|
|
|
| Two bad days |
(Tue, 24 Apr 2007)
|
I am able to sporadically add to my collection of heist, con, and caper movies, and recently scored two: L4yer Cake and The Long Good Friday. We watched them back to back, which highlighted some interesting symmetries.
"L4yer Cake" was a starring vehicle for Daniel Craig, who would very soon thereafter go on to be the next James Bond. As it turns out, "The Long Good Friday" was the first movie for Pierce Brosnan, who doesn't say anything but starts off his movie career by playing an assassin, heh.
But the interesting part is that they're basically the same plot. A guy has lived a life of crime and gotten things shipshape. He's now ready to retire and go legit. Just as he's about to do that, tho, something happens. In "Layer Cake," Daniel Craig is asked to do one more little job that, mmm, does not go well. "In The Long Good Friday," a little incident in a remote corner of Bob Hoskin's crime empire turns out to have very big effects. Both men are up against forces that they don't fully understand till somewhat late in the movie. In both cases, they make gut decisions along the way about how to handle things. And in both cases, those are probably not the right decisions to have made.
And both movies have lots of funny Cockney accents. :-) |
|
Author: mike pope |
Category: movies |
Comments: 2 |
More...
|
|
| Cons and heists |
(Sun, 11 Feb 2007)
|
If I have one favorite genre of movie, it's probably the heist movie and its kissin' cousin, the con movie. There's something uniquely satisfying about the clever plot and the inevitable final twist that makes for a fine movie-viewing experience.
In the last year or so, on the few occasions I've gone into a (bleah) video rental place, I've come to realize that in many cases, it's as cheap to buy a used-I-mean-previously-viewed movie as it is to rent one. So I began a gradual process of accreting a collection of these con-n-heist movies. I have also discovered that I will, contrary to a previous belief of mine, re-watch a movie on DVD, given sufficient time between viewings.
I've been maintaining a list of movies that I keep a lookout for in case I run across DVDs for sale. The list is progressing nicely, but I'm always interested to hear about (or be reminded about) movies that I should add.
Here's my list. A plus sign means that I've gotten it. A question mark means I haven't seen it, but it's been recommended. An @-sign means it's been recommended in a comment.
|
|
Author: mike pope |
Category: movies |
Comments: 13 |
More...
|
|
| Bond |
(Sun, 26 Nov 2006)
|
We went to see the latest Bond the other day, and as far as I'm concerned, the review is easy: best Bond ever. Gone (mostly), thank god, are the gadgetopias and smirking double entendres, the centerfold Bond girls, the faux sophistication of "shaken not stirred," the megalomaniac would-be world rulers.
I was introduced to Bond with "Dr. No" and "Goldfinger" and "Thunderball," and after absorbing these as movies, I discovered the books, which I read, all of them, multiple times. I was about 14 at the time. The early movies made an effort to follow Fleming's plots, with (cf "Dr. No") some modernization. As most people probably know, starting with about "You Only Live Twice," the movies diverged from the books until at about "Octopussy," the only trace left of the books (or in this case, short story) was the title. The movies devolved into forumlas that had to have gadgets (where Q always had to make an appearance) and where the audience waited for the requisite lines -- "Bond. James Bond." -- and improbable chase scenes.
But lost among all the camp was the heart of what the double-O-7 designation was supposed to represent: that Bond is a killer, an assassin, that he's licensed to do the sort of thing that governments never admit they sanction. (In the short story "The Living Daylights," Bond is nothing more than a sniper.) "Casino Royale" puts the 00 designation in our face as no other movie has, making it an integral part of the story. The opening sequence, where we find out how Bond first used his 00 designation, touches on the issue that is in the undercurrent throughout the movie. Some of the first lines in the movie already hint at the issue, when someone wants to say "the second time it's easier," although there is a, um, interruption in the speech. Bond gets a chance to redeem himself, to draw back from losing his soul to this inhuman, immoral work, but as is always required in the Bond universe, things don't work out the way they do in other movie genres.
