Bad Lieutenant: Port of call- New Orleans review

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is directed by Werner Herzog and stars Nicolas Cage along with Eva Mendes. This is the first Herzog film that I have seen, but it is my understanding that he's a director who takes many chances with his film projects. I have to say that this director has caught my attention.

In this dark comedy, Nic Cage is a Lieutenant who suffers constant back pain from trying to save a man stuck in a prison cell during Hurricaine Katrina. He becomes addicted to Cocaine and other illegal substances in an attempt to cope with his pain. He also grows more reckless as the film progresses through gambling and commiting many crimes.

With the help of Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant, Nicolas Cage is back in form. In fact, I don't think he's been this good since Adaptation. Without him, I don't think this film could of pulled it off. Throughout the movie, Cage is hunched and appears to be in substantial pain when off his medication, and when he isn't acting like he's in pain, he has to act like he's high. Cage is absolutely convincing, his performance doesn't falter at any moment of the film. I feel as though he got somewhat snubbed by not even getting a nomination at the Oscars for his wonderful perfomance.

The same goes for Herzog. I feel as though he did a great job on how he went about the issue of Hurricaine Katrina in this movie. Its not the focus, just the setting. But I feel Herzog understands that some of the acts Cage's character does throughout the film wouldn't of been possible without an event as devastating as Katrina to cripple New Orleans.

The reason why I call Bad Lieutenant a "dark comedy" is because thats what it is. The acts and scenarios surrounding Cage's character are ridiculous. Ridiculous to the point of laughter from the audience. Unlike Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant from 1992, the film doesn't attempt to sympathize with the protagonist. I don't think that Cage's character even pities himself, and the bombarding dilemmas he faces throughout the film. He just acts out on instict, too careless or high to worry about the consequences. The audience is left with doing one thing when watching Bad Lieutenant; laugh along with the protagonist.

Herzog was quoted saying something to the extent of the nature of evil, which is that evil is blissful. It isn't so much as an excuse for the character's actions, but more of an understanding on his motivations. This film has no good guys, nor any bad guys. There are only shades of grey. Thats what brings this film into greatness, instead of mediocrity.

Michael Mann

This is a director who hasn't gotten his due from the public nor the critics alike. He's done work which study men at work. By work, I mean professions as criminals and detectives. He was the mind behind such films as Heat, the Insider, Collateral, Miami Vice and the recent Public Enemies. There is a clear correlation between the characters of these films. Most of these movies include cops and robbers.

I believe that Mann's work has redefined the idea of an action movie. Most of the films that I said early have substantial amounts of action and violence in them. In fact, some of the most perfectly shot and executed action scenes have been seen in his films, like the bank robbery in Heat or the showdown in the forrest in Public Enemies. Despite the action and violence being very well done in his film, that is not the reason why I believe Mann has redefined this genre. It's how powerful his character studies are.

Take Heat for example. Throughout the film, we see that both the antagonist and protagonist are severly flawed. Pacino's character lives for his police work which hurts his marriage. DeNiro's character is lonely which is in part due to the career that he chose, criminal/thief. Mann goes into a more Arthouse territory with Public Enemies. He studies more the era of crime in which the movie takes place, which is the great depression, than the actual characters themselves in the film. I used the word arthouse because of the way he uses his camera. Often enough the camera shakes when theres action and gets a close up of the main characters at certain key points. The camera is almost a character of the film, giving the audience access to these to these criminals of great reputation.

There's also the sound in Public Enemies. When a gun fires, it roars. Some may find that aspect of the film somewhat annoying and loud, but I think that it serves a purpose. Adds a sort of chaos to the gun battles, which seems appropriate and even necessary.

Michael Mann loves the look of cities in the nighttime. Whether its in Heat, Miami Vice or Collateral, the night shots really set the mood. Mann used a digital camera for his more recent films which bring out the texture of his nighttime scenes. Some might argue that using a digital camera is simply not proper, but it serves his purpose to help the audience better see his night scenes.

