Duel

I watched another film! And excellent it was too - I'd forgotten just how well Spielberg keeps up the excitement - and with quite limited resources. Favourite bits: the snake lady - where did that come from? - and Dennis Weaver's jumps for joy as he realises he has won the day. Least favourite: the kids making faces from the back of the bus. They go on a bit. In a masterpiece of economy, they go on a lot.

Oh, and we watched the last episode of the first series of Life On Mars. Interesting.

Out of the Blue

At last after nearly two months of watching nothing but Cagney and Lacey re-runs (excellent), Heroes (excellent) and Jamie Oliver's latest offering (at least he talks about food and cooks stuff, cp Nigella) last night I watched Out of the Blue, starring and directed by Dennis Hopper. And jolly good it was too. And the DVD only cost me £1.99! Starring is perhaps the wrong word. He was hired to play the father and took over directing after about a week because the initial director wasn't getting the right performances out of the actors. The real star is Linda Manz who plays his daughter. She plays an angry young teenager who you sense doesn't stand a chance what with her drinking and driving jailbird father and not very faithful mother (another great performance from Sharon Farrell). And she makes the ultimate punk statement in the brilliant surprise ending - but don't listen to the first few chapters of the director's commentary otherwise it won't be a surprise ending! The school bus crash at the start is pretty nifty too.