*Chinatown*, Roman Polanski’s 1974 neo-noir starring Jack Nicholson as private detective Jake Gittes and written by veteran script doctor Robert Towne, is one of those classics that film buffs kind of give you the evil eye for never having seen, though not without good reason, as it’s an excellent movie. Taking a page from Raymond Chandler’s play book, the story takes place in L.A. in the ’30s and has a complex multi-layered story dealing with murder, corruption, money, power, family issues, and, above all, *water*. Gittes isn’t quite Philip Marlowe—he’s a little too flashy, too good-looking (a fact that is remedied in part by a particularly famous scene early in the film involving a knife and Jake’s nose), but he’s got the same cockiness and penchant for getting into trouble; Faye Dunaway plays the femme fatale with aplomb; and John Huston (who directed noir classic *The Maltese Falcon*) is in fine form as the charming, controlling villain of the piece. The film’s eponymous location is referenced several times, though not seen until the very end of the film; throughout, there’s a definite implication that Chinatown corrupts everything it touches, leading to the film’s famous closing line: “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.”

America’s got a mixed track at remaking British television shows. *The Office* is popular now, but most fans agree it was at its best after it stopped aping the UK version. On the other hand, the less said about the American version of *Coupling*, the better.

So, which one is *Life on Mars*?

As a big fan of the original show (which ran for a total of 16 episodes on the BBC), I decided to give the US adaptation a shot, fearing the worst. Turns out, it’s not so bad; it’s actually pretty good.

The premise, of course, is the same: Detective Sam Tyler (the Irish Jason O’Mara, with an able American accent, takes over from John Simm) gets in an accident and ends up mysteriously transported from 2008 to 1973, where he’s still a cop in same precinct. He butts heads with his new boss, Gene Hunt (movie legend Harvey Keitel, who’s certainly a bigger star than role originator Philip Glenister, but lacks a bit of the charisma) who has a typically ’70s way of policing: beat the bastards up first, then ask questions later. Maybe.

New York replaces Manchester, and the production values are much higher, and while the first episode is at times a shot-by-shot remake, the American tweaks are effective (the twin towers, for example, make a great entrance). By the second episode, the show has begun to diverge a little (a hippy neighbor with pot-infused lasagna, and a space probe that shows Sam glimpses of his real life), but they manage to hold onto the elements that made the original so fun. It’ll be interesting to see how much they continue to follow the trail blazed by the original, especially since one American season has more episodes than the entire British series.

The directorial debut of veteran screenwriter Scott Frank (*Minority Report*, *Out of Sight*), *The Lookout* is a neat little thriller that centers around a young man, Chris Pratt (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who was left with a moderate brain trauma after a car accident. While outwardly, Chris might look fine, his injury makes it hard for him to do simple things like cook dinner or talk to girls—he has trouble putting things in sequence. After a seemingly chance encounter with charismatic Gary Spargo (Matthew Goode) and a beautiful woman (Isla Fisher), Chris gets embroiled in a risky scheme. There’s a slew of excellent performances here, from Gordon-Levitt, who has become an extremely versatile leading man (if you haven’t seen *Brick*, you’re missing out), and Jeff Daniels, as Lewis, Chris’s blind roommate. This could have been a paint-by-numbers kind of flick, but it ends up being an interesting portrait of a disabled character, without veering into weepy, maudlin territory.

I promise, we’re almost done with the whole manga face thing. And I’m totally going to bed after I write this. But I couldn’t resist posting—now that Jason [has completed the sequence](http://doombot.com/2008/08/18/face-your-destiny/)—this Now-and-Then picture.

And, seven years later, Kai still looks the most like his cartoon if you ask me. Crazy. Some day, if the four of us are ever in the same physical location again, we shall have to take a picture so we can actually see if either of these actually looks like us. And then we will burn all the evidence.

No, I haven’t played “War on Terror” the board game. But now that it’s been confiscated by the British police I kind of feel an *obligation* to play it—like reading a banned book. The game’s site appears to be down, but [the Google cache is still accessible](http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:_QJe1KvHNEAJ:www.waronterrortheboardgame.com/+war+on+terror+boardgame&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=safari) and here’s [BoardGameGeek's take on it](http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/24396).

Here’s what [the Cambridge News Online had to say](http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_home/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=338658) about the confiscation incident:

> Each player starts as an empire filled with good intentions and a determination to liberate the world from terrorists and from each other.

> Then the reality of world politics kicks and terrorist states emerge.

> [...]

> In their cardboard version of realpolitik George Bush’s “Axis of Evil” is reduced to a spinner in the middle of the board, which determines which player is designated a terrorist state.

> That person then has to wear a balaclava (included in the box set) with the word “Evil” stitched on to it.

> Kent police said they had confiscated the game because the balaclava “could be used to conceal someone’s identity or could be used in the course of a criminal act”.

I don’t know, that’s a little bit like confiscating Monopoly for counterfeiting. What’s the the next target, those dangerous *skiers*? Here’s a picture of the dastardly clothing article in question. It’s pretty clearly *evil*, right?

Frankly, I’ve heard [a lot of stupid things](http://doombot.com/2008/08/12/george-lucas-has-lost-it/), but this one takes the stupid cake. Admittedly, the game was swept up in a raid against climate protesters near a British power station, and I’m guessing the authorities didn’t think too closely about what they were doing.

But I totally want that balaclava now. I mean, it’s kind of like the head garb equivalent of an [ironic t-shirt](http://www.threadless.com). Plus, it gets cool up here in the liberal northeast come winter.

