All PBS showed was Claudius opening the door and retreating in horror, whereas the full version had Caligula meeting him at the door with blood smeared around his mouth.

That must have been your local PBS station's decision, because I distinctly remember the scene where Hurt had blood on his mouth, and I've only seen it on PBS.

Staring at my netflix arrivals and agonizing over what the watch tonight:

Gone Baby Gone
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Revolver

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

We just got this yesterday!

Have you watched it yet?

I decided to throw in Gone Baby Gone, but my laptop won't play it, so I started Revolver instead, not terribly excited. So far it just looks mean and nasty. I hope like hell it gets funny soon, or, like, at all.

But I guess I'll really have to hook up my dvd player if my laptop refuses to recognize some DVDs.

I liked Gone Baby Gone more than I thought I would. Of course, I saw it on a 12-hour plane ride. I wanted to see Jesse James... until I realized how long it was.

until I realized how long it was.

so definitely a good thing I didn't pick that for tonight!

edit

Okay, Revolver just got interesting.

I haven't watched Jesse James yet.

Revolver just got stupid.

eta The only good thing so far is that Jason Statham is stretching himself as an actor. Which, as much as I love him, isn't saying all that much in the grand scheme of things. But still, relatively, I'm impressed.

eta The only good thing so far is that Jason Statham is stretching himself as an actor. Which, as much as I love him, isn't saying all that much in the grand scheme of things. But still, relatively, I'm impressed.

I think one thing Guy Ritchie does do is bring this out of JS. My favorite performance by him is still Turkish in SNATCH, where he was both snarky and vulnerable due to circumstances (instead of being the terminator type he is in most of his other movies). Granted, I haven't seen Revolver, which sounded craxy at best, but it did sound like a something other than that role for him from what I read.

there were a couple of moments of pure fear and vulnerability that I haven't seen before in JS's staple --for the most part-- performances.

Revolver so far seems like a movie where you have to see the whole thing, get the twist, before you can say it was good or bad. Or at least that's what I'm hoping. A long phone call from my mother interrupted the viewing process (OMG you have to tune into So You Think You Can Dance"!).

eta damn, it just got interesting again. I'm almost starting to wonder if the boring generic bits are to fool you into thinking it's going to be a boring generic movie, and then WHAM!

eta one last time: huh.

In the end, more great stuff from Statham, a bit of "wtf mate?" and if it pans: so not what I was expecting on that level, and on another more visceral level exactly what I'd speculated partway through.

Definitely one of those "If I spend the time thinking about this, will it be worth it?" cuz it just might be, and it might be Southland Tales, which was delightful but I really doubt worth the braincramp.