[more] |
|
Author: mike pope |
Category: movies |
Comments: 4 |
More...
|
|
| Wal-Marked |
(Mon, 14 Nov 2005)
|
Last night we attended one of the premiere screenings of the documentary Wal-Mart: The High Price of Low Cost. This was made by Robert Greenwald, director of Outfoxed. It's reminiscent of Michael Moore's Roger & Me -- not so much a political movie as an anti-corporate philippic.
The premise is, of course, that Wal-Mart is ruining America. The evidence that Greenwald presents is dismaying and at times heartbreaking. On the one hand is the exploitation of the poor as employees; as supplier factory workers in China, Bangladesh, and Honduras; and even as customers. On the other is the ruthlessness with which the corporation mistreats workers, bankrupts competition, busts unions, siphons civic dollars, and leverages welfare and Medicaid to effectively substitute for decent corporate benefits.
I'll note here that this is if one assumes at face value all of the points made in the film.
Most of the film is interviews. He interviews ex-employees, including at least one VP-level guy. He also interviews business owners who have been run out of business by Wal-Mart (or let's say that that's the strong suggestion), one or two Wal-Mart mouthpieces, and at the end, a number of activists who have been successful in preventing a Wal-Mart from opening in their community.
The film relies on a lot of heavy-handed irony to underscore its points. Somehow Greenwald got hold of film clips of Lee Scott, Wal-Mart's CEO. (A lot of it looks like a shareholder meeting.)[1] Greenwald lets Scott lead the movie -- for every claim that Scott makes in his speech, Greenwald has interviews and statistics that suggest quite a different story.
[more] |
|
Author: mike pope |
Category: movies |
Comments: 1 |
More...
|
|
| Netflix hiatus |
(Mon, 19 Sep 2005)
|
While casting about for ways to economize, and with Mr. Bollywood now off to college, I was considering unsigning myself up for Netflix. I believe I've fallen below the break-even point for movie rentals vis-a-vis the monthly price.
But those clever folks are a step ahead of me. They offer a deal where you can put your account on hold for up to 90 days, preserving your queue and all that. I can see the thinking -- never let go of a customer once you've got 'em. So I can assess whether the dark days of winter will return me to my usual pattern of consuming movies at a great clip, as is likely to happen. And in the meantime, no bridges burned. |
|
Author: mike pope |
Category: general,movies |
Comments: 2 |
More...
|
|
| Found in Translation |
(Tue, 17 May 2005)
|
The fundamental theme of the excellent movie Lost in Translation is, of course, being lost -- in work, in relationships, in life. This theme is illustrated implicitly by the technique of putting the characters into Tokyo and never providing any subtitles or other clues as to what's going on. Now and again the film makes the theme explict, and nowhere better than in the scene in which Bill Murray is being instructed by a director with flurries of Japanese, but whose words are rendered by the translator into directions like "with more ... intensity."
The humor depends on not understanding what the director is actually saying, so it's a bit of a spoiler (or just cheating) to hear a translation. But it's hard to resist. The Japanese blogger Xogij, who maintains the site Extraordinary Ordinary Guy in Japan[1], provides a translation of the Santori Time scene.
As an aside, the site is great, well worth exploring for insights into Japanese culture as both different and the same as ours.
Blog link from the ever-fascinating (and addictive) 
|
|
Author: mike pope |
Category: language,movies |
Comments: 0 |
More...
|
|
| The Graduate |
(Sat, 09 Apr 2005)
|
Erica and I watched the movie "The Graduate" on Friday. Erica had put it on her Netflix queue as part of her campaign to see classic movies that "everyone knows," which has included others like "Annie Hall." (In this case: "Plastics.") I saw the movie years ago -- possibly more than 25 years. So I remembered tiny bits and pieces, but didn't have much of a sense about whether I would like it or how well it would hold up.
Answer: I like it and it does hold up quite well. I'd thought it might look dated, and certain aspects of it are a little dated, but not in any way that detracts from the experience. The plot, the acting, and especially the film-making technique all continue to be stellar. According to IMDB, this was not Dustin Hoffman's first movie, but close (nor Katherine Ross's, for that matter), but his edgy, nervous persona works perfectly in the movie. And I'm pleased to see that Anne Bancroft got an Oscar nomination, well deserved.
Conclusion: recommended.
|
|
Author: mike pope |
Category: movies |
Comments: 0 |
More...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|