7/30/04

Ugh...what a week.  Ya know how some weeks, you can pretty much say that you sort of coasted along at work, pretty much just showing up to collect a paycheck?  Then you have weeks like the one I had.  The ones where you know that whatever money you get in your check you by God earned.  Such was the week I had.  Today we closed out the week by having a calendar call this morning that had 195 cases on it.  I thought I was going to pass out.  That's the biggest freaking docket I've run in 18 1/2 years of doing this.  Thankfully the judge didn't bring her computer to court so that she could play on AOL.  Consequently, the docket ran smooth, even if we did get out at 1:15pm.  It was a fun week in the division too.  My judge stirred up the pot a little in regards to another judge, pretty much known throughout the courthouse as the cheapest man in the county.  Apparently Mr Tightwad tried to have a case moved out of his division because he got pissed off at the fact that someone had placed a post-it note on the file (Puh-leeze).  It somehow got reassigned to us, and my judge whipped off a memo to the administrative judge, which naturally got the hornet's nest going.  It was hilarious, as Mr Tightwad was denying pretty much anything and everything.  I really wish I had started keeping a journal the day I started at the courthouse, because no one would believe the shit that goes on in and out of court.  Some of the stupid petty crap, the backstabbing between judges, the egos of some of the attorneys....its all really amazing and the stuff of bestsellers.  We were sitting around talking the other day, remembering a few years back to one judge, who ended up basically resigning the bench before they got the boot.  This woman, who was a complete and total loon, would actually reach under the bench and give herself a quick hit of the old FDS under her skirt---while court was in session!!  And for awhile, she had her own "drug and alcohol counselors" in her courtroom.  When someone had a DUI and would plead not guilty, she would have this one guy..."Bernie"...go over and smell the person's breath.  Inevitably, "Bernie" would yell out "I smell alcohol judge"!  This was usually followed by the defendant denying that they had anything to drink that day, after which the judge would begin to lecture them on denial and how they had to recognize their drinking problem.  I guess "not guilty" was only a state of mind in her divison.  Then there were the poor idiots who had the misfortune to be charged with any sort of lewd conduct.  The guy (okay--98% of the times it was a guy, okay?) would sort of amble up to the podium and she would announce the charge:

"Sir, you are charged with lewd conduct....to wit:  MASTURBATING IN PUBLIC!!  How do you want to plead?"

Well naturally the rest of the courtroom is snickering and pointing fingers at the "pervert" who by that time will take anything the judge is offering just so he can get the living hell out of the courtroom.  I suppose her idea was guilt by humiliation.

Then there was the other judge, who was almost universally hated as being the biggest jerk in the county, who ended up being found bare ass naked in a hotel room surrounded by sleeping pills.  Needless to say, he's not on the bench anymore.  Last I heard he's a public defender in Alaska or something

Finally, my favorite story of the week from court.  We're in arraignments yesterday, and this black guy comes up on a charge of battery.  He says he wants to plead no contest to the charge, and since the state attorney says she hasn't had any contact with her victim, the judge asked the defendant to give her explaination as to what happened that day.  Here's what follows....essentially.

"Um...alright ya honor....me and my homeboys were just out chillin, ya know, and this dude comes up and he's all up in my face and starts yelling at me and my homeys and we hadn't done nuttin to him but he's all yelling and stuff, ya know and he starts shovin on me and all...so I like, ya know...hit him and all...but he started it."

And the judge pauses and says....and I quote:
"Um....I'm gonna need a translation."
At which point, my baliff Teresa, God bless her, steps forward and says:

"Well judge, he and his friends were out just hanging out....."

It was hilarious.  Reminded my of that scene from the movie "Airplane".
"Uh, stewardess....I speak jive."

Later,

Jeff

7/28/04

So, the wife calls me in court today and tells me about an interesting conversation that took place at HER office.  What follows is a transcript (more or less) of what happened...she's begun to work on a new patient and is making small talk.

