City By the Sea
A rough movie about dashed dreams, bad fortune, parental neglect, and the permanence of error. Robert deNiro is a New York cop living down his father’s legacy. James Franco plays his son, a troubled junkie trying to live down his father’s disappointment and trying to provide for his own son.
Out of Sight
One of my favourite love stories. The chemistry between Clooney and Lopez shown through Soderberg’s lens is palpable, and the notion of lovers taking a “time out" from their regular lives to spend time with each other as if they were under different circumstances remains resonant since the first viewing.
Sinbad: Legend of the 7 Seas
Another piratical treat that’s as much fun to listen to, thanks to the obvious amusement of the actors, as it is to watch. The visuals are, as ever in Dreamworks animation, stunning and inventive, though I very much doubt they’re faithful to the original stories. Short enough to be interesting.
The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)
Reconfirms my theory that Brosnan’s best Bond movies aren’t produced by MGM. I simply love a good caper movie – but to have a caper movie that revolves around art theft and requires jokes about Magritte paintings, well, that’s a whole different level of cackling glee. A glittering diamond of fun.
X2
The flaws are apparent on the second viewing – the largest being the fact that Jean Grey had no reason to leave the Blackbird. But, aside from that, the sequel continued the restraint of the first film, showed us exciting action, and pomised still more drama behind the scenes. Poor Yukio!