Sunset Boulevard: I'm ready for my closeup.

The release of Sunset Boulevard was eagerly anticipated this week in this household (no! I don't like rice-a-roni! I don't even know what that means!)

"Sunset Boulevard" is one of Billy Wilder's most timeless movies because it is both of its time and beyond its time. (insert basso profundo going "in a time when ...) The story is immediately grippable, understandable, and translateable 50 years later. How sad Hollywood really hasn't changed one bit in 50 years. If you watch "The Player" or "The Big Picture", they are still playing out Joe Gillis' story.

But what really got me was when Joe Gillis remarked on how crazy Norma Desmond was because she had her own movie screen. And he shows it to Betty Schaefer to prove his point about her crazytude.

Which while I'm watching this on my own movie screens, makes me shiver.