Kim C, Funny you mention the Gods Must Be Crazy, I was thinking how tired the humor in D with Wolves was, as opposed to how fresh the same sort of stock physical gags came out in Gods. The double door slam, the jeep window, that stuff was funnier than it should be.

   But I thought Blue Velvet was pretty entertaining, and still like to say Why are there people like Frank? Why is there so much trouble in the world? Didn't like much of Lynch's other stuff too well, a few bits and pieces.

   I thought Blair Witch was pretty brilliant. I grew up on old school horror movies, John Carpenter used to be my babysitter. The last time I was startled at a horror movie was when my wife abruptly dumped her coke in my lap. I thought the script was really very good, in a time when most horror movies are written by the special effects crew. Kept wondering how they were going to up the tension. They found ways. The gilligan's island banter was note-perfect stupid banter, utterly believable. "The Captain? It was the SKIPPER, you t.v. illiterate people"! Try to write lines like that. And the final image was so bizarre, not over-done, just enough, well-earned. I liked it.

   The thing about The Hours was I was WAITING for Ed Harris to jump out a window. I started to care a little about most of the characters, in some scenes, but it just kept playing the same few notes. (No Philip Glass jokes please.)Compare it to Juliette Binoche in Unbearable Lightness of Being. Life was "heavy" for her. And you felt it more, and cared more, because she didn't spend every second on showing you that life was heavy for her, but laughed, skipped like a schoolgirl, wondered why nekid vomen were so interestink, and so pathetically tried to get out of it. Tried not to be sad, tried not to care so much. That was a good performance, I thought, and I could imagine how a good actress could easily have ruined it.

   I think Scorcese probably was self-consciously referencing other movies in Gangs, and most good artists probably like to comment about their business along the way, but for me it didn't seem to tie in, or add up, it just seemed flippant and silly. I didn't suffer either, I just didn't get it.

   I may have said before, Strictly Ballroom. Very dopey, and great fun. Every dance movie cliche you've ever seen in one neat, healthily subversive package. Wake the kids.

   I never saw any of the Star Wars movies til episode 1 came out, so I missed how fresh they must have been. They just seem generally all right to me. Jar Jar Binks reminded me of the informant/pimp character from old t.v. cop shows like Barretta and Starsky and Hutch. Rooster, Huggie Bear, Jar Jar. What if Liam had grabbed J.J.'s tongue and said "You will not say another word for the rest of this movie".