"So," Kim says, "what do you do for a living?"                                                      

"I'm a defense attorney," her patient says.                                                                

"That's interesting," Kim replies, "my husband works at the courthouse.  He's an in-court clerk in Judge Gehl's divison."                                                                      

"Really?  One of my best friends is an in-court clerk.  Her name is (former Mrs. Me #1).                                                                                                                   

"Oh," Kim says, "that's even more interesting.  That's my husband's ex-wife."       

"Really?  I didn't even know that (former Mrs. Me #1) had been married before." 

"Well actually I think they were married when she was pregnant with her daughter." 

"Ya know what?  I think I do remember her mentioning that now that you mention it."                                                                                                                      

"Well", Kim says, "I will say this.  I'm actually Jeff's 3rd wife, and he has never had a bad thing to say about either of his ex-wives.  A lot of guys really bad mouth their ex-wives, but not Jeff."

When she told me that....I said....."good answer dear, that was a good answer."

And so it goes......

7-27-04

I've told that I "don't do death well".  That's what the 2nd former Mrs. Me used to tell me.  Whether it was a relative, a pet, someone I knew...I just didn't handle it that well.  Maybe she was right (first time for everything).  A friend of mine died early this morning.  I realized that last night I drove right past her hospital.  I didn't realize that she was even at that hospital, but I found myself wondering if I would've visited her if I had known about it.  I don't necessarily mean last night, because I had the wife and kids with me...I mean just generally speaking.  And I'm not sure.  Here I find myself wondering if anyone would visit me under similar circumstances and yet I admit that its hard for me to do.  Quite the dichotomy--don't ya think?  I mean, I felt for her and what she was going through (cancer), and yet, part of me just felt like I needed to stay away from such a depressing scene.  So I never went.  And now she's gone.  I hope she's in a better place.  R.I.P. Dollie.

Anniversary dinner last night.  We went to Benihana's.  I had the steak and more shrimp than you could shake a stick at.  Its a great place to go to once in awhile, but you get the check and realize....well....why you go there "once in awhile".  The kids were sorta cranky at the beginning, since naturally the restaurant didn't offer anything remotely related to pizza or chicken fingers...but they got over it.  We sat with a family from New York and they asked us to recommend someplace for them to see while they were here on vacation.  How sad is it that I've lived her for over 30 years and I couldn't think of any place for them to go?  The best I could do was to recommend the Sawgrass Mall!!  Pretty lame.  Kim sent me a basket of cookies at work, despite both of us insisting that the other shouldn't get any sort of gifts.  So while the ladies at work were all very impressed with the idea, I immediately was hit with the "so what did you get her?" questions.  I admit it, I totally gaved and went and got her a gift certificate.  Then, just to make the scenario totally perfect, I forgot to give it to her before we went to bed.  True love blossoms.

So my Minnesota Vikings signed Brock Lesnar today.  Hmm....should I be happy about this?  Well, Lesnar is an athletic freak, there's no question about that.  Howlong will it take him to turn into a football player?  Should be interesting to watch, which makes it one of the Vikes storylines for training camp this fall.  Meanwhile, Ricky Williams is out in search of some high grade asian hash by the looks of it.  Did this guy screw his team or the fans?  Well, he certainly left the team holding the bag.  I mean, talk about a bad time to walk out on your team.  Next to Barrett Robbins, the center for the Raiders who no showed the SUPER BOWL for God's sake, I can't think of a worse time to leave your team then 5 days before training camp with a team that has basically built itself around you.  I'm getting a whiff of something, and whether or not its coming from the back of the local head shop remains to be seen.

