So following a Nicholas Cage film-fest, in which I watched "Vengeance" - by Joyce Carol Oates (Never, ever, read her. Even if the book is 10 times as good as the movie it's just not worth it), "Raising Arizona", and "Con-Air" and "Face / Off" - I mean, I did some research, but if either of those last 2 movies are on your list of "10 Best Movies starring...." then your career's gone down the toilet. That said, "Raising Arizona" was good, and the scene where he gets punched in the car - the expression - well, it's pure Nicholas Cage. And "Face / Off" starts good, Nicholas being Nicholas, but falls apart pretty shortly thereafter, John Travolta is no worthy foil in the end, and, really, the only reason to watch a Nicholas Cage movie is to watch Nicholas being Nicholas, so just let him off the leash and lets get on with it, shall we?
Anyways, it's been a while and I wanted to revisit some more intelligent film-making. So I began to re-watch "The Dekalog" by Krzysztof Kieślowski (Red, White and Blue, La Double Vie de Veronique). It's been a while. And it holds up even better than ever - the small, insignificant, unrecognized ordinary miracles, no frame, word out of place, yet every scene is a masterpiece - the reality, economy of the dialogue, the subtle hints and symbols, it's a masterpiece in episodes - one by one or all together. And maybe now - being older, I'm getting more out of it because I can bring more to it, but, sorry Nicholas, this is film-making, this is acting.
Link: Wikipedia on The Dekalog (warning: Spoilers - just download it!)