Want to know what the rest of the Row Three contributors were up to while Kurt, John & Mike were gobbled by TIFF? Here is our regular bi-weekly (or as the cool kids say, fortnightly) sampling of films that have been going into the DVD player, or inhaled at the local moviehouse by us, yet never warranted a full post or article. The full list of these capsules (since the inception of Row Three) can be found by clicking the tiny “Movies We Watched” icon in the sidebar.

The Wind (1928) 4.5/5
Lillian Gish’s final silent film, and man oh man is it a good one. Gish plays a shy Virginia girl who moves west to a land where the wind is always blowing. Gish had already made a career out of playing the innocent victim in countless films with D.W. Griffith, and she’s as strong here as she was in Birth of a Nation or Broken Blossoms. Also noteworthy as the film that caused Swedish director Victor Sjostrom to abandon his Hollywood career and move back to his homeland (Exhibitors petitioned MGM to change the downbeat ending of The Wind so that it would be a happy one. Against everyone’s better judgment, MGM agreed, and a disgusted Sjostrom packed his bags). -DAVE

Stand by Me (1986) 4.5/5
This one’s always been a favorite of mine. All of the kids are good, but River Phoenix and Kiefer Sutherland steal the show. A reminder of a time when Rob Reiner was considered one of Hollywood’s best directors. -DAVE

Bad Boys (1983) 3.5/5
I remember this movie pretty much scaring the bejeezus out of me when I snuck downstairs when I was about 8 years old and saw this movie on cable. Much like the Shawshank Redemption had quite an impact on me as an a young man, this film did to me when I was a kid. Never would I end up in a place like that. Watching it now it didn’t have quite the same resonance and it certainly doesn’t seem very believable or politically correct. Of course a nice performance from Penn and funny enough the yard bull is one Clancy Brown (the hard-ass guard from Shawshank). -ANDREW

Five Deadly Venoms (1978) 4/5
Entertaining Kung-Fu film about five men who were all trained in the same martial art, yet who have never met each other (while training, they all wore masks). When they learn that a former master of theirs has become incredibly wealthy, it brings out the best, and worst, in each of them. Like most films of this ilk, Five Deadly Venoms is at its best when the fights break out. -DAVE

Burn After Reading (2008) 4/5
A fun little spy flick where all the actual spying amounts to a couple of domestic problems. Not the best of the Coen’s but but still better than most movies out there. Each of the characters is spot on. This is one that I’ll be watching multiple times as it is much more nuanced than a lot of people are giving it credit for. -JOHN