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• Some in Lodi feel a card room doesn't suit area

• Despite technology, many fugitives hard to net

• Gulls have some students ruffled at Lodi area schools, but the birds may actually be beneficial

• Regional Roundup

November 21st, 2009

• Logbook

• Holiday drive spreads cheer to U.S. troops

• Galt High students want board to approve open-campus policy

• Poisoning victims remain hospitalized

• Expert: Half a mushroom cap can be deadly

• Tokay grad files claim over Lodi's Grape Bowl

• Lodi Middle School holds annual Turkey Trot

• Regional Roundup

• No motive or suspect in shooting

• Sacramento cop arrested for alleged kidnapping

November 20th, 2009

• Acampo woman killed

• Salvation Army Kettle Kickoff

• Advocacy groups sue East Bay Municipal Utility District over Pardee expansion

• Regional Roundup

• Galt plans to help residents with energy-efficient projects

• Stable southeast of Lodi approved

• One year after a heart attack, Lodi's Judy Mims thanks rescuers

• National Guard troops return home in time for the holidays

• Real estate market gets on more solid ground

November 19th, 2009

• Operation: Christmas

• Logbook

• Suspect arrested after hiding in fridge

• Chase ends in crash

• Galt Joint Union High School Distric hires new superintendent

• Sales tax hike yields dividends: 5 new officers join Galt Police

• Lodi Unified School District board votes to cancel summer school for 2010

• Water surges in Mokelumne River yield more salmon

• Lodi City Council will consider redevelopment next June

• Lodi City Council plans to cap number of taco trucks at 22

• Corrections

November 18th, 2009

• Regional Roundup

• Paranormal group conducts second investigation of building

• Congress allocates money for local water projects

• Sarah Palin's book hits the shelves: Locals react

• Lodi man finds wife's ashes during police display of stolen property

• Galt City Council rejects study on rent stabilization

November 17th, 2009

• Paying tribute to a Lodian

• Lodi Budget and Finance Committee to look into ways to save money on employee benefits

• Regional Roundup

• Decision on summer school expected at tonight's Lodi Unified School District meeting

• Clements gets free water rescue boat

• Redevelopment to be discussed by Lodi City Council again

• Court reinstates death penalty for killer of Lodi grad

• Clarification

November 16th, 2009

• Correction

• Public Meetings

• City Council 'triple-dog dared' to ditch cars, use Lodi buses

• Sierra Adventure store to close after four years in Downtown Lodi

• Lodi's First Sip event showcases area wineries' latest vintages

• Three members of Lodi-area family fall ill after eating poisonous mushrooms they reportedly found at Lodi Lake

• Regional Roundup

November 14th, 2009

• Galt school district narrows superintendent search to one

• Regional Roundup

• Despite budget cuts, some Lodi Unified School District salaries continue to rise

• Watchful neighbor in Lodi helped bust suspected burglars

• New Galt city manager juggles job, family

• Despite an increase in homeless students, school districts look to bolster enrollment, raise revenue

• A first look at 2009 vintages at Lodi's First Sip wine-tasting event

The following stories have received the most reader comments during the last 7 days.

• The country's mess is our fault (168)
• Obama is not a moderate (130)
• Sarah Palin's book hits the shelves: Locals react (73)
• Lodi City Council plans to cap number of taco trucks at 22 (50)
• Public health care is a Christian option (33)
• The haves should help the have-nots (30)
• Tokay in, traveling to unbeaten No. 3 Grant for football playoffs (25)
• Government-run health care is a bad idea (20)
• Young woman fatally shot at Acampo home (17)
• Sierra Adventure store to close after four years in Downtown Lodi (16)

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'The Conversation' a film definitely worth talking about (****)

The career of Francis Ford Coppola is a long and strange one. Here is a man whose early works speak to a level of filmmaking genius unrivaled by any of the other great artists to emerge in the 1970s, and in a single decade — with the first two "Godfather" movies and "Apocalypse Now" — he oversaw three of the finest works the cinema has ever seen, or ever will see.

But something terrible must have happened during the filming of the latter, because ever since that hellish shoot in the jungles of the Philippines, he hasn't been the same. Now, instead of turning out one masterpiece after another, he sporadically releases disjointed fluff pieces that are not worth the efforts of a fresh-faced film school grad, let alone a former maverick.

Exactly what happened to alter Coppola's artistic sensibilities is anyone's guess. All we can do is appreciate what he left behind. Included in that early canon is "The Conversation," which is not usually grouped with the director's top-tier works, but is nonetheless a striking example of why Coppola used to be regarded as a master craftsman.

The film lacks the narrative complexity of some of the filmmaker's other films, but as an atmospheric treatise on the nature of obsession, "The Conversation" succeeds by establishing a mood and running with it — making no apologies for its dense themes and sometimes vague plot developments.

On the surface, the movie seems simple enough: We open in a park, where a young couple is engaging in a private conversation. Their privacy is invaded by Harry Caul (Gene Hackman), a surveillance "expert" who has been hired to spy on the couple and record their interactions. By piecing together fragments of their conversation, Harry discerns that these two people are involved in an affair, and they have reason to believe their relationship could end up getting them both killed. Harry is concerned for their safety and wracked by guilt over his role in this dangerous situation, but is dragged further into things after his carelessness results in the theft of the sensitive recordings.

But is everything as it seems? Of course not, and this elusiveness — coupled with the movie's refusal to offer any clear-cut answers — is what makes "The Conversation" stand out as one of the best low-key thrillers of its time.

At the heart of it all is Hackman's performance as our vulnerable anti-hero. As he becomes more and more obsessed with the recordings and the solution to their mysteries, the viewer is swept up right along with him. By the film's devastating conclusion and its lingering final shot, we're not sure we understand everything that has transpired, or if its even possible to put together the pieces of such an incomplete puzzle. But we've gained a complete understanding of Harry himself, and with such a character-based story, that information far more valuable.

"The Conversation" is rated PG for mature themes.