In Cold Blood

I listened to Truman Capote's account of these murders on a book on CD. He did a great job writing so many minute details of all the characters. It was a difficult task to bring this to the screen. The movie did a pretty good job, showing background stories with flashbacks, and developing the criminals' personalities through a variety of scenese.

It was a little hard for me to watch; I'm just not used to low-quality, B&W films anymore. Darn cutting edge technology.

Crime and Punishment

After failing to make it through War and Peace, I was a little hesitant to pick up Crime and Punishment. But I found it surprisingly readable. This film interpretation, made in 1935 was... interesting. It took Ras' (I'll abbreviate) arrogance to such an extreme. The plot was simplified, but the major points were there. The detective that pursued Ras was again pushed to an extreme of the book's characterization. Also, he found redemption even before heading to Siberia. In the book, it took years and years of Sonia's devotion until he finally let his heart be lifted.