The 39 Steps. 8.1. Stanford. With Jane. Took Jane to see this Hitchcock classic. One of Hitchcock's two pre-1940s, pre-US period masterworks, the other being The Lady Vanishes. There were some weirdos at the Stanford this night, including some neo-hippy girl who said, "excuse me, excuse me" and tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and she was like, "you dropped your cigarette." I was like, "yeah, I know." I hadn't dropped it, I had put it out on the sidewalk. She said, "aren't you going to pick it up? That's littering." I just stared at her and then it was our turn to move up to buy our tickets. I didn't look back at her again. Then Jane was like, "didn't you notice her tapping me on the shoulder?" I was like, "no." Jane said this girl had tried to bust her first, but Jane just ignored her. Nice work, Jane!

Anyway, I make it a point not to litter. I don't throw trash out of the car window, I put it in the side compartment in the door. I pick up Mr. C's craps with bags and then carry them to the trash can. If I'm walking down the street and am opening some candy and there is no trash can, I put the wrapper in my pocket. I throw cigarette butts in the street or put them out on the side walk. I don't put them in the trash can -- you're not supposed to as it can start a fire. I don't put out a cigarette butt on the ground and then pick it up and hold it or put it in my pocket until I can find a trashcan. Similarly, if I was shot on the city streets, I wouldn't try to scoop up my blood and dispose of it properly. Bitch.

So, I don't know, but this girl must be a nightmare. When she was berating me, her boyfriend looked embarrassed. It would suck to have to work with this person or be this person's kids -- or worse, work for this person.

Le Divorce. 8.11.3. Landmark. PG13. 7pm, bought at 6:46pm. $9.75. I think I saw this at the Embarcadero with Jane. I had read the book. Both are light entertainments. Sort of like Bridget Jones' Diary, except that the BJD movie/book are better. Again Naomi Watts is great, but not much to do.

Tagline: Everything sounds sexier in French. Tagline for the tagline: Everything including the tagline sounds sexier in French. French vs. American social customs and behaviors are observed in a story about an American visiting her Frenchman-wed sister in Paris...

Kate Hudson is Isabel Walker, and Naomi Watts is Roxy de Persand (nee Walker)! Two footloose and fancy-free sisters in Paris! Well not quite. Roxy's rat French husband abandons her, their very young daughter, plus Roxy is like 8 months preggers.

So younger sister Isabel visits Rox in Paris. Good times abound. Not really. There's some family feuding mainly over an old family painting now turning out to be worth millions, an ill-fitting suicide attempt (also in the book), etc.

Thomas Lennon from MTV's The State plays Roxy and Isabel's brother, Law & Order's Sam Waterston, good as always, but little to do as the girls' father, Stockard Channing is their mother. Leslie Caron is Roxy's mother-in-law. Glenn Close an eccentric ex-patriot writer. Stephen Fry does a bit as an appraiser, Thierry Lhermitte is Isabel's older, French right-wing politician's boyfriend (his age is brought down from 70 or so to about 50), Matthew Modine runs around like a lunatic with a gun, because Roxy's husband is now having an affair with his wife. Bebe Neuwirth is another appraiser and Jean-Marc Barr is Roxy's helpful lawyer.

Directed by James Ivory. Screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala & James Ivory, based on the novel by Diane Johnson. Produced by Ismail Merchant and Michael Schiffer. Original Music by Richard Robbins. Non-Original Music by Georges Auric (from "La Belle et la BÍte"), Carla Bruni (song "Quelqu'un m'a dit"), Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Serge Gainsbourg (song "En Relisant ta lettre," and end title song "L'anamour" -- nice and sung by Jane Birkin), Pascaline Herveet (song "Pamela Peacemaker"), Paul Misraki (song "Qu'est-ce qu'on attend pour Ítre heureux!"). Cinematography by Pierre Lhomme. Merchant-Ivory Productions. 20th Century Fox. HermesÝis thanked for the use of their Kelly Bag. MPAA: Rated PG-13 for mature thematic elements and sexual content. Runtime: USA:117 min.

