What books and movies have you experienced lately?

Always interested in knowing what others have enjoyed.

Here are mine.

Books

• The Time Keeperby Mitch Albom—great perspective inducing parable in classic Albom style
• Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power-a much deeper appreciation of the man…and what made him special. Any politician (and that’s all of us) will appreciate his savvy.
• Without Reservations: How a Family Root Beer Stand Grew Into a Global Hotel Company--nothing earth shattering here, but a great “back to basics” book from a guy who knows a thing or two about building a business (Bill Marriott)
• The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling - A friend of mine sold me on this hard. He claimed it changed his life. I really wanted it to change mine…but it fell flat for me.
• What Keeps Leaders Up at Night: Recognizing and Resolving Your Most Troubling Management Issues-the NFO got this for me out of the library and though I didn’t finish it, it did give me some great ideas. Managing the careers of other people is a big responsibility…and I have a lot to learn. A lot.

  Movies

• About Time-it was a late night flight back from Denver, but this one had me choked up. I need a lot of reminders about what is truly important in life. It’s an area of weakness, I am afraid.
• Flight- I’m a big Denzel fan and I found his character to be riveting. A strong movie about what it takes to look hard at ourselves…and what can happen when we don’t.

Working through…

• Thinking, Fast and Slowby Daniel Kahneman. Deep stuff. Makes you think fast, but reading is slow because there’s so much involved.

Stanley Kubrick in LA

I graduated college in 3.5 years, but decided that I would spend the last semester doing a number of things that I wouldn’t otherwise have done.

If a friend told me that s/he had an interesting class, I would sit in on it.

If there was a guest lecturer somewhere, I would go. A concert, I was in.

One of the best classes that my friend and roommate, Eric Kesselman suggested was “Films of Stanley Kubrick.”

So, it was with great excitement when I headed out to LA recently and was looking for a way to fulfill my business travel policy of “do something interesting in the city, if only for 1 hour” when my colleague said, “there’s a Stanley Kubrick exhibit at the LA County Modern Art museum.”

So, that’s what we did.

Kubrick was intense, to say the least. So many iconic movies…2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, A Clockwork Orange.

I thought the exhibit did a great job of getting you into his head…the man was a control freak, perfectionist, and into his dark view of the world.

But that’s not even the point…I was just glad to get out there and open my mind a bit, taking advantage of what travel is meant to be.

Movie: 130 Million People at a Train Station…

Last Train Home (film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Well, not quite, but that’s kind of what it felt like as I watched the experience of two Chinese migrant workers in Last Train Home.

The film gives us a glimpse of life that is so foreign to us, but yet touches us every day. It’s the people who make all of the cheap “Made in China” things that make our lives what they are today.

We see the impact on a family where the parents leave their tiny village, putting the care of their 2 young children in the hands of the grandparents, and then move 2100 kilometers away to live in a 1 room dorm.

Then, the central part of the story is how everyone in China goes home for the New Year, but it’s not straightforward and can require waiting at the train station for…5 days.

Yep, 5 days.

And then, when they do get home to see the children they haven’t seen in a year, the conversation is “you're 5th in your class? You need to do better.”

Of course, that type of relentless focus doesn’t come without a cost and we see that as well, as the daughter rebels and the parents try to cope with it.

A huge chunk of the world doesn’t live like we do (but they do have mobile phones!) and this movie makes you realize and appreciate what you have, but also helps you understand (a bit) the global, human condition.

Fascinating.

Thanks to Dave Sloan for suggesting that I watch it.

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China-Please Vote for ME!

It’s either the beginning of the end of Chinese dictatorial rule…or it’s evidence that Democracy just isn’t worth it.

My friend, Dave Sloan, suggested that I watch a movie called “Please Vote for Me” about the election of a 3rd grade class monitor in Wuhan, China.

At the beginning of the movie, the kids have NO idea what Democracy is. Nor do they know what it means to Vote.

As the 3 candidates (8 years old) begin to square off, a few things jump out at you.

