adult movies

there was this roz chast cartoon i saw years ago that pictured an "adult bookstore" and in the window were such decidely non-titillating titles like "taking out a mortgage" and "dealing with your double chin."

i've seen three "adult" movies recently that i really liked a lot. so if you're looking for some hot grown-up action this weekend, you may want to consider...

good night, and good luck. more than one person has pointed out that this movie is kind of thin... that george clooney assembled a great cast and then didn't give them anything to do... that it feels SO historical he might as well have just used old film clips for murrow, like he does for mccarthy... and, yes, that's all true. BUT clooney as fred friendly, david strathairn as murrow and frank langella as bill paley are all excellent, i thought--you can't keep your eyes off of them when they're on screen, which is almost every scene. and i couldn't help but feel all proud of and moved by this great moment in real-life liberal courage, when these people (albeit rich and powerful people) stood up for what was right against the forces of evil. i left the theater feeling great.



capote. a friend of mine put it well: this is a brilliant portrait of EXTREME self-centeredness. phillip seymour hoffman is perfect as truman capote... liar, narcissist, life of the party, insecure crybaby, lovable, witty, infuriating, total genuis. and, really, the whole cast is terrific (especially catherine keener as harper lee), and the "worlds-collide" contrast between kansas and nyc (physically, emotionally, culturally) is nicely played, and though it drags a little in last half hour, right now this is the movie to beat this fall.



paradise now. this is the riveting, horrifying, challenging story of two best friends, said and khaled, palestinians on the west bank, called upon to blow themselves up (and take as many israeli soldier and civilians as possible with them) in the struggle against occupying israel. there are flaws in the logic and storytelling, and i definitely wish i hadn't seen the trailer like 10 times before the movie, but there's so much to recommend here that it doesn't really matter. the guys playing said and khaled are great, the set-up is harrowing, the issues raised are not easily settled, and even if everything else in the movie had been terrible, just the fact that it's filmed on the rubble-strewn, impoverished, bitter, ancient, beautiful west bank would have made it worth seeing. and that ending... not unexpected, but a total stunner all the same.