Volume 04, Number 23
Movies
Movie News
By Bill Hersey
It's been a while since actor Matt Damon shared the Best Original Screenplay Oscar with his long-time buddy Ben Affleck for the film Good Will Hunting. Nowadays Matt makes big bucks in Hollywood and much of his success has come from his recurring role as lead Jason Bourne in the super-successful series The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and now The Bourne Ultimatum. The personable young actor made his third visit to Japan recently, stopping at Toho-Towa to promote the third film in the series.
At a press conference held at the Ritz-Carlton, he told the press that The Bourne Ultimatum had been the most challenging and the most stressful film to make in the series; there was a lot of training involved and it took over a year to shoot. Although working with friends from the first two films made the process easier, the combat skills he had to learn were much different than those before—and not easy.
“My character in the Bourne series means a lot to me”, Matt said. “It's been so good for my career, I now have a much wider choice of films to choose from.” He went on to say, “I love to go about any kind of film […] Of course, [it] depends on the script and the director.” With shooting done in many different places, making the Bourne series was like taking a trip around the world. Some scenes were set in areas like The Medina in Tangiers, Morocco, where conditions were hard to control and cast members were nearly forced to double as guerillas. (Most people in those scenes were real people not extras.)
Matt's personal life has been exciting as well. On Dec. 9, 2005, he married Argentine-born Luciana Bozan Bartoso, and became stepfather to her nine-yearold daughter. The couple's first child, Isabella, was born Jun. 11, 2006. Matt is a devoted family man, and his family travels with him when he's working. He has committed to several films but may, at his wife's wishes, cut back a bit.
Movie Review - The Simpsons
by William Casper
For over 20 years The Simpsons has bestrode the world of television, a colossus of intelligent entertainment, in a world populated more often than not by pygmies. By now you have made up your mind whether you see the show as the sharpest, funniest satire since Swift was filing copy or whether you don't get it, don't like it, find it offensive, or whatever objection deluded, misguided people come up with for disliking America's greatest fictional family (with sincere apologies to a certain Italian American family from New Jersey of course).
So the only two questions the prospect of a Simpson movie raises are; does the show look weird on the big screen? and can the plot, usually a super tight 22 minutes or so, handle being stretched to feature length? Happily, I can report that while it does seem a little strange to see Homer and co. 30 times their usual size, it's strange in a good way, and after a few minutes it seems the most natural thing in the world to be watching a cartoon show in a movie theater. Even better news is that the narrative not only sustains well, but released of some of the shows time constraints, it actually seems better than ever. The plot(s) briefly—and no outline will do justice to the high level and quantity of visual and verbal jokes assaulting the viewer throughout—Spring- field Lake has become the most polluted place in America and the government takes radical steps to cover this fact up. Along the way Homer alienates the whole town, Bart searches for a better father figure in the most unlikely of places, Lisa falls in love and Marge (kind of) falls out. All the usual characters make appearances— personally I would have liked a little more Monty Burns but we can't have everything—and as with the television show the near perfect balance of slapstick and satire is evident throughout. While the film doesn't quite maintain the brilliance of the first 20 minutes it never flags and though it obviously felt longer than a regular episode, I was surprised when the 87 minutes were up. Highly recommended.
East/West Double Bill
by M. Halliday
Say it with a DVD set—Christmas Stocking Fillers
The latest Criterion Collection release of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai has been described as one of the finest DVD sets ever released and is the perfect gift for the serious film fan in your life. Not only have the picture and sound quality been improved incredibly, but the three-disc set is packed with wonderful extras.
As well as commentary tracks by various Japanese film scholars including Donald Richie, there is also a 50- minute making-of-the-movie documentary, including production footage, crewmember interviews, and a visit to the inn where Seven Samurai was written. The set also includes the two-hour “My Life in Cinema” interview with Kurosawa recorded in 1993, with fellow filmmaker Nagisa Oshima and Seven Samurai: Origins and Influences a documentary analyzing the films place in Japanese Samurai movie history. The film comes with a 58-page booklet including essays on Seven Samurai.
Everyone needs a laugh at Christmas and Amazon. com are offering the Christopher Guest three-film box set (A Mighty Wind, Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show) as well as the classic This is Spinal Tap for under $60. Guest and his talented cast including Fred Willard, Parker Posey, Bob Balaban, Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara, spoof folk music, small town amateur dramatics and dog shows in the same hilarious yet affectionate way ‘This is Spinal Tap’ examines heavy metal music.
John Cassavetes, the Godfather of independent film, may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you are a fan the Criterion (yes, them again), their eight-disc collectors set is just about the perfect gift. The set includes five re-mastered Cassavete’s films (Shadows, Faces, A Woman Under the Influence, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie and Opening Night) Charles Kiselyak’s 2000 documentary A Constant Forge—The Life and Art of John Cassavetes. Also included are two discs full of extras including interviews with just about anyone the great man ever worked, and with rare footage of the actors workshops from which some of his best work emerged.