  My movie odyssey. Saturday morning dawned with nothing much for me to do, so I decided it might be a good time to get in some movies that I've been wanting to see. Since most everything on my list didn't interest Diane, I decided to go by myself and just do a marathon of matinee showings out in Maumee, Ohio. The first thing I did was apply to the Department of Justice for a travel permit, in accordance with the draconian PATRIOT act and the martial law that had been imposed in a Bushian attempt to control our lives. After swearing allegiance to Mein Fuhrer, permission was granted for me to drive across town. The barricades and roadblocks were easily negotiable, as I am a white man - a member of the privileged class. Upon arriving at the theater, I decided to start with a 10:40 showing of I, Robot. I had fairly low expectations for this film, but I decided to view it anyway since I did love the Asimov story, and was curious about what they had done to it.
I noticed no interest in F911, but that might be due to the machine gun emplacement at the theater doors, along with the Republican hate squads on the prowl for anyone even looking a little liberal - more stifling of dissent! After sitting through several public service announcements, and reciting the PATRIOT Act mandated Pledge to Our Savior, the best part of any movie going experience started - the trailers! If you are like me, this really is the purpose of seeing a movie. Each upcoming trailer is a small thrill, like a present to be unwrapped.
You don't know what is going to start rolling after that green or red frame displaying the rating, and as Mark had said earlier, the previews are so much better than the resulting film. Several average movies paraded by, none really getting my attention. Until urlLink this hit the screen. This has got to be one of the best trailers I have seen in many years. If there had been a credit card machine embedded in the seat, I would have purchased tickets right there and then.
I couldn't wait to hand my money to someone. I'm becoming more and more of a fan of Asian cinema, and this fulfills all the criteria of a good Asian movie. The visuals are stunning and the violence stylized. The plot might suck, but I would still be happy if the film delivers what the trailer promises. Watch the whole thing, to the very end. I Robot actually surpassed my expectations by NOT being an utter pile of garbage. It was still mostly bad, but not mindlessly bad. It had that Minority Report feel in terms of the technology - clean, functional lines and a dependence on computers even when a simple 'on' button would be better. The plot conventions are typical of Hollywood, where no one actually designs anything while thinking about what might go wrong.
No Failure Mode and Effects Analysis in the future. "Gee, what if we have to shut it down? The off switch is suspended 30 stories in the air reachable only by narrow gantries and a switch guarded by the very thing we might want to shut down someday. " "Be quiet, and make the gantries more flimsy. " I Robot was a wonderful story about racism and the definition of life.
I Robot the movie had a few moments where they could have really explored racism, especially when the two major cops were both black. Instead, they squandered a real nice chance to explore the issues that make Science Fiction such a nice medium for turning our world on it's head so we can see if from another angle. Instead, we get flash and bang, guns and bullets, and poetic scenes of Will Smith flying through the air while pumping lead into a moving target a la Neo.
Too bad. After this film, I received permission from a Homeland Security agent to leave the theater and grab a quick lunch before returning for a showing of Collateral. The preview cycle for Collateral was very good, and I got a second viewing of the Hero trailer, mentioned above. Once again, I felt like waving some cash around and begging someone to give me a ticket. A mediocre trailer for Alexander offered nothing more than an instant of Alexander on a horse facing off with a mounted elephant - a great image, but gone too fast. It's an Oliver Stone film, so I'm sure Alexander travels to Viet Nam and is ultimately killed by plague introduced by the CIA. Another 'new' movie (to me) was Suspect Zero, staring Ben Kingsley. If you've seen Sexy Beast and House of Sand and Fog, then Kingsley automatically earns ticket money from me, at least until he makes something bad. He plays a remote viewer (to reach Art Bell, west of the Rockies dial 1-800....) who decides to take our serial killers on his own.
So he's running from other agents while slaying his way across the country in various colorful ways. Again, I don't know if it is any good, buy you have Kingsley looking menacing and killing people while speaking with a slight British accent. What more do you need? I had mentioned on Friday that I had high expectations for Collateral. Michael Mann is a great director who isn't afraid to let a story develop at it's own pace. I'm not ready to declare Collateral as the major film of the year so far, but it was VERY good.
If you are old enough to remember Miami Vice, you'll see similarities here. Mann lets the camera roll while the characters are doing what normal people do, and you get a sense of normalcy and everydayness that works well. There are a couple of long sequences where we follow the cab as it drives around LA, accompanied by whatever music is appropriate (electric, jazz, classical), all the while getting a sense of the disconnectedness of LA and the characters from one another. It's like a small music video that really sets the mood. We see Cruise and Fox in the cab through rain drizzled windows, out of focus as they drive by. A sense of regular life, which makes the events of the film more interesting. It builds a sympathy that is believable, since it is so easy to reflect on your own quiet, boring moments waiting on something to happen while driving across town, or just relaxing.
It works so well. And Mann has structured the film like a bunch of smaller films all related by certain themes. Each extended scene plays like a self contained story, exploring a specific aspect of the characters. You watch Fox absorb some of the hardness of Cruise while at the same time repulsed by what his passenger does for a living. You also get a longing sense from Cruise, a man who denies life, and we wonder why. It's nice to see two actors act, just sitting in a cab talking about an improbable situation with a minimum of hysteria.
The dialogue is really good, but a little hard to hear at times. My only complaint is about a shootout in a nightclub, where I'm not entirely clear about who represents whom. I can't tell the cops from the bad guys from the other bad guys. It doesn't ruin it, but it takes me out of the scene a little when I'm trying to figure out who just got capped.
There is also another minor thread following a couple of cops trying to sort things out, but it seems out of place in the film, and I suspect editing disposed of a lot of footage. Collateral is a film that requires your attention. You need to pay attention, relax, and let it happen. I think you'll find your time rewarded. This isn't a film to half-watch on DVD while your kids play in the next room. You need focus. I nearly bought a ticket to the Manchurian Candidate, but Diane called and asked me to come home. After four plus hours of watching, I decided I'd probably had enough. 
