Heya Gang.

I'm not going to kid you, today we have a theme, one you're going to pick up almost immediately. Not much else to say, life is what it is, people say what they will, you do what you can, and we're going to die sometime. That pretty much sums it up, no? Okay, let's kick out the jams ...

Nuit et Brouillard (Night and Fog) - imdb - d. Alain Resnais - Night and Fog is a 1955 French documentary that takes you back to the Nazi concentration camps ten years after the liberation. This is a haunting film, one that documents a lot of aspects of Holocaust life you don't see in other films. They get in depth about the different kinds of living areas, towers, and offices ... all while showing you then and now (well, 1955) comparisons. I won't kid you, there are hundreds of documentaries about Nazi Germany and these concentration camps, yet Night and Fog single handedly wrote the book on this genre, and is short enough (just over 31 minutes) to where you won't lose interest. There are some truly amazing moments, including a look at the various collections the Nazi's kept (which included everything from eye glasses to women's hair), as well as a number of stomache churning scenes, which depict some of the most brutal pictures I have ever seen. It's hard to not be effected by the images that are shown, and really, the movie is a masterpiece if nothing more than it gets its point across. This may be 50 years old, but Night and Fog can still make you sick and angry like no other movie out there. It's not something you will want to watch on a regular basis, but it is something people should watch, if for nothing more than education. A

Shadows and Fog - imdb - d. Woody Allen - I love Woody Allen, I've established that earlier my journal entries. But there's something unsettling about Shadows and Fog, a movie I really should like, but I just can't seem to. This is loosely based on a script Woody Allen published in his book "Without Feathers" called Death. It's a funny script, involving a man who really wants to go to bed, but gets suckered into hunting for a man who may or may not be killing people in the neighborhood. As the night goes on Woody Allen, Kleinman in this case, is forced to face his fears, and solve a few mysteries. This is basically what the movie is about too, but it adds a lot of characters and tries to flesh everything out. John Malkovich is one of the new characters, and there are cameos from Madonna, Lily Tomlin, and others. These elements work fine, but the simple plot is just unable to sustain this movie for the needed 90 minutes. It's a great idea, and it would have worked perfectly in a half hour short, but Shadows and Fog just isn't one of Woody Allen's better movies. C+

I bet you expect me to review John Carpenter's the Fog now, don't you? Well, you're just going to have to wait on that one, because I'm closing the book on fog movies for now. I still intend to do my Hallowe'en party, and I'm sure I'll talk about those movies when it happens. Until then, you'll have to live with yourself!

Trisetta Lilly Barnes