• RIP: Joel Siegel
• Hmmm, “Moonlight” continues to recast, and it actually sounds like it might be improving. Perhaps the show will end up being more than a knockoff of better shows that came before it.
• TV Guide updates their cult classic TV series list. Some nice new additions are added.
• Google Maps adds some nifty new interactive driving directions. Neato.
• I’ve been listening to the audio commentaries on the Psych: Season 1 DVD set, which shows just how much fun the cast and crew of the show have. These folks clearly have way too much fun with their job. As I watch these episodes a second time, I truly appreciate just how funny the series is. It’s one of those where you pick up new jokes you didn’t notice the first time around. It’s easily one of the funniest shows on the air. Its only competition for funniest show on the air is 30 Rock. Honestly, I think Psych might actually be a bit funnier. James Roday is SO funny, and Dule Hill ain’t no slouch either.
• So, Fox has bumped the July 4th burn off of the last two episodes of Drive back to July 13. What are the odds that they’ll bump it again, and/or drop it entirely. Let’s not forget the motto, folks: Fox sucks.
• Speaking of which, they’ve been burning off the last third or so of the 19 produced episodes of Standoff recently, with a few more to go. Forgot how much I liked the series. Good to have a handful more of them, even though I know they’ll be the last of ‘em. But hey, it’s a procedural series, so it’s not like there’ll be a hundred threads left hanging in the last one. Why is it that Fox typically picks the worst of their crap shows to get renewed year after year, but their best shows always die painful deaths? Oh yeah, it’s cause the network has 1/100th the intelligence and talent that the Fox production studios have. How is it that those two even have the same name?
• You’ll have noticed that I put up reviews for the great Ratatouille and for A Mighty Heart. Coming tomorrow evening will be a review for, of course, Transformers. Fingers crossed that it’ll be as fun as it looks.

I knew little more than the cursory aspects of the story going into the film. I knew how the story ended, at the very least. I have nothing but respect for movies that are based on true stories, where you know how it will end, that yet managed to somehow capture your attention and keep you intrigued up until said ending. Ultimately, those kinds of movies are held together by character writing/acting. To cite some of the greatest examples of such a challenge, one needs to look no further than Apollo 13 or United 93. While this movie is nowhere near the ambition and scope of those two, it’s still a very well made film. And I must point out one of my favorite things about this film - its overall lack of political motivation or sentiment. Surprisingly, despite the fact that it could easily be steeped full of political and religious statement, is steers clear of such motivations. It remains grounded as a character drama about Mariane Pearl and her experience.

Writing: Like any historical representation film, the challenge in the adaptation is condensing reality into a strong but abbreviated narrative flow. For this film, we are shown roughly a month in time for the events of the film, and it holds together quite well. Some of it is pulled off in terms of filming and editing rather than writing, but the script clearly must have been well assembled from the start. When you know that a couple of the main characters in the story served as advisers to the film, you have to assume at least the major aspects of it is true to life, if not most of it.

Production: Here is a particularly strong aspect of the film. The story is represented in near-documentary form, incorporating much of the real life event (via news clips, etc). It is captured through casual, hand held documentary viewpoints. While it may have worked in United 93, director Paul Greengrasses other uses of hand held docu-style filming has been maddeningly terrible (The Bourne Supremacy, for one). Director Michael Winterbottom pulls off that technique in this film with far more talent than Greengrass does. It’s as if he used a documentary crew that knew how to actually use a camera. The gritty nature of the surroundings - the vast, sprawling city of Karachi, Pakistan - really help sell the reality of the story as well. Many of the investigative aspects of the story are played out in montages that are less interested in the forensic nature of a modern procedural than they are about portraying the chaos of the setting and the methods employed by the investigative teams.

Cast: Angelina Jolie is flat out fantastic in her mostly restrained performance. There’s none of the Lara Croft showmanship at work here. This is an actress who’s inhabiting a very real character. She’s not larger-than-life. Quite the contrary - she’s extremely ordinary. All the choices about the character are made in that frame of mind, from the wardrobe to the (lack of) glamor and make-up. This is an award-worthy performance, like many others that have successfully portrayed a real-life character with such down-to-earth success. Other characters are well rounded by a fine, unassuming cast. Will Patton is the standout supporting actor, who gives his role that serious but borderline amused nature he so often brings to roles. I have no idea how close that is to the real life Randall Bennett, but it works for the film. Dan Futterman does a nice job with his brief role as husband, kidnapped reporter Danny Pearl.

