Miscellaneous: You Know, Stuff

O, for that halcyon time, in the dim remember’d past, when I would update this website on a semi-regular basis! Too bad them days is gone. Here are a few recommendations.

Small Crimes, by Dave Zeltserman (2008). I thought Vermont was all foliage, maple syrup and abnormally sized filing cabinets. Silly Vince. It’s also festering small town corruption. Ex-crooked cop Joe Denton is sprung from jail after brutally disfiguring the D.A. The sheriff, more bent than Joe ever was, greets him with a proposition. Either finish the job he started on the D.A., or hasten the dying crime boss trying to cut a deal with him to the grave. Zeltserman, editor of the soon-to-be-shuttered Hardluck Stories, knows the territory and serves up the goods with psychological acuity.

Finding Amanda (2008). The debut directorial feature from TV maestro Peter Tolan (The Larry Sanders Show, Rescue Me) met the fate of many independent films. Brief theatrical release coupled with unpromoted on demand availability, then a quick dispatch to DVD. However you find it, it’s worth seeking out. Matthew Broderick plays a sitcom writer formerly addicted to ... well, everything. He’s got it narrowed down to gambling when he learns that his niece (Brittany Snow) is working as a hooker in Las Vegas. Why not save her from herself and bet the ponies at the same time? With Steve Coogan as a casino manager who’s exactly as friendly as he needs to be.

Speed Racer (2008). Yes, it’s too long and too much in general. But I actually kinda liked it.

Ghost Town (2008). Charming. Then again, I’m a sucker for the entire cast and New York in the fall.