Peter Ibbetson (1935) Gary Cooper stars in what starts off as a kind of schlocky costume romance of long-lost love, which suddenly turns convincingly romantic and then takes a strange turn into weird mysticism when the permanently separated lovers reunite in shared lucid dreams. Ended up being far stranger than I ever imagined, and thus far more satisfying. Cooper seems uncomfortable in costume until he is chained and paralyzed in a prison cell and Donald Meek should not have tried to do that accent. 7/10
The Great Moment (1944) Watched with Donna on the recommendation of one of her friends. Preston Sturges oddity, ostensibly depicting the discovery of anesthesia. Joel McCrea does not end up a mad slasher like Karloff did in his film on the same subject, and this one similarly embroiders upon the historical fact of the matter. Able support from Sturges regular William Demarest, and universal favorite Franklin Pangborn sports remarkable facial hair. Maybe a little more eccentric than it really needed to be. Something about Sturges does not connect with me. Unique, and mostly interesting. 6/10
Sleep Dealer (2008) Mexican cyberpunk? Yes, and one of the few genuinely intelligent and well-made Science Fiction movies I have seen in recent years. Takes the migrant worker phenomenon into the near future where people with bootleg neural nodes go to labor factories and plug in to operate work robots somewhere else in the world, or upload their memories to a youtube-like website which offers them up for sale. Actually has enough ideas in it for a full movie, rather than becoming an extended chase scene half-way through. The situations are complex and compelling, the characters are appealing, and the details are handled with brains and wit. Highly recommended. 10/10
