Better than others and DIABOLIQUE (35).

You know how people say, "So little time, so much to do"? Well I've been saying that lately as well, because I've got a lot to do and I continue to waste said "time" with activities I could completely, with out harm, not do. I believe filling the space where you don't have to be working with working is why I currently work at a coffee shop and many of my friends are now doctors.

Take last night, I should've been powering through my excellent book on modern China, but instead was sitting through not one, but two movies, neither having anything to do with Criterion. What were they you ask? Ooooooh, I smell mini-review:

Transsiberian - I was really excited about this film. My favorite reviewer online, Drew McWeeny from Ain't It Cool, had said he'd really enjoyed it and Brad Anderson was a flawed if not visually gifted director. I came away from this film pretty iffy though. What should've been a straight morality tale (the kind where a person makes a terrible mistake and then just watches as everything crumbles around her/him) ended up being sort of drug-related thriller with Woody Harrelson hitting people with wrenches and Ben Kingsley playing his best Russian. It's a beautiful, cold movie set in the forests of Inland Russia, it just never came together as well as I would've like.

Harold and Kumar Go To Guantanomo Bay - Yup, I certainly transitioned last night from Transsiberian to the second Harold and Kumar flick. I saw the first one, red-eyed, in a theater with only my friend Big Haynes and an old lady. These aren't serious flicks, they're big stupid comedies, and if you don't like big stupid comedies avoid. The second one was overly long, lacking in the weed humor, and filled with too much lovey-dovey shit. Also, how does John Cho continue to get work? I mean when Kal Penn makes you his bitch in the comedy department, it's time to start looking for a new job. No Pants Party = hilarious. Do not watch this film unless highly intoxicated. I learned this lesson last night.

From terrible to amazing in just one paragraph. Diabolique (35) is one of the great thriller-mysteries of all time. A lot of folk will push you towards Wages of Fear (36) when they talk about Henri-Georges Clouzot but I'm a bigger fan of this twisted tale of crime gone horribly wrong. The plot revolves around two women and an evil headmaster and the women's plot to drown the headmaster and then dump his body in to the school swimming pool. Sounds simple right? But what happens when they drain the pool and there's no body? A lot of brilliance, that's what. Also, the corpse, which plays a major part in the film has the most disturbingly hilarious eyes of all time. Please see this movie, you'll be very happy you did.

Monday: The Wages of Fear (36)