Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, The Decline of the American Empire, The Barbarian Invasions, The Bank Dick, & Brick

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is a great documentary. Fascinating, exasperating, and ridiculous. Plus, it had a great soundtrack. I guess I'll always have a softspot for Lovefool. Oh well... Didn't expect the strippers, but then again, we are living in the golden age of documentaries. Yay for that.

The Decline of the American Empire and The Barbarian Invasions really go together. In the sense that The Barbarian Invasions are punishment for any pleasure that you may have gotten from the Decline. Not that I enjoyed either. Sometimes it's not good to rent a movie and its sequel before you've seen the first one. Bunch of annoying Quebecois in both. Obsessed with sex in the first one and the problems of terrorism and state medicine in the second. Neither particularly worthwhile. Maybe if I liked any of the characters at all...

The Bank Dick is fitfully funny, but at least it's short. Definitely doesn't overstay its welcome. I guess I don't have to bother watching another W.C. Fields film, since this one is supposed to be the funniest, and I didn't entirely enjoy it.

Brick is an excellent neo-noir set in a high school, using Hammettesque and Chandlerian slang. Strange to see anyone not in a 40s film use words like yeggs and bulls, and lines like "You wanna take a swing at me, hash-head? Huh? I got all five senses and I slept last night, which puts me six up on you". I definitely enjoyed it, although it really didn't break too much new ground and why were almost all of the high school characters played by 20 somethings? They couldn't find anyone talented and actually high school aged? Some nice camera tricks, a few strong performances from some people I hadn't heard of (Nora Zehetner, Meagan Good) and some I had (Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Lukas Haas). What the hell has gotten into Gordon-Levitt making some good movies? Between this and Mysterious Skin, he has two great performances. I am looking forward to Rian Johnson's next film as well. Anyone who decides to use a drug kingpin's mom like he does is certainly one to watch.