My Week of Movie Watching

Shutter Island – Read the book, then saw the movie. I love movies that fuck with my head, and this one is a champ. This is a case where the film benefited from omitting some of the info from the book, because SI the Novel makes things smell fishy throughout. SI the Movie drops hints about its big twist, but they would only really be noticed in a second viewing. Director Martin Scorcese does a good job in creating visuals that dovetail nicely with the nightmarish world of the Dennis Lehane novel. Highly recommended.

Office Space– This film is the whimsical cousin of the Up in the Air in that it skewers the cold, uncaring world of big business. Ron Livingston plays an office drone who accidentally gets hypnotized and ends up not caring about work…And ends up getting promoted for it. This film is a bit of a muddle, with a few hits and a few misses. My main problem is that the corporate types are such overblown straw man types that it took me out of the movie. The highlight for me is Stephen Root as the beleaguered Milton, who finds himself banished to the basement and has to fight to retain his beloved red Swingline stapler.