STILL HERE - No, I haven't disappeared...just swamped with work and trying to see as many films as I can at the Chicago Film Fest. I don't know how my blogging brethren are able to do it everyday. But here's an update: Saw Evelyn last Friday night. Saw Mike Leigh's All or Nothing last night, and my appreciation for it keeps growing the more I dwell on it. Tonight's film: Roger Dodger, starring Campbell Scott. Here's the synopsis: "Men are doomed. That is, if Roger Dodger’s deft and humorous, film-opening predictions are right. Roger, a cynical copywriter who “makes people feel bad” for money, is a master of the art of conversation, especially when it comes to dealing with women. So when his sixteen-year-old nephew Nick (charming newcomer Jesse Eisenberg) shows up at his office one day for advice on getting laid, Roger doesn’t hesitate to expose the subtleties of female sexuality to him. He takes Nick on the ultimate sexual-courting field trip: a night out in Manhattan. The two run across all walks of nightlife, some witty, intelligent women (Isabella Rossellini, Elizabeth Berkeley and Jennifer Beals), and one not-at-all-together woman. Over the course of their time together Nick picks up a new bravery from Roger, and the caddish Roger begins to see that perhaps there’s validity in Nick’s innocent wisdom." Sounds decent enough, huh? And hey, Elizabeth Berkely AND Jennifer Beals...who can resist that?

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