Some director news in brief: Spielberg’s Vengeance is now Munich, Sofia Coppola takes historical liberties with Marie Antoinette, and John Woo may be plotting a comeback with The War of the Red Cliff, a Crouching Tiger-esque tale rumored to star Tony Leung, Andy Lau, Ken Watanabe, and Chow Yun-Fat. Now, that’s a cast, and no mistake.
Month: July 2005
The Road to Disunion.
Led by Andy Stern of the SEIU and James Hoffa of the Teamsters, four key unions boycott the AFL-CIO convention, with plans to withdraw from the organization in short order (The Teamsters have already left.) Early word seems to be that this bifurcation could spell trouble for the Dems in 2006, but, frankly, the House of Labor has needed serious renovations for a good long while. Perhaps this schism won’t be as profitable for labor as that of the CIO in 1935, but how much harm could it really cause? Old-School Big Labor couldn’t even get Gephardt past third in Iowa last year. I don’t know the details of the power struggle, but I get the sense that Stern & co. are advocating some tough-minded reforms, including consolidating smaller unions, while AFL-CIO president John Sweeney is attempting to protect various union fiefdoms in tried-and-true calcified-leadership fashion. Let’s see what the Young(er) Turks have to offer. Update: The SEIU’s officially out now, too.
A Done Deal?
With MSG head James Dolan paying his respects last night, it’s looking increasingly likely that Larry Brown will coach the Knicks next season. I’m not on the Brown bandwagon as of now, but I might just become a believer if he can shape a quality basketball team out of our lousy and unbalanced roster. Speaking of which, in other Knickerbocker-related news, ESPN’s Marc Stein evaluates the potential impact of the new “Allan Houston rule.”
Judge Roberts, Judging Rove.
Federalist Society or no, John Roberts now seems almost assured of winning confirmation as the Supreme Court’s newest justice (barring an eleventh hour revelation of impropriety, of course.) So, the Dems plan for the next best thing, which is to use the Roberts hearings as political theater with which to expose general right-wing looniness. Hmmm. Might work, I suppose. Hopefully, the Dems will keep their eye on the ball and make sure any gamesmanship on Roberts doesn’t suck the press away from the still-growing White House felony investigation, which now seems to include possible perjury and obstruction of justice charges for Rove, Libby, et al. Update: Wilson’s revenge? Salon suggests the operative law in the Rove case may be the Espionage Act of 1917, which isn’t what you’d call one of progressivism’s better moments.
Millennium Falcons.
“‘There’s very little in life that is 100 percent guaranteed,’ said N. Wayne Hale Jr., the deputy manager of the shuttle program, at a news briefing Sunday evening. ‘And there’s probably less in rocket science.‘ With Discovery poised to fly tomorrow despite a nagging sensor problem, the NYT examines the durability of the aging shuttle fleet. Update: Back in the blue! Godspeed, STS-114.
Longtime Companion.
Sarah Jane (Elisabeth Sladen), one of the Doctor’s most memorable companions from the Pertwee-Baker years, will return in Season 2 of the Who revival (along with the Cybermen.) How ’bout Harry and the Brigadier while we’re at it?
Search Engines.
Based in Chesapeake at the moment, I’ve been missing out on all the madness in NYC these days, such as bus evacuations and the new, already-infamous subway searches. Others such as Medley have already ripped this new policy to pieces, but, really, what are they thinking? Any actual, honest-to-goodness terrorist with a bomb on their person will refuse the search request, turn around, and make the 5-7 minute walk to another subway station. These searches are totally pointless and at best produce nothing more than a hassle for commuters and the fleeting illusion of security. At worst, they’re flirting with unconstitutionality and give the impression of police state search-and-seizure tactics becoming omnipresent in American life. Isn’t that what the “evildoers” want?
Little House in the City.
“Sure, ‘Tiny House’ is indebted to the low-ceilinged office spaces of Being John Malkovich, but it’s still top-notch stuff. It may be the funniest ad of the past year.” While ascertaining just why there are so many Geico ads on TV, Seth Stevenson sings the praises of Tiny House.
Islands in the Stream.
So, after a paltry $12 million its opening weekend, it’s looking like Michael Bay’s The Island has turned out to be an outright box-office flop. Which is too bad, really, ’cause I caught it on Saturday and thought it was a solid summer movie actioner, with a soupcon of dystopian sci-fi gravitas. In fact, I’d say it’s probably Bay’s best film (which isn’t saying much, of course, but I’ll take it over The Rock, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor and the Bad Boys.)
As you’ve probably seen in the previews by now, The Island is a bit schizophrenic — The first half plays like THX-1138 by way of an Estee Lauder or Claritin commercial, the second half is Logan’s Run meets Grand Theft Auto. Unfortunately, the ad campaign — which clearly failed to sell the movie to America — did manage to ruin the building tension of the first forty-five minutes. Lincoln Six-Echo (Ewan MacGregor, having more trouble with clones), a skeptical resident of a utopian-quarantine unit of sorts, starts to question the underlying premises of his intensely monitored, Puma-clad existence, such as why his proximity to his friend Jordan Two-Delta (Scarlett Johannson. who doesn’t do much but look pretty and run) is so rigorously monitored. The presiding doctor (Sean Bean, who must be sick of getting sent the same part over and over again) is little help in resolving Lincoln’s existential dilemma, but visits to a kindly mechanic schlub in the sub-sectors (Steve Buscemi) points Six-Echo on the path to self-knowledge.
At which point, the chase begins and, well, you can guess the rest. Lincoln and Jordan spend the second half of the movie rushing frantically from the minions of a resolute and unstoppable bounty hunter (Djimon Hounsou — We know he’s a badass because Bay always shoots him from about knee level.) Higher order brain functions are no longer necessary for the remainder of the film, although there’s a nice stopover at the abode of Lincoln’s “sponsor” (and a rather impressive highway chase involving car-crushing dumbbells.) Still, in the end, The Island is redeemed from normal Bay-dom by a better-than-average script and several solid performances, with special nods to Ewan and Michael Clarke Duncan in an extended cameo. (Voyager‘s Neelix and the guy from the Manhattan Mini-Storage moose ad also live in the complex, which I found a bit distracting.) It’s not a great film by any means – In fact, it’s almost instantly forgettable. But The Island is a nice place to wile away two hours on a hot summer afternoon (and in a perfect world it’d do twice the business of FF.)
Vendetta Mondatta.
“Remember, remember, the 5th of November…” The Comic-Con trailer for V for Vendetta is now online, starring Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving (formerly James Purefoy), Stephen Rea, and John Hurt. Look like it’s Winston’s turn as Big Brother.