Music: Director Michael Winterbottom had previous worked with composer Michael Nyman, and this time out works with his daughter, relative newcomer Molly Nyman. Co-composer Harry Escott must be her official collaborator, since their credit list reads pretty much identically. The score is appropriately ethnic to the region and works well on an emotional level. It’s no best score of the year contender, but it’s certainly a well made score.

PIXAR continues to prove that they are the single best thing to happen to the Walt Disney Studios since ol’ Walt himself. While this movie may go by with a little less notability than most of the other PIXAR films, it proves a fairly obvious fact - the geniuses at PIXAR can make even their lower profile efforts darn near perfect. To be even more specific than calling this a PIXAR film, it’s written and directed by Brad Bird, who’s first PIXAR film was The Incredibles (and who had previously made the often overlooked Iron Giant). Bird has a fantastic talent for animated films, and he brings along a number of his collaborators from The Incredibles onto this film. Like the company they began as part of, Industrial Light And Magic, PIXAR revolutionized their industry and has forever since been the defacto king of the industry. And now that they have not only become part of Disney Studios, but the brilliant John Lasseter has become head of their overall animation division - a fact that has already shown positive results with surprises like Meet The Robinsons.

Writing: Brad Bird has admitted that due to inheriting this project after it had already been in development, fairly well into pre-production, he really had to hit the ground running and go on little more than instinct. Having taken the original story pitch and quickly hammered out the screenplay himself, he rolled quickly into production. All that is to say that the narrative of the film is really well put together. Honestly, had I not known differently, I would have assumed this to be an adaptation of some Caldecott Award winning children’s book. It’s clever, warm, fun, exciting and hits all the marks it needs to.

Production: The production quality can be summed up in one word: PIXAR. Every element of every frame brings forth multiple levels of master craftsmanship. In this unassuming setting, the animators have brought their indomitable talent to bear in every way possible. In the end credits, there’s a rather unusual logo stating that no motion capture was used in making the film. It’s an odd boast to make, but I kind of get why they’d be proud of it. Sure, mo-cap isn’t particularly cheating or anything, and can result in some very nice finished product, but the people who worked on this film all come from a very traditional, nostalgic animation technique. And I bet one of their reasons for being proud of that fact in this day and age is in how flawless the animation is during every frame of this film. All the little details are there, most of which have no specific attention drawn to them (if you’ll pardon the pun). Stuff like the rapid breathing rate of the rats to the reflections of all the kitchen utensils and paraphernalia, it’s all flawless. Not to mention the behavioral animation of the humans and rats alike. It all feels real, but still very much an animated product. The folks at PIXAR are just amazing animators, let alone storytellers at every level.

Cast: Here’s one of the stranger aspects of this film amongst the rest of PIXAR’s oeuvre - it’s not filled with high profile, a-list movie starts for the voices. Starring a low-profile comedic actor like Patton Oswalt (of Reno 911), the film is a mix of low profile talent and unassuming performances from character actors. How they arrived at casting Oswalt is beyond me, but it works well. Ian Holm is, of course, excellent. Heck, even Brad Garrett (who typically bores me to tears) does an OK job. Janeane Garofalo and Will Arnet fit their characters well. Add some veteran actors like Brian Dennehy and Peter O’Toole to the mix and it all just works. Oh, and of course it just wouldn’t be a PIXAR movie without John Ratzenberger (and hey, he even has the word “rat” in his name…).

Music: Brad Bird brings along composer Michael Giacchino from his previous film, The Incredibles. While I may love pretty much everything about PIXAR as a whole, the early reliance on Randy Newman grew a little bit old. So, when composers like Thomas Newman (Finding Nemo) and Michael Giacchino (The Incredibles) were brought into the mix, it really helped liven things up. Like on The Incredibles, Giacchino turns in a fantastic score. Channeling aspects of Henry Mancini through both intimate Parisian style and playful animated fun, Giacchino crafts one of the most enjoyable scores of the year. It’s particularly great during the big action scenes, where he brings out the big band side of the playful score. Bird & Giacchino is a director/composer team I hope to never see split up.