The Illusionist - Edward Norton doing his thang

Heard of this one? It was the indie version of Chris Nolan's The Prestige. But it's a pleasure to watch on the small screen, where Ed Norton's performance carries more weight than it deserves to, Jessica Biel is as appealing as ever (even if she does have a piggy face) and Paul Giamatti turns in another great supporting actor performance (playing a character I find too ridiculous to be true, though). In general this is a kind of a goofy movie. It's got a lot of holes. But generally a pleasingly quirky production and a nice way to spend a couple hrs on a lazy weekend.

Is Children of Men any good??

It's a strong B -- interesting, very nicely executed in parts, but flawed.

Positives:
- Cinematography builds excitement
- Michael Caine's performance (though some of his lines are garbled and difficult to parse)

Negatives:
- Clive Owen is hardly a favorite actor of mine. He's been deflating the fun out of movies since I saw him in Croupier. I didn't like him in Closer. I didn't like him in Derailed. I don't really like him in general.

Overall: Pretty good effort. I don't feel bad that the movie was passed over w/ regards to Oscar nominations.

An observation (or Clint knows a little something)

Scorsese, Coppola, Altman, Spielberg, DePalma (somewhat) were unique in the sense that they had remarkable ambition -- Tarantino has that today, but not too many others. I do think there are enough talented screenwriters out there who could supply enough decent material for the current crop of directors to work from -- but perhaps these directors are too obnoxious or unmotivated to realize the importance of forming relationships w screenwriters. Seems like Clint Eastwood actively seeks out relationships w/ screenwriters, like Paul Haggis, Richard Lagravenese, etc. Shows in his work.

NYT on need for a community of filmmakers

This article speaks of need for a community of filmmakers. Interestingly, Steven Soderbergh and Clooney started something like that called Section 8, which they ended up shuttering in Oct of last year. To my mind, seems like it helped the two of THEM make films, but didnt do much for any community of creative filmmakers at large.

Check out this article on Section 8.

Coppola -- You're a Big Boy Now!

From article on Francis Ford Coppola's new plan (at age 67) for himself....

''It's a very big change of the type of career that I had before. I always wanted to be a filmmaker who wrote his own original material,'' he says, recalling his earlier movies ''The Conversation'' (1974) and ''The Rain People'' (1969).

Coppola now hopes to write and direct films at the pace of Woody Allen -- something he can finance partly because of the success of his wine business.

''I view this as the career I always wished I could have,'' Coppola says. ''Now, I'm in a place where I can be my own patron.''

Robert Altman's The Gingerbread Man -- if you enjoy Hitchcockian thrillers...

...you'll love Robert Altman's The Gingerbread Man...I really enjoyed it. Probably most would say it's a lesser Altman movie, certainly dropped dead when released in the theaters. But it has a lot going for it -- Hitchcockian thriller, great acting by Kenneth Branagh, Robert Downey Jr, Robert Duvall, Embeth Davidtz, and others. Great sense of atmosphere, clever writing. Perhaps most of all, an affection for the material and for telling stories through film. I listened to Altman's commentary as well and was struck by how humble he is. He's got great talent as an artist and a leader (works well w/ cast and crew, knows what he wants but achieves it by working in a very collaborative, cordial manner w/ other talented artists).

If you're in the mood for a good thriller and you like Branagh's style (I personally find it very entertaining, whether its here or in Dead Again, Henry V, Hamlet, etc. The guy is very watchable.)

The Pledge - Nicholson and Penn make for great cinema

Let me say that I wholeheartedly agree w/ the allmovie.com review of Sean Penn's The Pledge (2001): "The Pledge is pure cinema -- deep, meaningful, and about something. The film itself and the talents involved are so good that it doesn't really have to be perfect." This is dead-on. It's not a perfect movie -- the series of cameo appearances by Helen Mirren, Harry Dean Stanton, etc are distracting and detract from the main plot. But as a study of obsession, the film is very interesting. And Nicholson is such a pleasure to watch. In his way, he completely inhabits the character, literally loses himself in the role. He's a version of Nicholson we're somewhat familiar with, but w/ subtle differences. I'd imagine that only someone who could truly relate to the character -- who spends plenty of alone-time fishing in the wilderness of near Reno, NV -- would do such a fine job bringing him to life. As for Penn, he is getting better as a director (its a hard job to master!). One thing he could remind himself -- editing and camerawork are real real important. The length of the film could have been trimmed by 5-10 minutes and the camerawork could have been sharper and more revealing of the characters position in the broader landscape. But overall, a nice piece of work. Another round of applause should go to Nicholson -- I'm consistently amazed at his ability to pick such interesting subject matter and manage to work w/ such talented writers/directors/etc.