James Ellroy's Feast of Death
James Ellroy is an American novelist known for his dense and intricately plotted crime novels with a dark and pessimistic worldview. In Ellroy's fiction, corruption is a matter of course, murder and sex crime are as inevitable as the morning sun, and happy endings are never assured. For movie fans, the best film representations of his work are LA Confidential and Dark Blue, although no film can fully capture the milieu of his novels.

Ellroy became obsessed with crime when his mother was murdered. He was 10. That obsession informs this documentary, which follows Ellroy as he discusses some of the real-life crimes that inform his work, including that of Elizabeth Short, the notorious Black Dahlia. I'm not a fan of true crime as a genre, but Ellroy's work is fantastic so I'm willing to take this dark ride with him.

The Kite Runner
Based on the novel by the same name, The Kite Runner hinges on an act of childhood betrayal among friends as children that resonates into the present day. In 1978, before the Soviet invasion, before the Taliban, two inseparable Afghan boys are experts in the local kite-flying competitions. Amir is the prodigious kite flyer, whose kite stays aloft longer than anyone else's, and Hassan is the loyal kite runner who seems to always know exactly when and where the kite is going to come down and gets it back to Amir faster than his competition can get their kites back in the air.

Their friendship is torn apart when bullies jealous of Amir's skill with the kite and his kite runner attack Hassan. Amir arrives to see his friend being raped, but sneaks off rather than help. That childhood betrayal breaks their friendship, as Amir's shame is so great that he shuns his former friend, and soon Amir's father is taking him to America to avoid the Soviet invasion. Amir's shame stays with him into adulthood, until he gets a call from home that brings him back to modern Afghanistan with a chance that he might be able to make things right.

The Mist
Stephen King is an enjoyable novelist, and I've wasted many an afternoon deep in his books, but I cringe at every new movie that comes out with his name attached. There are good movies with King's name on them: The Shawshank Redemption might be one of the finest films ever made. However, in recent memory we've suffered through Dreamcatcher, 1408, Secret Window, and now, The Mist, which might be worse than any of those aforementioned films. Yes, worse than Secret Window. I know it's hard to believe.

The Sasquatch Gang
Advertised as "Brought you to by the guys that brought you Napoleon Dynamite!" which should probably tell you all you need to know. If that doesn't scare you off, they also cast Justin Long, who even Mac fans admit is insufferable. If you're still interested, I should tell you that the film is being marketed as "an epic tale of nerds and turds!". If even after all that you still waste your time, I guess you get the movie you deserve. I did my best to help you. Some people just can't be saved.

Strange Culture
I'm scared of America. Here is the story of a professor and artist, whose wife died in her sleep. Responding authorities deemed his artwork "suspicious", and the FBI detained him as a suspected "bio-terrorist". His project involved geneticly modified foods, and as part of his art installation he had commonly available bacteria available for his audience to test the food with and draw their own conclusions.

Despite the fact that the bacteria he used was innocuous and readily available for purchase, despite the fact that even after impounding his wife's body for autopsy and finding she died of heart failure and not of "biological terrorism", despite the support of his university and the scientific community, the government still wanted to convict him of bioterrorism. When that doesn't work, they attempt to prosecute him for fraud, claiming he violated the law in obtaining some of his scientific equipment. The scientist he obtained the equipment from and the company that produced the equipment all attest that no fraud occurred, but the government marches on, prosecuting a fraud case where no plaintiff exists! Despite the fraud charges being civil in nature, the government is currently trying to get it changed to a criminal fraud case so that instead of a fine, they can try and get a 20 year jail sentence. He is currently awaiting trial.

Does any of this make you feel safer?

Walk the Line: Extended Cut
Don't know what the "extended" bit adds, but Walk the Line is already a great movie, so more of it is welcome. Well, I do know that the musical performances are extended, so there's that. I used to get really annoyed by these kind of double-dips, but since I stopped buying in favor of renting most films, I'm actually happy to see a film I love re-released with more miscellanea.

Wristcutters: A Love Story
I loved the way the afterlife was depicted in the film Beetlejuice, particularly the fate of people who commit suicide. In that film, those who commit suicide are conscripted into the civil service once they reach the afterlife. In Wristcutters, you go to a special afterlife reserved for those that have killed themselves. Haven't had a chance at press time to see this despite my best efforts to finagle an advance copy, but you can expect I'll cover this film in more detail in my blog once I have seen it.