Since moving to Salt Lake City, we've been going out to movies much more than ever before. It's impossible not to, with two theaters run by the <a href="http://www.towertheatre.com" target="_blank">Salt Lake Film Society</a> showing movies that, for the past two years, we'd never have been able to see until we could get them from Netflix. This weekend was an exercise in filmic excess. I don't think I've ever been to three movies in three days before, even back in Atlanta when my friend Jan and I had a bad weekday matinee habit.

First up was <em><a href="http://www.newyorkdollmovie.com" target="_blank">New York Doll</a></em>, a documentary about former New York Dolls bassist, Arthur "Killer" Kane. The household's <a href="http://www.jamesscarbrough.com" target="_blank">rabid New York Dolls fan</a> wanted more vintage Dolls and less Arthur "Killer" Kane, Latter-Day "schlep on the bus." Not being a huge Dolls fan, I didn't take issue with the director's decision to focus on Arthur. His lifetime of disappointment culminating in a dream come true is far more compelling, in human terms, than the 70s glam decadence of the Dolls in their heyday.

Saturday's selection, <em><a href="http://www.tonytakitani.com" target="_blank">Tony Takitani</a></em>, is a mood piece adapted from <a href="http://www.harukimurakami.com" target="_blank">Haruki Murakami's</a> short story. Again, I think J. was disappointed&mdash;he loves Murakami, but this movie bored him, and he found the music depressing. Not having read the short story on which it's based, I can't say anything about the movie as adaptation, but I did think it accurately evoked some of Murakami's main themes: isolation, loneliness, obsession. The score, by <a href="http://www.ryuichi-sakamoto.com" target="_blank">Ryuichi Sakamoto</a>, is spare and narcotic&mdash;nod-inducing at times, but fitting accompaniment to the (non)story.

Of the weekend's more mainstream selection, <em><a href="http://www.goodnightandgoodluck.com" target="_blank">Good Night and Good Luck</a></em>, I have only this to say: Journalists, television or otherwise, who see this movie&mdash;and who see others seeing this movie&mdash;should be ashamed of themselves. Not that they shouldn't be ashamed of themselves anyway, but the movie is a powerful <em>j'accuse</em> to the industry.