What's John watching?

Ronin (1998): Man, I often get John Frankenheimer and William Friedkin confused for some reason. For instance, watching these fantastic car chases again, I was convinced that the director had also directed The French Connection (1971), when that one was actually directed by Friedkin. When Frankenheimer's name came up at the end of this one, I'd knew I'd made the mistake yet again. Incidentally, Frankenheimer also directed The French Connection II (1975), in case you thought you had all this down pat.

Frankenheimer directed the BMW film Ambush, which I was also reminded of. I remember him talking about the fantastic camera mounts he worked with on that project to get the low, close shots that really gave you a feel for the car's speed. Just great stuff. I see that they've now put up some new ones.

But, back to Ronin: what an amazing cast, and what a great script. The pace had me a hold of me and didn't let up; much like it did in The Bourne Supremacy, now that I think about. I must've missed some stuff the first few times I saw it because I had this impression that there were some slow bits. Not so, not so. Every little bit added something, especially when it came to Sam's (Robert De Niro) scenes; manipulation au café. :-)

Aside: you know, for some reason I thought there was a 'b' in seppuku; no wonder I had such a hard time tracking it down. :-) Someone wouldn't believe me when I told them the name; it was probably my pronunciation. ¶ 11:39:00 p.m. (0) comments

Collateral: My wife left an Ottawa Citizen article entitled "Filmmaker Mann delighted by digital" (subscriber only content) out for me, so this time around I was paying close attention to the backdrop of each shot. More than a few shots jumped out at me the first time I watched it - for example, the shot over the hood of the FBI car on the way to Fever, Pedrosa (Bruce McGill) clearly visible in the passenger seat, with the shop signs so vivid in the background - but this time it was awesome, in the most literal sense of the word.

Mann employed both Sony CineVista and modified Thomson Grass Valley Viper FilmStream digital cameras. The tape-using Sony system was fairly agile, but the Viper had to be connected by thick cables to a separate hard drive, onto which it recorded directly.
--U-Press Telegram's City of angles

They go on to quote Mann saying that a conventionally-shot Collateral would've been "a boring movie. Literally boring. We would have had a bunch of defocused blobs and a couple of faces, and everything would have been dark." I don't know about boring, but it certainly wouldn't have been as impressive.

Note: spoilers follow...

Oh, and just to close the loop on the questions I posed earlier, I clearly heard the lead FBI agent say, "FBI on your left" as he approached Lim's bodyguard this time. Unfortunately, I still don't understand how Vincent (Tom Cruise) didn't even scratch Max (Jamie Foxx) on the Metro. ¶ 1:53:00 p.m. (0) comments

Norah Jones: Live at the NAC: Holy crap! The National Arts Centre was a sauna tonight! Even Norah's face was shiny, up there on the big screens. Oh, it was brutal. I thought I fared O.K. until I was chattin' about the show with my wife: now I'm thinkin' I nodded off at least once... Oh, come on! You've heard the woman's music: half her songs could be lullabies for cryin' out loud! And it was so hot... *sigh* I guess I missed Norah almost falling over a speaker. :-/

I should have opened this entry Norah Jones and The Handsome Band because those guys and gal are very talented in their own right; almost all the songs they played were written by combinations of them.

And while I'm on the subject of talent, let's make some room for the opener, Amos Lee. I was gonna write about this guy as soon as I found out he's a John Prine fan, and then he went and had a really impressive set. Not only that; the guy's stage presence is unbelievable: completely unassuming, and all the more hilarious for it. Yes, hilarious! He had the audience in stitches. What a perfect sense of timing. My wife said it was a good thing there was a break between the two acts, and I agree. He still made Norah look awkward and second rate between her songs. ¶ 11:48:00 p.m. (0) comments

Matt Dusk: Live at the Rainbow: The Rainbow is actually a really cool place; a coworker of mine is a regular there, but this was my first look. And Matt: well, his voice sounds even better live. I can't imagine hearing it at a karaoke bar (which is where he was discovered, apparently). The guy has a great stage presence too; (not to mention, a great band.) ¶ 11:55:00 p.m. (0) comments

Open Water: Oh, MAN! BRILLIANT! Seriously; freakin' brilliant! I remember watching the trailers in front of it and thinking that they were odd. I actually formed the thought that it was like we were at the Bytowne, about to watch a foreign film. Well, those trailers make sense now; the style of the cinematography was amateur, with lots of close-ups, odd angles, and camcorder-like footage, just like you'd see in many art films.

