Wasn't that a continental Op story?

Yes.

Was MALTESE FALCON the only Sam Spade book?

It was the only novel, but there were a few short stories. I wrote that sentence before double-checking, but Wikipedia agrees: [link]

So, Wim Wender's HAMMET: was it ruined by interference, or would it have been a botch anyway? THE AMERICAN FRIEND leans me towards the former; even if it wasn't a true representation of Highsmith, it was a damn fine movie anyway.

I've forgotten it, unfortunately. Can you post a reminder?

"The old man gave me merry hell."

Oh yeah.

“Smokin’ Aces” is a Viagra suppository for compulsive action fetishists and a movie that may not only be dumb in itself, but also the cause of dumbness in others.

Hmm. I wonder how they'd compare it to Crank, which I found deliciously outré in its internal oneupmanship. And which, miraculously, was the first movie in about a year to neither cause nor exacerbate a migraine of mine. If you've seen it, you'll know why that's notable.

Hmm. I wonder how they'd compare it to Crank, which I found deliciously outré in its internal oneupmanship.

Well, I've heard it compared to the Guy Ritchie school of gangster film (as opposed to failed Madonna vehicle) in its ADD stylings, but apart from Jason Statham, I'm not sure how that compares to CRANK (which I didn't see).

To quote (or more likely paraphrase) Crow T. Robot, "No one in this movie knew when to stop decorating!"

According to Zhang Yimou, the costumes and set decorations are period-accurate, with only minor concessions made to modern paint color availability. (Of course, since the play the film is based on takes place in the 1930's, he technically could have chosen a less garish time period to reset it in, but then he wouldn't have had an excuse to put Gong Li in a pushup bra, since cleavage was only fashionable in dynastic China for about ten minutes.)

I saw an absolutely amazing movie last night -- The Lives of Others, which is coming out Feb 9th and is up for an Oscar right now. It takes place in East Berlin in the early 1980's, and is about a Stasi agent who is assigned to wiretap a playwright. He very quickly finds out that this man is not under suspicion of any crime, and that the reason he's being watched is because a high-level Party official is interested in the playwright's girlfriend, and he starts to have doubts about his government for the first time.

What's really wonderful about the film is how personal and specific the story is -- it's not a polemic against wiretapping, or even really against socialism (though you do come out of the film thinking that both of those things are bad). It's a story about two men whose lives are changed by the things that happen to them. Everyone should go see it, and then go see it again.

I saw a trailer for that at my viewing of Children of Men and thought it looked very good -- and was also surprised to see/hear that there was Actual German Dialogue with Subtitles. It's rare that a trailer for a foreign film includes any dialogue at all.

I saw an absolutely amazing movie last night -- The Lives of Others

I read this as The Lives of Otters, and I got all excited.

I saw a trailer for that at my viewing of Children of Men and thought it looked very good

I saw the trailer before CURSE. It did look intriguing.

Of course, since the play the film is based on takes place in the 1930's, he technically could have chosen a less garish time period to reset it in, but then he wouldn't have had an excuse to put Gong Li in a pushup bra

And seriously, after HERO (I havn't seen HoFD yet but it sounded similarly OTT) it was definitely the oppulance he wanted revel in. Gong Li's cleavage was just a gift with purchase IMHO, albeit a very lovely one.