was living on a ranch. Helping with the harvest... watching the sunset... cross my eyes... two suns set... 10 years ago, College, Austin... I would be a short story writer.... or an actor... I would be known... convinced of that. I had escaped the Ranch... was living in Austin... Possibly sated. 5 years ago... Hmmmm.... depressed... beaten... without direction. A day to day existence. It was smiles and giggles... but uncertainty ruled. I had just bought a computer... maybe I'd begin writing again. Who knows.

Heh... Strange looking back on it like that. Breaking it down. Throughout it all, films were a part of my life, but do we ever really know exactly where we are going... and how we'll get there? I don't think so. At least I don't. So where am I this year?

Well, for the first Christmas ever... I feel direction... purpose... In the next year you'll watch a lot of changes here. I'll be bringing on some folks to help me. Heck... perhaps check them spellings and grammatical errors of mine. Help in answering of emails, viewings of tapes, readings of scripts, writing of content, helping with code and design and through it all... the purpose is make this site cooler. Yeah... I got a TV show thing looking good right now, my book is finished... but what I'm super excited about is the site. To actually run this thing the way it should be run. Round the clock updates... More content, chatrooms, talkback self-regulated by talkbackers and the individual users, lots of fun...

Being able to have folks like Moriarty and Robogeek and... well the crew be full time... not spare time. Will my load change? Ha... Well kinda... it'll be organized (a scary thought) I'm working to have this site be independent... through and through.

But... for right now... It's time to have my Christmas eve dream. All those year 2000 presents... X-MEN, PERFECT STORM, WHAT LIES BENEATH, GLADIATOR, BATTLEFIELD EARTH, OH BROTHER WHERE ART THOU, those Mars movies, the inevitable first LORD OF THE RINGS trailer, Rodriguez's SPY KIDS begins production, Sam Jackson becomes SHAFT, we see if CHARLIE'S ANGELS rules or sucks, Jet Li's first starring American role in ROMEO MUST DIE, SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE, all those films opening at SUNDANCE... CANNES... TORONTO... TELLURIDE.... SXSW.... and on and on... THE GRINCH WHO STOLE CHRISTMAS and more. JURASSIC PARK 3, REALLY SCARY... the SPRING Films, the SUMMER Films, the FALL films... and the Holiday flicks. The cycle of a film fan.

Every weekend, unwrapping 3-7 new presents at the theater... what's in this one. Nice wrapping paper... hmmm.. it's from Zemeckis... ewwww... and Harrison Ford... What's in the box? A ghost film! Cool.

What do we have next? What's out there? IS it better than this year? Or this week? or this Day?

By summer... we'll have the next STAR WARS film in production... By October... LORD OF THE RINGS will have wrapped shooting.... and begin a long long painful (for fans) post production.

I get asked how I stay so damn cheery and optimistic about even the worst sounding projects. It's really quite simple.

I believe the best film I will ever see... hasn't been seen by me yet. It's the reason for watching old films, current films and researching future films. Where is that Holy Grail? Is it LORD OF THE RINGS? SPIDER-MAN? or is it 20 years away... and will a car not hit me between now and then? I don't know... But I'll find my film. I walk into every theater hoping I've found it. Seeing pieces of the best in throwaway scenes... Performances buried in lackluster flicks. Directors entwined in studio muckery.... Writers forgotten. Effects not understood.

But they'll get it right. Someone always does. How long did it take for us to get to see THE IRON GIANT? For me... 27 years... It was worth it. I didn't even have to wait. Time just pushed it to the surface.

We film lovers have had a pretty damn fine year. Most of us have managed to avoid the shitfests... and have caught the jewels. I look forward to opening your email presents that I get each and every morning. I hope you enjoy the info I share.

And I can't wait to start off 2000... Can you believe it's here? It feels so damn science-fictiony. Way cool.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Harry