THE BOURNE LEGACY (Rated PG-13)

Matt Damon always demonstrated his best acting chops as the conflicted superspy Jason Bourne in an eponymous series of action thrillers that made him a true action hero for the ages.

It all started with “The Bourne Identity,” and the great thrills, including some of the most spectacular chase scenes ever filmed, continued through two equally impressive sequels.

Now along comes “The Bourne Legacy,” aptly named since Matt Damon’s presence is pretty much limited to a Wanted poster and a TV news bulletin designed to scare the general populace.

This much is sure: Damon’s rogue spy Bourne was always on the run, with shadowy government agents, mercenary operatives and other assorted riff-raff and bad guys in hot pursuit.

Often, it was hard to separate the good guys from the bad, but that seems to be a big part of the franchise’s appeal to the closeted secret agent in all of us action junkies.

“The Bourne Legacy” brings a new superhuman agent to the front lines of danger. Jeremy Renner’s Aaron Cross picks up the mantle of the operative who must go underground to save his skin and expose double-dealing.

We first see Cross half-naked in the freezing wilderness of Alaska, as he jumps into a lake to retrieve a canister filled with survival medicine necessary to his training mission.

Meanwhile, back in the nation’s capital, Admiral Mark Turso (Stacy Keach) and Colonel Eric Byer (Edward Norton) are in full damage control mode as Congress probes the existence of rogue spy operations in which they are complicit.

Suddenly, Cross and other operatives around the world that are members of something called The Program are targeted for elimination, only because their superiors decide to leave no evidence behind of their existence.

While battling the elements of Alaska and the hungry pack of vicious wolves, Cross ingenuously outflanks the drones that are programmed to blow him to smithereens.

It would be easy enough for Cross to go deep undercover, but he’s a chemically-enhanced agent who needs regular doses of pills to stay fit physically and mentally.

Even the scientists who developed the special medicine are put at risk, and Cross is able to locate Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz) just in time to extend her life expectancy.  

Cross mistakenly believes that Dr. Shearing holds the key to turning up the needed pills, but in reality she tested his blood samples and had nothing to do with the making of pharmaceuticals.

However, the good doctor knows that there’s a way to get Cross off the medication, but it requires a trip to the Philippines where the chemicals are manufactured.

While Cross and Dr. Shearing try to stay in hiding until they can get out of the country, Colonel Byer and his crew are utilizing first-class technology to hunt down the rogue agent and the doctor.

The most suspenseful moments involve Cross using his ingenuity so that he and Dr. Shearing may elude the dogged colonel’s high-tech hot pursuit.

Not surprisingly, shortly after Cross and Dr. Shearing arrive in Manila, Byer has dispatched an army of assassins to take them out. Boy, does this guy mean business.

The chase scenes in Manila are brilliantly staged. First, there’s Cross skipping across rooftops and running up the sides of walls.

Then, there’s the street chase on foot and motorcycles. Cross and Dr. Shearing ride through city streets and jump over obstacles like Evel Knievel on steroids.

Oh, I forgot to mention there’s one key difference between Aaron Cross and fellow agent Jason Bourne. Cross knows his past and does not suffer from memory issues. At this point, maybe I need one of those blue (or is it green?) pills for enhanced mental skills.

However, I digress. “The Bourne Legacy” may not live up to the expectations of the previous installments, but it does stand alone as a decent entry into the canon of “Bourne” action thrillers.

It’s probably a safe bet to say that a fifth “Bourne” is on the way, but will Matt Damon return in some capacity more substantial than a fleeting glimpse? I am betting that Jeremy Renner will get ever more comfortable in his role.

DVD RELEASE UPDATE

Readers of this space probably know that I have a fondness for vintage detective dramas that had a good run on network television.

That’s why I can share with you my delight in the return of Robert Urich as the handsome, fun-loving Las Vegas private eye Dan Tanna, who lives in a converted warehouse.

“Vega$: The Third Season, Volume 2” is being released on DVD with 11 full episodes and no frills at all, unless you count the “episodic promos” included.

The sharp-eyed private eye tools around Sin City in his vintage red Thunderbird solving private cases, while also being on retainer to a wealthy casino owner (Tony Curtis).

Helping Tanna along the way is his smart and sexy assistant Bea (Phyllis Davis) and goofy legman Binzer (Bart Braverman). Greg Morris appears as Lt. Nelson, lending a hand when necessary.

