The Ghost Writer

Ewan MacGregor ghost-writes celebrity autobiographies.  Pierce Brosnan, a former (but recent) British Prime Minister, needs a ghost writer top help him finish his memoirs.  His last ghost writer, you see, turned up dead.  The circumstances were … unusual.

So we find ourselves on windswept Martha’s Vineyard in the cold and unforgiving weeks of late autumn.  There aren’t many people about, but there’s lots of mystery.  And Brosnan is so much what he seems that he can’t possibly be what he seems.  Can he?

Here’s how you do a mystery.  THE GHOST WRITER layers on the foreboding, slathers it with atmosphere, and uses both to complement a finely constructed, well-wrought tale that keeps us engaged from front to back.  We get caught up in MacGregor’s development.  We want to learn what happened to the previous writer.  We want to find out what will happen to the current one.  And we want to get to the heart of the story. 

This is the good stuff.

Notes on Some Films

I don't have much time to write at the moment, so I'll submit these brief notes on the films I've seen the last couple of weeks.

ZOMBIELAND

A fun, but ultimately forgettable, take on the zombie genre. Doesn't do anything that SHAUN OF THE DEAD doesn't do better.

THE GREEN ZONE

Two hours of a guy solving a mystery we already know all too well. Nice job of capturing military culture, and look out for another great performance from the undervalued Greg Kinnear.

CLASH OF THE TITANS.

Not nearly as bad as I'd feared. My kids are going to love this.

THE GHOST WRITER

A perfectly fine, if (again) forgettable thriller.

A PROPHET

Brilliant, harrowing, nail-biting slice of life in the modern French penal system. One of the best films I've seen this year.

HAMLET 2

I chuckled all the way through this clever little dark comedy. Rock me, sexy Jesus!