An excellent movie, an excellent sequel in the true sense of the word. A new directory but the same writer give a different energy but a continuing understanding of the characters and problem space. The Bourne Supremacy looks to be tops at the box office, giving Hallie Berry’s Catwoman the thrashing it clearly deserves.

Matt Damon so blows away his buddy Ben Affleck and this effort is no different. Joan Allen is very impressive as a CIA executive who thinks she has Bourne’s number and Brian Cox returns as the sleazy Ward Abbott; Julia Stiles made a good career choice to return even though once again she has a fairly small but all grown up part. Karl Urban doesn’t say much, which is probably good since he isn’t really Russian even if he does play quite the murderous one here.

Director Paul Greengrass brings Bourne the sharp, distinctive visual style he used in his debut feature, Bloody Sunday, and it seems like an evolution past the MTV cliched quick cuts we’ve all come to know in the last 20 years. As opposed to, say, Steven Soderburgh’s Traffic from a couple of years ago where color filters were supposed to be innovative, Greengrass and his editors use their technical chops to bring out Bourne’s inner confusion and strength.

As good as the original? Oh yeah!

absolutely recommended

I watched The Lords of Flatbush this afternoon–blame TiVo–but it was just so bad I can’t be bothered to write much of anything about it. The script was sad, the acting crackled like wrapping paper being torn off an unwanted gift and the faux-’50s soundtrack was, well, faux. Not as if there aren’t a zillion tunes that were real hits in the era. Let’s just say that Grease wthout being a musical was what this flick wanted to be and American Graffiti and American Hot Wax were contemporaries that were worth watching.

ugggggggggghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

I always remembered To Live and Die in L.A. fondly even if I only saw it once in the theaters during its run in 1985 and on cable shortly after. A very slick movie that had ahead of its time visual editing and a purpose-built rock soundtrack. Not to mention writer/director William Friedkin’s sure touch with the relationship between cops and crooks.
 
Tried to get the thing recorded by TiVo for the longest time but for some reason no luck; then Fry’s had the DVD on deep discount and voila! A lazy Summer afternoon is a great time to watch this icy cool flick.
 
The first starring roles for Willem Dafoe (the bad boy), William Peterson (the anti-hero) and John Pankow (badling before his time), the story turns on a murderous counterfieter faced off against two Secret Service agents. Peterson will go to any lengths to avenge his murdered partner (played by Michael Greene), even though his partner more or less brought his own death on by mysteriously refusing backup.
 
Not too many big blowups or action sequences but the ones we get are really strong. Most spectacular, perhaps, is an amazing, very long car chase where Peterson and Pankow don’t even know who’s chasing them or why. And a lovely romantic interest for each of the leads, with matching personalities.
 
The end is very surprising for Hollywood and I was not at all surprised to hear the director say, on his commentary track, that the studio ordered an alternate shot; watching what was proposed (an extra on the DVD) I’m more than happy he was able to stay with the original. Sadly, this was Freidkin’s last decent flick, though not his last by far. Remember Samuel Jackson’s rancid Rules of Engagement or Shaq in Blue Chips?

recommended

Was looking forward to Spider-Man 2 since walking out of the theater two years ago. Was I satisfied? Not as much as many others were to judge from the newspapers and blogs though it was okay. I still have a bit of trouble with Tobey Maguire as an action hero (can’t wait for a buff, goateed Ryan Reynolds) and at 29 he’s getting a bit old to play a 20 year old anyway.

My biggest complaint is that the picture overall lacks coherence, that director Sam Raimi wasn’t able to ride herd on the posse of producers, cast and studio execs with their endless notes and suggestions. The bits and pieces seem jammed together, not seamless as they ought to. Example: after the subway fight, Spidey is laying flat on the floor and the camera dives into the insignia on his chest to transition to the next scene, a common enough device but to be effective it needs to be used throughout the movie not just the one time. And couldn’t someone have sent Alfred Molina a personal trainer so he wouldn’t look flabby during his shirtless scenes?

recommended, good but not great

Why Jackie Chan agreed to make this movie is confusing. I know that deals often take a long time to come together but he must have been aware of Chow Yun Fat’s Bulletproof Monk. Both films are so much the same that it’s not funny, except that Chan tries to put a humorous spin with the use of Brit comic Lee Evans as his partner/foil.

Plenty of eye candy: Claire Forlani is properly luscious as the third member of their Interpol team, Christy Chung has a short bit as Evans’ lethal wife and Nicola Berwick is the bad bitch. Julian Sands doesn’t go far enough over the top playing the bad guy. Alex Bao is nearly not there as the child monk who brings forth the power of the medallion.

Somehow this took five writers to put together! And the direction seemed to be on the order of: Put the camera here, step to your marks here, come on Jackie, enunciate!

not recommended