Movies During and After the Storm
My movie marathon has continued even with the end of the Oscars telecast. There are a few yet to see before the summer blockbusters come to the screen. Last week's storm gave me some chance to watch some more. Here's my brief reviews.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
What fun! This movie franchise was a surprise hit a few years ago as pirate Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) captivated audiences with his over the top, boozy, druggie interpretation of an 18th Century pirate. Dead Man’s Chest was last year’s installment, #2 in the trilogy.

It is not as well done or as captivating as the first movie. But who cares. It was just plain fun with good special effects and the set-up for the third installment due later this year (May 25 release date). How will Jack survive? What about the return of Barbossa? What will happen now that Davy Jones heart is still beating? It’s only two and a half months to wait.

The Prestige
Last year was a good one for magician movies. First was The Illusionist. Now we have The Prestige. A prestige is the closing of a magic trick. First is the pledge, then the turn and finally the zinger that makes it powerful. Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale are competing performers trying to figure out each other’s tricks. Michael Caine has a good turn as an assistant. David Bowie is quite good as inventor Nikola Tesla.

Together they set up pledge and turn one after the other. There are more than enough clues- if you only knew they were clues. You may guess part of “how they do it” but they never finish with the prestige until, well, until....

Like The Illusionist, The Prestige is shot in period coloring. It has an otherworldly atmosphere when it needs to and a straightforward reality when that is essential. I must admit that I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat at times- and then replaying parts a couple times to catch the clues. Another intriguing and fun movie.

The Fog of War
This was the 2004 Academy Award-winning documentary. It is an interview with Vietnam-era Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. It wouldn’t capture our attention if it weren’t so real- and for me- so chilling. The matter of fact manner of Mr. McNamara in dealing with things like the near nuclear holocaust of the Cuban Missile Crisis or the never-ending Vietnam War is actually disconcerting and the epilogue only adds to the mystery.

McNamara was one of those genius “best and brightest” that JFK brought to Washington that resulted in the Vietnam mess. His legacy is mixed due to what we now know about his uncertainty concerning the Vietnam War that he never made public, even after he left office. One one hand the movie gives McNamara the opportunity to clear himself, which he sort of does, and to show his brilliance and insight, which he most certainly does.

But he is so matter-of-fact, so calm and cool and collected it is almost scary. He has a certain tension when he talks about how incredibly close we came to losing the world, literally, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. But he remains almost disconnected about Vietnam. We get a new picture, to be sure. But we do not get any sense of sadness, fear, remorse, or even the slightest bit of guilt about anything that happened. In essence, he says, we all make mistakes.

I wish this movie- and McNamara- could have given us a bit more closure to the story of the 60s than it does. It is a powerful piece of work that the director uses, subtly and not so subtly to show how political pressures can get us involved in things that we might not be wise in doing. McNamara does most of the talking, and in the end indicts himself by silence- and raises more questions than there are answers for what he currently face.

Yes, there is a fog of war- and its memories and legacies as well.