I rented High Fidelity, The 13th Warrior and Dark …
I rented High Fidelity, The 13th Warrior and Dark City on DVD this weekend. High Fidelity was a bit whiny at times but on the whole a good flick that probably only John Cusack could have pulled off. Not as good as Grosse Point Blank but still entertaining.
I loved The 13th Warrior. Antonio Banderas might have been a little out of place, but it wasn’t typical Hollywood fare, despite ‘authorship’ by Michael Creighton. We were allowed to see some real development of character, and my two favorite themes are the ‘fish out of water’ and ‘road’ themes, both of which were combined in this movie. I’m sorry I missed this in the theater, because the DVD was a crappy Taiwanese pan-and-scan-and-chop version.
So, for that matter, was Dark City, but I didn’t enjoy this film much in any case. The editing was crude, the camera angles uninspired and the casting haphazard. The story was probably one of the influences for The Matrix, which isn’t a problem for me. I liked the story and some of the acting, but the movie failed to suspend my interest despite the pull of the story. Scenes were cut off too soon and badly framed, but this, I admit, could be due to the bad DVD transfer.
The weather today was strange. Half the sky was a brilliant, unfettered blue, while the other was brewing with thunderstorms. I took the MRT up to Chiyen station and climbed the hill there to take some pictures, but approaching thunder and lightning caused me to cut my hike short. I walked instead through some nearby suburbs that smelled of stale zhongzi and fresh paint. Besides the sound of one obnoxious man yelling at his wife, the place was pretty quiet.
I got on the MRT to go back to the city to buy a back-up battery for my new camera, but suddenly I felt like going somewhere I hadn’t been before. I ended up taking the blue line out to Hsinpu station in Panchiao, where it was raining. I walked around a bit but it was too much like Sanchung, so I returned. I hear that that line will reach all the way out to Tucheng, almost to Yingge, which is famous for its pottery, within the year. We’ll see.
I am still considering the part in the play. I have promised to decide within the week. I know I am not that good an actor, but it does sound like so much fun. And it scares me, which probably means I will regret it if I don’t do it. Still, Carl may yet find his Cardinal Wolsey elsewhere.
In the meantime, our wonderful three-day weekend, my respite from editing the same things over and over again, has come to a close. Tomorrow we will resume our scheduled job-related drivel. Thank you for your patience.