SWAT. 8.12.3. UA Coronet. 1pm. Tuesday. Matinee $7. Ticket purchased at 1:01pm. Decent summer action.

Tagline: Even cops dial 911. An imprisoned drug kingpin offers a huge cash reward to anyone that can break him out of police custody and only the LAPD's Special Weapons and Tactics team can prevent it.

Samuel L. Jackson is "Hondo!" Colin Farrell is loose cannon Jim Street! Michelle Rodriguez is tough female cop Chris Sanchez, LL Cool J is billed as James Todd Smith! Josh Charles is loose cannon T.J. McCabe, Jeremy Renner is loose cannon "Gamble," Brian Van Holt is loose cannon "Boxer," France's Olivier Martinez is evil criminal Alex Montel.

This film is directed by Clark Johnson, who starred on Homicide: Life on the Streets. Homicide pal Reed Diamondhas a small part, Dana Andrews' brother -- and star of the original SWAT TV show, Steve Forrest has a cameo as a "SWAT Truck Driver," and Clark Johnson himself has a cameo, comically billed as "Deke's Handsome Partner." Nothing special, but entertaining.

Story by Ron Mita & Jim McClain, Screenplay by David Ayer & David McKenna. Characters created by Robert Hamner. Original Music by Elliot Goldenthal. Cinematography by Gabriel Beristain. Columbia Pictures. MPAA: Rated PG-13 for violence, language and sexual references.

Buffalo Soldiers. Presidio. Jennifer. 8.18.3. 2:27pm 2:30pm show. $6.25. This movie is okay. Held up for years, due to it seeming possibly anti-US military, and being "post 9-11" and all that.

Tagline: Steal all that you can steal. A story so outrageous you couldn't make it up... Right, or, could they? Dot dot dot... Anyway, a criminal subculture operates among U.S. soldiers stationed in West Germany just before the fall of the Berlin wall. Sort of. Joaquin Phoenix fools his nice but moronic boss Ed Harris into signing for things, then Phoenix sells them on the black market for a profit.

Enter the violent, dangerous, insane military man Scott Glenn who lowers the boom on Phoenix and Co. Enter Anna Paquin. Enter Phoenix's penis. Enter the fact that Paquin's father is Scott Glenn. Enter somebody's gonna die, somebody's gonna fired and somebody's going to Hawaii to serve under Midnight Run's Jimmie Ray Weeks. The film also stars Elizabeth McGovern, Michael Pena, Leon (Robinson), Gabriel Mann, and there's a nice small performance by the great Dean Stockwell. Directed by Gregor Jordan.

Buffalo Soldiers has great music by David Holmes -- which has not been released as an album, and should be! MPAA: Rated R for violence, drug content, strong language and some sexuality. Runtime: 98 min. Largely shot in Germany.

The Adventures of Robin Hood. 8.25.3. Castro. Glorious Technicolor Restoration! 7:00pm. I took Jane to see this, because she'd never seen it, and it's classic. She didn't hate it, but she didn't love it. From the Castro:

The Adventures of Robin Hood is pretty definitive. It is the definitive Robin Hood movie starring the definitive Robin HoodóErrol Flynn, with the definitive Maid MarianóOlivia de Havilland, the definitive villainóBasil Rathbone, and the absolutely definitive swordfight. This three-strip Technicolor restoration with new digital sound will put the swash in your buckle! As the original tag line put it, "Only the Rainbow Can Duplicate Its Brilliance!"

Starring Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains, Patric Knowles, Alan Hale, Eugene Pallette, Ian Hunter, and Una O'Conner. Written by Norman Reilly Raine and Seton I. Miller. Cinematography by Sol Polito and Tony Gaudio. Edited by Ralph Dawson. Oscar-winning score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Filmed on location in Chico, California. Directed by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley. (1938) 102m.

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