The execution, however, was nothing short of amazing. You felt like you were sitting alongside the main characters, going through everything they were going through. That no one had seen Blanchard Ryan or Daniel Travis before only added to the effect.

I was also impressed with Graeme Revell's score, and while his score for The Crow was beautiful, seamlessly tying that movie together, this score may replace it as my favourite of his. Time will tell. I'm still trying to digest the experience. See, you'd think that, out on the open water, any music would be out of place, taking the audience out of the moment, but Revell somehow managed to hit that note that actually pulled you in that much further. And he did it at least half a dozen times. Truly amazing.

WARNING: EXPERIENCE-RUINING spoilers follow...

I think the most horrifying aspect of this movie was the sheer humanity of its characters. That brings reality to a movie like no "based on true events" caveat can. From the dialogue leading up to the dive, to stages that the characters went through, to the shots that I mentioned, everything was setting you up for that shot, the following morning, of Susan (Blanchard Ryan) holding Daniel (Daniel Travis), feeling his neck and crying. Up to that shot, you are that couple, and you desperately want those search-and-rescue vehicles you've been shown to find them.

And then it all goes wrong as you watch her let him go. Initially, you're screaming, "No! Help is on the way!" Then, as more and more sharks circle her and eat Daniel, you're thinking, "No; no it isn't." And, finally, she slips under the water, and you're left thinking that yes, you too could take those three gulps of seawater. You too could kill yourself in that moment. You, sitting in that theatre, have come much closer to understanding just how fleeting life is, because, despite your best efforts, you haven't been able to separate their fate from yours. ¶ 12:09:00 a.m. (0) comments

Joined: The Secret Life of Siamese Twins: Man. I didn't catch all of this TLC show, but my mind is just reeling from some of the things that were said, so I can't very well not write about it.

Siamese twins must be separated; even if one will likely be sacrificed. They cannot live like that. Society will treat them like a monster.
--The doctor in charge of the show's major operation

I don't know why these thoughts upset me, but I feel it was probably their finality. I hope that there are communities that would accept Siamese twins as equal members; not where I live, I'm sure, but somewhere.

Everybody has a weakness. Ours are Chang and Eng. We dream about them; that they find us and somehow force us back together.
--Separated Siamese twin (Hassan? I'm not sure of the spelling), speaking for himself and his brother (Hossein?)

Isn't that frightening? Man, images worthy of The Exorcist flashed before my eyes as I watched this kid state his nightmare.

I'm glad our parents separated us. Hossein likes to play football. I like to stay inside and play chess or PlayStation. We wouldn't be able to do that if we were joined. We would be living a life of compromises.
--Hassan

It's hard to argue with that logic. Yes, they are twins, but they are two different people. Hassan's final words were haunting, though (helped by the camera's staying with the shot of the two boys and their mother on the couch long after there was only silence):

I never would've forgiven my parents if Hossein had died.

¶ 9:34:00 p.m. (0) comments

Amish in the City: This show is painfully slow, but every now and then something peaks my interest. In this episode, I was struck by Ruth's comparison of getting out of the gang life to rumspringa and finally leaving the Amish way of life. It's like my wife said: they need a halfway house; a place where they can support each other through the transition. This rite of passage is a loaded game. No wonder so many kids come back; they're set up to fail. ¶ 11:30:00 p.m. (0) comments

The Contender (2000): I picked this one up on a whim: two for $16 (CAD) at Music World, I believe. (The other one was The Exorcist III, for the curious out there.) The "Two enthusiastic thumbs up!" caught my eye, and the incredible cast hooked me.

The cast deserves a moment: Gary Oldman, Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges, Sam Elliott, and even minor roles played by the likes of Saul Rubinek (whom I've always liked). Not only that, but picture them at the top of their games, working with the calibre of script you'd expect them to be drawn to. Yeah, it's that good.

Note: spoilers follow...

