The game is set

I didn't really have a New Year's resolution this year, but I do plan to make an effort to go to the cinema more often in 2006. For years I hardly ever went, believing that I wasn't really missing much at all. This year I'll put that to the test.

With that in mind, I took in a matinee of Match Point this afternoon. To my surprise, the cinema at West Portal was nearly sold out for the holiday afternoon showing. Most of the crowd was over 50. (I wonder about the hours I keep sometimes.)

Spoiler warning: I'm not giving away the ending in this posting, but I can't write about the film without saying something about the end. I'll try to be vague. So here it is:

For the first, oh, hour and 55 minutes I was pretty disappointed in Match Point. It seemed like far too ordinary of a story, albeit one with well-developed characters and intriguingly layered dialogue. I didn't quite believe main character Chris Wilton would do what he did, nor did I feel his tearful remorse at his decision. Furthermore, despite a few signature Allen shots, I found the editing a little choppy, especially when the film is supposed to represent the passing of time. I was just about ready to leave thinking Match Point was completely overrated, when the last five or ten minutes of the film threw everything else into question. If its final sequence isn't exactly thrilling, it certainly energizes everything that preceded. The mind races as the credits roll. It's a manipulative film. I think people left happy, although I can't quite give it a little-man-jumping-on-the-chair rating myself.

(Side note: It's, um, not "abhorrent" due to "upper male nudity" either -- but I do find it interesting that Ted Baehr elects to spoil the ending.)


FMFM: Buddy Miles' Them Changes. It's rare that one of my dollar-bin purchases turns out to be warped, but this one has a little thumbprint-sized bend that affects the first thirty seconds of each side. Anyone ever successfully un-warp an LP without ruining it?