• It doesn’t take long for them to realize that character assassination and negative campaigning is a strong strategy
• The degree to which parents are involved…VERY involved
• Votes can be bought through “favors”

It’s kind of like watching what happens when Democracy is introduced “in the wild.”

That…and some insights into Chinese culture as well.

Money Changes Everything?

Image via Wikipedia

What happens when a quiet North Dakota town (pop. 1300) becomes the center of a 21st century oil boom?

That’s the story of Crude Independence about Stanley, ND.

It’s got everything in this 90 minute presentation. Neighbors who no longer see eye to eye. A bit of resentment, money going to your head, challenge of values.

Given the small size of the town, it’s a great microcosm of how newfound wealth can alter society.

The Horse Made Me Cry…

Ok, not so much the horse, but the movie about the horse, Secretariat.

I just love stories about people who take risks, never say die, and go BIG.

Sure, I have 3 kids and am 3-4 years behind the times on movies, but eventually I get there. This one, if you haven’t seen it, is worth it.

Michael Moore & Me: Capitalism

Cover of Capitalism: A Love Story

Sometimes it is important to deliberately expose yourself to those who have radically different opinions so that you challenge the orthodoxy of your own thinking.

This was why I watched Michael Moore’s movie, Capitalism: A Love Story

Like a strange relationship, I had three stages in this movie.

1. Rejection
2. Curiosity
3. Annoyance

But, it’s not how you think.

Rejection

As you might expect, for a long time, I’ve had pretty strong free-market views. As Moore started off his screed and railings against the evils of the Capitalist system, I found myself thinking how easy it was to dismiss him as a “Socialist” and or a “Limousine Liberal.”

Here’s a guy who is probably extraordinarily wealthy because of the very system he hates.

He kept talking about “the rich” and “they” as if there was a mysterious conspiracy.

Curiosity

As the movie went on, however, I started to think, “you know, he does have some pretty good points here. There are some really bad excesses of the system.”

And he began to document that, in fact, “the Rich” were doing things that well, maybe, are just not so democratic.

The final straw for me was his analysis of the TARP bailout, something that never sat well with me. My belief in capitalism was, “if you try something and it works, you should get the reward, but if you fail, it’s on you.”

When the banks failed, it wasn’t on them, their execs, or their shareholders, it was on the taxpayers. That bothered me a lot and Moore touched that nerve.

I left that section feeling a greater sense of awareness about some of the inequalities of the sytems.

Annoyance

As the movie wound down, the overwhelming feeling I had was one of Annoyance. Maybe sadness actually, because the impression I got across the board was that Americans, at least those in his film, didn’t have a sense of individual responsibility anymore.

The banks, the execs, etc. who asked for a bailout, certainly. But, also, Moore in his efforts to talk about how evil the capitalist system is documented people who were evicted from their homes after 20, 30, 40 years. Sad, of course, but he never tells us how or why these people got into those situations.

It’s easy to blame predatory lenders and slick marketing, etc., but when all is said and done, if you re-finance your home to “tap your home equity” and then you can’t make the payments, well…whose fault is that?

The other part that annoyed me is that he doesn’t really offer any solutions. Maybe that’s not his objective, but he says, “I don’t believe in Capitalism. I believe in Democracy.”  That’s great, but HOW do we get there?

What should we do?

Sure, Europe and Japan created these idyllic social welfare states to which he points as a success, but his timeframe is too narrow. They are falling apart now.

I’m open to a better way, but he doesn’t give me the answer.

The Power of Narrative

There’s no doubt he’s a great storyteller and he conveniently uses the facts he wants to support his thesis.

Frankly, I think he could have gotten the job done without all of the Bush-bashing (predictable) and the Obama as Messiah crap (also predictable).

The Future

I think he makes some good points. Some things do have to change in the way our country is run, but his nostalgic view of the past is overly romanticized and he doesn’t even touch on the how the whole country needs to reinvent itself in the face of globalization.

Still, I’m glad I watched the movie and would recommend it.

The Infidel…Funny Movie

It’s like the beginning of a bad joke…

“So, this Muslim guy wakes up one day and finds out that he is really Jewish. Oh, and meanwhile, his son wants to marry the stepdaughter of a radical Islamic cleric…”

I found myself laughing out loud at this one.

