Videography

Things I love about this clip.

*Instead of the human torch, you get a coffee machine that talks.

*Magneto drives a car with a big “M” on the front and speaks entirely in the third person, as all super-villains should.

*Magneto needs to stop for directions. And hates traffic jams, parking signs and people who interrupt him (even when his is not talking).

*Ultimately, he’s just looking to join the group. Brother just wants a JOB.

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13 minutes of fact-free fear mongering, panicked Beck fans in their own words.

Did you know that Al Sharpton heads the Black Panthers?

Wow…just…wow.

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What an age we live in, that artists can dance on the sides of buildings, held only by hope and nigh-invisible wires.

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Roman Polanski’s "The Ghost Writer is a hell of a movie.

I’m not an apologist for the man, what he was convicted of, how he’s comported himself after his crimes, his comments on the case. It’s all rather horrifying. I think he should have gone to jail, for a good long time. I think he should be back in the US right now, owning up for his flight to Europe after his conviction. I think what he did, and the defense of what he did, is creeptacular.

Can we seperate the art from the artist? Of course. Otherwise you better burn all the Picassos, toss every Chaplin film into the pyre as well. Some of the most gifted creators have been dreadful human beings.

Ok, now can we talk about the movie?

"The Ghost Writer" never got a proper US release (see above) and that’s a damn shame. Movies aren’t just the work of  one man. All those scrolling credits at the end? That’s who made the movie happen. Sure, Polanski gets the "film by" over the title, but everyone from the screenwriter to the key grips made the thing actually happen.

The Ghost Writer is a beautiful film. It inspires dread and menace as only Polanski can. Based on the novel by Robert Harris, it’s the story of a ghost writer (Ewan McGregor) hired to finish the memoirs of a former UK Prime Minister (Pierce Brosnan). The PM might as well be wearing a little sign that says "Yes, I am Tony Blair" but don’t let that annoy you too much.

The previous "Ghost" died under nebulous circumstances on the cloud-shrouded and bleak American island that the PM, his wife and creeptacular staff (headed up by Kim Cattrall who is STUNNING because she reminds us that she has chops beyond playing a comic drag queen) are hiding out. Seems the PM did some very illegal things. The hows and whys are playing out in his autobiography and on the world stage.

The Harris book is a bit of ripping pulp fiction. Lots of whodunit and intrigue. Polanski adds doom and a sense of damnation to the story. Characters look out at the wild sea as if awaiting the viking raiders they know are coming. Almost every scene is either at night, dusk or covered by clouds. Gloom suffuses.

Brosnan is brilliant. He’s charismatic and charming, but it’s all superficial. At moments he reminds me of Rod Blagogevich. You really want to like him, then he does something awful and breaks your heart. It’s not a Tony Blair parody, not at all.

MacGregor is frumpily nerdy. He’s quite good at seeming put out by circumstances. Olivia Williams as the PM’s wife is marvelous. Why isn’t she in everything? I mean eveything, down to a "Muppet Babies" revival. She’s a mass of secrets and protects her husband while betraying him in the same sentence.

And again, Ms. Catrall just shines. She’s the guardian of the gate with nary a hair out of place. There are moments she looks fit to kill with a stapler. Just wonderful.

Watching the movie unfold, stylish, elegant and (thankfully) adult in it’s execution is just a delight. Best movie I’ve seen in just ages.

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