Not a lot of time to post today, but pick up today’s NOW and you’ll find me working outside my comfort zone, covering the ImagineNATIVE festival in one part of the Movies section and a retrospective of Laurel Nakadate’s experimental videos in another.
It’s fun to stretch!
Well, sometimes.
So I’ve ordered a new projector. An Epson 1080UB, to replace my sturdy but tired Sanyo PLV-Z1. It seemed like it was time to upgrade to a system that was capable of 1080p/24, the better to fully exploit my system’s various high-def devices.
Not just the Blu-ray and HD DVD players, mind you. I was really hoping to catch at least one of the presidential debates in true HD, just to see how bad John McCain’s makeup looks. (That comb-over ain’t helping, either.)
I had a plan and everything. I was going to inaugurate the projector — after performing the proper calibrations, of course — with a screening of Paramount’s BD edition of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”, which I never did manage to see in 35mm.
I tried, I really did, but between getting turned away from the Cannes premiere and coming back to a crammed summer schedule that segued with distressing speed into those merciless August TIFF press screenings, I never quite caught up to it.
So now I have the Blu-ray disc, and a plan to see it in the highest resolution available at home … but it remains just a plan. Though I ordered the projector over a week ago, and was assured that I’d have it early this week, that hasn’t quite worked out; my dealer told me yesterday that the unit was back-ordered, and won’t be shipping out until tomorrow at the earliest.
There’s still a slim chance that I’ll have it on Friday, but it’s more likely that I won’t get it until next Tuesday or even Wednesday, meaning I have to watch the movie in the Z1’s stepped-down (though still pretty good) presentation.
Anyway, in all of this negotiation, I’ve realized something: I’m awfully ambivalent about watching “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”. Is there really going to be anything to say about the character, or the franchise, 19 years later? Is this going to be a polished Spielberg entertainment, or another empty Lucas attempt to squeeze a little more juice out of an aging brand?
Obviously, this is a question to which most of you already know the answer. But I’ve sort of gotten used to being the only guy who hasn’t seen the new “Indy” movie; it’s not a badge of honor or anything, more like a hole in my resume that I just haven’t corrected. And now that I have to watch the film, I’m not entirely sure that I want to. Part of me wants to leave the series as it was, a cherished treasure of the 1980s, with Indy and his dad riding off into the sunset at the end of “The Last Crusade”.
Can’t do that, of course. Gotta watch the new one eventually. Stupid professional obligations.
My latest Sympatico/MSN movie gallery ties in to the release of “Religulous”, running down seven other confrontational documentaries.
I know the inclusion of “Borat” stretches things a little, but then so does the inclusion of “Expelled” — and we’re all about generating conversation, right?
Anyway, you see my point.
It turns out I did have more to say about Paul Newman, after all. It ended up in my weekly film column for the NOW site. Perhaps you’d like to read it.
Warning: Political commentary! (I’m such a maverick.)
You could be forgiven for thinking that the Festival had returned; almost every movie opening today played at TIFF just weeks ago. That’s October for you …
“Blindness“: Yep, they recut it after its grim Cannes premiere. Didn’t help.
“Flash of Genius“: Greg Kinnear sparkles and twitches right on cue as Robert Kearns, the engineer who invented the intermittent windshield wiper and spent a decade or so trying to prove it. The movie around him is just as calculated as the performance.
“How to Lose Friends and Alienate People“: Simon Pegg is a very funny man, and I know he wants to break through to a larger audience, but … really, man, movies like this are not the way to do that, even if they do co-star Kirsten Dunst and Jeff Bridges.
“Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist”: Michael Cera and Kat Dennings are a perfectly adorable couple of hipster young’uns in Peter Sollet’s mostly delightful romantic comedy, which only veers wrong when it panders to the gross-out crowd. (Which only happens once, and it’s over really quickly.)
“Rachel Getting Married””: Jonathan Demme never stopped making interesting movies, but with “The Truth About Charlie”, “The Manchurian Candidate” and “Jimmy Carter Man from Plains” he kind of drifted away from the emotional stuff. This lovely little ensemble piece marks his welcome return.
“Religulous“: Bill Maher’s confrontational documentary feels less like an intellectual examination of the false comfort of faith and more like an excuse to make fun of the faithful. Which is cool, I guess — it’s his movie — but I’m still not sure what I was supposed to take away from it beyond cheap mockery and a sense of Maher’s immense self-regard. YMMV, as they say.
“The Secret of the Grain”: I still haven’t managed to catch up to Abdellatife Kechiche’s festival favorite about small-town dreamers and a floating couscous restaurant, but Rad and Jason are both pretty high on it, so I’m hoping to see it soon.
Also opening today: “Beverly Hills Chihuahua”. Can’t say I’m sorry I’m missing it.
Today’s NOW features my interviews with Bill Maher and Simon Pegg, on the occasion of the release of their respective films “Religulous” and “How to Lose Friends and Alienate People”, as well as lots of other content that we’ll get to tomorrow.
Oh, and if you live in Toronto and haven’t planned out your Nuit Blanche activities yet, do consider Cinematheque Ontario’s program of 1920s silents, which will be running throughout the night.
If you get a little bleary around 5 am, Harold Lloyd might just be the pick-me-up you need …
Here’s my latest Sympatico/MSN DVD column, draping pretty much all the credit for the success of “Iron Man” across the deserving shoulders of Robert Downey, Jr.
Ah, who am I kidding? Jon Favreau deserves a little love, too.
Also Gwyneth Paltrow, who was suitably awesome.
Just check it out, would you?
I’d planned to post this over the weekend, but it got shunted aside by other stuff: It’s my latest Sympatico/MSN movie column, a gallery of contemporary actors who’ve given surprisingly convincing performances in period garb.
Sorry about the title, by the way. Couldn’t be helped.
Oh, and speaking of period pieces, have you caught the digital reissue of “The Godfather” yet? Here’s a piece I filed for the NOW website last Friday examining the whole theatrical-vs-DVD issue.
Just adding to the conversation …
… well, you know.
I discussed what little experience I had with Newman a couple of months ago, when the news first broke that he was ill.
There’s not much else to say, beyond this one thing: Paul Newman was one of only two people whom all three of my grandparents were ever impressed that I’d met. The other was Rod Steiger.
They’re all gone now.
Really, I got nothing else.
Do you like reading? Do you like reading words? Collected in books and magazines? Why, perhaps you’re reading something right now!
If reading sounds like something you might do, you should check out The Word on the Street Book & Magazine Festival, taking place this Sunday from 11 am to 6 pm at Queen’s Park. And if you’re there between one and two in the afternoon, stop by Booth #208, where I’ll be entertaining people — or at least talking to them about movies — under the NOW banner.
If I’m reading the map right, NOW’s booth will be up at the northeast section of Queen’s Park Circle. And if I’m reading the map wrong, well, I may be slightly late.