Letters From Bobby

A successful sci-fi novelist becomes the parent to a strange but sweet little boy who thinks he’s from outer space. That’s Martian Child, the new movie starring John Cusack that opens this Friday. I’ll be reviewing the movie on Whoopi’s radio show.

I’d never read the award-winning autobiographical short story that’s the basis for the film. However, I did find some excerpts on a Barnes and Noble website. In the story, the novelist is a single gay man trying to adopt the kid in Southern California. In the movie, he is most definitely straight and he’s given a romantic interest. There’s not one sentence in the press material from the movie company that explains why that change was made. Have you heard or read anything about that? That’s so…so 1940s. I haven’t heard any entertainment reporters address that either — but I’m gonna bring it up on Friday’s show.

On last Friday’s radio show, I talked about a new release written and directed by actor Anthony Hopkins. The indie pic is called Slipstream. What I said on the show is, “…the 60s must have been good to Anthony Hopkins!” That movie is….well, psychedelic. It’s got a lot of flash-forward editing and special effects as it follows the psychic experience that one man is having in Southern California. That man is played by Hopkins. It’s like a dream you’d have after smoking a joint. In the middle is a really juicy section about a movie crew on location. The bickering actors, the budget-obsessed studio boss, and the clueless director were really funny. Christian Slater, Camryn Manheim, John Turturro and S. Epatha Merkerson (from TV’s Law and Order) are castmembers.

My favorite performance comes in a cameo by an actor playing himself — Kevin McCarthy, the hero of the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). The man makes 90 look like the new 70. I have not read any review in which the critic singled out that appearance, but it’s quite noteworthy considering McCarthy’s solid acting reputation, the classic films to his credit, and the fact that he looks great in his early 90s.

Yeah, I know. I’m such a film geek.

Wow. What a movie. It’s bloody. It’s brilliant. It’s sure to be a nominee for Best Picture. Javier Bardem is a one-man apocalypse as a force of evil on the loose in Texas. He, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin and Woody Harrelson are all on their A-game in “No Country For Old Men.” Wow.