I think he’s suffering from some rare degenerative brain disease. Either that, or he’s just started watching reels while drunk.

Here’s [*Clone Wars* director Dave Filoni](http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2008/08/12/is-zero-the-hutt-the-first-gay-alien-in-star-wars-history/) on Lucas’s input into the *creative process* for the film:

> “Zero, Jabba’s uncle, originally spoke in Hutt-ese, like Jabba and then he had a different sluggish voice just like Jabba, and then George one day was watching it and said ‘I want him to sound like Truman Capote.’ He actually said that and we were like ‘Wow!’”

Things like this make me want to slam my head into a wall. Repeatedly. And then just keep going until I eventually find George Lucas and destroy him with my head of *steel*. I’ve been meaning to link to [this article](http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article4386319.ece) about Lucas and Spielberg and the process of *Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.* Here’s the relevant portion, straight from Lucas’s own mouth:

> “…Indiana Jones only becomes complicated when you have another two people saying ‘I want it this way’ and ‘I want it that way’, whereas, when I first did Jones, I just said, ‘We’ll do it this way’ — and that was much easier. But now I have to accommodate everybody, because they are all big, successful guys, too, so it’s a little hard on a practical level.

> “If I can come up with another idea that they like, we’ll do another. Really, with the last one, Steven wasn’t that enthusiastic. I was trying to persuade him. But now Steve is more amenable to doing another one. Yet we still have the issues about the direction we’d like to take. I’m in the future; Steven’s in the past. He’s trying to drag it back to the way they were, I’m trying to push it to a whole different place. So, still we have a sort of tension. This recent one came out of that. It’s kind of a hybrid of our own two ideas, so we’ll see where we are able to take the next one.”

Gah. *Gahhhhhhhh*. Yes, Spielberg may be in the past, but let me remind you that *the movie takes place in the fucking past*. So maybe that’s not such a bad thing. Just stop, George. Stop trying to push the envelope with CGI *gophers*. We’re not impressed any more. Just…just…let Steven and Harrison do their thing—they’re *professionals*. The problem comes when you *get your way*. A Capote-sounding *Hutt*? Are you *high*?

I had hoped that there was still good in him, but I think I’ve finally come around to the [Tim Bisley point of view](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZvqY11RN6w) (relevant portion starts at 5:13 or so).

A magic trick of a movie, directed by Christopher Nolan, [batmaniac](http://doombot.com/2008/06/26/christopher-nolan-batmaniac/) and scripted along with his brother and frequent collaborator Jonathan. Able turns by Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman as rival 19th century magicians, but the most captivating performance, to my mind, is that of real life inventor Nikola Tesla, here played by real life rock star David Bowie. I read Christopher Priest’s novel, on which the movie is based, before the movie’s release in 2006 and while the movie differs in some plot points, it is all in all a *tighter* and certainly more cinematic story that the brothers Nolan present. As per their usual tactics, they revel in layering the narrative here (one character reading the diary of another character reading the first character’s diary), but the end result has the same polish and spectacle as either of his *Batman* outings. It strikes me as a *louder*, more boisterous version of [the other 19th century magician movie](http://doombot.com/2008/06/30/short-movie-review-the-illusionist/), but I still enjoyed it, even though, having read the book, I knew what the plot twists were. To me, that’s the mark of both a good magic trick *and* a good film: in both cases, you still anticipate the reveal even if you know what the end result will be.

I enjoyed [this *New York Times* essay by David Brooks](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/opinion/08brooks.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin) about showing off your cultural superiority via one-upmanship. Most importantly:

> “…in order to cement your status in the cultural elite, you want to be already sick of everything no one else has even heard of.”

Somehow I can never quite manage this, but I vow to work harder in the future. In unrelated news: I am so sick of that little kid next door—her paintings are derivative and her singing is *uninspired*. Lame.

Gotta say, I am impressed that Jim Davis has a good enough sense of humor about [Garfield Minus Garfield](http://www.garfieldminusgarfield.net/) that he’s helping [publish a book of the strips](http://garfieldminusgarfield.net/post/44223655/ballantine-books-to-publish-book-inspired-by-the). On the one hand, I’d like to think this says something about the future of parody and user-altered content—on the other hand, though, it’s probably just free money for Davis, so I guess he’s really got nothing to lose.

On the one hand, I’m kind of glad that I waited until this series was finished before reading it—my memory for plot details is patchy at best, and if I’d had to read this parceled out over six years, I have no doubt I would have had even more trouble keeping track of the hordes of minor characters and intrigues than I did. At the same time, I wonder if I would have felt even more of an emotional impact at the end if I’d undergone the journey over a period of years rather than a couple weeks. But I digress. Vaughan is an excellent writer: his dialogue is tuned and sharp and his characters are all too human; I really like Pia Guerra and Jose Marzan’s art (which is saying something, since I often spend far less time on visuals than I do on words). I didn’t get the same feeling of de-emphasis on the cause of the plague that killed the world’s men that [Jason did](http://doombot.com/2008/06/30/short-comic-review-y-the-last-man/), but perhaps that was just given the short period in which I read it. I agree with him, however, that this is the type of story I love to see told in serial medium like comics and TV: stories that are plotted from a beginning *to an end*.

(I see from [the Wikipedia entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y:_The_Last_Man) (which contains spoilers) that a film is planned to shoot this fall and come out next year, based on a draft by Vaughan (rewritten by the film’s director, D.J. Caruso). There is a rumor that Shia LaBeouf (*Transformers*,*Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull*) will play Yorick—all I have to say to that is: “Monkeys…why’d it have to be *monkeys*?”)