Here I am again, to bring you news of further Davis improvements. There is now a plush red sofa and chair combo in the lobby of the Davis. On my prior Davis excursions, tickets were sold from a small counter just inside the door of the theater. Well, the counter is still there, but there is now a wooden (antique?) box office facade encasing it! The shows are still $2.50, but FOR HOW LONG?!

Tonight's Davis movie is Reindeer Games, directed by John Frankenheimer (Manchurian Candidate), who took some time off from directing made-for-television movies to make this.

From all this film's TV ads I saw earlier this year (or was it last year?), I was really expecting a piece of smelly garbage. I was pleasantly surprised, however. Even though there were a few lame moments here and there, Reindeer Games was a pretty suspenseful thriller. Ben Affleck plays a convict (a sweet squeaky-clean convict) who is forced to help rob a casino by a gang of gun-running truckers led by an improbably long-haired Gary Sinise.

Clarence Williams III (Link from the Mod Squad) has a nice role as one of the psycho gang members. I think this must be the third or fourth film Frankenheimer has used Williams to give audiences the willies. Well, if it works, it works.

I thought Affleck was kinda weak -- I didn't really believe his performance through any of the film, but what the hey. There was laughter, there were tears, there was Charlize Theron on the hood of a flaming car falling over a cliff. It wasn't half bad.

See you at the movies. Save me the unstained seat.