Croc Hunter Bites It

Mildly sad about this. That said, I can't manage to be surprised that someone who makes a living getting way close to dangerous creatures is then killed by one. At least he wasn't done in by something ignominious, like a poison frog or something.

Review: Little Miss Sunshine and Coming Soon

I had planned to Netflix this one, but we went to Bethesda Row yesterday to see Half Nelson (incidentally, directed and co-written by Larny's cousin) where all the showings were SOLD OUT so we went to this instead.

I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. It's one of those "let's have a dysfunctional family go on a roadtrip and remind them what family is about" pictures, but it somehow managed to avoid all the associated sugarglop crap. Probably cos Grandpa is addicted to heroin and Steve Carrell just rocks it. There's also some ironically-timed "gee, aren't kiddie beauty pageants deeply DISTURBED" content. (According to the 'boards at IMDB, the freakish beauty pageant kids are real beauty pageant kids.) Final thoughts: Miss California eats ice cream. So there.

Also, here is my list of fall movies you have to see because I said so:

Hollywoodland: It's about George Reeves! It has Ben Affleck as George Reeves so we know he dies! What's not to like!!

The Science of Sleep: Michel Gondry does Amelie. Kind of.

The Last King of Scotland: Remember Idi Amin? This is gonna be like Hotel Rwanda but where the main character has to whack the bad guy.

Fast Food Nation: Remember how creepy the book was? Richard Linklater made a movie about it. We know the pitch meeting went "Supersize Me meets Slackers. How can we lose??"

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints: Remember back when Martin Scorcese made good movies? This looks like something he would've done back then.

Fearless: You've probably seen this movie billed as "JET LI's LAST EVER MARTIAL ARTS MOVIE! SERIOUSLY! THE LAST ONE!" Cos he is getting old and that makes me sad.

The Queen: It's by Stephen Frears which is enough for me. Why is the Queen a scary ice person? Remember when we liked Tony Blair? And other issues that seemed to matter if we were English and still in 1997.