If you are looking for a serious review of Muslim/Jewish issues, this isn’t the movie for you.

Light comic relief? Then, worth checking out.

The Infidel.

Maybe Steroids should be legal?

Well, I mean Anabolic Steroids.

You know, the kind that Barry Bonds took?

The movie Bigger, Stronger, Faster is a fantastic exploration of the American mentality and makes you ask yourself that question.

Not only does it star personal favorites of mine like Ben Johnson (of 9.79 fame), Henry Waxman, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Hulk Hogan, but it’s a compelling story of regular people faced with choices.

And, in some ways, it’s a story about marketing. The marketing of steroids as inherently bad.

It’s one of those movies where, after you watch it, you walk away with some of your conventional assumptions destroyed, forced to confront a different reality.

True Grit (movie review)

Yes, I know that when it comes to movies, I am way behind, but hey, I have 3 kids and a business to run.

So, on a plane, I had the chance to see the Coen Bros/Spielberg remake of the classic movie, “True Grit.”

I saw the original maybe 18 years ago and didn’t remember too much. Didn’t really matter. This was a GREAT film with great acting and a compelling storyline.

Loved the tension and the screenwriting was just brilliant.

If you haven’t seen it, even if typically “Westerns” aren’t your thing, it’s worth it.

If you have seen it, why are you still reading?

Machuca and the “Chile of the Mind”

Image via Wikipedia

I learned a great piece of travel advice from my dad.

Whenever you visit a country (or any place really), the more you invest in immersing yourself in the culture and history of the place, the better off you will be in understanding what you see when you get there.

Now, my recent travels have made it a bit difficult for me to completely immerse myself, but on the flight to Argentina, I was faced with a choice.

Actually, a lot of choices…in terms of which movie or tv shows to watch.

There were plenty that were interesting, but I chose Machuca.

Why?

It was the story of 2 schoolboy friends from different socio-economic classes and what happened to them in the period of transition between the Socialist Allende government and the junta of General Pinochet.

I knew a *bit* about Pinochet, but not much and I’m far from an expert now, but spending 2 hours to get a feel for some of the scars that the country might have as a result of this time period would, I felt, help me better prepare for my presentation in Santiago later that week.

Apparently, the movie did well in Chile…not so well elsewhere, but I enjoyed it and if you are looking to understand some of the (still) existant class challenges that are part of life in Latin America, this is a good one to check out.

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Hachiko…

Cover of Richard Gere

I’m totally tearing up now since I just saw the movie, Hachiko with Richard Gere, Joan Allen, and Jason Alexander (yeah, kind of a Pretty Woman meets Bourne Trilogy remix, but I digress).
I’m far from a dog lover, but this movie really spoke to me.
When I lived in Japan, I was familiar with the famous “Hachiko” statue outside the Shibuya station.
The story was of a dog that waited every single day for his master to get off the train. This continued for 9 years even after the master, a professor, died in 1925.
It was about 90 minutes long and a beautiful story of loyalty and dedication.
Heart-warming.

The Blind Side (movie)

Cover of The Blind Side

Better late than never, the NFO and I watched the movie The Blind Side.

You may recalled that I LOVED the book and read 300 pages in 2 nights.

Well, I thought the movie did the book justice. We were captivated by the true story of the homeless black teen who gets taken in by a white Christian family in Memphis.

Ultimately, he goes on to get a Division I football scholarship and play  in the NFL.

Definitely worth our time.

Not surprising that Sandra Bullock when Best Actress for this. She deserved it.

Nothing novel here, of course. Just sharing.

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Harvard Defeats Yale 29-29

Great movie that is ostensibly about football, but contains a large number of life lessons.

Also, apparently the actor Tommy Lee Jones went to Harvard, roomed with Al Gore there, and played football, too.

Also touches on the ‘60s and American History.

Here’s the link on NetFlix.

The Other Boleyn Girl

Image via Wikipedia

If you believe the movie, Henry VIII basically split from the Church of Rome to found the Church of England based solely on the fact that he really wanted to have sex with Anne Boleyn.

