Movies

Danger: Diabolik (1968) John Phillip Law is fantastically attractive as the masked super-criminal Diabolik. Directed by Mario Bava, based on a comic strip, this is the perfect venue for Bava's wild talents. Diabolik's subterranean lair is a vast hallucination, and the Night Club Scene is the most bizarre and amazing I have ever seen. The theft of a twenty-ton giant ingot of solid gold was fantastic in every sense of the word. The super-criminal, such as Diabolik, Fantomas, Mabuse, Lupin or The Black Lizard, as a character and genre has been shamefully neglected in these decadent times, while idiotic allegiance to primitive ideas of law and justice are spoon-fed to the masses as virtues to prevent their rising up against their evil masters. The world awaits its deliverer. Until then, this fantasy will have to do. 8/10

Adaptation (2002) This is the kind of movie Donna chooses, and I end up watching them just because I like to learn about things. I would never have picked it myself, but ended up enjoying it quite a bit. This movie shows how helpful it can be to listen to your stupid half - one of the best things I ever learned. I don't understand how Nicholas Cage can be such a good actor and still end up in so many brain-dead action spectaculars. Chris Cooper gets the toothless redneck genius thing down with deadly precision. Pretty good stuff if you like quality. 8/10 for completely different reasons from the above.