Since I wasn't doing this a month ago, I didn't get a chance to post my movie reviews from June.....here we go:

1) Earth Girls are Easy--yep, the old one from the late 80's with Geena Davis & Jeff Goldblum...you might remember that Jim Carrey had a supporting role....he was on screen during one scene and my daughter blurts out "hey, isn't that the guy from Bruce Almighty?"  I suddenly felt very old.  Of course, this is the same girl who last night interrupted a conversation I was having with my wife, during which I was telling my wife that I thought we had just run over a hubcap by saying "what a hubcap?"  **3/4

2) Saboteur--the old Hitchcock film with Robert Cummings & Priscilla Lane where he's being chased by the Nazi's...good fun as always with Hitch, and who makes better villians than Nazi's? ***1/2

3) Shrek 2--by God, I didn't think I'd ever say this, but...Antonio Banderas is the best thing in this movie.  I know, I know.  I couldn't believe it either.  But his voice-over on the character of Puss-N-Boots is flatout, fall off your chair hilarious.  Its one of those movies where you have to watch closely because their spoofing so many movies that you might miss something if you blink....****....very, very funny.

4) Something's Gotta Give...I'm so ashamed.  I actually liked this movie....that being said, it wasn't because of Diane Keaton or Keaunu Reeves.  Jack Nicholson is really the whole movie, and its great that he's willing to spoof his whole personna.  There's a great scene where he's medicated and he starts walking around with his ass hanging out in the air.  *** funny spoof of Nicholson---by Nicholson!

5) The Commitments--good movie with a great soundtrack...one of the best I've ever heard.  Movie is ***, but add the soundtrack and its a solid ****.

6) Van Helsing.... I took my son to see this at the theatre, and he was TOTALLY into it.  I took it for what it was worth, which is a basically stupid movie with some really good special effects.  I will say this though, Kate Beckingsdale can't act worth a lick...then again, who friggin cares when she's that hot?  **1/2

7) Cheaper by the Dozen--WOW!!  Was this ever a bad movie.  Actually sort of disappointing, in that I've always been a fan of Steve Martin & Bonnie Hunt.  It actually had a halfway decent supporting cast, with Tom Welling (from t.v.'s Tom Welling, Piper Perabo, Hilary Duff (who's some sort of huge deal to the pre-teen girls and actually does a pretty good job here) as well as Alan Ruck & Ashton Kutcher, who believe it or not may have been the best thing in the film.  The fact that Ashton Kutcher is the best thing in the movie probably tells you all you need to know.  But what really annoyed me was that, disguised as a 'family film', this is one mean spirited little movie.  None of the kids in the family are likeable, you wonder if the parents will love each other again, and you wonder if maybe they wouldn't be better off for all concerned just getting a divorce.  YUCK.

8) Children of War---this is one of those HBO documentaries, and holy shit is it powerful.  The filmmakes chose 4 hotspots around the world--Bosnia, Israel, Rwanda & Northern Ireland--and showed the effect of war on the children who grow up in that environment.  This wasn't a "fun" film by any stretch of the imagination, but WOW.  What a terrific piece of filmmaking.  ****1/2

9) Where Eagles Dare---one of my alltime favorite war movies.  Eastwood & Richard Burton ("broadsword calling Danny Boy...come in Danny Boy!") battle the Nazi's against the background of the Austrian Alps.  Terrific fun.  ***3/4

10) Miller's Crossing---OMAN!!  What a great friggin movie!!  I thought I had seen this one awhile back, but I'm not sure.  Great, great performances all around---and just really brutal stuff in a few scenes.  Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney, Marcia Gay Harden---all could have been nominated for Academy Awards and no one would have blinked.  And watch for the one scene with the great Steve Buscemi, as he is terrific doing the sort of double-talk that he would make famous in "Fargo".  *****

11) Finding Nemo--Now this...THIS was a great kid's movie!  This was everything that Cheaper by the Dozen SHOULD have been, but wasn't.  Some very touching moments, along with some absolutely laugh out loud scenes (including a classic one showing a great white shark at an overeaters anonymous meeting).  Go get this movie, you won't regret it.  *****

Enjoy,

Jeff

Movie update--7/25/04

Hello movie fans--time for another update from the movies I've seen recently.  Enjoy!

