Raving

I watched the short film Raving, written and directed by Julia Stiles. It's well done, interesting and amusing. Sometimes a small story concentrating on a couple of people can work really well, and this is one of those stories. Watching it in flash from the website isn't the best quality, but it will have to do unless it comes out on disk at some point. Not only is she a really good actress, but it appears she's going to be really talented behind the camera also. Hopefully this small start will turn into bigger projects down the road.

The Bourne Ultimatum

This was a very good movie, like the previous chapters in the series. I was particularly impressed with how they wove the ending of the previous movie into the story of this one. It was done so well I couldn't tell if they reused the footage interwoven with new footage or shot it again. The acting across the board is superb. The story fits in nicely with the previous movies, and the whole production sets a new level for spy movies.

I've liked the Bond movies for pretty much forever, despite misgivings about the character, but Bourne is a step above in the way that the movie is about the characters rather than about a formula that works well. It's not that Pierce Brosnan didn't try to make Bond so, and Daniel Craig seems to be doing so also, but it ultimately comes down to the writing allowing the actors to do it. The Bourne movies have resoundingly proved that you can take an action thriller like this and have it be about people rather than a collection of gadgets and stunts and one-liners. As satisfying as those can be, this is more so and also more lasting.

There are bits of movie music, specific themes that get the blood racing because you know that something familiar is coming and you know that it will likely be very enjoyable. The Bond theme has that ring, bits of the Star Wars music and so forth, and Friday night when the studio logo came on screen and the Bourne music started playing behind it I felt that same rush of anticipation coming to fulfillment.

It doesn't seem that another Bourne movie will be made, although it is certainly possible. Matt Damon has made the role his own, and I can't imagine anyone else playing it at this point, so it probably boils down to a simple question of him being willing to play the part again. Julia Stiles and Joan Allen would need to be on board also, as their characters are very much woven in and owned by them as well. It was very nice to see Julia get more to do in this one. Apart from the actors and hopefully Paul Greengrass being willing to direct, they would have to come up with a story to tell. I don't see Bourne working directly or regularly for the CIA, but I can see Bourne trusting Landy enough to listen to a request for an urgent job requiring his talents and not write it off to being just another bill of goods.


Even if they don't make another one, I'll be looking for movies involving any of those four.

Becoming Jane

The movie was well done, with a bittersweet flavor that was not unexpected, since it was based on Jane Austen's life, and we know she did not have a happy ending romantically like she gave her characters. The last bit of the film reminds me of Possession and in a way of The Age of Innocence as well, in that we don't have a totally Hollywood ending.

I don't mind endings where everything works out well, and would hardly like Jane's stories to begin with if I did. At the same time, it's nice to have some stories where things are not perfect, but there is not total heartbreak either. Given that I'm currently on course to mimic Jane's fate rather than Elizabeth's, small comforts are nice.

I read somewhere or another recently that Anne Hathaway almost did not do the film because of the pressure involved in the subject, and I'm glad she did. I'm rather beginning to like her performances, and hopefully she can continue the excellent work she has been doing recently. The rest of the cast was good also, and I was reminded that I want to watch the House of Cards trilogy with Ian Richardson again.


Upon further reflection, I'll toss in a warning to those who are intimately familiar with the history of Jane herself. It's a Hollywood film. If you can't suspend disbelief on it and forget about such things, you may want to pass, but then again, if you were paying attention to what they said they were doing while making the film, you'd already know that the film was a riff based on certain convenient bits while totally ignoring certain other bits. Jane has been big in movies recently, and something like this was pretty much inevitable. It's done now, there won't be a sequel, and we can move on and hope they come up with something based on her works again.

Three Colors: Red

I first saw the Three Colors trilogy about 10 years ago, when Red was released in Portland. They had Blue and White playing again to allow people to catch up, and I took advantage of it to see them in order. Blue is interesting, loss leading to freedom and discovery. White I haven't watched as often, somehow it didn't seem to interest me as much as the other two, but that may be a dim memory that I should refresh. It wasn't that it was not well done, it was simply different and didn't keep my attention the way Blue and Red have.

They are complex, full of thoughts and questions and coincidences. Red is the almost romance, full of near misses. A few feet here, a moment there. What might have been if two people were born closer together. Thirty or forty years apart seems like a huge gulf, but when it is compared to the centuries it seems so close. Perhaps I am influenced by my parents and their 26 year gap. It seems too much, and in practical terms I think that had much to do with the end of it, but I suppose it did not have to be that way. I have seen others where it worked anyway.

Maybe I am influenced by not having my interest returned so many times for so long. Somehow I have no doubt that when I see another opportunity, age differences will be the last thing on my mind. Well, on the other hand, the sort of difference in the more recent Venus with Peter O'Toole was too far, but I don't have to worry about that for a while yet.

Given how few people actually connect to us in that way, I suppose that letting trivial matters get in the way seems silly. Age, wealth, criticism, social class - what are they to that rare blessing? I suppose age is a more practical concern because of likely maturity differences, and the different sorts of social issues it raises. I wish it wasn't so. We wander through life, meeting people or not meeting people in a fairly random fashion, and to find a kindred soul in the vast variance of the masses seems so unlikely, yet it happens anyway. Hope springs eternal from disaster, spring follows winter, and life goes on.

It's been a long day, and hopefully sleep will come soon.

No Reservations

I saw a preview of No Reservations last night, and it was pretty good. There were quite a few people hungry by the end of the movie though, because there is a lot of food in the movie that looked quite good. There is enough variety to appeal to most, and from the reaction in the theater I'd guess most will see something less than appealing also.

It wasn't mind-bending or anything, but it was an enjoyable couple of hours if you like movies with a bit of drama, comedy and romance swirled around. I haven't seen Little Miss Sunshine yet, but after seeing this I'm not surprised Breslin got an Oscar nod for it. I didn't have any complaints about anyone else either, the cast worked well together.

It will be released on next Friday from what I've heard, so enjoy.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

J.K. Rowling can write, and the length of it flies by very fast. Threads going back many books in the series get tied into the final knots, and it is very well done indeed. I'll skip the details at this point at least, but there is a lot to think about.

I don't know what she will do next, if anything, but I'm sure it will be worth the read if she does.

Hmm, time flies...

Time flies when it is not watched. I just realized how long it's been since I put something here despite posts floating around in my head in the intervening months. Somehow they never made it here.

Time does not fly on the other hand, when insomnia strikes, or when it struck last night and you are awake enough to know that sleep is not going to come for a while yet, probably resulting in another night of the same.

Last week's heat was the cause then, not sure about now, sometimes I think it is just the lack of time outside of work when I never seem to have time to do everything I want to. Maybe if we had more hours in the day sleep would come easier. Maybe that's just wishful thinking and I would still try to sneak in an extra hour of reading or watching or talking or whatever.

Sometimes it just seems something is on my mind and even though I don't particularly want to think about it because there is nothing to be done in the wee hours of the morning, it still keeps the mind on alert. Other times the thought trains get going so fast that they will not slow down, despite knowing that the time to wake up is fast approaching.

Time flies in life too, somehow when I was younger I thought I'd be farther along by now, certainly thought I'd have been married already, but that hasn't come to pass either. Life takes twists and turns and unexpected loops, and plans get put on hold, yet somehow life moves on relentlessly anyway. The more years pile on the shorter each one seems. Perception of that presumably runs on percentages instead of absolutes.

Time to start trying to persuade the brain that sleep is a good thing.

Or maybe not. Maybe it's time to try to see if I can notice something new in a favorite movie, and let sleep sneak in the back door.