Recent Films (Cigni Troppi in Film)

Being quite busy at work lately, I haven't had time to see as many films as I usually do. Some friends recently told me about one that sounded really strange called 'Black Swan'. The tedium of a dancing 'chick flick' might be offset by seeing the lovely Natalie Portman running around in tights, but not so fast Hollywood...


















I think we all have already seen this film! I distinctly remember Natalie in 'Red Swan'. And wasn't Lea Thompson also in 'Red Swan'? She had the most hilarious line after the invasion when the town was blown up and her character quite emotionally observed 'Things are *different* now!' Lea, if you ever read this, please send me a black and white PR photo signed 'Things are different now!', because that works on so many levels.

















Anyway, back to the task at hand. Natalie also starred in 'Purple Swan'. Does the film industry have no shame? They didn't even cast a different actress!

















But they don't even stop there, remember when Natalie Portman portrayed 'Blue Swan', set in sixteenth century France?














I just don't get why Hollywood feels the need to recycle all of these films. For example, how many 'Batman' films do we really need?


I did get a chance to see 'The Tourist' recently, and sure the plot was predictable and it was a bit silly. But, it was set in Venice, and it was fun, and Angelina was in it, and did I mention it was set in Venice?

COPS is Better Live (Distretto di Polizia è Meglio in Reale)

Recently, I was driving home from a film, 'Get Him To the Greek', at around 1 am last Saturday. The film wasn't the greatest, but some parts were mildly amusing.

On the way back home, I happened to take a road that was three lanes on each side, yet had a very slow 30 mph speed limit. At about the time I realized I was going somewhere in the neighborhood of 30% too fast, I see the cheerful blue and red police lights behind me.

Resigned to getting a speeding violation of some sort, I signal and get over to the right. The police officer then shoots past me on the left (metaphorically by driving, no guns were involved) and turns off the flashing lights. So, I think 'Great, I get a lucky warning from the lenient officer tonight.' This notion is particularly reinforced when I see him stopped at the intersection light down the road in front of me, because if he was on a call surely he would have kept driving.

By the time I begin to catch up with him at the light, it changed green and the police officer drove on ahead quickly. As I'd just been warned, I decided not to push my luck and drove comfortably under the limit.

A few moments pass as the officer disappears from sight. I then see a white pickup truck rapidly overtaking me on the left. The truck barrels past me, zooming along at least 45% over the speed limit. Surely the officer was not going to be as kind with a whole 15% more over the limit speed compared to my transgression.

Well, I get to the top of the hill in front of me just in time to see the officer's vehicle parked in the median turn on all of his lights. Incredibly, the truck speeds on and jumps over a curb to the right and drives down below a bridge into a nature park area with trees and dirt and things like that. I can't say that it was unexpected to see the police follow the truck down, but it was still shocking to witness.

When I get on the bridge, my headlights are illuminating a figure in a brown tshirt running as fast as I've seen anyone run in a long time (away from the ditched truck). The officer quickly adjusted a spotlight on the runner and drove after him. I'm pretty sure that he gave the suspect a gentle bump to persuade him not to run anymore, but I couldn't be sure because of all the dust that was billowing up. It was very much like watching an episode of COPS from my vantage point on the bridge above the action.

It eventually dawned on me that I had been slowing down to see the events unfold. I began to wonder if having a running car stopped very close to a possible violent felon on the run from the police was a good personal safety lifestyle choice. Carefully weighing the alternatives of seeing an excellent chase vs. getting violently carjacked, I decide to drive on and read about it in the paper the next day. Unfortunately, as of yet I haven't seen the story printed.

So was this all good karma (not getting the citation) because of my bad experience (having to see 'Get Him To the Greek')? I may never know. Anyway, congrats to the local police for being on the ball and willing to risk life and limb to protect and serve. Although, in this particular case, I'd imagine they were risking the suspect's limbs a bit more than their own. I guess the important thing to remember is do not run from police, you will not win.

Fun 'cops' show in Italian.

Here is a fun police chase.

Another love tap to stop the suspect.