the rabbits of the night

we saw "million dollar baby" the other day. i had been feeling guilty about not having seen that, and "sideways", plus i'd been catching bits of "mystic river" on TV (it seems to get better, especially kevin bacon, god bless him), and thought i should get out and see mr. eastwood's latest. and while i'm not sold on it being best picture material (i think after ROTK, the bar is too fucking high to hurdle), and if forced to choose, i'd probably pick "the aviator", it does not disappoint. like "mystic river", "million dollar baby" has some dark, dark places to take you. i guess i just felt like the movie lacked some much needed punch (ok... pun intended). it's devastating in places, and maybe that's the problem. it's as if the last quarter of the film is so dark and upsetting, i just sort of shut down, blocked it out. i'm also not a hilary swank fan in the first place (even though her turn in the 1992 "buffy the vampire slayer" movie is nothing short of inspired). but it was cool to see clint eastwood and morgan freeman in another movie ("unforgiven".... fucking brilliant), and on the whole, it's worth your time......on a somewhat related note ("mystic river", directed by eastwood, based on the book by dennis lehane).... i read "shutter island" by dennis lehane. i'm completely sold on this guy. it's a quick read, and it's certainly predictable in places....but the book managed to creep me out, and i read it on my lunch breaks...it just turns out to be a really fucked up story about a mental institution (i think anyone who stood in the shadow of the northampton state hospital and felt a chill down their spine will really be affected by the atmosphere of this book)... and even if you can see the "twist" coming, it's a great, great book.... so great that i'm about 25 pages into lehane's " a drink before the war".... so far it plays out like a modern, buddy-cop version of a chandler novel, and that ain't a bad thing. there's also plenty for elmore leonard fans to love, but lehane comes off a little more sincere with his characters (and i'm a big elmore leonard fan, so it's no knock). i'm also plowing my way through "the hitchiker's guide to the galaxy"... there's a good rhythm to that stuff, but i'm finding if i don't pick it up for a day or two, i'm lost when i come back to it. but i'm one of those nerds that has to read the book before the movie, so i'll keep on keepin' on.