The past is only the future with the lights on
I love the film Kingdom of Heaven. Most people don't. I really don't understand why. The theatrical release was maybe a little disjointed but the director's cut is one of the finest pieces of cinema. The biggest complaint, generally, is Orlando Bloom. I get this, I understand why you might be put off seeing a film he's starring in which doesn't feature Johnny Depp. But you're wrong. He can actually act in this one.
At work we all have our favourite films on our name badges. Next time I get a new one, I was thinking maybe I'd go for Up, but I might pick Kingdom of Heaven Director's Cut instead. It's up there, certainly, but probably not actually my favourite. It's just that one day Ridley Scott might walk in and I'd like him to know that someone cares about it.
I've said all this here before. I repeat it now because I'd lent both my copies of KoH to a friend many moons back, and just recently had them returned. Watching it again made me realise how much I'd missed it. I'm going to attempt a top 10 at the end of this post. They won't be in order. It's just I'm sure I've written this at least twice in this journal before and it's nice to see how things change.
I saw the new Ryan Reynolds film, Buried, a couple of days ago. He plays Paul Conroy, a contractor working in Iraq who's taken hostage, buried in a coffin with a cell phone and given a couple of hours to call around and get his ransom paid. It is so intense, the whole film is set inside the coffin. It's really clever with the lighting, the pacing and while Reynolds delivers and Oscar worthy performance, I don't want the voice actors at the other end of the phone calls to be overlooked. It's great acting all round and none of them (HA HA) phoned it in. What I really liked though was the lighting. He's got four light sources in the coffin with him and they all produce a different coloured light, which all give a different atmosphere. There's the cold blue of the cellphone, for example, or the savage flickering of the lighter. It's not fire as warmth and comfort, it's fire as dangerous and destructive. The glo-sticks prodcue an unnatural green and the torch produces the most natural white light but it's almost fierce in it's intensity. You may think I'm getting a little too overexcited by the lights here, but they play such an important role in this film. I think one of the scenes that's going to stick with me for a while is quite near the start, when Conroy's captors refuse to let him out of the coffin. He gets off the phone with them and starts panicking, shaking and screaming and hitting the coffin and then the phone light goes out and we're left in a pitch black screen and can still hear the panic.
This is not a film you go to enjoy, it's one you endure, but I cannot stress enough how well it is done. Highly recommended.
Something else I've been enduring recently is the TV show Breaking Bad. Bryan Cranston (the dad from Malcolm in the Middle) plays a chemistry teacher diagnosed with incurable cancer who turns to cooking up crystal meth in order to pay the hospital bills. I'm six epidodes through the seven part first series and so far nothing at all has gone right for anyone in the show, and what's gone wrong has all be dragged out and made worse. It is fantastic. I'd say that everyone on the cast deserves all sorts of awards but TOO LATE THEY ALREADY GOT THEM. Bryan Cranston got the Emmy for Lead Actor in a Drama Series three years straight.
(I thought it was two years and checked on wikipedia to make sure I got it right which was a massive mistake because you can't tell but I just spent twenty minutes learning about who got nominated for supporting roles on the West Wing and that's information I'll have forgotten in another twenty minutes)
I don't know how much longer I'll be a projectionist. I don't know what I'll do when they tell me I'm not needed up there anymore.
---
Kingdom of Heaven (Director's Cut)
Gone Baby Gone
Up
American Beauty
Moon
Reservoir Dogs
Pan's Labyrinth
Inception
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Fight Club
Except this isn't right at all, because Up could easily be Finding Nemo, Toy Story 3 or Wall-E, Reservoir Dogs is on a level with Pulp Fiction and Inglourious Basterds. Inception could be switched out for Memento or The Prestige or The Dark Night and oh my fuck aren't we all glad Nolan's confirmed he's doing the third Batman film?
---
And now if you'll excuse me, I think the first two episodes of How I Met Your Mother series 6 have downloaded.
At work we all have our favourite films on our name badges. Next time I get a new one, I was thinking maybe I'd go for Up, but I might pick Kingdom of Heaven Director's Cut instead. It's up there, certainly, but probably not actually my favourite. It's just that one day Ridley Scott might walk in and I'd like him to know that someone cares about it.
I've said all this here before. I repeat it now because I'd lent both my copies of KoH to a friend many moons back, and just recently had them returned. Watching it again made me realise how much I'd missed it. I'm going to attempt a top 10 at the end of this post. They won't be in order. It's just I'm sure I've written this at least twice in this journal before and it's nice to see how things change.
I saw the new Ryan Reynolds film, Buried, a couple of days ago. He plays Paul Conroy, a contractor working in Iraq who's taken hostage, buried in a coffin with a cell phone and given a couple of hours to call around and get his ransom paid. It is so intense, the whole film is set inside the coffin. It's really clever with the lighting, the pacing and while Reynolds delivers and Oscar worthy performance, I don't want the voice actors at the other end of the phone calls to be overlooked. It's great acting all round and none of them (HA HA) phoned it in. What I really liked though was the lighting. He's got four light sources in the coffin with him and they all produce a different coloured light, which all give a different atmosphere. There's the cold blue of the cellphone, for example, or the savage flickering of the lighter. It's not fire as warmth and comfort, it's fire as dangerous and destructive. The glo-sticks prodcue an unnatural green and the torch produces the most natural white light but it's almost fierce in it's intensity. You may think I'm getting a little too overexcited by the lights here, but they play such an important role in this film. I think one of the scenes that's going to stick with me for a while is quite near the start, when Conroy's captors refuse to let him out of the coffin. He gets off the phone with them and starts panicking, shaking and screaming and hitting the coffin and then the phone light goes out and we're left in a pitch black screen and can still hear the panic.
This is not a film you go to enjoy, it's one you endure, but I cannot stress enough how well it is done. Highly recommended.
Something else I've been enduring recently is the TV show Breaking Bad. Bryan Cranston (the dad from Malcolm in the Middle) plays a chemistry teacher diagnosed with incurable cancer who turns to cooking up crystal meth in order to pay the hospital bills. I'm six epidodes through the seven part first series and so far nothing at all has gone right for anyone in the show, and what's gone wrong has all be dragged out and made worse. It is fantastic. I'd say that everyone on the cast deserves all sorts of awards but TOO LATE THEY ALREADY GOT THEM. Bryan Cranston got the Emmy for Lead Actor in a Drama Series three years straight.
(I thought it was two years and checked on wikipedia to make sure I got it right which was a massive mistake because you can't tell but I just spent twenty minutes learning about who got nominated for supporting roles on the West Wing and that's information I'll have forgotten in another twenty minutes)
I don't know how much longer I'll be a projectionist. I don't know what I'll do when they tell me I'm not needed up there anymore.
---
Kingdom of Heaven (Director's Cut)
Gone Baby Gone
Up
American Beauty
Moon
Reservoir Dogs
Pan's Labyrinth
Inception
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Fight Club
Except this isn't right at all, because Up could easily be Finding Nemo, Toy Story 3 or Wall-E, Reservoir Dogs is on a level with Pulp Fiction and Inglourious Basterds. Inception could be switched out for Memento or The Prestige or The Dark Night and oh my fuck aren't we all glad Nolan's confirmed he's doing the third Batman film?
---
And now if you'll excuse me, I think the first two episodes of How I Met Your Mother series 6 have downloaded.