No words are needed for the level of awesomeness that this link provides. Well, let me clarify with just a few short words at least. It’s going to be hard to replace Laurence Olivier and Harry Hamlin and make me happy, so I’m really interested in finding out who will make the cast list in this one. The author of the above link comments that he hopes Lawrence Kasdan leaves out Bubo in the remake… he better not! And please make the Kraken in the 2008 version better with more screen time and visibility than the pathetic Pirates of the Caribbean Kraken from last year. And while we’re on the topic of special effects… whoever does the special effects for the 2008 version should keep in mind that part of the draw of the original has to do with the brilliance of Harryhausen’s special effects work, so keep it simple! Ok. I’ll stop there. I hold this movie near and dear to my heart, so I’m totally stoked that it’s getting a face lift… I’m just harboring a little anxiety on how a movie that I have placed so high up on a pedestal is going to be redone. Here’s hoping it’s done well!

Oh! Quick plug for our gallery – we just got back late Monday evening from spending a long weekend in BC, and I’ve put up some pictures in our gallery under Travel -> British Columbia Spring 2007.

The camera work was perfectly simple, as the last thing this film needed was visual distraction of any kind, being as strongly character driven as it was.

I had no complaints about the length; the dual-mole intro sequence was longer than a traditional intro by some 20 minutes, but in the end it was completely necessary – and before you had time to be upset by it, the first act starts in 3rd gear and never really lets up.

That said, the ending was one of my only two complaints* – it was almost comical in a slap-sticky way that I didn’t feel did the 2nd and 3rd acts justice.

*the other being the ridiculously far fetched love triangle aspect: I can see that her character was being used as a two way mirror for the dual-moles, but with a little more attention to the dialog, it could have been done purely through her interviews with them; but I’ll admit an approach like that might have been too subtle in this movie’s context and missed by half the audience.

The performances were pretty solid all around, including Sheen and Baldwin who aren’t exactly at the top of any of my lists. There was one scene in particular between DiCaprio and Damon, where they first confront each other – silently over the telephone; they both know the other is their target mole, but they don’t know who the other is, so they both listen silently, breathing, trying desperately to glean something about their adversary through the static.

All in all, this is a movie I will no doubt own and watch many times, but it wasn’t quite enough to get a “must see” rating.

i spent the night sitting in the bedroom window as i’m apt to do, waiting ever-so-patiently for their return, when suddenly i heard something. i instantly ran downstairs to see what it was, secretly hoping it was uncle rob as he’s the only one that lets me sit on the couch. before i was halfway there my nose told me the truth:

it was acclaimed hollywood director, michael mann!

apparently there’d been a mishap of some kind at this theatre place (i tried to convince them not to go…) and michael was here to give them a personal apology. he said he couldn’t wait long but that he wanted to give them a gift, to make up for their horrible evening, and did i have any suggestions?

i said i had, indeed, and began sketching out my idea in hushed whispers lest the neighbourhood cats overhear – they’re always plotting to thwart my fun. michael listened intently, and when i was finished slapped both his knees with his hands and explained that while he also despised cats with every fiber of his being, he wasn’t sure how that applied to the problem at hand. dejected, i slumped to the floor but my chin had barely touched the floor when he bellowed an “aha!” and ran across the room to the computer.

i waited beside him as his fingers worked a feverish pace on the bipeds’ keyboards, lips and brow scrunched in concentration, muttering shell commands to himself and smashing the enter key like the cymbal in a big brass band. i wondered if this was what he looked like when he worked? then i began to wonder why it was that i knew michael mann at all, i’m just a dog?

before i had time to fully contemplate my last question, mann shot straight up out of his chair, sending it skidding across the floor and let loose a victorious hurrah, pointing at the screen:

a blog.

a blog? michael mann thinks he can just come into my house and lay off some lame story about a bad movie-going experience as the basis for the installation of a weblog on the bipeds’ computer? “I THINK NOT, MR. MANN,” i shouted as i chased him out of the house.

so there you have it, a blog. i hope you enjoy the bipdeds’ ranting and raving – just don’t believe anything negative they might say about me, it’s all lies – i’m a perfect prince. but you already know that.

if anyone needs me, i’ll be doing my rounds – someone’s gotta keep the ceilings safe around here.