You Will Meet a Tall, Dark Stranger: What else could Woody be talking about?

Death, of course. To be fair, he is not always doing movies about death directly, but they are usually about the unstructured nature of life and the lack of control we have over life and death. Save 'Sweet and Lowdown' which was about regret (and his best film yet). Anyway, Stranger was interesting, but nothing new. The characters became slightly obnoxious about halfway through, and thats about the time you are thinking you get the point. new to his movies was the topic of fortune-telling/psychics. And how absolutely looney is but really what difference does it make if you base your actions on whether the planets are aligned correctly or your "gut" feeling or what your dog advises, or how much money you have in the bank. Either way, you don't know how any decision will turn out and you die in the end. Not a dark thought but a real one. I like that about Woody.

The Kids Are Alright: Is Alright

A little forced, in my opinion, contrived would be a better word. Specifically, the lesbian characters who are the stereotypical California lesbians to a tee. When they had their hands in their pant pockets, they seemed awkward so it was a mix of too much stereotype and actors with little experience playing that role. When I put my hands in my pockets, I look gumpy but natural because I do it a lot but when Bening did it, it looked like the director had to remind her every time. Moore was better, but I guess I like her acting moore any way;) I think that, this being a first of Hollywood's Lets-get-comfortable-with-gay family movies, it came off as trying way too hard to feel natural. What I did like about the story was that the children both emulated the parent who was not the parent that everyone compared them too. The son, who was less academic or "lost" was quick to judge their biological father, while the girl clearly wanted to be more open-minded and accepting of him. Though this was never discussed, I think this behavior was meant to show that children will pick up the behaviors of the parent who they admire more. The son felt criticized by his doctor mother and so he, in an innocent way, admired her. The daughter was growing out of this phase and was sick of the pressure put on her by this mother and so she admired Moore more. Parents have a lot of influence on their children's mentality and behavior.

Cassandra's Dream: Not My Dream Movie

Well, well. All the signs point to good movie: good actors, good director, cute accents. Bad assumption. I won't say it was horrible; it was too dark for me so that makes me bias against it. But I also felt that the acting or the accents, maybe both were just too much. It was annoying. The plot, which is just ridiculous and not realistic, was more like a Clint Eastwood! (See previous posting;) Its like they traded sets!!! In general, not that interesting and definitely creepy.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil:The Line of Truth

This movie was not like other Clint Eastwood movies, in my opinion. It was slightly more realistic of a story line, or less idealistic, than say Invictus. That was a good thing. It reminded me of a morally-based story line like Woody Allen's dark films, Cassandras Dream and Match Point. Both of those are too dark for my liking but Eastwood's film lightened the emotion enough to be easy to watch.

Another point about the film that I appreciated was the message of the story. The idea that truth is a personal choice. What you believe to be true is up to each individual. With the cross-dressing character Cheblez juxtaposed with Spacey's seemingly honest character, the movie prompted the viewer to consider what makes something to be true in their mind. I thought this was a unique and interesting concept to bring to film.

Chrysler Ad: Imported From Detroit

I know its not a movie, but I had to say something about how smart this commercial is. Of course, I am partial to it, being that it encourages financial investment in a Michigan made product. But it is the cleverness of the ad that really got me. Imported from...Detroit. Now more people will be thinking about where their car is made, even more than before. And because Eminiem is in cohorts with Chrysler, this feeling, usually found amongst the older folk, will spread to the younger and middle aged crowd- the people who are actually buying cars! Its only slightly cheesy but it verbally recognizes the poverty and crime that most people know about the city but only shows the sophistication that Detroit is capable of. I already knew this city was on the rebound because of the fast growing urban agriculture movement, but this will only help. Great stuff.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: I get it already

Its not that these were bad movies, because they were reasonably entertaining besides having ridiculously long battle scenes. But the simple story of good versus evil was just not enough and I'm guessing the book is about something deeper as well. I did think an interesting aspect of the story was how the powerful characters that were good, like Gandolf and the Lady of the Woods, could have been more powerful but they both contained any desire to become so and this kept any evil beginnings in check. They used their strongest powers only when necessary. The evil characters abused their powers, making them evil. It was neat to see that even the best people were enticed at least slightly by gaining more power, Frodo, Sam, and any one who encountered the ring. Power is like ice cream, once you start, its hard to stop but if you can stop at just enough, its wonderful. Too much and you'll get sick.

Gone Baby Gone: Ben Affleck did this?

Not what I thought it would be. An interesting look at the social rules determining what is good and what is bad and the unequal distribution of power that affords some people the opportunity to do bad things they think are good. The acting was better than average, directing also.

I would say that all the characters were well chosen to depict an average poor neighborhood in Boston, except for the girlfriend detective who was oddly immaculate looking compared to the others. Maybe they wanted some 'beauty' in the film.

To me, the most beautiful part was the very end when the young detective volunteers to babysit the recently returned little girl while her mother continues in her self-centered lifestyle. The best this guy, or anyone, can do to change what they think is wrong is to reflect what they think is right in their own actions. he decided not to take a self-righteous position of deciding what was best for the little girl, but instead thought that if no one was spending time with her, then he would. I like the message. good job ben affleck.