Hey there....got to check out some more films, thought I'd give you the heads up on. 1) Jerry Seinfeld:  Comedian---I have a few friends who have been trying for years to get me to go to one of those "open mic" nights at the local comedy clubs.  I keep politely declining, figuring that even though a lot of people tell me how funny I am, I can picture myself going up and totally bombing.  Now I have another reason why I would never want to do that in a million years.  I'm a huge Seinfeld fan, love the t.v. show, watch the reruns over and over and over so I watched the film with a little anticipation, figuring at the very least I'd get to catch some new material from Jerry in concert.  I then watched this and realized the one thing that most of the guys who are working onstage at places called "Uncle Funny's", or "Crackers", or the "Comedy Stop" or some different variation of that name are incredibly insecure, depressing people that aren't much fun to hang out with anyway.  Here's an inside chance to watch Jerry worry, then stew, then worry some more, then become surly....and then go onstage and deliver 5 minutes of really funny material.  Only problem is that we're talking about 5 minutes of really funny material in an 80 minute movie.  We also get a brief look at his wife, who I remember mainly because she left her first husband on her honeymoon when she met Seinfeld.  Nice wife.  I'm sure Jerry trusts her implicitly.  * (and that's for his 5 minutes on stage) 2) American Splendor---Now here's an incredibly interesting film that isn't for everybody, but if you want to try for something a little different, you'll really enjoy.  Harvey Pekar is a real guy, who worked in the Cleveland, Ohio, V.A. clinic as a file clerk for like 25 or 30 years.  He basically lead a life of quiet desperation, as his wife had left him because she felt he was a real zero.  Pekar began writing his frustrations on life out on paper and showed them to his friend, the underground pulp artist Robert Crumb.  So began the comic book that dealt with the very minute of Pekar's life, which was called American Splendor.  The veteran character actor Paul Giamatti, best known as "Pig Vomit" from the Howard Stern bio "Private Parts", doesn't just portray Pekar as much as he crawls into his skin and becomes him.  This is a fantastic performance, down to some very subtle gestures, such as the way that Giamatti slouches like Pekar does, seemingly beaten down by life itself.  What also makes the movie interesting is the way that it interposes cartoons from Pekar's own comic book within the movie itself, and very effectively at that.  This is a quirky, slightly strange movie--much like Pekar himself---yet well worth going out of your way to see.  ****1/2 3) Underworld---Did you know that for over a thousand years that vampires & werewolves have been secretly at war with one another...right under our very noses?  Well, that's the basic premise of this movie, which essentially could be described as one part Dracula vs. The Wolfman, one part Romeo & Juliet and a final dose of the Matrix.  One thing you have to say about those vampires--they all seem to look terrific considering that their basically the undead.  Kate Beckinsdale, who is really hot, but as an actress is...well....really hot, plays a "death dealer" who goes out at night looking for 'wolves.  (Has she tried singles bars?)  Everyone seems to dress as though they've got great connections with someone in the leather apparel industry and the opening scene of the movie certainly does reach out and (no pun intended) grab you by the throat.  That being said, this movie is the antithesis of American Splendor.  This movie is all look and no heart or soul.  American Splendor is sort of frumpy and wrinkled, but what a heart. ** 4) Election--every once in awhile a movie comes along that makes you want to jump up and run to the phone to tell someone about.  Holy crap is this a great movie.  Twisted, perverse, biting commentary on high school, on elections, on popularity and what some people will do for it and for a little bit of power.  Reese Witherspoon plays Tracy Flick, who is running for senior class president ("Pick Flick") and doesn't care by God who she steps on to achieve her goal.  Standing in her way is history teacher Jim McAllister, played by Matthew Broderick, who (no lie!) is absolutely fantastic as he tries to thwart Tracy in her bid for power.  The reasons why he wants to do that are plot spoilers, so I won't give them away, but within the halls of Carver High School we got:  adultery, impotence, lesbians, bowls of free Juicy Fruit gum, 480 frosted by hand cupcakes, one overstocked refrigerator that is watched a little too closely by the janitor, an unopposed wheelchair bound vice presidential candidate who's motto is--"I'd stand up for you...if I could" and a series of prayers to God by a couple of the characters that is priceless.  Oh yeah, and a bee-sting to the eyelid.  Run, don't walk and get a copy of this movie. *****   Later, Jeff   On to sports!!  Ya know, just when I'm feeling crappy because my Cubs let a stiff like Eric Milton take a no-hitter into the 9th against them...and then of course they tie up the game...and promptly blow it...I'm feeling pretty lousy.  Then I watch the press conference at Miami Dolphins headquarters where your team's offensive MVP announces 5 days before training camp that he's quiting football because he wants to go "travel the world".  OH MY!!  Geez, suddenly the Cubs crappy day sort of pales in comparison, don't ya think?  Only a few more days until training camp...makes you wonder if the 'Fins will be dropping a quarter into the payphone and calling Minnesota, where my Vikings have a glut of young running backs.  Uh, Mr. Ugunleyea to Minnesota anyone?  Here's where if the Vikes get the call, they really need to be ruthless and try to screw the Dolphins bad.  If the 'Fins want Michael Bennett or Onterio Smith....make them pay through the friggin nose. More later....maybe. Jeff

