But The War of the Roses knew what it wanted to be: DeVito's Black Comedy Cannon was firing straight and true, and the cast was dead-on. The Break-Up was scattered and vaguely pointless: watching it was uncomfortable, like being in the room when friends are really fighting (but not in a way that made you think it was the film's intention).

Black comedy is very difficult to do well, and it's even more difficult to get other people to like it. Comedy is a genre many people see as some kind of drug that's supposed to make you feel like you're on a high after seeing it. telling people "Okay, how about I give you a bad trip" is quite the challenge. It's actually kind of damn amazing The Office is a hit.

A few days ago I rented Narrow Margin. It's not the best-known of noirs, and it does feel at times as if it was made on a tight budget, but it's actually pretty decent. The twist isn't too obvious, and Marie Windsor does a good job as the tough broad who likes her cigarettes and her floozy music.

We rented Double Dare over the weekend (well, we Netflixed it, and they had to ship it from St. Louis), and loved it. It's a documentary made a few years ago about stuntwomen Zoe Bell (of Grindhouse and Kill Bill) and Jeannie Epper (who's been doing stunts for going on fifty years) and it was absolutely fascinating. Not to mention awesome for my growing Zoe Bell obsession. It follows her from the last few episodes of Xena (she was Lucy Lawless' double) to her move to LA and her work on trying to break into film - including the first time she meets Tarantino, which was kind of surreal and also hilarious, because he is such a dork.

Anyway, watch it.

ETA: Hee. From a conversation on IMDB:

(Teeeeeeny tiny spoiler for Grindhouse.)

Rented the original The Italian Job on the weekend. I thought it was quite funny; probably the most amusing role I've seen Michael Caine in.

Besides, it had MINIS! You can't go wrong with a little team of Minis.

I like the description "Double-barreled, action-packed documentary". You'd think if people could be drawn to a movie with the stunning revelation McDonald's is bad for you, they'd discover this.

Watched The History Boys last night, which was rather wonderful; pretty much a direct transfer from the stage production, from what I can seem, though apparently truncated - the blurb for the play claims it runs three hours, the film is about half that. Interested to know what's missing, or if it's just that film pacing is tighter. So nice to watch something literate and intelligent for a change - I was becoming desensitised to how bad most of the stuff I ordinarily watch really is, but this really brought it home to me.

I saw History Boys in the theater, way back when it came out. I was pretty bored - I think a lot of its elements clearly worked way better as a play than a movie. I found it okay, but if I'd rented no way could I have watched the whole thing without losing interest.

Dominic Cooper is really, really hot though.

I don't know how it made all those AFI lists and everything though. It was kind of like Bobby where you saw it as some recurring monster that would not go away, though at least with the RFK movie, it was due to Harvey's schmoozing and the fact everyone had at least one friend who was in it.

Casino Royale. A few too many action sequences, particularly stacked up in the beginning, but the Parkour bit was awesome. It was hugely better than Brosnan's Bond movies, though I don't blame him at all. The franchise had just lost its way. I think it's found its way back, despite a few rough patches in the plot. Daniel Craig was superb.

History Boys was a really good play, but I dont think it translated as well to film. But its a nice record of the really good production.

I just watched Karla, that movie about Karla Homolka starring Laura Prepon. It was icky and disturbing, which is pretty much what I bargained for.

Someone suggested that's the thought process behind a lot of musicals being made (Particularly The Producers, a film that really exploded because of its two leads. Yeah, I know it's odd to think of Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick making a production, but that's what seems to ahve happened) They're basically artifacts for Broadway buffs who may at least have some idea of what a particularly signifigant show might have been like.

Since Rome ended I've been working through I Claudius. Had I been watching that in '76 I never would have imagined Patrick Stewart would be known for a lack of hair. You could have made a rug out of the guy.