Let me ask you this: Was the moral of that story supposed to be

As far as I could tell, Aims? Yes. Beeeeeeeeewaaaaaaaaare the unopened mail!

DH and I saw the Infernal Affairs trilogy last night at the NYFF. As has been widely reported by the sorts of people who report such things, the first two are good, and the third one is...not. Basically, the first movie is a slick police thriller, and the second one is a gangster epic, and the third one is kind of a psychological thriller, but there's so much filler -- the actual storyline, such as it is, could have been dealt with in about ten minutes -- that it ends up looking more like a deleted scenes reel from the first two films.

I actually liked the second one better than the first, but if the first gets released anywhere outside of NYC, it's also very worth seeing. Lots of fun.

Wait, Infernal Affairs is a trilogy? The Times reviewed it as one movie. Do you mean, it's 3 stories in 2 hours, or 3 different movies?

I think what's been released here first is the second in the narrative.

For limited uses of the term "here" -- it's very frustrating.

Wait, it's a trilogy and the only part that's being shown in US is the second part? That makes sense in a way... it doesn't. Well, it's probably be never shown in my neck of the woods anyway. Bah.

I hear Martin Scorcese is trying to get an American version of the movie(s) on a way. With Matt Damon and I forget who else. On one hand, Scorcese and conflicted gangster/cop/ethical quandary appear to be a good fit, but what IS with Hollywood remaking any semi-successful foreign film? Do they think Americans won't see movies with subtitles? Uh, wait...

Do you mean, it's 3 stories in 2 hours, or 3 different movies?

It's three different movies, but only one is being release in the States. (Which is why we saw it at the film festival, since it was the only way to see all three.)

I think what's been released here first is the second in the narrative.

Sort of -- it's actually the first movie, but since II is a prequel, it's chronologically second.

The remake has Matt Damon and Leo DiCaprio, but I can't remember who plays which part.

it's chronologically second.

So ... second in the narrative, right?

Well...yes, except that the second film is structured so that you're supposed to already know how the characters end up. It's basically a two-hour flashback.

That Argentine film tommyrot linked to yesterday seems to have more theremin than the NY Times review led me to believe: [link]

I watched The Station Agent last night. It was a nice character study. I loved Peter Dinklage (has he been in anything else?), and Patricia Clarkson was great as always. Sometimes movies in which not a whole lot happens are a bore and sometimes, as in this case, they are moving.

Dinklage was in Living in Oblivion and Elf. I warn you though, the latter is a Will Ferrell movie.