bitdepth

Spider-Man 2

Peter Parker / Spider-Man In the first Spider-Man Sam Raimi had to set everything up and establish the franchise. If he did it well, there would be another film. He did a great job with Spider-Man, but there seemed to be some rough edges. Parts felt a bit forced – maybe a bit like a suit that almost fits. But with Spider-Man 2, the suit fits very well and Raimi has made a great comic-book film that really captures the essence of the Spider-Man comics and explores the whole idea of what it means to be a superhero. What’s great about the whole world of the comic-book superhero is that when it works well it isn’t about (mainly) guys in suits fighting each other, but us – non-superheros and how we deal with the challenges in our lives. The hard part isn’t fighting an enemy with 4 mechanical arms, but struggling with our feelings and doing the right thing.
Sam Raimi has a great sense of humour, can direct great action sequences, and also can make very moving smaller films such as A Simple Plan. In Spider-Man 2 he brings it all together into my new favourite comic-book film. Even though the film is just over 2 hours long, my son said to me afterwards, “That was a short film.” That says a lot as John can be easily bored. It’s a pretty much perfect balance between nail-biting action sequences and emotional moments. Maybe it’s because I loved the comic book, maybe I’m a sucker for that type of story, but the film brings everything that works in that type of story and leaves out things that don’t. The cast is great with Toby Maguire bringing the proper balance of strength and vulnerability to the part. Even though you know that it’s a franchise and the hero isn’t going to die, you’re worried for him, which means that you’ve suspended your disbelief and you care about what happens. Alfred Molina brings depth and dignity to a villan who could be just a set of arms by giving him a heart. Kirsten Dunst is completely believable as a woman that you’d be hopelessly in love with. She’s a strong character and adds subtlety to a role that could be just “the girlfriend.” We care about the characters, which is why the film works so well.
While Peter Parker agonizes over his life and the decisions he’s made the balance with the action is just right and the film moves along well. The action sequences and computer imagery are fantastic this time. In the first film they were a bit off, but this time they’re exciting and perfectly integrated. I was never bored and I noticed that I was sucked in to the story and action. A great summer film that is solid and fun.

June 30, 2004 film, review, samraimi, spiderman

blog1979

Daniel Dugas found an old journal in a box and he’s putting parts of it up. 25 years ago he took a trip around Canada and the U.S.A. starting and ending in Moncton, New Brunswick. He obsessively wrote in a journal during the trip. If he did this today he’d be posting to a blog with a cell phone and a laptop. What’s neat about how he’s doing it now is that the entries are going live 25 years after the fact in blog1979. The other cool thing is that it’s not just a documentation, but he’s got links as well. In his first entry he mentions the 375th anniversary of the arrival of the Acadians in this part of the world (New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) and when I read that I thought about the Congrès Mondial Acadien, which is all over the place here in Wolfville and Grand Pré and he helpfully links to it. It’s a link from the past into the present. Sometimes we’re obsessed with things that are live or wireless (guess where I’m blogging from!, etc.). This project shows that you don’t have to put something up right away. It also makes me feel better about the boxes of stuff that I have laying around… maybe they’ll be useful someday. I should have a look at them soon. But for now I’m looking forward to following Daniel’s chronologically offset adventures.

June 28, 2004 acadian, blog, danieldugas

Fahrenheit 9/11

Michael Moore gets a bit better with each film. Fahrenheit 9/11 continues his series of quirky political documentaries in a very timely fashion. It’s funny, moving and serious. It was also a little bit annoying at times, but overall I think that it’s a better film than Bowling for Columbine. Moore is less present in this film, which is good as the construction of the film is a bit better without someone needing to stand in for us. I can see Moore moving into the background within his films as he’s starting to become a distraction as you can’t really be a completely ordinary guy after winning an Academy Award and the Palme d’Or. What’s great about Fahrenheit 9/11 is that it solidly captures the spirit of Moore’s TV shows (TV Nation and The Awful Truth) in the blend of the timely, the political and the irreverent and captures a good chunk of the zeitgeist of the time. It’s a difficult balance with only a few exploitative parts. Political documentaries are tough as most of the time you’re either preaching to the converted or upsetting those who don’t share your view. Moore injects enough humour to carry things along without letting things get too serious, but the film definitely has a point of view and it’s a call to not reelect Mr. Bush in the upcoming U.S. election and it doesn’t pretend to be anything else. As a documentarian, it’s encouraging to see a documentary doing so well at the box office (even though the competition was a bit weak) and it will be interesting to see how it holds up against Spider-Man 2.

June 28, 2004 documentary, fahreneit911, film, michaelmoore, review

Spartan

Spartan one-sheet David Mamet has a distinctive writing style that blends elements of reality with a stylized way of speaking to create memorable puzzles where you try to determine what is really happening while listening to the fascinating conversations that are occurring. With Spartan, Mamet creates a thriller with the dialogue stripped down as well as the information that we need to understand what is going on. The film revolves around the basic question, “Where is the girl?” Val Kilmer turns in a precise and compelling performance as the man who will find her. The only title at the beginning of the film is the name of the film and there are no intertitles indicating place or time unlike most thrillers that condescend. You find out what you need to know it and have to listen and watch closely to make sure that you don’t miss any clues. It’s a very efficient film and everything that you see or hear is connected with something else. But it’s more than just an exercise. In a perverse way it’s a fairy tale told through the genre of political thriller.

June 26, 2004 davidmamet, film, review, spartan

Circular Logic

Last week I uploaded Circular Logic: 6 Loops in Wolfville to my space at ZeD. The Circular Logic project originally happened for the Digital Dialogues exhibition at the Acadia Art Gallery that was curated by Gair Dunlop. I’d been working with QuickTime VR for a while and was thinking of doing something with that. Then I started thinking about going around in circles and taking stills along the way. When that was combined with stop-motion I thought that I would have something that looked like pixilation but where the camera moved instead of objects.
I tried some experiments and it worked if I made sure that there was a focal point in each image. That’s the reason for going in circles around a building or large public object as it gives you something to focus on and gives me a way to keep the image in the frame consistent. I like to think of it as the (somewhat) inappropriate use of technology. I wanted to use a digital still camera to take single frames that I combined together to create an animation. For the loops around Wolfville I took over 1000 stills that I combined together in QuickTime Pro and then manipulated them in Final Cut Pro.
For the show at the gallery I burned the loops onto a DVD that looped and it played on a television set in the gallery. Later I made a shorter, more linear version for a screening at Salvation in Halifax and that’s what I have up at ZeD now.

June 25, 2004 animation, art, photos, video

Conversations

Doc Searls points to a great bit of writing on Britt Blaser’s blog Escapable Logic. He writes about blogs as conversations (which is not new) and puts things in a great way. The theme he explores is: “Memorable conversation is the foundation of civilization.” That quote hit me and it’s one of those moments where the time and place and state of mind where I am all click.
Right now I’m in Truro taking a course with another amazing group of NSCC people. We talk a lot and share experiences of teaching and the rewards of working together to change the world through changing people’s lives. It’s important that we talk with each other and maybe the popularity of blogs and blogging is due to this inherent need to speak and be heard. Blaser hits the nail on the head in saying that blogs “contain a huge body of thoughtful conversations” and then he connects the conversations with actions to make the world a better place with the Spirit of America project. It’s amazing how quickly things can happen when people work together and engage in conversation which leads to action. People are working to make the world a better place. It reminds me of the amazing outpouring of support and random flowers to same-sex couples who were getting married in San Francisco in February that was made possible through conversations on the Web.

June 23, 2004 blog, book, brittblaser, conversation, docsearls, escapablelogic, nscc

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