'The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter'

In a word, "obnoxious."

Just glad I only have to listen to it once.

Most frustrating only because at times, for 30-second slices throughout, they sound incredibly good and coherent. With direction.

I just need direction.

'Through the Looking-Glass'

What's most odd about "Through the Looking-Glass" is it's almost entire disconnect with Lewis Carroll's previous "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."

Both happen with the same main character and both are dreams. In "Looking-Glass," Alice is seven years old, probably a year older than in "Adventures." Also, the cat, Dinah, has just had kittens. So a year between dreams is logical.

There is a sea change in Alice between the adventures. In the first, she jumps from being a precocious young girl to being a top-notch problem solver and a legit pragmatist. In "Looking-Glass" she is even more so. She's more like a 14 year old than a young girl. For example, she knows quite a bit of mathematics.

Otherwise, there are characters (the Madd Hatter, the March Hare) who make appearances in the second dream, but Alice does not seem to recognize them. Also, there is little actual reference by Alice to the previous dream.

It all makes sense, really. We have to remember as readers that we are taking this girl's dreams a lot more seriously because they are published in a book. To her, they are fleeting adventures in her sub-concious, probably forgotten after a couple of days.

'The Shipping News'

A brilliant piece of fiction. Annie Proulx is so stinking good. It's not even really funny.

The story of redemption is always compelling. This isn't the typical redemption story either. No one was hooked on crack or heroin. Nobody was living on the streets or had some kind of physical disability.

In fact, most obstacles in life include neither disability or drugs. Nor do they result in some fantastical victory in a sporting event.

No, most of life's ups and downs are primarily inane and often all in our heads. Or something we can not really do much about.

I think that was part of the realization for our hero Quoyle, who found in Newfoundland that nature, the elements ruled the roost. And that was part of the cleansing -- having the water wash away an fear or inhibition. Having the wind and waves carry off the past.

A new beginning, ironically, in Newfoundland. A place where a-many new beginnings found a home.

'Lolita'

James Mason is so dreamy.

As I continue to watch more and more of the films I need to see before I die, and I delve further and further into the films of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, it's clear how gutsy and and down-right dirty filmmakers were.

Films like "The Philadelphia Story" and "Some Like It Hot" are filled with innuendo and just straight-up sex jokes. Making intercourse so coarse and vulgar.

Then a two-and-a-half hour film about pedophilia. In 1962. Geez. In three more years members of the public would be burning Beatles records.

By the way, Shelley Winters is a pure nut. She's so good on film you get the feeling she was kind of like that in real life.

'Chinatown'

I don't dig detective stories very much. If detectives are so stinking calm, collected and smarter than everyone else, why aren't they curing cancer or doing heart surgery or teaching?

It's interesting that Jack Nicholson has worked with such an array of directors in his career: Stanley Kubrick ("The Shining"), Martin Scorsese ("The Departed"), Tim Burton ("Batman," "Mars Attacks"), Roman Polanski ("Chinatown"), Milos Forman ("One Flew Over ..."), Sean Penn ("The Pledge") and Elia Kazan ("The Last Tycoon").

It's hard to believe he's 71 years old. He's going to die one of these tragic days and this country won't know what to do with itself.

'Hoop Dreams'

A devastatingly honest documentary about the life of an inner-city, African-American male who has intentions of playing professional basketball. It balances between the social issues happening in Chicago mixed with the poverty and big business of high school and collegiate sports.

'Cause it's about the money. It's about exploitation. The entire journey from freshman in high school to a professional player is like trying to explain quantum physics to a toddler. Even for the adults. There's just so many equations that goes into "making it," but all kid sees is a game. A game they're pretty good at fueled by an insane need to not only leave the ghetto, but to also make millions of dollars. It's all a dream.

It's such a mixed-up situation that is so intrinsic to the American sports fabric that it's impossible to exorcise.

A mesmerizing piece.

'The Night of the Hunter'

This film is CREEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPY. There isn't a creepier cast of characters and yet at times it's so corny, cartoonish and almost whimsical that it's hard to remember who stinking dark it is.

Like all the animals that make appearances and the really outdated acting and action scenes -- often, the villian (played gloriously by Robert Mitchum) isn't much more than the ghost or gobllin in a Scooby Doo cartoon.

However, there's tons of dead-end storylines and characters. Like the lovable uncle, who turns out to be no help because he's a lush.

It deserves tons of criticism despite it being 50 years old (there are probably a hundred movies made before "The Night of the Hunter" that don't fell so dated), but it has some good suspense, some excellent performances and more than a few great shots.