Mr. Hayes is not only the ALMT publicist and lead editor,
but also contributes film journalism and reviews to Critic’s Notebook and Cinemattraction.
Tim Hayes on Theatrical Thursdays
Strange Days 1996
The Hurt Locker 2009
dir. Kathryn Bigelow
Fourteen years ago, a James Cameron script included a man in a wheelchair who gets his legs back in virtual reality. Sound familiar? It’s a very different film. “Avatar” is a decent sci-fi comicbook, but it can’t hold a candle to “Strange Days”, 1996′s unsung masterpiece directed by Cameron’s then-partner Kathryn Bigelow, which looks sharper by the year.
Like all Bigelow films, “Strange Days” is stuffed with good ideas. Ralph Fiennes, never better, is Lenny Nero, a dealer in virtual reality clips of other people’s good times. Lenny is a great creation: unreliable but loyal, shady but honorable, smooth but sick at heart.
His ally is ‘Mace’ Mason, one of the finest warrior-women in movies, played by Angela Bassett as a stubborn slab of muscle and charisma. As the world goes end-of-the-century crazy, Mace mothers Nero, lets him cry on her shoulder, and deals with the great many people who want to kill him.
It’s the rarest kind of action film, one made for grown-ups. Back then Cameron’s ideas sometimes had grit in them, and “Strange Days” hinges on a nasty use of virtual reality to relive rape and murder. But in 1996 Bigelow had already proved she was one of the greatest directors around, so the film is also slick, witty, and terrific to look at. If you’ve not seen it, treat yourself.
Right now, Bigelow is finally receiving her due. “The Hurt Locker”, her current film about a Baghdad bomb disposal team, also puts real human beings in the foreground of some staggeringly tense action and is hoovering up awards by the boxful. It has shown that films can deal seriously with Iraq without losing an audience, and put Bigelow squarely back on the radar. And it’s brought back the old crazy talk about her gender being an issue for an action director, which deserves a re-introduction to Mace Mason for a history lesson and a punch-up.
READ TIM HAYES’ FULL REVIEW OF “THE HURT LOCKER” over atCRITIC’S NOTEBOOK
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by almtalkies and almtalkies, tim hayes. tim hayes said: On the genius of Kathryn Bigelow, courtesy of @almtalkies http://bit.ly/5H8yUC [...]
[...] The Hurt Locker: Nominated for 9 Oscars, won 6 Avatar: Nominated for 8 Oscars, won 3 Precious: Nominated for 6 Oscars, won 2 Nine: Nominated for 4 Oscars Invictus: Nominated for 2 Oscars The Lovely Bones: Nominated for 1 Oscar [...]
Coming from a performance background, Amber's first foray behind the camera was the co-production of the feature film, Cross Eyed Waltz, which played at the Independent Film Festival of North Texas, Fylmz Online Festival and The B-Movie Film Festival in New York, where it was nominated for Best Foreign Movie. Read More
His ally is ‘Mace’ Mason, one of the finest warrior-women in movies, played by Angela Bassett as a stubborn slab of muscle and charisma. As the world goes end-of-the-century crazy, Mace mothers Nero, lets him cry on her shoulder, and deals with the great many people who want to kill him.
It’s the rarest kind of action film, one made for grown-ups. Back then Cameron’s ideas sometimes had grit in them, and “Strange Days” hinges on a nasty use of virtual reality to relive rape and murder. But in 1996 Bigelow had already proved she was one of the greatest directors around, so the film is also slick, witty, and terrific to look at. If you’ve not seen it, treat yourself.
Right now, Bigelow is finally receiving her due. “The Hurt Locker”, her current film about a Baghdad bomb disposal team, also puts real human beings in the foreground of some staggeringly tense action and is hoovering up awards by the boxful. It has shown that films can deal seriously with Iraq without losing an audience, and put Bigelow squarely back on the radar. And it’s brought back the old crazy talk about her gender being an issue for an action director, which deserves a re-introduction to Mace Mason for a history lesson and a punch-up.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by almtalkies and almtalkies, tim hayes. tim hayes said: On the genius of Kathryn Bigelow, courtesy of @almtalkies http://bit.ly/5H8yUC [...]
[...] The Hurt Locker: Nominated for 9 Oscars, won 6 Avatar: Nominated for 8 Oscars, won 3 Precious: Nominated for 6 Oscars, won 2 Nine: Nominated for 4 Oscars Invictus: Nominated for 2 Oscars The Lovely Bones: Nominated for 1 Oscar [...]