Daywatch, 2007 movie

I caught a preview of this movie from Apple's Trailer site and was intrigued. I find myself drawn to clashes between "light" and "dark" forces set in sci-fi settings. The ideas behind Babylon5 were awesome!

Anyway, I did not know much about this movie at all. When I walked in to pay for the ticket, the lady behind me asked a couple questions:
"Is it subtitled or dubbed?"
"Is the 3rd part of the trilogy out yet?"

Hmm... dubbed from what? This was not an English-speaking movie? This is the 2nd part? What was the first part?

So, I walked in to the movie quite clueless. I do not think this movie ever played in the big cinemas; I made sure I saw it at the Boardman Art Theatre, where the proprietor prides himself in having the best audio/visual equipment. I was able to enjoy this movie in all its excellent glory alone, sitting in the front row seat. Wow!

The movie was filmed somewhere in Russia (so I am told) and the language was Russian. The subtitles were ingenious; they were not merely blocks of high-contrast text. They would follow people, change colors to emphasize a mood, fade when whispered. In one shot, there were many people shouting and murmuring, each with his own subtitle near his head. Very well done!

I liked the presentation of the movie a lot. The special effects were solid, the plot very new and well-crafted, the acting superb (what do I know? but I liked it). The movie had grit, which made it more real for me. Rather dark for the most part, but tastefully so. A little gory here and there, but far from a bloodfest (ie 300). And Zoar was great! =)

I did notice some graininess, sitting so close to the screen. I wonder about that. Is it because the projector cannot show "black" brightly? Or was it shot in digital? Or both? Who knows.

A great film, and now I am looking forward to the third installment ("Deathwatch"). I hear FOX is picking it up, and I hope they do not ruin it. I am going to look for the book.

Clear and Present Danger, Tom Clancy (1994) & movie (2001)

It had been a long time since I read this book, and the movie (although old itself) was on my mind for some reason. Wow, the book is so much different than the movie. Amazing! And it really reinforced my revulsion at having William Dafoe act as John Clark. I hated that casting!

The book, by itself, stands on very solid ground. You do not need to read the others, but they certainly make the Clancy saga entertaining. I like the book a lot. And now I like the movie a lot less.

What is great about the book is that you get the author's own thoughts mixed in, posing as thoughts of the characters. Obviously, movies do not have time (nor inclination) for such an indulgence. You get a sneak peek into Clancy's thoughts on war and politics. He asks great questions, in the form of Jack Ryan's questing for "What is Right". And there is so much detail. Obviously, duh! *grin*

The movie... well, what can I say? Harrison Ford is no Jack Ryan. Ford is an awesome actor, but he is a square peg in the round hole of Jack Ryan. Ben Affleck might be a better Jack Ryan; it is hard to say since his only movie so far as Jack Ryan was not all that great either. =)

And will someone PLEASE remaster the Clear and Present Danger movie to eradicate William Dafoe!!!