Watching Mission: Impossible III a while back reminded me how good the M:I films are, so we watched the first two again. The first one really was as good as I remembered it being, but I couldn’t remember quite how the second one went. Watching it again, I can see why I didn’t find it memorable: it isn’t. Undoubtedly the third one is the best, and the first comes second, and the second comes last (if you see what I mean).
One good thing about Mission: Impossible II is the “Mission Improbable” short in the DVD extras, with Ben Stiller playing Tom Crooze, a wannabe stunt double. Funny man!
Talking of watching good films again, we got the Mulholland Dr. DVD. Not having seen it since it came out (2001), and having read lots of people’s ideas about what it’s all about, we both thought our second viewing would lead to a deeper understanding of the film. It’s a brilliant film, but I still don’t quite “get” it all — maybe I’m not really meant to. I think I understand a bit more about it, but my main conclusion is: David Lynch makes very interesting things for us to watch. I wonder what Inland Empire is like.
Our latest LoveFilm DVD was You Can Count On Me, a thought-provoking film with Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo. It’s a film about expectation, disappointment, having control and losing control, and about how people are not what other people want them to be, but are just who they are — sometimes in spite of themselves. The acting was great all round, although casting Matthew Broderick as the by-the-book manager who has no idea about staff morale seemed a little odd to me.
What I especially liked was the way each scene had enough in it to tell you what’s going on without spelling everything out. There are lots of places where events or conversations are implied and left to the imagination of the audience. This works particularly well because of the unhurried pace.