Michael Mann has done a lot for the movie business. He pushed the boundaries of the "action" movie and turned it into a very respectible genre. Hopefully, there will be many more Michael Mann films to come.

Shutter Island review

Scorsese does Hitchcock in this wonderful thriller staring Dicaprio in his greatest performance to date. I have to say I had my doubts. After finally getting an oscar for The Departed, I figured Scorsese might get a little lazy and start settling for mediocre movie projects... man was I ever wrong.
This has to be one of his greatest achievements. I have never seen mood and setting used so effectively since Kubrick's The Shining. From the first time we see Shutter Island on the ferry to the ending moments in the lighthouse, this movie never lets up in its visual beauty and powerhouse acting.
What a great way to start off this decade with another Scorsese classic.

The Final day of the 2010 VAncouver winter Olympics

So, the Olympics are done, and Canada was amazing! Making two records, the first is having the most gold medals won by a host team ever, and the second is winning the most gold medals...ever! Seeing as though we were doing pretty bad at the start of these Olympics, this has been a very impressive turn for our Olmpians.
I watched the men's hockey final last night, Canada vs. USA. I was nervous since Caanda had lost to them in the preliminary round. It ended up going in overtime, both goalies doing a great job of keeping the puck out of the net until Ryan Miller, of the USA team, let a goal in made by our very own Sidney Crosby. Crosby wasn't having the best game so it's great to see him pull out when it really counts. Nonetheless, Ryan Miller did a fantastic job throughout the entire Olympics, and I don't believe team USA would of made it as far as they did without him. Miller kept his game face on the entire time and it really showed.
I also managed to watch about 30 to 45 minutes of the closing ceremonies. The beginning where they were making fun of the mess up they had at the opening ceremonies was pretty funnyand I would consider it a sort of "recovery" from the opening ceremony. Then came a bunch of singing and some dancing that started to seem random and a bit boring. Before turning off the TV I noticed that the next winter games will be held at Sochi, which is in Russia. Now I can't wait to see what the Russians will do with this opportunity to impress the whole world. See you for the 2012 summer Olympics in London, England!
-Malik out :)

Men's curling final-Canada vs. Norway

After spending some time researching the rules and scoring system on curling on the internet, I finally understood what on earth was happening when I was watching the men's final of curling. I must say that the thing I enjoyed the most from this game was Norway's attire. They had this Power Ranger thing going on with there pants, it was pretty entertaining to see. Canada ended up winning 6-3 which is great since the women the night before managed to get the silver, which means that Canada is pretty awesome when it comes to curling.
Canada now has 13 gold medals which sets the record for most gold medals won by by a country hosting the Olympics. Overall, I believe we are currently in third place for medals overall, which makes this Canada's best Olympic run in a long time.

Canada vs. USA women's hockey final

Well it looks like Canada gets another gold medal! After our women's hockey team nearly destroying every other team out there, it was becoming pretty obvious that they wouldn't choke when it mattered most. Yes, the Americans did put up a fight, only letting us score 2 goals, but we were unstoppable. The game ended at 2-0, not letting one goal in, Szabados played the game of her life. I especially enjoyed the part when an American fell on Szabados and she began hitting her continuously until the American got off. Of course Poulin was the star having scored the only goals of the game, I think we'll be seeing some great things from her in the future since shes so young.

Day 12 of winter Olympics

I just finished watching men's hockey team Canada play against Germany in a qualifier to play against the Russians. The Canadians performed to full expectations in this do or die match. The coach created a new, extremely motivated line that consisted of Eric Staal, Jarome Iginla and Sidney Crosby. Together, this line scored 3 goals in a game that ended 8-2 for team Canada. Rick Nash managed to break the ice and score his first Olympic goal which was nice to see since he is a great hockey player.
A great moment was Canada's second goal which was a phantom which none of the referees even noticed it going right through the net. That's right, the puck went liderally through the net, thats how fast Shea Weber's goal was. This will be a great boost for Canada's ego against the great hockey team that is Russia.