Thursday, July 22, 2004

I just thought about that as I posted...the Little River Band...geez, excuse me for listening to that right as I pulled into the driveway tonight!  What a freakin day.  Double docket city.  235 cases processed in one day.  I'm getting to old for this shit.  I've actually earned a paycheck this week.  Ya know how you have some weeks where you pretty much are just skating on by, and other weeks where your actually sorta busting your hump?  Well, this week was the latter.  It was like every freak in the world showed up in court this week.  Just in case your reading this and have no idea what I do--I work at the Broward County Courthouse (our motto:  "Crime...its a growth industry!") located in the heart of Ft Lauderdale, Florida (motto:  "maybe this year we'll count ALL the votes").  I work in the misdemeanor division, which as one judge was known to say, truly is the people's court.  The people's court if the people are as loopy as an old coot.  Every day its something.  I swear to God my biggest regret in all my year's in the courthouse (well, other than all the marriages, but hey...that's another story for another day) is that I didn't start keeping a diary from the first day I got there.  It'd be a surefire bestseller, because there is no way America would believe half the shit that happens there.  Anyway, the week started off with an assault & trespassing case.  It seems that the defendant was checking out some of her husband's emails to a co-worker (and don't I just know the danger of doing THAT!!  Again, another story for another time dear reader--when we get to know each other slightly better) and began to suspect that her hub was doing more than grading test scores at the school he worked at.  So the defendant, in a move that showed an incredible lack of sense, goes down to the school to find the husband, who she can't locate...and goes (Hello Leonard Nimoy!) "In Search of...." the OTHER WOMAN....she then confronts the woman, who is also a teacher and quite frankly not good looking enough to get into any sort of trouble over and decides to give her the old "ceast and desist" routine.  Ya know...stay the hell away from my man!  Words are passed....and as the defendant is leaving the classroom (oh, I didn't mention that this took place in a classroom?  At least she had the good sense to wait for the kids toleave before the confrontation took place---oh, and did I forget to tell you that the defendant brought her two children with her??!!!???  Folks, I can't make this shit up!) and reaches into her purse (allegedly---naturally), pulls out a small handgun, looks down at her kids, then back to the woman and says...."Mommy knows how to use this...doesn't she?"  How did this story not end up on Springer?  So the jury acquits her on the assault, figuring I guess that they never actually proved that there was a gun, since the defendant took the stand and denied that, but found her guilty of the trespassing.  That's whats known as splitting the baby.  Probation, anger management and no contact.  And she's still with her husband!  Whoa baby, I bet that's a fun marriage.  Tuesday brings us the woman who's charged with obstructing a police investigation by blocking a police officer from arresting her son.  The judge asks the woman if she's ready to go to trial, even though the state attorney has offered to drop the charges if the woman does some community service or makes a donation to charity.  The judge tries to explain to the woman the consequences of going to trial (and losing), at which point the defendant begins wailing and crying in a performance worthy of the legendary Meryl Streep that...."they beat me!!  