Everything That Dies, Some Day Comes Back

Somehow this 1998 crime thriller had gone under my radar. It has an intriguing premise - a police hostage negotiator, Danny, is framed for a murder, and out of desperation he himself takes some hostages, as a way of trying to clear himself.   The murder is of Danny's partner Nate who was investigating corruption around the local police Disability Fund. The implication is that both the murder and the framing of Danny are the work of the corrupt cops about to be exposed, so Danny demands that a hostage negotiator, Chris, from another part of the city, be brought in to run things.  Although Danny barely knows Chris he at least can rely on him not being corrupt.   Danny is played by Samuel L Jackson and Chris by Kevin Spacey.  Both are in peak form;  Spacey in particular is well cast and extremely compelling. Their relationship reminded me of that between Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones in 'The Fugitive'.  At first Chris has no interest in whether D...

Watching this Alexander Payne comedy-drama was like going back in time to the 1970s (in a good way).  It is not just that it is set in the winter of 1970-71.   The cinematography, music and editing style are all old-school (again, in a good way) so that I could easily have been watching a film from that era.   For me, it was pure catnip. But strangely the trailer for this film had really put me off.  It looked as though it had a very familiar structure - let's throw some characters together who don't have much in common and who don't much like each other, and guess what, by the end of the film they'll all know each other much better, and respect each other, and along the way there'll be some predictable laughs and some predictable character moments. Well, what actually happens in this film is that three c haracters are thrown together who don't have much in common and who don't much like each other, and by the end of the film they all know each other much b...