May 9, 2005

• 

  
  

  

  
  

  MOVIE WEEKEND:
  Almost every weekend I used to go out to the movies. If I had someone with which to go, I’d accompany a friend, and if not, I’d just go “stag”. Saturday or Sunday afternoons, up until the theaters raised the prices so much that a matinee performance is eight bucks a pop (including “commercials” which are now shown on movie screens). I’ve got a nice HDTV system at home, and I have Netflix, and now a Tivo with my DirecTV service in my “media room” but I still like to go “out” every now and then, first to get out of the house, and second, because nothing beats seeing a movie on a “really big screen”. I missed Robert Rodriquez’ and Frank Miller’s “Sin City” when it came out a few weeks ago, and last week Sidney Pollack’s “The Interpreter” came out. This week there were two more films added that I wanted to see, Ridley Scott’s “Kingdom of Heaven” and “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” even though I was never a fan of the book or original radio series.
  My friend Jim is a fan of the books, and I dropped by his house on Sunday at about 10a.m. to see if I could interest him in coming to the movies. Now, last time I dropped by, he was immersed in this online “game” called “World of Warcraft”. He wasn’t “playing” it on Sunday morning, but he was talking to his other friend Jim on the voice hookup on instant messenger. I told them about my “Renaissance Day” video, and they both watched that along with me. Then I asked the other Jim if he was into the “World of Warcraft”. No sooner had I mentioned it than both guys signed in to the server with the online “world” and I got to see them walking around trying to kill “brutes” and “warlocks” and what have you. I got to watch both of them die three times. I’ve mentioned before that I’m not really into “video games” or “online games” or their ilk, so this wasn’t too interesting to me. I asked Jim if he wanted to see “Hitchhiker” and he was now “into the game” so passed.
  I went to breakfast, and then headed over to the theater. I ended up going to see “The Interpreter” and “Kingdom of Heaven”.
  I’ll award both films 8 of 10 on the MIkometer. Both Pollack and Scott have been directing films for many years. Pollack is in his 70s, and directed the excellent thriller “Three Days of the Condor” in the 70s. “Interpreter” is a stylish thriller like Condor, with Nicole Kidman as a UN interpreter from a small African nation who overhears some countrymen plotting an assasination attempt on the country’s President, who has been accused of genocide, when he comes to make a speech in front of the general assembly the following week. Sean Penn is the federal agent assigned to protect her. His backup is the acid tongued and always delightful Catherine Keener. Both Sean and Nicole are excellent actors, and although there are a couple of plot holes, the pace is kept brisk by Pollack, and the movie never settles into boredom.
  When paying 8 bucks, I always go into another theater (even though this is “against the rules”) to see a “second feature” and one of the theaters was showing “Kingdom of Heaven” immediately after I walked out of “The Interpreter” so I ducked into that theater, found a seat (which is pretty easy when you’re a “single”) and settled in for some more fantastic entertainment.
  Ridley Scott is known to modern audiences as the director of the Oscar winning “The Gladiator” but his first film, “The Duellists” is about swordplay, and the guy is great at directing fight and battle scenes. The  “Kingdom of Heaven” is the City of Jerusalem in the 1100′s, between the first and the second Crusade, and the story is about how the city falls to the Muslim forces of the warrior Saladin after a hundred years of a fragile peace when the Christians are in charge of the city. Starring Orlando Bloom, who is growing into a fascinating action star, LIam Neeson, David Thewlis, Marton Csokas, Jeremy Irons, Edward Norton, and Brendan Gleeson, this is the film that deserves an Oscar if “Gladiator” already got one. It is far more serious “entertainment”, and the battle scenes, court intrigue, and master storytelling is on par with the great epic films of all time. I’m glad I got a chance to see this one on “the big screeen”.
  I also rented a few fine films this past week. Brad Silbering’s “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events”, (10 of 10, and now one of my favorite films) “Birth” with Nicole Kidman (7 of 10) and “House of Flying Daggers” (7 of 10) a martial arts movie akin to “Crouching Tiger, HIdden Dragon” in it’s use of cinematography and in star Zhang Ziyi who was in “Crouching Tiger”.
  “Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events” was called a “kid’s movie” by the woman at work who recommended it, but I’m certainly no kid, and I enjoyed every frame. This is a “fantasy” movie with heart, a wicked sense of humor, and some of the best sets and setpieces since “Lord of the Rings”. The acitng, both by the “kids” Emily Browning and Kyle Aiken, and their “guardians”, Billy Connolly, Meryl Streep, and the excellent Jim Carrey is just wonderful. I had read some rather negative reviews of this film when it came out, and it was completely overlooked at the box office if memory serves, but it is fantastic entertainment, for more than “just kids”, although it is the story of three orphaned children and the “unfortunate” events which befall them. “Birth” is the story of a 10 year old child who claims to be the deceased husband of Nicole Kidman’s character, and is very involving, but needs some time to get going. “House of Flying Daggers” is visually stunning, and a great “historical” martial arts movie to boot.
  I did take the camera with me yesterday when going out, but it was overcast for the early part of the day, and when I got out of the theater after four hours I didn’t want to do much of anything except go home.
  I have it with me today because I plan to take some photos of the Jacaranda trees in Long Beach, which are now in full lavender bloom.
  Who knows, perhaps next weekend will be a photo expedition. 

  • 9:45 am
  • 11 Comments