Of mice and men.

Ever wondered how the cursor of the mouse on your computer moved?

Thanks to the Japanese high technology, you'll be able to see for yourself using this magnifying device: http://www.1-click.jp/

The Prestige (slight return).

I watched The Prestige for the 1st time since I've seen it in the cinema.

Sometimes, there are movies that make such an effect at their end, with a "twist" so impressive that it could be easy to discard them as being based solely on their final trick. That would theoritically make them totally inefficient when you watch them again.
Like a magic trick that loses all interest when you know how it's done.
As they say in that movie, "the secret is everything".

Then again, not always.

I know that the kind of magic I personnally enjoy the most is the kind that requires actual skill (like sleight of hand, for example), that makes it impossible for anyone to do it, if they don't put the efforts required to actually master the technique.
To palm a coin for example: you can know how to do it, if you don't work on the technique, you'll never be able to do it. That makes the trick still wonderful...

"Twist" movies can be like that too. The Prestige is one. Usual Suspect is another. Fight Club yet another. Memento, Following...
Movies that are so exceptionnally crafted that even when you know how they work, you can't stop but be astonished at how good they are.
You can start looking for the perfect tiny details, the hints that you were given that could have given the trick away when you didn't know it, but that you couldn't see, because "you weren't really watching". And they are plenty here: birds in cages, bouncing balls... All hinting at the solution, always obvious when you know it. It was all right in front of your nose and you didn't see it. You were fooled. Then again you wanted to be fooled. And all this makes that you still want to be fooled.

And there's also the fact that beyond all the trickery, there's something more. There's this wonderful and cruel tale of deceipt and revenge. And real and complex characters. A story that deals with issues that are profoundly human and that in a indirect way makes you think.
And also send a chill down your spine.

That's what makes movies special.

Air guitar.

Someone over at Ultimate guitar posted an excellent article on Air Guitars!
It's full of useful advice.

Check it out, it's great!

It's here.

Zodiac.

Even before this movie, David Fincher had done thrillers.
Se7en, The Game, Panic Room.
Just Se7en practically reinvented the genre.
But yet again a thriller? Could he be moving in circles? No.

He managed to find yet another angle he hadn't done: the "documentary" approach.
By basing this on actual events and on an true investigation, you get another edge on the audience. Like in Fargo (except that here it is actually true, at least the facts are), you tend to give more credit to the story.
The fact that the killer was never caught, that he might still be alive and well, is the most frightening thing. Like Jack The Ripper.
You can invent the most twisted boogie man, it will never ever come as scary as a "real" killer. Especially if he never got caught...

The film basically lays in 2 parts. The 1st presents the facts and the initial investigation by Paul Avery (journalist at the San Francisco Chronicles) on one hand & David Toschi (the cop in charge of the case) on the other.
You get to see the killings and the lack of communication between all parties involved in finding the killer.
Then the 2nd part sees Graysmith, cartoonist at the Post, take over the investigation when he sees that noone will ever finish it otherwise. He had just been interested in the case without being able to contribute to it so far, so he decides to take everything back to 0.

Fincher does masterfully bring that story back to life, thanks to a very faithful recreation of the seventies and a top notch cast: Ruffalo, Downey Jr. & Gyllenhall are all excellent and really carry the film.

And thanks to his excellent direction, he delivers a movie that manages to be anti-spectacular and wordy, but at the same time gripping and always entertaining.
It's quite amazing when you think that you get no action scene and most of the suspence relies on the paranoia of the protagonists (ie there's no direct threat).
But thanks to a great story like only reality can give you and great pacing, the nearly 20 years covered over the rather large runing time (2h30) passes like a charm.

And you get this "it actually happened" chill, when the credits roll...

Heat

I just re-watched this.

I remembered that this movie was good. I remembered it was a true masterpiece.
But there are things to actually need to reexperience to actually remember exactly how good it was.

LA by night. The wonderful cinematography.
De Niro. Pacino. All those wonderful characters, main, secondary, all perfectly defined. Human.
That story.

This picture elevates "just a thriller" to art.

Dilbert.

Another very good example of helpdesk support. :)

Spiderman 3

Hat trick.
Sam Raimi has made it.
When he took on to 1st adapt Spiderman to the big screen, anyone had seen the guy's work just knew that it would be something unique. What anyone didn't know was that the guy would make the 1st best ever superhero trilogy...

Because this 3rd installment gives everything it promises which was what the 2nd promised over the 1st: MORE!
After dealing with the transformation into a superhero in the 1st, then handling the responsibility of being one in the 2nd, this one is (quite logically) interested in the corrupting effect of power.
Spiderman is getting famous and loved by the NY population and gets to deal with revenge, which takes him into a dark place that a certain black suit will favour.

The script is very dense and ties pretty much all the story arcs developped in the 1st 2 movies. It's quite amazing to realise how much stuff you can pack in 2h20! No time is wasted in a movie that moves very fast. And it has to as it has 3 villains and the rest to take care of!
The story is strongly centered around Peter Parker, but somehow, although most secondary characters (all perfectly cast) get little screen time, they still all get space to exist.
At least it felt that way to me.

Of course you could argue that the movie would have gained depth if they had kept to 1 or 2 baddies. But then again they all feel right for the themes: Harry Osborne is all about revenge, Sandman is made the object of Spidey's revenge and the symbiote is the factor that enhances it... And you can't really have a movie with the symbiote without Venom...
So granted I'd have liked to spend more time with everyone (I would also have liked to have more Frozone in the Incredibles, but hey...), but as a whole it still feel very logical & coherent...

And the most important thing is that the movie makes you care about the characters.
I felt 10 again, gasping, laughing...
Sam Raimi has reinvented Spiderman, making him one of his own heroes while still staying true to the original material.

And as far as the action is concerned, it's just jaw dropping and even manage to feel fresh!

So a smart and engaging script, amazing action...
Sam is the man... Again!

Une pensee...

Depuis quelques jours qu'une grande majorite de mes compatriotes ont choisi le "cote obscur de la France", j'entends a la radio plusieurs choses.

Ca se plaint du diner au Fouquet's de Sarko avec ses amis riches. Ca
se plaint de ses vacances en yatch a Malte.
A ceux qui chouinent j'ai envie de dire "mais vous vous
attendiez a koi???!?".

Ca et puis les casseurs soi-disant anti-Sarko: comment peut-on justifier des manifs contre un un gars qu'on a elu a 53% alors que 85%
du pays s'est deplace??
Ou alors c'est des pros Sarko qui veulent s'assurer qu'il fera bien le
menage dans les coins aussi?

Y a vraiment des trucs qui me depassent...

Pour conclure, l'excellent edito de Colombani dans Le Monde.

Ha oui et un article tres interessant qui retrace l'irresistible ascension de notre nouveau president...

J'aime beaucoup je passage qui decrit la fabrication de la notion de "declin de la France". Ca va de pair avec la fausse notion de "l'assistanat" ou de "la France, pays de branleurs"...

Great punch-line.

"Move or I'll pound your head so hard you'll have to remove your pants to read."

That's from a Dilbert.
Excellent.