I know who ita wants to be her boyfriend.

Shut up, bon. It is possible that I fancy I might do a decent job at it. And probably therefore never get the chance.

JZ, it's perhaps (ahem) likely that I am more likely to get mad at myself in a scenario like that, for not knowing better. I'm also strangely bound to keep all that to myself, because it's my flaw, and it's not the other person's fault.

I read her comment not that he could choose whether to be who he was--an ex-assassin--but that he could choose how he behaved from this point on. His training was part of him, butit didn't have to define him. Thus not shooting the oh-hot Karl Urban when he had the chance, and finding the daughter to reveal the truth to. He couldn't change what he'd done, but he could change what hedid from now on.

But Robin, that comment didn't have any applicability at the time she said it. He didn't have any choice but to run and defend then. How the comment was later applied, sure. But can that been how it was intended? Why give it then, when it's not much more than distraction.

Huh.

I just finished watching Spellbound, which was fasc-in-at-ing, in a gut wrenching sort of way. I found a lot of the scenes hard to watch, the tension was so high. Much scarier than a slasher flick, if ya ask me.

And I should have the kind of work ethic those kids exhibited. I've got the vocab, but not the 8 hour a dayness. Phew!

How weird is it that the DC speller came from the junior high where I counseled in my first internship. In fact, I worked with her teacher featured in the film. And I think I might even have recognized her. Huh. Completely unaware brush with greatness.

I just finished watching Spellbound, which was fasc-in-at-ing, in a gut wrenching sort of way. I found a lot of the scenes hard to watch, the tension was so high. Much scarier than a slasher flick, if ya ask me.

Seriously! Cause they spell the word, and then they cut away to the reaction and the whole time we're like, "Well? Well? DID THEY SPELL IT RIGHT OR WHAT?!" And then there's that awful silence where you don't know whether the ding's coming or not, and you don't know when you've passed the crucial moment after which a ding is no longer evitable.

Completely unaware brush with greatness.

Hil's parents are friends with Harry Altman's parents, and a friend of mine went to the same high school as the Indian kid.

Did you watch the extras? You should watch the deleted footage of the three spellers. It's good stuff. There's a girl from Ann Arbor!

And Blade II is better.

The movie had Blade falling in love with a Care Bear with fangs. Instead of Stephen Dorff's inconoclast Deacon Frost with interesting lackeys Mercury & Quinn, not to mention Blade's own mother, we got Thomas Kretschmann doing a Max Schreck impression, an octopus-mouthed professional wrestler wannabe, and the Hitler Youth as redesigned by Hot Topic. Instead of N'bushe Wright's grim self-sufficient doctor—who had a complex dramatic conflict about the surreal nightmare her life became—we had Norman Reedus as a whiny punk MacGyver. Even the fights were mostly excuses to show endless poorly-made CGI sequences that made Spider-Man look gritty and realistic in comparison.

the Hitler Youth as redesigned by Hot Topic

Matt, this made me laugh right out loud.

Here's an explanation of Donnie Darko, incorporating Kelly's additions to the director's cut and the website. It's cool, but I think I like my interpretation more.

both are well done and enjoyable

This is obviously some strange new usage of the words "well done" and "enjoyable" which I was not previously aware of.

I just got back from seeing Maria Full of Grace, which I strongly recommend. It's an odd movie in that I didn't have much to say about it afterwards -- it just is what it is, no nitpicking or rhapsodizing required. But the actress playing Maria is very good, and I was completely engrossed in her story. The film doesn't try to create suspense, but her tension is palpable throughout, and I had no idea how it would end until the very last frame.

Last night I saw La Dolce Vita at Film Forum. I'm glad I got the chance to see it on the big screen, but I really can't recommend the experience of sitting in Film Forum's horrifically uncomfortable seats for three hours to anyone. Being behind someone whose head blocked almost all of the subtitles didn't help either. (And unfortunately, I'll be back for two more incredibly long films sometime this week, because it's the only place that's showing The Corporation and Los Angeles Plays Itself.)