AUSTIN, Texas, April 30, 2004 —
Décalage horaire (trans: Jet Lag). A movie with Juliette Binoche.

AUSTIN, Texas, April 29, 2004 —
The Mystery of Picasso. I watched the extra features. I'd like to own this one. It's great wallpaper. But I need to downsize.

AUSTIN, Texas, April 28, 2004 —
The Mystery of Picasso (Le Mystère de Picasso) a 1956 documentary with Picasso producing drawings and paintings and collages before our eyes. Fascinating film. Also watched Law and Order and a reviewer tester reel from the Austin Film Festival.

AUSTIN, Texas, April 27, 2004 —
101 Reykjavik an Icelandic slacker film. I liked it. It had a nice dramatic arch, letting you know just enough about the characters and society to smile at the ending.

AUSTIN, Texas, April 26, 2004 —
Mighty Aphrodite on cable.

AUSTIN, Texas, April 25, 2004 —
Coast to Coast on cable. Interesting made for TV movie and very well-done I think. Also, a movie and a documentary about the Frank Sinatra junior kidnapping. Various snips of other things.

AUSTIN, Texas, April 24, 2004 —
Noises Off produced at Arts on Real by Naughty Austin Productions. This is a British farce on top of a British farce performed by some good Austin actors who were wasted on this. It was sold out but it was bored me mightily.

AUSTIN, Texas, April 23, 2004 —
Igby Goes Down. Seems like I heard good things about this movie but it is really a piece of fluff. The characters are cut-outs and you don't care about them. It is a satire, a send-up of coming of age movies, I know that. It is even funny once or twice. Didn't work for me.

AUSTIN, Texas, April 22, 2004 —
D-Day: The Battle that Liberated the World (A 1997 documentary with some OK footage but mostly a pablam version of events.) Part of the movie Swimming on cable. So-so. Some old M*A*S*H episodes. Somehow there was one I never remembered seeing.

AUSTIN, Texas, April 21, 2004 —
Dirty Pretty Things (it was nominated for best original screenplay).

AUSTIN, Texas, April 20, 2004 —
Pieces of April left me wondering about the title and also about why one makes such a film.

AUSTIN, Texas, April 19, 2004 —
Band of Brothers, part of CSI: Miami, part of Surviving Picasso.

AUSTIN, Texas, April 18, 2004 —
Started rewatching for probably the fifth or sixth time the great movie Big Night. Watched part of Band of Brothers.

AUSTIN, Texas, April 17, 2004 —
Walking and Talking is a little mid-nineties romantic comedy FFP says we have seen but I remember only bits of from cable maybe. Anyway I rented it because I read the screenplay and wanted to see it in that context.

AUSTIN, Texas, April 16, 2004 —
House of Sand and Fog. It's a very good movie but I didn't really sympathize with anyone. Well, maybe the wife of the Iranian guy but the culture is so different. <Spoiler alert. Read no further if you haven't seen this one.> The orginal homeowner was a failure...even at killing herself. Why would she settle for the money (far less than the value) when she really wanted the house? Did the stupid cop tell her he was in trouble? Did he think that the guy wouldn't press charges for kidnapping when he complained about the deportation threat? Was he planning to have his girlfriend not deed over the house and just steal the money and the house? And was the copy suddenly so sensitive that, after the kid is killed, he'd tell the truth? OK, I symphathized with the kid a little. I could see him getting shot coming a mile away. Anyway, it's a beautifully-made film and provocative but I really couldn't believe the cop and the girl. They didn't hang together as characters.

AUSTIN, Texas, April 15, 2004 —
Mona Lisa Smile. Well, thank god I wasn't born in 1938. Of course, I wouldn't have been going to Wellesley. But, still. I was born early enough to have to wear dresses and girdles and hose and high heels. Geez. I was born early enough to resent the place of women in our world.
Band of Brothers is an interesting mini-series. It's hard to capture on film the horrors, really. I understand the sounds and smells are unimaginable. Still, all this adds to the deep background of appreciation for my next D-Day visit to Normandy.

AUSTIN, Texas, April 14, 2004 —
Love Liza with Phillip Seymour Hoffman...movie with voice-over commentary by Phil and writer and director.

AUSTIN, Texas, April 13, 2004 —
Love Liza with Phillip Seymour Hoffman

AUSTIN, Texas, April 12, 2004 —
Watched some old (and pretty sappy) Frank Sinatra detective movies, Band of Brothers, Part 2 as well as some Simpsons and Milllionaire.

AUSTIN, Texas, April 11, 2004 —
Most of a movie called Flesh and Bone on some movie channel.
The Simpsons
Band of Brothers 'episode' on The History Channel.

AUSTIN, Texas, April 10, 2004 —
The Big Red One
A 1980 movie with Lee Marvin. Personally, I like it. Like most war movies, it can't make you understand what it was like. Saving Private Ryan tried to be more realistic.