I started working on a list of 100 movies I loved from the last 20 years, but I'm getting pretty weary of it. Maybe I'll finish it out later, but it's bogged me down enough for the time being (and I'm only at 82).

Kubrick could have begun and ended with Dr. Strangelove and be hailed as a genius. It regularly trades places with Yojimbo, Bicycle Thief, and Network as my top movie of all time. But my top ten change places with eachtother based on my mood.

What about Full Metal Jacket?

2001, Full Metal Jacket, Strangelove, Lolita, A Clockwork Orange. And while I find it flawed, I still love The Shining.

I cannot get on the Kubrick hate train.

I never say Fight Club because before I saw it, someone was telling me about how the twist of the movie had been leaked and it was pretty crazy, and I said, thinking of the stupidest twist I could think of, "What? Brad Pitt's character is really part of Edward Norton's split personality?" That kind of killed my desire to ever see it.

I just saw Runaways. I want to like it, but it bothered me deeply that the only character who was at all interesting, and was given all the best lines, was their male manager. The rest of the Runaways were barely present in the movie--they didn't even rate a where are they now--but the manager did. I would have much rather seen more about the other band members than the mostly filler stuff about Cherie Currie's family. And all the "woo-woo I'm so high and it's so rock and roll" visual effects got boring really fast.

On the plus side, the look was great, and the actors were all good. Dakota Fanning wasn't recognizable as her former child star self.

Apparently I'm into macho nihlism.

I realized recently that the last four movies I saw in a theater were Dark Knight, Terminator: Salvation, Surrogates, and Inglourious Basterds. So I'm into... explosions.

I don't think of Kubrick as nihilistic, but I can sorta see it. I view him as humanistic, but in a very detached, clinical way. Sort of a "Here's something humans do. Isn't that interesting/funny/terrible?" attitude.

megan, can you describe what they changed? I'm thinking of reading the first book (after seeing the movie).

Sorry, I was crazy busy at work today.

Lisah's right in that a lot of the detail they eliminated wasn't crucial to the overarching plot, but a lot of what I liked about the book was the mystery and investigation details, many of which were changed due to the streamlining. For example, in the book, Anita is not dead, they go to London, tap her phone, and that's how they learn about Australia. There's no necklace. Blomqvist wants to hire a researcher and Frode suggests Lisbeth. He only learns once they are working together that she has access to his computer.

Also, a lot of the motivation for the whole investigation is lost. In the book, Vanger promises Blomqvist dirt on Wennerstrom if he accepts the job, and, more importantly, the family does not know that he is there to investigate Harriet, but there is a whole cover story that he is writing a biography of the family, so there's a reason for the killer not to be suspicious right away.

More annoying to me was how Lisbeth comes across. In my mind, she appeared much smaller and so her ability to kick ass is more shocking. She has serious body image issues which gives her more vulnerability than you get from the movie. Also the whole final scene with her just standing by the car didn't happen. While not out of character per se, it just adds to the unsympathetic portrayal. You miss a lot of how awesome at her job she is or her whole Wennerstrom caper.

Related to the set up of the second book, they don't call the police and no one finds the cellar. Martin just dies when he hits the truck and Blomqvist and Lisbeth promise not to tell Harriet's secret.

If you are at all interested in what happens next, I would read the book. I think the second book is far better than the first one and I highly recommend both.

Kubrick could have begun and ended with Dr. Strangelove and be hailed as a genius. It regularly trades places with Yojimbo, Bicycle Thief, and Network as my top movie of all time. But my top ten change places with eachtother based on my mood.

java is me! Dr. Strangelove was the kick off movie for our big Trivia contest so I got to see it last week on the big screen--which was fun. It's the only Kubrick film I've ever truly enjoyed.

I've seen 74 of the 100 films. My biggest gap is foreign films.

I'm going to see Kick-Ass because I need to see how it compares to the comic. I love the comic.

Megan, I thought the change with her just standing at the car and letting him burn actually made her way more interesting.

I hated in the book how it was just an accident when he died. It was such a let down.

Them not calling the police in the book made me NUTS! I actually had forgotten that. It made no sense and only made me dislike the characters.

Also, it was so obvious, I thought, from the beginning of the book that Anita was still alive. I liked how quickly that was resolved in the movie.

That being said, they are highly entertaining books! And I recommend reading them as well.

I generally love Kubrick and think his version of The Shining was app. 1 gazillion times better than Stephen King's book.

I view him as humanistic, but in a very detached, clinical way. Sort of a "Here's something humans do. Isn't that interesting/funny/terrible?" attitude.

That's sorta what I was trying to say with the whole yin and yang comment. I don't know if I'd call Kubrick a humanist (because, unlike Altman, I think he was deserving of being called a misanthrope), but I do think he found human behavior fascinating.

Apparently I'm into macho nihilism.

My last movie was The Friends of Eddie Coyle. Does that make me a macho masochist?