not mentioning that two children (hired illegally) were also killed in the accident.

Yep, hence my ire.

I read both of those books, I think!

I recently saw an oldie (neither Polanski nor Landis was involved) that achieves a form of greatness.

It's called Five Came Back, and it's from 1939. A group of 12 people (pilot, co-pilot, steward, and nine assorted passengers) fly to South America. A storm comes up, the plane is forced down in the Amazon jungle, and everyone tries to make themselves comfortable while the experts try to fix the plane. Then there are signs that native headhunters are coming....

The big star here from 2010 perspectives is Lucille Ball, who plays the Bad Girl. Oldies fans may recognize Chester Morris as the pilot and Allan Jenkins as the mobster's right-hand man taking the mobster's son to safety.

Not the sort of movie that gets Oscar nominations, but a 75-minute suspense thriller that delivers exactly what it intends to. The only objection I have is the title, which is kind of a spoiler when the plane tries to take off in the last 10 minutes.

Hey Fred, I just finished Farber On Film, and think you'd enjoy the man's writing. I'd only read the White Elephant vs. Termite Art essay before, but the whole is a pretty great read. I mean, the guy's philosophically about as aligned with my own ideas as any critic, but taste-wise, he's all over the map. Anyway, I figured for a TCM addict like you, this would be the WMD.

Thanks, Corwood. I'll keep my eyes open for it.

DH and I saw Alice in Wonderland last night, and it was very meh. The main impression I came away with was that Tim Burton wishes he'd been asked to direct Pirates of the Caribbean. (His Alice is essentially the same character as Keira Knightly and Depp's Mad Hatter is essentially Jack Sparrow with an even less intelligible accent and better hats.)

That's disappointing to hear.

Did you see it in 3-D? Was it at least good as eye-candy?

Oh, the 3D was terrible - it wasn't shot for 3D (it was converted in post), and you can really tell the difference. Maybe the IMAX version looks better, I don't know.

The set design was pretty standard Burton. (Take a regular castle, skew it in Photoshop, make the corners into curlycues and paint it with red and white stripes. Rinse, repeat. Yawn.)

Urgh. I just tried to read a True TV article about the Twilight Zone disaster, and I don't think I'll be able to make it to the section about the trial--just hastily skimming the description of the children's deaths and realizing that it was three in the morning and their parents were there and saw all of it is punching all my mommy buttons.

If I ever, ever meet John Landis, I'm punching him in the face, throat and cock. What an utter, utter fucker.

Sigh. So much for ever rewatching The Blues Brothers.

Maybe the IMAX version looks better, I don't know.

That's too much of a maybe to bother. I think I'll try and see if it gets a standard release somewhere, if I bother. I WON"T be making the Imax trip Monday I was thinking of doing (I have the day off, and will be heading back from Maine, so the matinee would have worked really well).

I was a little concerned of the previews with everyone dressed for battle, including Johnny Depp, and what looked like battle scenes. - it looked a little too Narnia-ish to me.

JZ, outragious, huh? And yet, he is still working making movies. I am not naive about movie-making; it can be terribly dangerous. But what happened on that set was criminal.

And then his behaviour aftrwards sealed the deal on his complete reprehensibility.

I am disappointed to hear that Alice isn't as great as the previews suggest. Boo!