A reading of the Wikipedia entry on Henry VIII (which watching the movie inspired me to do—how’s that for a recommendation?) suggests that it is a bit deeper, but that Anne certainly played a significant role in his decision.

You think about the course of history changed because of testosterone and this has to rank up there pretty highly.

I hadn’t read the book, but I thought this movie was EXCELLENT and the acting was superb.

I remembered some of the history from high school, but this story really brought it home and made me curious for more.

Worth the watch!

No toilet paper, no electricity- NO Impact Man is a winner.

No lights, no refrigerator, no Starbucks coffee…and more. What if you voluntarily chose to give all of that up for a year?

Well, that’s what No Impact Man: The Documentary is all about.

A writer, who lives in New York City, decided that he, his wife and their 2 year old daughter would try to live for 1 whole year and create NO environmental impact whatsoever.

No heat, no air conditioning, no carbon-based travel, no food from more than 150 miles away.

Intense indeed.

But, this wasn’t a movie about a fringe lunatic, it was about going to the extreme in order to recalibrate to a more sustainable, balanced middle.

And about appreciating the interconnectedness of the world’s eco-system.

I found it moving and inspiring…as well as being a significant wake-up call.

What’s more, it motivated me to buy this composter (which hopefully will work-even though I am a bit nervous about it) to at least give it a shot. I had been holding off, but the movie made me feel like I needed to act today.

Bottom line: this movie was an important step for me in my growing consciousness of the impact of the consumer society in which we live and, more importantly, motivated me to take a concrete step.

Up in the Air…

Cover of Up in the Air

My one ongoing beef with Netflix is that I can’t annotate my queue to remind me who suggested the movie.

So, thank you to those who suggested “Up in the Air.”

I dig the romantic/workplace/comedy genre and with a few plane trips under my belt this past year (though nowhere near the 10 million mile mark), there were some nice moments of familiarity.

More often than not, I find that movies have predictable endings…this one didn’t, which added to the reasons that I liked it.

The perspective that it gave on life was, for me, at least, very relevant.

Charlie Wilson’s War…

Image by dan taylor via Flickr

I’ll say this…my reaction to Charlie Wilson’s War was unexpected.

It strengthened my resolve to stay in Iraq and Afghanistan, lest the same outcome happen again.

I know. That’s not what I thought would happen.

The performances by the big three (Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman) were certainly of the level you would expect, but I really appreciated the insight into a unique piece of American history.

With the Cold War 20 years behind us, I feel like we have forgotten just how evil the Evil Empire was…and what it was like to live during those times.

I certainly hadn’t heard of Rep. Wilson prior to this movie (apparently he died w/in the past 2 months), but came to appreciate how one determined person CAN make a difference…and do it in his own unique way.

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500 Days of Summer

Image by wendyness via Flickr

Ever fallen in love and felt like you were floating?

Ever been dumped and felt like your world was crashing down around you?

Ever been in a situation that didn’t quite play out according to your much-visualized expectations?

If you think/have thought about these things, I think you’ll enjoy (500) Days of Summer.

Following the recommendation of my LA tour guide, Jeremy, who told me that it was one of the “quintessential movies of modern day LA,” I watched it and really enjoyed it.

Light and dark at the same time, it just felt very real.

Avatar and Global Eco-consciousness…

The NFO MADE me go watch Avatar the other night.

By myself.

She was convinced that I would really enjoy it. As usual, she was right.

Not just for the obvious special effect reasons, but its message played into a growing thought process for me.

Our global ecological responsibility.

A few weeks prior, I had watched James Cameron’s talk at TED which explained his childhood curiosity AND why he felt like needed to make Avatar.

 

Soon thereafter, I watched Dan Barber’s talk (“how I fell in love with a fish”) about sustainable fisheries.

As a lover of sushi, his words struck home. Humans are just too good at killing other animals. Our efficiency can lead to our own demise.

It has been on my mind ever since “An Inconvenient Truth” and more recently, “Blue Gold: Water Wars.”

