Tonight I saw the remake of the Manchurian Candidate and thought it was absolutely utterly brilliant. Three things deserve special mention. Firstly the way the script constantly chose the realist twist over the sentimental option, which does a great deal to make the film pleasant to watch because you're not having to abruptly tune out schmaltz every now and then. Secondly, the potency of the psychological elements - the hallucinations, the disorientation, the way the film manages to turn daily minutiae into nightmare with little subtle touches of weirdness, and most of all the incredible notebooks kept by one of the disturbed soldiers in the film that were far more effective as visual art than anything I've ever done. And thirdly the inescapable verity of everything in the film, despite the basically fantastic plot: the notebooks, the psychological experience of the narrative, the surgeon's manner, Meryl Streep's character, the gulf war scenes, etc. Anyway, I thought it was magnificent. You should watch it.