Now with so much to set up, you definitely don't want to be crunchin' away on Crispers at the beginning of this one; and that pace continues until about the halfway point. One thing that may affect the movie's replay value is the strict ordering of the scenes that's needed to support this pace. For example, get a shot of Senator Laine Hanson (Joan Allen) fooling around with her husband before the sex scandal hits so that we know she likes it, and we'll buy the idea of her younger self engaging in drunken orgies. :-) Or, get clips of Governor Jack Hathaway (William L. Petersen) talking about dying for civil liberties (like any good Democrat) and selflessly risking his life to save another when we're supposed to like him, and then get shots of him in a darkened boardroom asking the female FBI agent if "his girl" got her a drink (like any bad misogynist) when we're supposed to cut ties with him. And while we're on the subject of the FBI agent, giving her boss a sleazy smoker's cough to get us questioning whether she's just pretending to be an FBI agent, while actually working for a tabloid, seems a bit forced, in retrospect.

It's important to note, however, that all of these points are teardrops in the lake of the first time through. I'm just musing about the possibility of them annoying me when I watch it again with my wife later on.

The other idea that's bouncing around in my head has to do with the ending: yes, the squeaky clean "I don't smoke" line - and the ensuing swan song - worked, but I can't help thinking that it separated Hanson (the great, but not petty, leader) from the vast majority of women, leaving the double standard surrounding sexual relations intact, if not reenforcing it. I say this because Hanson succeeded based on her character, but the bar of that character was set so high that if, Heaven forbid, a college girl decides to have sexual relations with two college boys, she may never be able to reach it, no matter how she lives the rest of her adult life. Hence, my saying the ending either doesn't address the double standard (i.e., sure Hanson would've become vice president, even if she had screwed those frat boys... that just isn't this story), or it reenforces it (i.e., no, no, no, her principals weren't enough; if she'd put that penis in her mouth instead of her hand, we'd have us a different ending).

I don't know... it just bugs the heck out of me that a guy can do whatever he wants in his youth - the more the better, it sometimes seems - but a girl experimenting a bit in her youth as she tries to find herself is labeled... probably for life. I read or heard something recently about a sex researcher or educator advocating casual, but informed, sex amongst young people. What I remember of her argument stated that young people have access to two resources that make sexual experimentation difficult in later years: namely, youthful stamina, and a large, curious peer group. What I don't know is whether her argument addressed the double standard on sex; an unnecessary complication - whatever the merits of the theory - in my mind. ¶ 4:43:00 p.m. (0) comments

Collateral: Ah, Michael Mann. He has yet to disappointment me. What a great way to cap the weekend. I must get the soundtrack; even the Audioslave track fit.

I just love this guy's films: Heat (1995), The Insider (1999), Ali (2001)... I don't remember much about The Last of the Mohicans (1992), to be honest. I was trying to explain what I like about them to my wife... Ever since that balcony scene in Heat, where Neil and Eady are talking about how the cityscape looks like luminous algae in a body of water, I've noticed how Mann's city (L.A. in Heat and this one) is an ecosystem, alive in more than the traditional sense. It's as if we're catching glimpses of deep-sea animals in their habitat, or, switching to biology, blood vessels traveling through a circulatory system. (That's what makes the wolf in this one so cool, now that I think about it.)

Jamie Foxx was amazing; truly. That guy is an actor, no question. I suspected as much after seeing the Ray trailer, and this one just confirmed it. Cruise was himself, as usual, only grey, but that didn't take away from the film, thank goodness.

Note: spoilers follow...

I questioned a few moments in the movie, but the one that bugged me the most was when all hell broke loose at Fever: who was the guy that came in behind the table where the witness was sitting? The one who had his hands up, allowing the bodyguard to catch a glimpse of his gun? I assumed he was an FBI agent, since the only other armed players in the scene were Vincent (Cruise) and Felix's men, who had orders to intervene if things went wrong, which they hadn't at that point. So, assuming the guy was an FBI agent, what kind of entrace was that? No "We're here to get you and your boss outta here," or "FBI! We've got get your outta here now!" Just storm in and start wrestling the bodyguard for his gun? Strange. It was an awesome scene nonetheless.