In between, I saw a powerful documentary called “the Story of Stuff” which further drove home how our resources are finite, yet we treat them as though they are infinite.

Combine that with a book I’m reading (and will review shortly) called “Status Anxiety” which brings into question the psychological impact of our ability to create (and desire) all of this stuff) and you start to understand how this is affecting us physically and mentally.

To top it all off, Bill Gates, my former boss, and his talk about the need for “energy miracles.”

So, where I think all of these comes together is in the ultimate message of Avatar.

Networks.

The beauty of the globalized, Internet era is our ability to share/learn/listen with people anywhere in the world, but, as we learned in Spiderman, “with great power, comes great responsibility.”

Now, we can no longer act without the knowledge of the impact of our behavior on those same people on the other side of the planet. The technology, the ecology, the human networks.

All are interconnected.

It’s scary, but at the same time, I have no choice but to hope that we can work to address these problems.

As a father, this is part of my responsibility.

 

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Movie: Ripple Effect

Image by sea turtle via Flickr

Once again, I have NO idea who recommended this movie to me.

While the reviews I read on Netflix were overwhelmingly negative, I felt that it had some redeeming qualities.

It did start a bit slow (and I watched it in two installments), but I found the latter part of the movie to be a nice commentary on life and a moment to help you reflect on how, in an instance, things can change and that that has dramatic effects down the line.

• “Cry When It’s Over” http://bit.ly/bvNIfC
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Inglorious Basterds…

When I was younger, I didn’t really appreciate Quentin Tarantino all that much.

For whatever reason, I see the humor and appreciate the style and ironic twists of his film.

So, too, with my recent viewing of “Inglorious Basterds” which plays off the hilarious Seth Rogen line in “Knocked Up” (roughly paraphrased)

“I loved the movie Munich! In almost every movie, it is the Jews getting whacked. It’s about time we did the whacking!”

Well, the Jews do most of the whacking in this movie and it makes for some interesting “what if?” scenarios as well as some good ol’ not feeling like the victim always in Holocaust era films.

Irreverent? Absolutely.

Violent? You betcha.

If you have a stomach for these things, worth checking out. If not, skip it, you’ll just walk away offended.

Greatest Game Ever Played…

No, it is not the Giants-Colts NFL championship (which I thought the movie was about), it’s actually the 1913 US Open.

I love sports movies, but this is, as the great ones are, much more than that.

The usual…overcoming adversity, etc. but told in a great way. I was choked up at the end. And this is golf.

The Anti-Semitic Believer…

So an Orthodox Jewish kid becomes a neo-Nazi….

Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but it’s not.

It’s the premise of the The Believer, a seriously warped movie that made me think A LOT. I really enjoyed the extremes to which your sensibilities were pushed in this one.

By taking you out of your comfort zone, you are forced to look at things in a new light and this movie did that.

Tearjerker Movie…

The Notebook.

It’s a beautiful story. The NFO and I were a wreck by the end.

Watch it.

Don’t Mess With the Zohan

Cover via Amazon

It’s not always so popular to stereotype people, but if you’ve spent a lot of time in Israel or with Israelis (and can handle a little bit of raunch/off-color), then You Don't Mess with the Zohan is worth it.

Yes, I know it’s 2 or 3 years old or whatever, but what do you want, I have 3 kids?!!

Anyway, I found myself laughing out loud and crying (full disclosure: I think Adam Sandler is really funny) as he (and others in the film) hammed up the Israeli cultural foibles.

Very accurate.

A good, light laugh, even if the ending is rather naive.

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Quantum of Solace: A non-sequitur sequel

Cover of Quantum of Solace [Blu-ray]

Full disclosure: I am a huge James Bond fan.
2nd disclosure: I really wanted to LOVE Quantum of Solace.
3rd disclosure: I didn't.

I was really very excited when it came via Netflix that I started watching it that night (a rarity).

It didn't feel Bond-like to me and somewhere along the lines, I realized that the movie picked up where Casino Royale had left off.

Thing is, I saw Casino Royale back in Sept. 2007 and since I've had another child, started a company, and seen an African-American elected President, let's just say that a lot of water has passed under the bridge.

