Sam’s Place

The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)

Sam ***

• I only just saw this for the 1st time & was surprised how well this Cold War thriller held up after more than two decades.

Emma: ***

• Good but a bit dated.

The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

Sam: **

• OK, admittedly it was less annoying than Rushmore but it was still pretty bad: 3 zany (annoying) brothers with emotional problems travel across India on a train. There’s a story within the movie, as the actors act out a bad short story written by one of the characters. It’s supposed to be a bad story within the good movie, I think, but the movie is itself so bad that it ought to be the bad movie within some other, good movie. Also, it’s weird that Owen Wilson plays a drug addict who failed at suicide, & since its release the celebrity press has reported that Wilson is a drug addict who failed at suicide. I liked The Royal Tenenbaums but think I’ll avoid Wes Anderson’s movies in the future.

Emma: **

• I liked it visually — good colors — but the story was silly & the movie was too long.

Rome: Season 2 (2007)

Sam: ****

• A little sleazy & hard-to-believe but still better than 90-something percent of all TV shows that have ever been made.

Emma: ****

• Good acting — I especially like Ray Stevenson as Titus Pullo — and good set design. It would be nice if it could continue for another season or two but it seems that they’ve taken the plot to a dead end.

Death at a Funeral (2007)

Sam: ****

• A British comedy about a funeral. Started out slowly, built up to anarchic zanyness, and fizzled a little at the end.

Emma: ****

• Good acting, especially by the blond guy on drugs. Would have been even better if they hadn’t given away some of the plot twists in the preview.