LOOSE ENDS & RANDOM MUSINGS - Before we delve into the top ten list (published below), I wanted to tie up a few loose ends... and then proceed to go off on about 12 different tangents. First, my consternation over nobody answering my trivia question about what movie takes place in Star City, Arkansas, apparently paid off. Congrats to Slate film critic David Edelstein who correctly answered Carl Franklin's 'One False Move.' He just beat CS regulars Matty Robinson (aka JoeyCotton), Island Girl and Rico. Speaking of Edelstein, check out his review of Spike Lee's '25th Hour', which he argues is more about a fear of anal rape than it is post-911 New York or the movie's themes of loyalty, friendship and misguided choices. As a devotee of the HBO show 'Oz', I don't have a problem buying Edelstein's assessment. I'm pretty sure it would be my biggest fear if I, like Ed Norton's character Monty Brogan, was heading to the slammer. If you haven't seen 'One False Move,' it's really worth checking out -- a pre-'Sling Blade' Billy Bob Thornton (as screenwriter and actor), Michael Beach (a true 'that guy') in a truly terrifying role as the calm sociopath Pluto and Bill Paxton doing his hayseed routine to perfection. I always remember Star City as a town name because it's so naturally ironic and fits so nicely in the movie since the female character at the core of the story is on the run from Los Angeles back home. I watched the movie on DVD one weekend a few years back and at work Monday -- this is Cedar Rapids, Iowa, just so you know -- I heard the woman with a slight Southern drawl in the office next to me explain to someone that she was born in Star City, Arkansas! The timing floored me. I didn't even know Star City was a real place. * During our 'Solaris' movie club back on 12/4, Sam sang the praises of Netflix, the rent-by-mail DVD company. Our mutual friend Kevin Rich was the first person I knew who was really into Netflix. He tried to sell me on its virtues back in June or July. As Sam wrote, and as you've surely heard by now, for $19.95 a month you get unlimited DVD rentals and Netflix provides you with the packaging materials to send the discs back. You keep a rental list online and Netflix just keeps going through your list sending you the ones you've requested. Keep them as long as you want, no late fees. If you typically rent just 4 our 5 DVDs a month from Blockbuster, Netflix ends up being cheaper and a hell of a lot more convenient. The problem, for me, was that I don't typically rent any DVDs much less 4 or 5 a month, and $19.95 just seemed like too much of financial commitment. What changed my mind was two things. First, I moved to Chicago, where there are more movies to see, but they're also much harder to see -- whether it's the cost and hassle of parking, public transporation, or simply making the drive from the 'burbs into the city. Furthermore, with a job that involves working long hours and most weekends, I just don't have the time to go to the theatre as frequently as I did back in Iowa City. Second, I discovered Number Slate, a Netflix rival that provides the same service, but for $13.95 per month. Call me cheap, but something about that $6 just makes it seem worthwhile. So i signed up. My first two selections, based on my rankings and which movies were immediately available, were 'Scotland, PA' and 'Planet of the Apes.' Yes, it's true; I've never seen the original 'Planet' from start to finish, which is the beauty of services like Number Slate. Sam's right, at Blockbuster you always feel compelled to spend your $4 on a new release, not some old movie that you've seen parts of but just never watched all the way through. I still haven't popped in 'Planet' yet, but I did scope out 'Scotland, PA,' an indie film written and directed by Billy Morrissette that came out on a few screens back in February. It's a moderately entertaining movie, but one that ultimately left me wondering why it deserved my time. I had zero expectations for this film; in fact, I couldn't remember anything about the movie at all when I added it to my rental list online. Set in the early 70s, the film is a comedic retelling of Shakespeare's 'MacBeth' with James LeGros and Maura Tierney starring as Joe and Pat McBeth, a couple of simple but ambitious blue collar folks working in a diner in small-town Pennsylvania. 'Scotland' joins Baz Luhrmann's 'Romeo & Juliet', the Ethan Hawke version of 'Hamlet', Gus Van Sant's 'My Own Private Idaho' (a film that probably should have made our top ten list), 'O' with Josh Hartnett, and a handful of others in what arguably has become its own genre. Maybe it's the fact that 'Henry IV', which was Van Sant's inspiration for 'Idaho,' is my favorite Shakespeare play, or maybe it's because Van Sant used Shakespeare merely as inspiration rather than as a text to update and revise, but not one movie from this "genre" since 'Idaho' has really worked for me. I think Ebert probably summed it up best in this quote taken from Rotten Tomatoes: "I enjoyed the movie in a superficial way, while never sure what its purpose was." I really can't sum up my feelings any better. It's very funny at times, especially some of the scenes involving Christopher Walken as Ernie McDuff, a detective investigating the murder that propels the McBeth's to fast-food fame. I guess if you're a big 'MacBeth' fan who takes some kind of intellectual delight in seeing all of the movie's clever references to the original, then great. If not, then so what? That's a pretty brusque review, I know, but I've got to cut this short and hopefully get to the discussion of our top ten list.

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