Title: 2001: A Space Odyssey Director: Stanley Kubrick Year: 1958 MPAA Rating: G The eye, an eerie red dot, of HAL 9000, the smartest and most reliable foolproof computer ever created, looks out across the pod bay of Discovery One. Through the silence, Dave Bowman’s voice bursts through sharply: “Open […]

Bernstein, after flipping through a couple notes on his desk, dials the White House Library and is greeted by an elderly lady on the other side.

“Hi. Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post. I was just wondering if you remember the names of any of the books that Howard Hunt checked out on Senator Kennedy.”

“I think I do remember,” the librarian replies affirmatively, and Bernstein grows a little hopeful. “He took out a whole bunch of material. Let me just go see.”

After a few minutes pass, Bernstein hears the click of the phone being picked up again on the other side, and he prepares his pen.

“What I said before? I was wrong. The truth is, I don’t have a card that Mr. Hunt took out any Kennedy material. I don’t remember—I do remember getting that material out for somebody, but it wasn’t Mr. Hunt.”

Bernstein stares at his partner, Bob Woodward, and they note the familiar sound of fear in their source’s voice. “Right,” Bernstein replies doubtfully.

There’s a frightful silence before she adds, “The truth is, I’ve never had any requests at all from Mr. Hunt.” Another silence, then she concludes, “The truth is, I don’t know Mr. Hunt.”

Blinking with realization, Bernstein decides to salvage what little he can from the source. “Uh, I was just wondering if you have any books—” Click and the call is dead. “Hello?”

Title: Casablanca Year: 1942 Director: Michael Curtiz MPAA Rating: PG for mild violence   Although the night is clear and quiet, it still wears a cloak of melancholy. Casablanca, Morocco is asleep. Rick sits alone at his own bar, serving up a drink for himself. As he downs another glass […]

Title: Monty Python and the Holy Grail Year: 1975 Directors: Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones MPAA Rating: PG   SCENE 3.—ARTHUR AND THE ANARCHO-SYNDICALIST SERFS* [The scene is an idyllic English countryside, grubby peasants scraping a meager living out the harsh rocky soil with their bare hands. A few serfs here […]