After all these years, “Vega$” holds up better than a Royal Flush at a poker tournament. It’s a lot of fun.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – More than 15 local musicians will be performing and leading songs at the “Peace Meal & Hootenanny” on Saturday, Aug. 18, at Lakeside Park (also known as the County Park) off Soda Bay Road near Kelseyville.

This free event, part of the Lake County Summer of Peace, begins with a potluck picnic at 5 p.m., followed by a folk music sing-along that continues until about 9 p.m.

People are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets to sit on.

Musicians participating in the hootenanny include Carl Stewart and other members of the Blue Collar band, Jim Williams, Don Coffin, Three Deep, Bill Barrows, Not Two, Dennis Purcell, Cactus & the Rose, Kathi Williamson and Michael Richeson, Carter Klippel, Emma Stewart, Raylana Aragon and Linda Guebert.

The hootenanny program features folk standards like “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” “Blowin’ in the Wind,” and “This Land Is Your Land,” but also includes less well-known songs and original material.

“It’s really exciting to have so many talented people coming together in the cause of peace,” said Guebert, who is coordinating the event as well as performing. “I think it will be an uplifting experience for everyone who attends.”

The “Peace Meal & Hootenanny” is sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Community of Lake County.

For more information, call 707-279-4272.

TOTAL RECALL (Rated PG-13)

If you remember, “Total Recall” starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone in a science-fiction thriller, based on a Philip K. Dick story, about a man with erased memories that come back and trigger all sorts of mayhem.

The new “Total Recall,” to be sure, is a remake of the 1990 film, but there a lot of differences, which I will not dwell on because my memory has pretty much failed me and, well, it is time to move on.

What is new is the setting of Earth, in the not-so-distant future, where chemical warfare has rendered most of the planet uninhabitable, with the exception of Australia and the United Kingdom.

Australia is called the Colony because it is a suburb for migrant workers, while the British islands are now called the United Federation of Britain (UFB), the upscale city center, home to the elite and government leaders.

Colin Farrell’s Douglas Quaid works in a factory that assembles the robotic police force known as Synthetics, droids that look like cheap imitation Imperial storm troopers on loan from “Star Wars.”

Living in the Colony, Douglas commutes to his job in an elevator-like chamber that rockets through the Earth’s core in mere minutes. It’s a nifty contraption that might be used as a selling point for high-speed rail, though we don’t know about the cost overruns.

The landscape in the squalid Colony is reminiscent of the bleak world of “Blade Runner,” but here the drab architecture is so gray that it recalls the Stalinist era of unappealing public housing.

In science-fiction movies, life in the future hardly ever looks very promising. I guess if it really looked like a utopian dream, it wouldn’t seem all that intriguing or result in a compelling story.

Unfortunately, familiarity with the theme of “Total Recall” does not make for an entirely persuasive account of one man’s struggle against the governmental leviathan. But it’s still fun to see a dogged guy take on the villains.

But for recurring nightmares, Douglas would probably remain comfortable coming home at the end of the day to his attractive bride Lori (Kate Beckinsale).

Yet, something nags at his conscience, and he pays a visit to Rekall, a company that offers to create pleasant memories with the help of a chemical implant.

The session goes horribly wrong when the Rekall process triggers Douglas’ repressed memories of his past life as a secret agent.  

Alarm bells go off and the UFB security forces descend on the laboratory. When the dust settles, Douglas has killed about two dozen federal agents in a big shootout.

Forced to go on the run, Douglas quickly learns that there are very few people he can trust, least of all his wife, who turns out to be a highly-trained UFB operative skilled in martial arts and all sorts of weaponry.

That Douglas is considered a person of interest to the government controlled by Chancellor Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston) is something of a puzzle, because we are not entirely sure for what side Douglas was once a spy.

Because the government run by Cohaagen is so autocratic and ruthless, there is the inevitable resistance movement that the chancellor’s minions are relentlessly seeking to destroy.

The rebel leader is identified as Mathias (Bill Nighy), who is so well-hidden that not even his own operatives know the actual location of his hideaway.

Once on the lam, Douglas is aided in a getaway in a thrilling high-speed levitated auto chase by rebel commander Melina (Jessica Biel).

Apparently, Douglas and Melina had a previous history together, but the chases and confrontations with the opposite forces leave little room or time to rekindle the old romantic flames.

“Total Recall” is heavy on action and great special effects, leaving insufficient time for existential reflection on the troubling implications of the dystopian universe in which the oppressed are trapped under the thumb of the evil Cohaagen.

