11/15-11/22

John Carpenter's The Thing //

Stephen Soderbergh's Black Bag //

Hypercompetent (hot) people portrayed by hypercompetent (hot) performers. A smart script and a tight one to boot—it clocks in at just over 90 minutes. What's not to like?

Brian Vidal & Alex Haughey's Prodigy //

Robert Altman's The Player //

This came out in 1992, my sophomore year in college, which was just around the time my "film snob" side was really beginning to blossom. It was predictably irresistible to me then and I am no more immune to its (many) charms now. More satisfyingly structured and concluded than many of Altman's other films, which can sometimes have a shaggy-dog quality—I know there's a (meta) point being made here about "giving the audience what it wants," but its classical shapeliness does get me to rank it one star higher than I often rank Altman.