Long Haul Cinema- Take Two

With 14 hours to kill on the flight from Sydney to J'burg, there is more than enough time to check out a few new movies,

Adventureland

This was a cracking film with surprising level of emotional depth and feeling, very much at odds with its suggested 'teen movie' leanings. In fact, I'd say that it was the best of its type that I have seen since 'Almost Famous', which was for me a real benchmark for the coming-of-age genre.

Without giving too much away, the gross-out components of it are handled well enough to not leave you cringing, and the acting of the characters portraying marginalised and identity seeking teenagers is spot on. Really good stuff.

Disgrace

I thought, you know, maybe I was too expectant/tired/distracted to do this movie justice the last time I flew. So, I watched it again from the point where I turned it off in August. Unfortunately, the second half is even more laboured. You almost feel obligated to say nice things about a movie that has John Malkovich in it, but ultimately this is a real dog that bobs up and down on the spot and leaves you wondering how the screenwriters managed to so successfully butcher JM Coetzee's epic book.

Enron- The Smartest Guys in the Room

Brilliant doco. Compulsory viewing for every rampaging capitalist spruiking the beauty of the free market economy and de-regulation. A tale of total greed and disgusting manipulation of the stock and electricity markets in the U.S. by Enron, of lies and deceit and fraud on a scale almost too huge to imagine. And, when you look at the ease with which this all came together and the complicity of banks, business and regulatory authorities who allowed it to continue, you are all too aware that it can and probably will happen again.