Fear not, this film is, above all, filled with graphic action and brutal violence, and Douglas Quaid becomes an effective action hero, albeit one without any special or unusual powers.

Visual effects, large and small, represent remarkable feats in “Total Recall,” from the complex moving parts of the elevator systems to the simple glowing cell phone implanted in Douglas’s right hand.

It matters not at all that logic is sometimes missing, because the end game, sought by director Len Wiseman, is to deliver the action goods.  

Well, the director succeeds, even though few of us may recall his movie to any great degree mere weeks from now.

DVD RELEASE UPDATE

Tom Selleck delivers some of his best work as small-town police chief Jesse Stone, in a series of eponymous TV movies that have aired for years on the CBS Network.

I recently became hooked on the “Jesse Stone” TV movies, most of which I found readily available at my local supermarket at bargain rates.

“Jesse Stone: Benefit of the Doubt,” apparently the eighth installment, is being released on DVD, without the benefit of any special features.

But never mind the extras.  The “Jesse Stone” franchise is riveting entertainment, in which Selleck’s effective crime fighter is a conflicted character with a troubled past.

It would help immensely to catch up on the previous films, mainly so that you are familiar with the great cast of characters on both sides of the law.

Even so, “Jesse Stone: Benefit of the Doubt” stands quite well on its own. Just know that Selleck’s police chief, who had been forced into retirement, is called back to duty in this installment.

Returning to his job, Selleck’s Jesse Stone does not disappoint with his uncanny ability to use his intuition to sort through a maze of misleading clues.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Art House Gallery will hold its Third Friday Gala on Friday, Aug. 17.

The gala will take place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at 15210 Lakeshore Drive, Clearlake.

Enjoy refreshments while surrounded by the work of Lake County’s talented artists.

Featured on Aug. 17 will be the work of Clearlake resident Denise Rohana.

Rohana would do anything for a chance to do art – including losing her gloves in the snow.

“As long as I can remember, I’ve been an artist. Even in kindergarten. I lost a glove on the way to school one day and my teacher let me paint instead of go outside for recess. The whole next week, I didn’t have my gloves! My teacher finally called my mother to tell her I needed a new pair of gloves,” she recalled with a laugh.

Rohana works primarily in oil, watercolor and acrylic. She joined the gallery after hearing about it from friends.

“It’s the most amazing, wonderful thing, I’m so happy to have it here and be able to show my art” she said.

She looks to “God’s work” for inspiration: “Nature, landscapes, rocks – especially rocks lately – mountains and rivers.”

What does she love about her work? “The color, and that it connects me with other people,” said the retired nurse.

I am very fond of poems that don’t use more words than they have to. They’re easier to carry around in your memory.

There are Chinese poems written 1,300 years ago that have survived intact at least in part because they’re models of succinctness.

Here’s a contemporary version by Jo McDougall, who lives not in China but in Kansas.

Telling Time

My son and I walk away
from his sister’s day-old grave.
Our backs to the sun,
the forward pitch of our shadows
tells us the time.
By sweetest accident
he inclines
his shadow,
touching mine.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2001 by Autumn House Press. Jo McDougall’s most recent book of poems is Satisfied with Havoc, Autumn House Poetry, 2004. Poem reprinted from The Autumn House Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry, 2nd ed., 2011, by permission of Jo McDougall and Autumn House Press. Introduction copyright © 2012 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

NORTH COAST, Calif. – Janie Rezner, host of ‘Women’s Voices’ on KZYX, will feature certified nurse-midwife and author Patricia Harman on the Monday, Aug. 20, show.

The show will begin at 7 p.m.

Harman will discuss her newest book, “The Midwife of Hope River.”

Harman, who has written two acclaimed memoirs – “The Blue Cotton Gown” and “Arms Wide Open” – has written a brilliant novel that is partially inspired by her own experiences as a lay midwife in the 1960s and 1970s living in rural communes in Virginia.  

With her stunning fiction debut, Harman creates an uplifting novel that celebrates the  miracle of life, and the world of women giving birth in their own beds, without hospitals or doctors.

It sweeps readers away to another time and place, one of the most tumultuous times in American history, with the challenges that the Depression, prohibition and the West Virginia Coal Wars brought to an already struggling Appalachia, yet the honesty and humanity of the characters make it feel utterly close and real.
 
The show can be heard live at www.kzyx.org . It will be archived at www.radio4all.net under Janie Rezner. There will be time for call-ins.