i have this list of movies that i keep meaning to rent, and i finally took a chunk out of it last week. i rented four (from my new favourite video store…it makes rogers seem like a poor person’s yard sale) and watched them over the past four days or so. and they were all good!!

• kurt and courtney: i wasn’t disappointed, though it wasn’t quite what i expected. after reading heavier than heaven, there was nothing surprising in there, just some amusement in watching courtney love put on a queen bitch display. but what really made it fascinating was this lineup of tortured friends and lovers who talked about kurt and courtney. it was one thing to read about dylan or amy in the biography, but quite another to see them arm-wrestling sanity and death.
• waking the dead: god, what a depressing movie. billy crudup was great, and jennifer connelly is, in addition to being a great actress, just about the most gorgeous thing mine eyes have ever seen, but keeeee-rhist, i felt like doing a g.i. joe roll off my balcony after this one was done. i guess that means they did a good job. then again, maybe i’m just depressed ’cause i know jennifer connelly will never be cuddled up to me on an airplane. frig. frig frig frig. oh scotch, where are you?
• the french connection: i can’t believe i’ve nevers seen this movie. not that it’s indispensable, but just because it’s been around for so long and it’s a classic action movie. great car chase scene – not as technically smooth as ronin, but more visceral; i still haven’t seen bullitt, so i can’t compare. gene hackman’s always awesome, even if he is playing a racist shithead. i loved how it didn’t wrap everything up nicely: bad things happened, the bad guy got away, popeye and cloudy didn’t get their due. maybe that’s why it’s a classic.
• rushmore: i’d actually seen this one before, but i couldn’t remember much of it. having watched it, i’d obviously forgotten how good it was…maybe i’m just a bit more accustomed to wes anderson’s style now, but i was laughing out loud in parts, smiling for selfish reasons in others. i need to rent bottle rocket now.

all in all, not bad. four movies, four winners.