Category Archives: Film & TV

Numb3rs.

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I’m a big fan of the movies of Ridley and Tony Scott, so I don’t know how I missed the fact they are brothers. The two are collaborating on TV series (that premiers on CBS in January) called Numb3rs:

“Rob Morrow stars as an FBI agent who recruits his mathematical genius brother to help the Bureau solve a wide range of challenging crimes in Los Angeles. Inspired by actual events, the series will depict how the confluence of police work and mathematics provide unexpected revelations and answers to the most perplexing criminal questions.”

I’d be much more hopeful about the series if it were going to be on HBO but I’ll be watching.

Three Days of the Condor – Final Scene

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I think the best answer can be found at the end of Sydney Pollack’s 1975 spy flick, Three Days of the Condor. Robert Redford’s character (Joe Turner) is talking to CIA agent Higgins (played by Cliff Robertson) about the no-longer-secret plan to invade the Middle East for oil.

Higgins: The fact is, it wasn’t a bad plan. It could’ve worked.

Turner: Jesus — What is it with you people? You think not getting caught in a lie is the same as telling the truth.

Higgins: It’s simple economics, Turner… There’s no argument. Oil now, 10 or 15 years it’ll be food, or plutonium. Maybe sooner than that. What do you think the people will want us to do then?

Turner: Ask them!

Higgins: Now? (shakes head) Huh-uh. Ask them when they’re running out. When it’s cold at home and the engines stop and people who aren’t used to hunger… go hungry! They won’t want us to ask… (quiet savagery:) They’ll want us to GET it for them.

The Trio Channel

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Last night I discovered Trio (pop, culture, tv). I’m prone to endless channel surfing so I don’t know how I’ve missed this but I happend upon “Parking Lot.”

Spawned by the classic 1980s underground film “Heavy Metal Parking Lot,” Trio travels to the parking lots and convention grounds of America’s favorite pop culture events to hear fans express their devotion. And they never show any of the performances. Just fans in the parking lot, before and after. Very weird.

I’m going to try to catch some of Trio’s “Dysfunctional Family Thanksgiving” marathon, including:

  • Almost Elvis takes you into the world of Elvis impersonators. Their daily trials and tribulations and a pilgrimage to Memphis for the “Elvis Impersonator World Championships.”
  • The Devil’s Playground follows a group of Amish teens in their Rumspringa period as they venture into the world of their ‘English’ peers.

Pattern Recognition, the movie?

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“Peter Weir wants to direct it, there’s an option deal in place, and Weir has a contract with Warner to…well, not to go ahead and shoot it, but to go forward toward that end. Toward which he’s hired a screenwriter — whose name I’ve forgotten (which is actually a good sign with regard to Weir’s choice) — and has gone to London, Tokyo and Moscow to look at locations.”

— From William Gibson’s blog

Old TV, New TV.

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A friend who had seen Jon Stewart savage the Crossfire weenies called to tell me about it and I remember thinking, “Crap. I missed it.” Then, I remember thinking, “I’ll be able to find it on the Net.” And I did. Jeff Jarvis calls it “the future of TV”:

“In old TV, a moment like this came, and if you missed it, you missed it. Tough luck. In new TV, you don’t need to worry about watching it live–live is so yesterday–because thousands of peers will be keeping an eye out for you to let you know what you should watch, and they’ll record it and distribute it.” [C|Net story]

Friday Night Lights

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Hard not to come away thinking of Hoosiers. Billy Bob did a very credible job but he’s no Gene Hackman or Dennis Hopper. Still, I can’t recall a better movie about high school football. I think I’d be a little embarrassed if I were from Odessa. All of the beautiful, aerial views of desolate, empty desert must have been to help us understand that “football is all they have” in small, West Texas towns. My favorite line (this probably isn’t verbatim) was: The future is getting ready to start in a few minutes. “Forever’s about to happen in just a few minutes.” Sound track was great. And the movie was shot in what I’ve come to think of as the “Saving Private Ryan” effect. Very effective. [IMDB]

Most Tivo’d

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for the week ending 09/19/04:

1. The Apprentice [No]
2. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation [Yes]
3. The Sopranos [Yes]
4. Joey [No]
5. Survivor: Vanuatu, Islands of Fire [No]
6. The West Wing [No]
7. Six Feet Under [Yes]
8. ER [No]
9. CSI: Miami [Yes]
10. Will & Grace [No]