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Monday, December 08, 2003
Well, that was a strange couple of days, right there. Two feet o' snow trapping the world inside, giving everyone in New England a big honkin' something-in-common.
My car's still buried, I'm connected up to work from home, and digging myself out when the strength returns and the mood strikes me. The weekend was spent with a bunch of teevee, a dash of reading, and a seriously fun snow-trek to a near-deserted Harvard Square. 
 The Charles was a color I'd never quite seen it. A uniform, muddy, coffee-colored coating contrasted sharply with the whitewashed riversides ...  We caught the early Sunday showing of the Last Samurai at the Harvard Square theater, and I fully expected to be disappointed. Even though I'm a sucker for all things Samurai, I still laughed the first time I saw the preview for it a few months back. Mr. Cruise just looked so silly and out of place in the clips, but Edward Zwick in the director's chair and beautiful shots of the Japanese countryside are enough to get my ass in a seat. The film often walked a fine line of cheezy cruise-ness, shoe-horning in a love interest that threatened to push it over the edge, but it kept its balance and won me over. The main reason was Ken Watanabe as the titular hero. He was so perfectly cast, gave such a brilliant performance, that he disappeared completely into the role and more than made up for Cruise's inability to do the same. Cruise is in that unfortunate position of being too popular ... even though he acted his ass off in this thing, he'll always be Tom, playing Tom, playing a part. He picked the right movie to work against that, though... a great director, solid script, stellar supporting cast. There was one split second where I almost forgot he was Mr. Hollywood. Almost. But not quite. One other aspect of the movie that got me good was the fight sequences... some of the best I've seen in any recent Hollywood flick. They had weight, impact, consequences, and just the right amount of blood. The editing was exciting without being jumpy and confusing. I loved the battle scenes, the hand to hand (ninjas!), everything. Are you someone who gets a thrill every time Legolas lets an arrow fly in Lord of the Rings? Well, how about a whole heap of that? Yes, please. So, yeah, the Last Samurai satisfied, and was the perfect winter weekend diversion, along with a ton of other in-house viewing... Had a little Carnivale marathon, too. Watched the entire second half of the just-ended first season, and disappeared right into it. Six episodes, not a whole lot of payoff in the end, with one hell of a cliff-hanger until next season... but what a ride it was. Quality television right there. Let's see... what else? Ah, Netflix helped pass the time, too. Watched Spike Lee's 25th Hour, which was just ok. Well done, well-acted, but a definite downer. I expected that going in, but that still didn't make it any less depressing. Followed it up with the Quiet American, which wasn't exactly the feel-good movie of the year either. I liked it more than 25th Hour simply due to Michael Caine's stand-out performance, and the amount I learned about the years leading up to the Vietnam war. Fascinating stuff, and something I was glad to know more about. Now that's edu-tainment. Alright, time to head back outside for more snow shovelin'...  |
 neil halstead live in cambridge, ma on november 14th, 2008 previously: joy formidable - boston 2011 recent posts on the 'nac... on the nightstand boston-area music bloggers
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