Gotta watch this one many more times. ¶ 8:16:00 p.m. (0) comments

Cold Mountain: Humph. I'm not sayin' it was void of any redeeming qualities - the soundtrack comes to mind; I bet it's a doozy, with lots of Jack White, one would hope - but, shoot! Did they have to draw it out so horribly? It's a tale that should be told, and they certainly got a lot of talent to tell it - even the minor roles were played by the likes of Philip Seymour Hoffman and Natalie Portman, for example - but, I just didn't care about any of the characters; that's right, not even Ada (Nicole Kidman). And that, of course, would make just about anything seem horribly drawn out.

Note: spoilers follow...

I'm not sure why I didn't buy in, but I feel that the shotgun start bears a large part of the responsibility. Dirt 'n' blood was flyin' before I could bat an eyelash, and the movie jumped back and forth over three years at least half a dozen times in the first half hour. It was just too much, and Inman (Jude Law) and Ada's relationship of few words made that love all the harder to establish, and then sustain, for two and a half hours. Yes, they addressed this when the two finally met again, but that didn't make it any easier to sit through. It's a sentiment Sidney Lumet has expressed: real life is often boring. A tale of true love, in the most literal sense, doesn't necessarily make for good entertainment.

Of course, my expectations were undoubtedly inflated by all the acclaim for the movie that I read; I keep coming back to my brother-in-law's school of thought: the less you know about a movie going in, the better. ¶ 9:21:00 p.m. (0) comments

Thirteen (2003): Holy crap! That was scary. I don't really know what to write about it... It's the first time in memory that I watched a movie and didn't notice any of the shots, the angles, the lighting, the score... nothing. I was completely absorbed in the story. Seriously, it looks me minutes to notice that the final scene in the kitchen was shot with a blue film.

That story... Well, Nikki Reid (who played Evie in the movie) is credited with writing the screenplay - along with Catherine Hardwicke, the director - and, get this, she was born in 1988! I'm still havin' a hard time graspin' the idea that anyone born in the late 80's is out of diapers, but, that aside, Reid would certainly know what it's like to be 13.

*yawn* What time is it? Let the nightmares begin, I guess. :-/ ¶ 2:51:00 a.m. (0) comments

Calendar Girls: This one came from the heart. I didn't realize it was based on a true story, but it certainly rang true. A beautiful mix of drama and comedy. My favourite line had to be the punch line of the whole cannabis-oregano confusion. Chris (Helen Mirren) gets back from her tour of Hollywood and asks her husband, Rod (Ciarán Hinds), how their son, Jem (John-Paul Macleod), is doing.

Oh, well, he made a quiche and we've been stoned ever since.

¶ 12:39:00 a.m. (0) comments

A Midsummer Night's Dream at the National Gallery of Canada: A Company of Fools performed the play in the amphitheatre outside the National Gallery as part of their Torchlight Shakespeare series. What an incredible show! Their voices easily projected over even the loudest traffic, and their over-the-top gestures had us all in stitches; seriously, I was laughing so long and hard throughout the 90-minute production that my face hurt. It's been a long time since I laughed like that, and we're talkin' about Shakespeare here, folks. :-)

My expectations were low, to be honest, given the fantastic productions I'd seen from the Shenandoah Shakespeare Express - including my favourite, Macbeth - but the Fools just blew me away. It was just a great time. ¶ 11:13:00 p.m. (0) comments

Matchstick Men: Man, what a beaut! Cage was incredible! He played the part down to the smallest detail (e.g., my wife pointed out how he opened doors with his hand inside his pocket). Alison Lohman as his daughter was equally impressive; seriously, she went toe-to-toe with Cage for a big chunk of the movie, and I didn't once question the relationship.

Note: spoilers follow...

Wow! What a finale! I had no idea it would go down like that. There were so many lies - little white ones like Dr. Klein (Bruce Altman) giving Roy (Cage) a placebo - that I didn't see the big one comin'.

