Liars and Saints

  At the end of "Courage Under Fire," Denzel Washington returns home to his family. He is walking through the yard, and he spots an overturned bike; one of his children has been careless. Washington stops and sets the bike on its wheels.  This wasn't scripted. But it became a "comment" on the movie itself--a story about setting things right. The "bike" moment became a highlight. Something similar happens in "Highest 2 Lowest." Washington's son--disgusted by Washington's financial obsessions--refers to Washington as "ice. Cold ice. Heartless." Understanding that his son is correct, Washington decides he cannot engage. Instead, he directs his feelings toward a doorknob. "Gotta fix this damn thing." And the scene ends. It's such a treat to catalog Washington's tiniest choices. The "megawatt" smile--which is a rare sight. The way he softens his voice in moments of high intensity. His full-bodied revul...

  Ed Zwick attended Harvard, then he worked for Woody Allen on the set of "Love and Death." At this time, Allen was drafting the screenplay for "Annie Hall"; Zwick read one version, and he admired the skill with which Allen had transformed his own rocky Diane Keaton years into a work of fiction, something that could reach people all over the world. Shortly thereafter, Zwick lost his mother in a car accident, proposed marriage to a feisty screenwriter, became a dad, and almost torpedoed his own little nuclear family (and then staged yet more "near-miss" moments, again and again). The insanity of this phase became the raw material for "Thirtysomething." Zwick soon took a risk with something more ambitious--"Glory"--which helped Denzel Washington to earn his first Oscar, and which allowed Zwick to start a substantial career in films. Zwick is a captivating narrator. He rakes himself over the coals--especially while describing his marriage....

  Great actors are sometimes (also) theorists. They might have a theory of acting. One example is Julianne Moore. In interviews, Moore will identify a misconception: People think acting is "lying," but in fact, it's the opposite. Acting is a way of getting at the truth. If you're a child, engaged in pretend play, you have full conviction that you are a sorceress, or a dragon. Professional acting is an attempt to regain that "child mind" -- and to wear another person's "psychic skin." On the set of "Friday Night Lights," Kyle Chandler would get impatient if his young colleagues were too demonstrative. "You don't have to do much of anything with your body. If you fully understand your character, and you feel the things that that person is feeling -- then all the important info will come directly through your eyes." Denzel Washington is on various screens this week in "The Equalizer III"; the film met with disappr...

On Tony Scott's "Unstoppable": A new guy, Chris Pine, wants to work on the trains. His elder, Denzel Washington, has misgivings. A train veteran, sizing up Pine: "I don't like feeling like I work at a Pre-K." And Pine, in return: "I don't like feeling like I work at an old folks' home." Pine and Denzel go off to do their work, which involves riding a train through Pennsylvania. But, elsewhere, a thug falls asleep on the job, and a rogue rival train gets loose. The rogue train has dangerous chemicals, and if it crashes near a town, the entire town could explode. It's possible to derail the rogue train in the wilderness, so no lives are lost, but "corporate" doesn't like the plan. Why sacrifice all that money? So corporate hatches a bad alternative response, which of course results in unnecessary deaths, and the rogue train continues to evade "capture." It's up to Denzel and Chris--frenemi...

If you aren't yet listening to "The Rewatchables," please know that my obsession grows and grows. Even just skimming the list of movies selected is a pleasure: *Notting Hill *While You Were Sleeping *The Dark Knight *The Sixth Sense *Remember the Titans *Training Day *Election *Zodiac *Michael Clayton *Edge of Tomorrow *Fatal Attraction *Silence of the Lambs *Gone Girl *The Town *Contagion *Scream *Godfather I and II *Field of Dreams *The Social Network *The Talented Mr. Ripley *Collateral *The Insider ....and on and on and on. Can you really say that you wouldn't enjoy rewatching those films? Literally every title above is a title I'd rewatch without complaint. I especially admire the group's refusal to kowtow to critics. For example, "Being John Malkovich" comes up. This is a movie adored by newspapers. But the podcast says: Nope. Not really rewatchable. And it's true. When I try to watch BJM a second time, my mind ...