I didn't do anything wrong!!"  It was so over the top it was all I could do to keep from laughing.  She then goes out into the hallway to talk about it with her attorney, and begins to scream and cry AGAIN!  She finally agrees to make a donation to a charity and then the state will drop the case.  Smells like the state attorney didn't have a great case to me.  Wednesday brings us to the case of the week...maybe the case of the year.  It was known as "the trashman case".  At least, that's what the judge next door called it.  My poor judge.  She tried her damndest to get someone else to take this case, but no such luck.  So we spend the day on a fucking code violation case because this goof either can't or won't clean up his damn yard.  Ridiculous.  And the photos were a real pleasure to look at.  Broken down cars, old refrigerators, boats, trash, rugs....all that and about four dogs!  We've had this joker in my division for going on 8 years now.  So he gets convicted, no surprise considering his attorney had NOTHING to work with (his defense for his client?  "One man's trash is another man's treasure ladies and gentlemen."  I almost had a Pepsi come through my nose when he offered that little gem.) and as the judge is sentencing him, he's still friggin negotiating!!  And she's trying to tell him that all anyone wants for him to do is to just clean up his damn yard!  And still, he's complaining about his back, and oh yeah his wife needs to be hospitalized because she's mentally unstable, and oh yeah what he really wants is to donate all his stuff to charity......etc etc etc.  They should just bulldoze the stinkin house.  Today brought us the joy and pleasure of a double docket.  65 arraignments in the morning and 150 cases up for trial status in the afternoon.  Just a little stressful.  We must've plead out over 30 cases today.  If I didn't have carpal tunnel syndrome after today, I'll never have it.  We had some guy who complained about the plea offer the state attorney made regarding his case.  He was charged with battery for hitting his ex-girlfriend.  I read the police report and it looked like it could've been a borderline sexual battery or rape.  This asshole is complaining about being offered 30 days in jail....and I'm thinking he should be glad that he's not looking at 10 to 15 years.  Rapists.  Scumbags of the highest order.  Tomorrow is strictly catchup day for me.  No court thank God.  Judge is off to a family reunion in Indiana.  Bring in some CD's to play, mark some files...nice easy day if all goes right.

Cubbies won today!!  Two in a row.  Greg Maddux is now 2 wins away from getting number 300.  (Oh, by the way dear reader---this is where I begin to talk sports--remember, I'm a multi-faceted guy)  Zambrano got a 5 game suspension for being a knucklehead the other night and throwing at Jim Edmunds (is it wrong to throw at a St Louis Cardinal?  I mean..really?) and LaTroy Hawkins got 3 games for going postal at an umpire.

I've caught two movies this week:  Jerry Seinfeld-Comedian....and American Splendor...reviews coming this weekend.

Later,

Jeff

Movies

July 20, 2004....and the Cubs blew it (AGAIN!!)  I think I know why I have blood pressure problems, and it ain't what I eat.  You would figure once in the last 96 years they would've stumbled or bumbled their way to a pennant.  Nope! I'm not just frustrated....I'm pissy!  There, I said it, I said it...(thanks to my man Budro for that).  Alrighty, time to post some movie thoughts from the past week or so away we go!!

