We’ll hire a dog to burn down a hospital
“From the dawn of our species, Man has been blessed with curiosity. Our most precious gift, without exception, is the desire to know more – to look beyond what is accepted as the truth and to imagine what is possible.â€
– Alvar Hanso, Address to the U.N. Security Council, 1967
…in the coming months. The Sabres now embark on a tough January/February stretch where they play most of the Western and Eastern Conference powers. This should show us whether Buffalo’s truly belongs among the NHL’s elite. They outwork pretty much every team they play, despite a perceived talent deficiency compared with other clubs. They’re reminiscent of the ’99 team that went to the Finals, so I think their work ethic is a good omen. Time will tell. They’ve definitely won over the fans in Buffalo after a rather lacklaster start (attendance and support-wise) at the beginning of the season, even though they’d consistenly been one of the best teams in the league early on. HSBC Arena was packed with a raucous crowd on Saturday night; the old “1-2-3-4-5-6-we want seven” [goals] chant from the old days at Memorial Auditorium even made an appearance. Fans are starting to believe.
director: Paul Greengrass
starring: Matt Damon, Joan Allen, Brian Cox, Karl Urban
Supremacy continues the trend of “intelligent action” that the first Bourne movie started; though this time around it’s a much leaner movie: short on dialogue and long on action sequences, but no less entertaining on a psychological level than the first movie. Wow, that was a great run-on sentence. The action is great, and I think the movie has one of the best car chase sequences ever put on film. The realism factor here is what really sells the flick, too. You’re not gonna see that kung fu, flying through the air fights while firing at each other with a gun in each hand. You get right in close here, mano y mano, each landing body blows and struggling to hold their opponent off. The only issue some might have is getting headache during said fights because of the ultra-quick cuts and pans, but I love it. I’m really impressed with the Bourne movies thus far, and I hope The Bourne Ultimatum concludes the series with the same intelligence the first two have exhibited.
director: Doug Liman
starring: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Brian Cox
There are very few “intelligent” movies nowadays, and even fewer that are also entertaining. The Bourne Identity succeed in both areas, managing to be a thinking man’s action flick. That is not to say there’s not a lot of popcorn action, but the characters, script and background are fleshed out enough to make it a worthwhile watching experience. You can categorize Identity along with popcorn movies like Face/Off, Die Another Day, and XXX, but it’s presented with a higher degree of realism and intelligence, and that elevates it over the action genre. It’s a taut, fast-paced movie, and a highly-enjoyable one at that.
director: Peter Jackson
starring: Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Viggo Mortenson, Ian McKellan
The conclusion to the Lord of the Rings saga clocks in at a hefty 3.5+ hours, but it seemed to fly by when I saw it the first time. It’s hard to imagine how Peter Jackson could conclude all of the story threads started throughout the previous two films, but amazingly enough, he pulls it off with flying colors. The battle on the plains in front of Minas Tirith will likely go down as the greatest battle sequence ever put to celluloid (at least, the greatest battle created within a computer), and the acting in Return of the King is perhaps the strongest of any of the three Rings films. There’s not a lot I can say that hasn’t already been said about these flicks, but the heaps of praise and awards these films have garnered are more than deserved.
director: Peter Jackson
starring: Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Viggo Mortenson, Ian McKellan
The second chapter of the Lord of the Rings saga picks up pretty much right where Fellowship left off; and the quality is maintained throughout. The fact that all 3 movies were filmed at once results in a seamless transition from movie to movie, and the resulting work (acting, directing, set design, etc, etc) all reaches a standard that is maintained. The CG work in Two Towers is what may stand out the most, the character work on Gollum likely being the pinnacle of computer-generated character animation to this point. Culminating with one of the greatest battles ever “filmed” at Helm’s Deep, The Two Towers more than holds its own as a standalone movie; but more than adequately bridges the first movie and the saga’s conclusion in Return of the King.
director: Peter Jackson
starring: Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Viggo Mortenson, Ian McKellan
The first chapter in the Lord of the Rings movie saga, much of Fellowship is spent introducing us to Middle Earth and its characters, chiefly those will become the entitled fellowship. It is difficult to imagine the confluence of events and luck to result in such a nearly perfect fantasy epic, with everything from casting to the music to the locations to the acting being almost note-perfect. It’s an enormous achievement visually. Despite it being the introductory chapter to a huge film saga, it stands on its own as a fantastic film. Regardless of whether you like fantasy films, of have read the books, Fellowship of the Ring is worth seeing simply as a monument to what film production at its finest can be.