Four days, four films. (Sort of.)

Four days off - four movies? Well, almost. How about three movies, double-dipping with one resulting in four screenings? (And four full price tickets.) Yes, today I went back and saw "The Nines" again so I could try to figure it out while it was fresh in my head. I'd also downloaded writer-director John August's audio commentary, which he suggests you can listen to on your iPod in the theater (discreetly, so as not to disturb your neighbors of course.) I wound up not doing that. I felt self-conscious about it, even though the theater wasn't very full (early afternoon on Labor Day) and I was in the third row, which is never full. I listened to it on the subway on the way home, though, which turns out to be pretty boring without the visual. It's meant to be heard while watching, so there's long pauses with no audio (did my iPod die?)and they don't bother describing what's happening on the screen, so if you're not in front of it, you have to try to remember what scene they could possibly be in.

Did I figure out the film on the second viewing? Not really. I think there are two very possible answers, and both work, from the very start. The question is which do I prefer, and I think the answer is the same as when I saw it the first time, which is that I prefer the more practical of the two.

Enough said. Go see the movie, and tell me what you think.

Since I need to catch up, yesterday I saw "King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters," which is a documentary about rival Donkey Kong champions competing in classic arcade gaming. It's really very good, with old-fashioned heroes and villains and a suspense-filled plot. I listened to Elvis Mitchell's interview with the director, Seth Gordon, and it's really interesting to learn how they focused the story on these two individuals. The truth is much stranger than fiction, and you can't make these guys up - and yet, oddly, there are plans to do so, as Gordon is now working on a fictionalized version of the story. I'm not sure why. I suppose that it's easier to sell tickets to a fictional film than to a documentary, but I can't imagine anyone doing some of the "characters" in "King of Kong" justice without appearing to have gone too far.

I am sad that the weekend is almost over.