1. I spend 45 minutes preparing the Mac for capturing one of the videos I've been working on for a month.
2. The computer begins to capture the video.
3. A customer walks in to laminate something, asking to check her e-mail while she waits.
4. My boss calls my name and nods to me to indicate that of the 20 computers in this room the woman selected the computer that I was capturing video on.
5. In less than 10 seconds she clicked around enough to cancel everything I'd captured over the course of an hour and a half.
Why not?
I didn't want to nap after work but now I'm almost certain that I'm going to have to. They've had half of the lights off today (as they sometimes do for reasons of which I am unsure) and that is the kiss of death. Only five and a half more hours. God help me.
Song for the day is one of my all time favorites: Your Ex-Lover Is Dead by Stars. Reading that as a single sentence is pretty humorous. Anywayyy:
Yesterday while at Best Buy purchasing Shoot 'Em Up, The Ice Harvest, Definitely Maybe, and Blow (all on sale for anyone who is interested) I thought of a potentially hysterical proposed Blu-Ray release. Unfortunately I forgot it within the hour. I decided as a form of mourning I won't have one today. Yes, it was that good.
Someone brought to my attention that my list of potential Blu-Ray releases is, in effect, nothing more than a list of awful movies. I completely understand that. But it's funny to think of them going through the trouble of making these movies super high quality.
Before I begin my review I have an odd experience to document. I went into Best Buy yesterday to purchase The Wrestler (also on sale). I had seen the movie in theaters when it first came out and I really liked it. I had a bit of a spontaneous crisis when I picked up the movie in the store, however. It had never happened to me before. I realized that although I loved the movie I couldn't picture myself ever wanting to watch it again. After brief debate I put it back on the shelf and picked up Definitely Maybe instead which has a high rewatchability value, in my opinion. Funny how things work out...
#19: Public Enemies
It's strange that this is one of those movies that seems to have been in production for ages but when it finally came out there was little interest. I heard very few people talk about this movie and I know even fewer who have even seen it. When I went to see it on the 4th of July (its second week, I believe) my friend and I were two of eight people in the theater. I know it was the 4th of July, but it was a late enough showing that I figured people might go just for something to do in the wee hours.
While I can't say that this blog signifies a return to positive reviews I can at least say it represents a lift in tone from the last few entries. I enjoyed this movie. I didn't love it and I don't anticipate buying it when it comes out on DVD unless there are some truly killer special features, but it was a nice enough way to spend my 4th.
My mom told me about a review for the movie that called it all style and no substance. I'm willing to admit that this is largely true but I don't think it necessarily detracted from the film. The basic story of John Dillinger is known well enough that the filmmakers had the liberty of glossing over the details in favor of some interesting cinematic choices. For example, there was a film noir sort of feel to the movie that made it feel vintage but not dated. The perpetually dimly lit cities posited against the white-washed country helped convey the sense of the dramatic changes in setting that Dillinger had to make to keep himself concealed, and it also contributed to the vintage air. One of my favorite scenes was a premature raid on the hotel Dillinger was staying at and the subsequent scuffle that broke out. The lighting here was done perfectly--dark enough so that you get the sense of the complete lack of visibility, but lit as a movie has to be in order for the viewer to know what's going on.
Johnny Depp's performance was (unsurprisingly) wonderful. He played the cocky, charming protagonist flawlessly and his quiet but confident challenges of authority never got tiring. What was actually disappointing, in my opinion, was Christian Bale's performance. There were moments where his character seemed so forced that you sensed an actual struggle for him to keep it up. This, of course, makes me wonder if Depp IS the Riddler in the final Batman movie if he will completely overshadow Bale and ultimately end the series on a sour note, but that's just because I'm a Batman fanatic and that is a legitimate concern of mine. It could just be that Bale had to play the stern, humorless cop hell-bent on finding Dillinger at any cost.
If we are to assume that Bale played the character the way he was supposed to, I think that it adds even more to the film's final scene--by far the highlight of the entire piece. Bale was left out of it entirely because it involved an outpour of emotion that Bale's character likely would have had no reaction to despite the fact that his character seemed to be necessary at the conclusion. I can add this to my list of summer movies that included perfect endings that resonated the way a good ending should.
Unfortunately there isn't much more to say about the movie besides I liked it. The reason I included my little anecdote about The Wrestler at the beginning is because when that happened I realized how I felt about Public Enemies. I enjoyed it when I saw it and can acknowledge it as a solid movie, but I don't think I could ever watch it again. Bale, Depp, and Marion Cotillard (who also gave an excellent performance) collaborated on what was an entertaining movie that will likely be forgotten when scanning lists of their roles ten years from now.
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