I saw The Hoax and enjoyed it. It started a little, I dunno, not slow exactly but uninvolving. Once it got going, it had lots of interesting storytelling and like every Hallstrom film, wonderful performances. Not only was gere fab, I actually LIKED Marcia Gay Harden, who usually annoys me. Good stuff.

I hope not to be underwhelmed by Hot Fuzz tomorrow. Tonight, I was underwhelmed by The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. It was not subtle in the least, and everything followed a pretty predictable trajectory. Greed makes people do bad things? Really? Maybe it was the first movie to tell that kind of story and I've just seen it done in modern film enough times. And I don't understand why the badges line became iconic. I always thought it was said by Bogart as some sort of "flaunting authority" thing. But it's spoken by a Mexican bandit, and there's no special meaning to it. I don't understand.

Tonight, I was underwhelmed by The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

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I love that movie. Though, as to your point about it maybe being the first movie to ever do that, and you've seen too many more modern ways to say the same thing? I felt that way about the Exorcist, which so many other people found so scary.

Also, in a similar vein, I was completely underwhelmed by Poe's Murders in the Rue Morgue, and the character of Auguste Dupin, but by that point I'd been a Doyle/Holmes fan for several years and found the earlier, seminal example of the genre to be limp by comparisson.

And I don't understand why the badges line became iconic. I always thought it was said by Bogart as some sort of "flaunting authority" thing. But it's spoken by a Mexican bandit, and there's no special meaning to it. I don't understand.

It became iconic because it was spoken by a sweaty Mexican bandit. What's not to get?

Actually, I think it's just one of those things that took on a life of its own over time. Don't ask me how.

I finally got around to seeing The Lives of Others. Or rather, The Lives of Others finally arrived in my town. It was amazing, so well acted and very moving. I think it's one of the best movies I've seen in a long time.

I watched Stranger Than Fiction yesterday. While I wasn't as thrilled with it as I'd hoped I would be, I did find it entertaining. And Maggie Gyllenhaal (or however you spell her name) can be my girlfriend any day of the week.

Don't ask me how.

I suspect Blazing Saddles played a big part.

As do I.

I don't remember what they do. I saw it years ago.

I LOVE Treasure of Sierra Madre. You're right that it is a theme we've seen again and again, but for me the value of the film is the characters and the the myriad different ways they all fall apart and how they interact with each other as they devolve. Great stuff.

I just like "We don't need no stinkin' badges," I'm not sure that I've ever seen all of it.