Day: December 16, 2007

This bad-angle camcorder video, taken before an IMAX showing of I Am Legend and posted last night, shows most of the bank-job sequence that begins Chris Nolan‘s The Dark Knight. It was clearly shot with impressions of the legendary bank-heist sequence from Michael Mann‘s Heat in mind.

I love the silhouette of the moving head of the guy in front of the camera operator in the very beginning, and the laughter than follows the “bus driver?…what bus driver?” ine. And I love how Willliam Fichtner‘s reading of the line “do you have any idea who you’re stealing from?” (which refers to the fact that the bank has lots of mafia money in its vaults) is very similar to Warren Beatty‘s yelling during the “bark like a dog” sequence in Bugsy.

All local TV newscasters are Stepford robots, but the Boston newscasters are extra-offensive, I feel, in the way they reinforce feelings of fear and trepidation when heavy snow comes along. Every line of copy they read says “uh-oh, be careful, this is a concern,” etc. It’s challenging and inconvenient — okay, unpleasant — when you venture outdoors, yes, but to this Los Angeleno’s eyes snowstorms are beautiful, and not just visually.

Same old corner of Beacon and Clarendon — Sunday, 12.16.07, 8:15 am.

Like any mass imposition of adversity, snowstorms are summoners of the spirit. They bring out the best in people. Boston has been besieged by kindliness over the last few days — people holding the arms of total strangers in danger of falling, pushing strangers’ cars that are stuck in ice and slush, constantly shovelling steps and walkways, being extra-friendly, etc. It’s a very good place to be, vibe-wise.