Denzel Delivers

What a relief to have a couple of choices for people not interested in kids fare or Oscar bait. Casino Royale is the smartest and most entertaining Bond since The Spy Who Loved Me and now Tony Scott and Denzel Washington combine forces to make an entertaining thriller with a wee bit of sci-fi thrown in.

Deja Vu opens with a beautifully choreographed crime and Tony Scott turns out a beautifully choreographed movie. I don't want to give away too much. The previews hinted at the plot, but refreshingly, didn't act as a spoiler for the movies, so why should I? There's a crime and Denzel solves it. There. That's all you need to know.

The movie's set in New Orleans and filmed on location (it's not one of those set-in-New-Orleans-but-doesn't-that-look-like-Montreal movies.) The life and culture of the city isn't intricately woven into the plot like The Big Easy. It seems to have been transplanted there to help out the local economy after Katrina, but it adds a poignancy that you don't usually have in an action flick.

Robert Altman

One thing that I think should be emphasized about Robert Altman isn't the usual "he was an iconoclast" and a "Hollywood outsider." I think everyone should remember, he was a late bloomer. The man spent years making TV shows and small, genre pictures but he didn't emerge as an artist with a unique vision until he made M*A*S*H at age 45. It took years of working with actors, learning how to direct and dabbling in elements of what became his signature style. Steven Spielberg instantly became a great director as a kid (he was only 26 when he made Duel,) but most people - even Altman - need to learn their craft, work hard and then, maybe, that extra spark happens.

Make sure you see The Long Goodbye.

Stephanie, have you seen Denzel in INSIDE MAN, yet?

Altman was the rarest of late bloomers--he was a rebel.

When late bloomers get their chance, usually the last thing they want to do is bite the hand that feeds them.

But when Altman burst on the scene with M*A*S*H* he was not exactly out to do the best Bonanza episode ever.

His astonishing spark, subverting genres in astonishing ways- M*A*S*H*; McCabe & Mrs. Miller; The Long Goodbye; Thieves Like Us, etc. had a brashness that late bloomers rarely have.

I admired much of his later work, especially Cookies Fortune, for its humanity. So often brashness turns to bitterness. But even his "lesser works" like Kansas City and even Ready To Wear had wonderful, politically incorrect surprises.

Relatively light fare like The Company and A Prairie Home Companion both respected and celebrated the arts in a late bloomer way. There was enormous respect for the work and craftsmanship.

But it was as a "late bloomer" who smashed the molds and showed art new places to go that Altman made his unique contribution.

So, Stephanie, I took your advice and saw Deja Vu.

I did enjoy it, even if the SF aspects of the movie and the paradoxes created don't, as shown, make any sense whatsoever. I managed to, hours after the fact, come up with a tortured logic to explain what we see, though.

Still, it was entertaining, as you say.