Logging

Film: Man on Fire 

Never been a gigantic fan of the ADHD style of this film. For what gets remembered as a classic action thriller - remarkably little action. Sure, Denzel sticks a bomb up a guy's ass but the film is more drama than action. I suppose for the entire 2nd half of the film, Denzel's walking around with a gun or bazooka but the set pieces are more memorable for their brutality than spectacle. An interesting flick - almost for how much people seem to know, follow, and remember it. Can anyone explain to me Mark Anthony's scam for getting his own daughter kidnapped? Insurance pays ransoms for these things? Seems like a pretty flawed system and would encourage mass kidnapping... Nice use of music in the film.

Film: The Apartment

Writing lesson: a lot of plot revelations early into the film pulls us into the story. I mean we start with the guy already loaning out his apartment. Most of the 2nd half of the film just deals with emotional fallout and the various ironic scenarios of Lemmon being a ladies man. 

Depressing that such a film of this scale would be an "indie" today and look like shit compared to what we were making in 1960... Even more depressing it wouldn't even be made as an "indie" because of various "problematic" elements featured in the film -- no point in getting depressed pointing these out.

Film: The Drop

Watched the first half so far. Crime films from book adaptations often allow for much more sprawling, digressive narrative structure that has high risk and high return when done well. They should've promoted this film as a "dog movie." Amazing cast...want to see how it ends.