Had the opportunity to few some movies this past weekend......away we go: 1) I, Robot---I didn't realize until the opening credits started rolling that the film was directed by Alex Proyas (Dark City, The Crow).  All of a sudden, my hope for this film went through the roof.  So....how was it?  Hmmm.  Pro's & cons.   Pro?  Visually speaking, it may be one of the most spectacular looking films I've ever seen.  That's one of the hallmarks of a Proyas movie, and he doesn't disappoint here either.  I mean, there are a few scenes where my jaw just dropped, because the design of a scene...or just the look of what was going on up on the screen was truly amazing.  Just on the basis of how could the film LOOKS, I would recommend the film.  Now....that being said....cons?  Here's what I hate about Will Smith.  He's Will Smith in 90% of the movies he stars in.  He plays the same freaking character.  Its like going to an Adam Sandler movie....or lately, a Ben Stiller movie.  Those guys are the same thing.  They basically play the SAME CHARACTER in every movie.  Ben is the nebbish, shy guy--sort of a new millennium Woody Allen.  Adam plays the basically shy guy who is always picked on, or made fun of, who finally explodes.  Am I wrong?  Of course not.  And Will Smith has begun doing the same damn thing.  The character here is the "rogue" cop, Mr. Wise Ass, always with a smart aleck remark to the bad guy just to let him know that, by God, Will is a lot smarter than you realize.  I'm telling ya, its the same character that was in Bad Boys I & II and in those Men in Black movies, and essentially the guy from Independence Day too.  The only movies he hasn't been that character were in Ali & his role in Enemy of the State (which I just saw again the other day--that's a pretty damn good flick).  Now then, that being said, I'm sure the movie is going to make like a jillion dollars, because....well....quite frankly, that's what Will Smith movies do. But about an hour into the movie, I found myself wondering how much better the film would have been with someone else in the starring role.  I wondered if someone like Mel Gibson or Denzel Washington or even a Kurt Russell had taken the job, someone who really knows how to act....this could've been a really, really great movie.  Instead, its only a really, really great LOOKING movie.  ** 3/4    (By the way, I know you hate the whole CGI stuff, but man did they do amazing work with the robots in this film) 2) Thirteen---this may have been one of the scariest movies I've seen in a long time.  And its not a horror film.  Do you know what its like to have a daughter that's going to be 12 in one month and to see a film like this?  Holy crap!  Kim & I watched it and we were both just transfixed by the performances of the two leading actresses, one of whom wrote the story.  When she was 15!!  All I can say is, if this shit is really happening out there with girls that young....man do I ever worry about our future.  This is not an easy movie to watch, but its really an important one.  It shows you what can happen to a seemingly nice, innocent girl who feels like she's being left behind, not one of the "popular" girls....and the lengths she'll go to in order to achieve that popularity.  Its even more scary when I watch this and then listen to my own daughter complain that she's frustrated that she's "not popular".  Hearing that and then watching this film is scarier than The Exorcist or Texas Chainsaw Massacre could ever be.  ***1/2 3) Donovan's Reef---well, geez, after movie # 2 I think I deserved a little light hearted entertainment, don't ya think?  John Wayne & Lee Marvin brawl all over the South Pacific wooing Elizabeth Alden & Dorothy Lamour when they're not fighting each other.  Just a great "popcorn" movie.  Pop some corn, get a cold beverage and forget your troubles for a little over an hour and a half.  Great scenery also.  *** 4) Monster---geez, what sort of a dark mood was I in this weekend anyhow?  First I get movie # 2 and now this one!!  Again, not the most pleasant movie to sit through, but there's an important reason to do just that.  Charlize Theron is incredible in this role.  This is one of those performances that just transcends time.  50 years from now, people will look back on this role and still talk about it.  This is like watching DeNiro become Jake Lamotta.  (And just saying that to you...and understanding how much you love DeNiro tells you what I thought of this performance)  At first, you sit there and marvel at the physical transformation that took place for someone as Theron to become someone who is such a mess.  But there are moments in this movie when Theron doesn't just take over the physical role of Aileen Wournos....its like she reaches down and becomes her emotionally also.  Its really gripping stuff, and the only bad thing about it is that I don't see anyway Theron can ever find a role that can ever approach this performance again.  Its that good.  ****   Later, Jeff