When I saw the release announcement for this film, and read the blurb, I said to myself, another "drugs suck" film. I will pass on this. After reading Scoops review, I ordered it. First, let me say that everything Scoop said is correct. The director tries very hard to show 1st person POV of addiction, and uses every trick at his disposal to make the message effective. His use of split screen to show dual 1st person POV, rather than quick cuts, was an interesting one, although it could get very old very fast. The message is that drugs suck, and the film would leave an addict pusher with the impression that drugs suck.

I suppose I admire this film, and the exposure from Connelly and Campbell is a real plus. Burstyn is phenomenal in her role. I have to say that I did not like the film, and was glad when it was over. Scoop, in his review, mentioned The Sweet Hereafter and War Zone as other examples of devastating films. I was totally shattered after seeing War Zone, but gave it very high marks. This film just repulsed me. I guess the difference is that the War Zone gave me new insights into sexual abuse. I learned nothing from this film. For me, it contained no surprises, no new insights, and, worst of all, no hope. Every character is doomed.

My favorite film about addiction, Clean and Sober, is a far more insightful look at the roots of addiction. The female lead dies, as do several other addicts, but Bill Murray's character at least has a chance at the end, having earned his 30 day chip. This film ends with all four main characters hitting bottom with no hope. I appreciate the director's attempts to risk unusual techniques, but some of the camera work was distracting. In one scene, Burstyn's character is at the diet clinic. We see her moving in slow motion and talking just as slowly. The nurse is racing around and talking so fast she is hard to understand. I didn't understand the POV at all. Was the nurse on uppers? If not, then was this a dual POV without split screen? In two sex scenes, the couple is rotating, sort of like a microwave tray. Was there any message or symbolism here, or was it just glitz?

Despite the fact that I didn't enjoy this film, and have mixed feelings about how good it really is, I will say that it is much better than the last two Oscar Winners.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is ... well, you all know what it is. If you are a long time reader, you're probably sick of hearing about it. I saw it on a bootleg, and was writing about it long before it made its commercial US debut, when nobody knew what it was. I was probably the first person to start blabbing about how good it was, and I was probably also the first person to say "hey, shut up, already, it isn't THAT good". Let me say that the Region1 DVD transfer is magnificent, and this was already one of the most beautiful movies ever filmed (it won the Oscar for best Original Musical Score and Best Cinematography) , so if you haven't already seen the movie, you probably should take a look, because they did it justice.

• Zhang ZiYi. I have captured this film many times in the past, so this time I tried something different. Since a zillion other guys will do this film, I decided to do Zhang's wet t-shirt scene without the blue filter. It came out quite sexy, if not quite as beautiful as the original images. (1, 2)

Firehouse is the movie we've been talking about the past 2-3 days. Tremendous quantity of nudity, although I don't know who many of the women are. Jennifer Stahl, the recently deceased woman that Sleuth wants, is either stripper #2 or stripper #3. I'll leave it to him to weigh on that matter, and I'll relabel them if we know who is who. If you can make a certain identification of the other strippers or unknowns, write me at unclescoopy@scoopy.com. I'll summarize the movie tomorrow. Not that it matters. The Lakota Sioux used to refer to this film as "Mika Si (Weepie)", or "that which truly offends the Great Spirit (and bites the Great Bone)"

• Gianna Rains (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
• Martha Peterson (1, 2, 3)
• Renee Raiford
• stripper #1
• stripper #2 (1, 2)
• stripper #3
• various unknowns (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
• Julia Roberts? This is a matter of controversy. Some people at IMDb swear Julia is in this, others deny it. She is listed in the cast at IMDb, but is not listed in actual credits. I don't know if she's in this, but if she is, it must be this woman, I believe. (1) It certainly does resemble her. (2) That character is not named, and would not be listed in the credits (3) I can match almost every other woman to a listing in the cast, so this lady was left over. (4) It's the only young woman to stay dressed in a titty movie - does that sound like Julia to you?

Honte's site is updated

These 'caps feature plenty of aquatic sex. Robo-hooters can be seen in every image, and links #3 and #9 also show some pubes.

A blonde suspects her boyfriend of cheating on her, so she goes out and buys a gun. She goes to his apartment unexpectedly and when she opens the door she finds him in the arms of a redhead.

Well, the blonde is really angry. She opens her purse to take out the gun, and as she does so, she is overcome with grief. She takes the gun and puts it to her head.

The boyfriend yells, "No, honey, don't do it."

The blonde replies, "Shut up, you're next!"

A woman pregnant with triplets was walking down the street when a masked robber runs out of a bank and shoots her three times in the stomach. Luckily, the babies are okay but the surgeon decides to leave the bullets in because it's too risky to operate. She gave birth to two healthy daughters and a healthy son.

All was fine for 16 years, and then one daughter walked into the room in tears. "What's wrong?" asks the mother.

"I was taking a pee and this bullet came out" replied the daughter. The mother tells her it's okay and explains what happened 16 years ago.

About a week later, the second daughter walked into the room in tears. "Mom, I was taking a pee and this bullet came out." Again the mother tells her not to worry and explained what happened 16 years ago.

A week later, her son walked into the room in tears. "It's okay" says the mom, "I know what happened. You were taking a pee and a bullet came out."

"No," says the boy, "I was playing with myself, and I shot the dog."

So it seems this penguin was driving through a small town when his car broke down. He called AAA, and his car was towed to a local garage where the mechanic told him he would need a couple of hours to check out the problem.

The penguin wasn't in any particular hurry, so he wandered off to look around. Entering a local supermarket, he bought some fish sticks and some vanilla ice cream for lunch, and then hung out in the frozen foods section until it was time to return to the garage.

The mechanic, seeing him enter the garage, came over wiping his hands on a rag, and shaking his head, saying "It looks like you blew a seal."

Blushing, the penguin quickly wiped his bill with his flippers, and replied, "Oh no! It's just ice cream!"