Tom Cruise is not very articulate. Watching him on Inside the Actor's Studio, I've so far learned that he feels an actor should be "in the moment" of the character. But he seems like a nice guy with reasonably honourable philosophies.
Last night I watched Fistful of Dollars, Sergio Leone's 1964 remake of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo. It felt pretty cool that I had opportunity to watch Yojimbo before Fistful of Dollars and was able to compare the two. I'd have to say that Yojimbo was definitely the superior film. Tochiro Mifune was a more expressive actor than Clint Eastwood, there was better drama in pitting the sword wielding hero against a gunfighter than there was in pitting the pistol-bearing hero against a guy with a rifle, and the ending of Yojimbo was far more satisfying.
But Fistful of Dollars was good. Leone's instincts for close-ups and angles was pretty keen. Eastwood was cool, even if he wasn't as cool as Mifune. And the location--very dry, hot looking spanish desert--was very effective atmosphere. The costumes were not the garish, bright colours of a 50s western, but instead a more realistic and interesting collection of earth tones. I liked how everyone's pants were really tight and how very skinny Eastwood was.
I was up until 5am watching it, then I woke myself up at 9am to tape The Postman Always Rings Twice and was unable to get back to sleep afterwards. So I typed up a few chapters of my novel, editing as I went. Already I've been more productive to-day than yesterday--in fact, I think yesterday was the single least productive day I've had in a year. Mostly it was eaten up by Morrowind--I've finally gotten around to figuring out how to make my own maps in the editer and have begun assembling my own mod. Too, too addictive.
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