I had this idea that their big con with Chuck (Bruce McGill) would go off smoothly, but only with Angela's (Lohman) help; it'd be the next one that'd see her get hurt. (I was fixated on her getting hurt; my wife was squirmin' and squealin' the whole time, thinking something would happen to her... She got her hair pulled, but that's about it.) :-) Oh well, great story. I've never been much good at reading these things. ¶ 3:28:00 p.m. (0) comments

The Bourne Supremacy: This movie was as serious as a heart attack. From the very first scenes on Bourne (Matt Damon), the shot is unsteady, never sitting still; it's almost shouting, "You're in for one heck of a ride, folks! Buckle up!" And it worked, keeping the action fever-pitched, the score and the shots building off one another until we get to the climactic chase sequence. Now that was a ride! Unbelievable! I could barely keep my seat, and when it was done, my fist was pumping in the air... Oh, man! Let's just say that the drive home was exciting! I'm still excited! Look at all these exclamation marks, for cryin' out loud! :-)

The only sequence that the shaky shots and quick cut-aways didn't work for was the fight between Bourne and the other Treadstone agent, Jarda (Marton Csokas); I wanted to follow it so badly, but there was just no way at some points... A shame, really, but a small one in the context of the whole movie.

The pace of this story was unreal. I was just able to keep ahead of it, thanks to proper pauses for emphasis and reflection, but only just. There was no way that the director, Paul Greengrass, was going to waste one shot; you could just tell. (For example, there's a brief shot of Bourne looking at a poster on a wall, and later on you learn that he picked the location and time of a meeting based on the protest that it was advertising - solely based on similar images, mind you. He makes nothing easy, this Greengrass guy.)

I was also impressed by the smarts behind the CIA. It's common to see the agency bungling operations and agents, risking civilian lives and blowing massive budgets. This movie didn't stoop to that level, though: an operation went south, but you believed that it was because those responsible for the attack were that good, and that Landy (Joan Allen) had done everything in her power to prevent it. The exception to this rule was the team's remaining in the very same room of the building where Bourne made them, even as Landy is saying she wants physical security double checked; get away from the f***ing windows, morons! That aside, it made the movie all the more exciting to know that Bourne was up against not one, but two, competent enemies.

Boy, was it exhausting, though: you had to concentrate for long periods of time to keep those shots in focus. I bet that added to the urgency of the whole production, though; no doubt. ¶ 10:02:00 p.m. (0) comments

CSI: Miami: What a lovely snapshot of human nature. :-/ Sheesh. The hurricane picking up spent bullets and effectively "firing" them was an interesting concept, though. Guess you probably don't want to leave your seashell or rock collection outside in hurricane country either... ¶ 11:03:00 p.m. (0) comments

Amish in the City: It's an interesting premise. They spent too much time on playground antics, but still had some fascinating nuggets: I didn't know the Amish Bible is printed in German, for instance.

I was intrigued to see that Miriam was just as concerned about her body as other girls; and it wasn't just the swimsuit comment: she described the girl that Randy was fooling around with as ugly.

I've believed that it's the constant, consistent messages we're receiving from many media that shape our beauty mind-set. To hear someone who's been exposed to far fewer "thinner is better" messages describe their perfectly healthy body as fat was really shocking. I'd just assumed that any body resulting from daily manual labour would be pleasing to them. ¶ 11:11:00 p.m. (0) comments

The Village (2004): I really enjoyed this one. (As my brother-in-law put it, "If we're still talking about it the next day, it's gotta be good.") The deliberate pace and style were typical Shyamalan. One scene in particular reminded me of the last-night hospital scene in The Exorcist III; yes, it was that good. *shudder* Add in Bryce Dallas Howard's screen-stealing performance and you have one captivating movie.

Note: spoilers follow...

It's funny, I woke up yesterday morning to my brother-in-law going on and on about this new show called Amish in the City, so what'd ya think my mind was jumpin' to as soon as it started processing all those colonial images? Yes, that's right, folks: the whole time, John's subconsciously thinking that this community has voluntarily isolated itself from the modern world. (Yes, despite the date on the tombstone; I missed it.) That made for some decidedly muted surprises as the movie progressed (as those who've seen it can no doubt imagine).

But, at the same time, I was convinced that "those whom they wouldn't speak of" were inhuman creatures. So, yes, an Amish village being terrorized by monsters was my early take on it. What can I say? I'm more than willing to suspend my disbelief; so long as the director makes an effort, I'm there. :-) Then, as Lucius' (Joaquin Phoenix) strangeness was revealed, I began to suspect that his aura, which Ivy (Bryce Dallas Howard) refused to elaborate on, was red, and that he was somehow associated with "those whom they wouldn't speak of." Yeah, far-fetched, I know, but it made for great fun. ¶ 7:53:00 p.m. (0) comments