Friday, 19 February 2010

Leaving New York

As always I'm leaving NYC but wishing I had an extra day. Tomorrow we ride Amtrak back to Boston, and then it's Logan to Heathrow, followed by a couple of days in London. This was my fifth visit to New York and I felt like I'd done all the obvious tourist stuff on previous stays, so this time we tried to hit a couple of museums we hadn't explored before and take in at least a few films. For the record: Avatar (second viewing, both 3D although we've yet to see it in IMAX), followed by Clooney's Up in the Air (superb) and - tonight - Jeff Bridge's Crazy Heart. My wife and I both big Bridges fans - I've been following his career since Winter Kills, and there are half a dozen other Bridges films that we both love, from Starman to Lewbowski - so we didn't need a great deal of persasion to check out this wonderful low-key semi road movie about a washed-up country/blues artist faced with one last shot at not screwing up. It's a great, utterly convincing performance from Bridges; Maggie Gyllenhaal is also excellent and there's a nice cameo from Robert Duvall.
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4 comments:

  1. Keith Ferrell20 February 2010 at 04:31

    Nice to see a mention of Winter Kills -- John Huston also excellent therein. It always seemed to me to be one of the few movies that actually managed to capture Richard Condon's manic narrative mode, rather than adapting it (however capably -- Prizzi [Huston again, but behind the camera] or the first Manchurian Candidate) to more conventional cinematic modes.

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  2. Craig Johns20 February 2010 at 11:53

    So, what did you think of Avatar? It seems to me that a lot of the science fiction authors I regularly read can't get past some of the goofier elements of the science in it.

    I figure if you've seen it twice, that you must've enjoyed it.

    Jeff Bridges is awesome. The dude abides.

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  3. Al R20 February 2010 at 12:36

    Keith: I'll keep it brief as I'm travelling right now, but yeah, Winter Kills - I read the book after seeing the film, actually. Watched it again a few years ago.

    Craig: I did like Avatar, although I'm aware of the criticisms. On a visual level, though, I don't think I've seen anything to match it. Toyed with seeing it in IMAX 3-d as well but in the end the Dudester won out. Maybe I'll do a proper post on it when I get back.

    Saw a Dude doll in someone's office yesterday, as it happens. Sometimes there's a man (etc). Good Sam Elliot cameo in Up in the Air, by the way.

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  4. Anonymous7 March 2010 at 13:02

    Just a quick comment on Avatar IMAX vs. 3D. I saw it in IMAX first and picture quality was amazing. Then plain 3D and found the frame rate seemed to be slower, especially at the start of the film - made some action scenes seem quite juddery. Definitely recommend you see it in IMAX for full "immersion". Paul M.

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