Watching Seth MacFarlane flopsweat his way through the Oscars may have sucked all the funny out of me. Speaking of which...we rarely hit the theaters these days (after all, we have all these DVDs to watch) and when we do, its usually a kid's movie, but here's our quick reactions:
- Of the Best Picture nominees, we saw Argo, Zero Dark Thirty, and Django Unchained. Amelia saw Les Mis as well. Our votes would've gone to Django. Argo was a very good, entertaining movie, so no complaint about it winning, though it seemed there were more deserving options. Ben Affleck gave a good speech and seems like a good guy (he was the bomb in Phantoms, yo!), but he should've won something for Gone Baby Gone instead.
- Christoph Waltz and Quentin Tarantino made us happy, even though Tarantino looked like he just drank a liter of Jagermeister after snorting blow off a stripper's toes. Which is to say, he classed the place up.
- Jennifer Lawrence falling and getting right up made our night and she is (I'm sure) great in Silver Linings Playbook, which we've yet to see.
- Daniel Day Lewis talking off the cuff to Meryl Streep > Captain Kirk and Sound of Music jokes.
- I'm sure Amour is a great movie. But I don't want to weep like an abandoned child for two hours, which is what all the clips make me think would happen to me if I watched it.
- We agree with Brave winning Best Animated Feature, though our daughter would probably have voted for Paranorman (with which she is somewhat disturbingly obsessed).
- Sound dudes have really great hair, apparently.
- Russell Crowe and Amanda Seyfried can't sing live either, huh.
- Why was the orchestra not allowed to come? So they could play that hilariously impolite Jaws music without shame as desperate winners try to express earnest emotion?
- Kristin Chenoweth: agreeing to do that seemed like a good idea at the time, huh?
- Are Neil Patrick Harris, Tina Fey and/or Amy Poehler, or Steve Martin available next year?
#28: The Bourne Supremacy & #29: The Bourne Ultimatum
There isn't much to say about these films that wasn't said already in our review of The Bourne Identity. The only "big" change between Bourne the 1st and the 2nd/3rd installments is the replacement of Doug Liman (also known for Go, Swingers, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith) with Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday, United 93). Greengrass is known for his handheld documentary feel...but I don't think that strays too much from the tone and style Liman established in the first edition. But Greengrass' style - particularly in Ultimatum - will probably be visual shorthand for gritty action thrillers for a while.
Either way, all of the elements that made the first film great are there, just amped up. The shadowy government conspiracy that drives the plot gets even more labrynthine over the course of the two sequels. Ultimatum features an especially puzzle box story line - one which begins before Supremacy ends and then ties it back together. The action is more hectic and high stakes. And the supporting roles, the Joan Allens and David Straitharns and Albert Finneys of the world, are given meatier material to work with.
Also, Julia Stiles.
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| Julia Stiles checks her IMDB page to make sure that's her in the Bourne movies. |
I remember thinking it was weird that Julia Stiles was in the first Bourne movie in a pretty inconsequential role. She was big in teen movies at the time and just seemed out of place. Then she showed up in Supremacy in a few pivotal scenes. And then she becomes super important in Ultimatum. She's all like: Hey, just hanging out 'cuz this movie seems kinda cool...yeah, I guess I'll show up for a sequel...and BOOM! major character in trilogy send off. She played a long game, and it paid off. Well, played Julia Stiles. Well played. (For the record: nothing against Julia Stiles. She's okay, I guess.)
One interesting thing that occured to me watching these in a row for the first time: drowning as a symbolic thread throughout. Bourne is found in the first movie, floating in the ocean nearly dead. In the second, (SPOILER ALERT), he lets go of Marie underwater. In the third, (MORE SPOILING) he is shot as he plunges into the East River. Even in the horribly misguided fourth installment, The Bourne Legacy (don't and won't own), we meet the Poor Man's Matt Damon, Jeremy Renner, underwater somewhere in Alaska or something. I'm sure there's something deep to say about how our government's secrets and lies will eventually submerge us all or something and that's what the movies are about. But I'm just an idiot watching DVDs at home, so who cares what it all means? Just kind of cool that the movies tie together that way.
FWIW, ranking the films, having watched them all again, I'd go: (1) Ultimatum; (2) Identity; and (3) Supremacy. But they're all KEEPERS.
NEXT UP: BOWFINGER!
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