Details 4

Went to see Salt this weekend. It has a decent first half before it descended into complete stupidity; I amused myself watching Jolie closely while Mrs. __B amused herself watching Schrieber closely.

Like most people in the design professions, I have a good visual memory. It was obvious from the beginning that Salt's "Washington DC" apartment was on Riverside Drive in NYC; when we got a look out her window, you saw the roofs of the pseudo-Acropolis of Audobon Terrace, which puts the building around 154th or 153rd St and Riverside.

During the car chase that is supposed to take place in DC - and most of which was filmed in DC - there's a scene on a complicated series of highway ramps that are in downtown Albany. I recognized three buildings on the Albany skyline (one was a project of mine) and the interchange itself is distinctive if you know it.

If this had been a better movie, it would have been jarring, but given the low quality of the ideas it was just amusing. The record for movie-makers assuming the audience wouldn't catch on to a detail is still a piece of 80s crap called Over the Brooklyn Bridge which has a shot of Elliott Gould driving a car over the Manhattan Bridge during the opening credits.

Inception

So, the good guys include "architects" and the bad guys trying to kill DiCaprio are "engineers." One of these days, Mr. Nolan, when you least expect it...

A Master's Last

Watched Family Plot last night, for the first time since it came out in 1976. Hitchcock's last film, made on a small budget and with some problems in plot and continuity. But there are still a half-dozen "Hitchcock moments" when you sit up and shake your head. My favorite: a kidnapper in his secret cellar lair, hauling an unconscious body...and then the doorbell rings.

Also: the mid-70s. When William Devane, Bruce Dern, and Karen Black were considered good-looking.

Enjoyable Fluff

Pirate Radio is great as long as you recognize that it takes place in a world only slightly less fantastic than Lord of the Rings.

And the world needs more of Philip Seymour Hoffman in manic mode. He's been in too many downbeat movies lately.