I barely remember what I did on Sunday so stringing together the pieces from 2 years ago was a non-starter.

This affected, seriously, my enjoyment of the movie since I kept trying to remember what it was I was supposed to remember in order to understand one of the key plots of the movie.

Now, I know there have been sequels forever, but many of them that continued (and were successful at it), were designed to do so...from the beginning. Star Wars, Godfather, etc.

Bond has never been like that (unless I am forgetting something) and could be watched as independent entities.

Maybe I'm being harsh here, but I felt let down.

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The Painted Veil…

Image by Kman999 via Flickr

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 1000 times, I just love how I put movies on my Netflix queue, forget about them, and then…they show up, I’m surprised..and enjoy the movie.

This time around, I saw “The Painted Veil,” starring Edward Norton (whose talents I am truly beginning to appreciate and admire). Based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham, the story takes place in early 20th century China and brings together big ideas (Chinese Nationalism, healthcare epidemiology) and smaller ones (the love found/lost/found again between a man and a woman).

The cinematography was fantastic and whereas some movies are predictable in their ending, I didn’t find this one to be the case.

The ultimate redemption and the path that takes the main characters there made for a fulfilling and invigorating film experience.

 

American Gangster…Great Movie with Great Business Lessons

If you haven’t seen it, add it to your queue.

A great movie, based on a true story about how Frank Lucas revolutionized the Heroin trade in NYC back in the 70s.

I was planning to watch this anyway, but moved it way up after reading John Moore’s blog posts on “Business Lessons from American Gangster.”

Denzel is just so good, IMHO, that it’s scary.

Movie: Atonement

For some reason, it seems like 'period' movies involving English estates take a long time to develop. It could just be the surroundings that the movie creates, but just an impression.

Once it got rolling, I really enjoyed the movie, the idea of how life takes completely unexpected twists and turns due to ridiculously small events (e.g. 'for wont of a nail...')

What's more, the question of how you can make up for past transgressions...or if you ever can kind of brought Yom Kippur to mind and the nature of offenses vs. Man as opposed to those vs. God.

The twist at the end was great as well.

Impressions of Iron Man (Movie)

Image via Wikipedia

As a story, it was pretty predictable.


Good guy, bad guy. Fight to the death, bad guy loses.

Good guy finds love in girl who was in front of him all the time. Got it.

Certainly the technology component was pretty cool and the effects were worth it.

When the movie came out, I heard/saw a lot of people saying “greatest movie of the year.”

Hype was high.

Expectations were high.

Result for me: walked away impressed and entertained, but saying “yeah, pretty good.”

Check it out on Netflix: Iron Man

Not sure what is eating Gilbert Grape…

Image via Wikipedia

Actually, that’s not so fair, because I could certainly venture a guess.

Maybe he thinks that life isn’t fair for the fact that his brother is “mentally retarded”?

Or that his mother is severely overweight?

Or he is stuck in a dead-end job?

Either way, he certainly has enough to keep his mind occupied.

What's Eating Gilbert Grape is really a solid movie with an all-star cast.

You know, it’s funny.

I finished watching this movie on the day after my TV broke (have another, older one) and perhaps because I (you/we) are predictably irrational, I was looking for reasons to justify the purchase of a new one. So, when I saw this movie, I said, “wow, this is really a bad situation and he’s making the most of life. It’s important to ‘stop and smell the roses,’”…which is of course why we need a new TV :-)

 

Ah, the human brain is a wonderful thing.

So, is this movie, which is about the brain (in a way).

 

P.S. When I see Johnny Depp, no matter what, I think 21 Jumpstreet. Is that bad?

 

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Memories of the Holocaust

Cover via AmazonOn the eve of a flight to Israel with war (basically) raging between Hamas and Israel, I finished watching the screen adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything Is Illuminated.

I highly recommend it.

The more things change (a state that exists to defend Jews), the more they stay the same (Jews killed and attacked simply for being Jews, see Sderot and Mumbai, for the most recent examples).

When I lived in Germany in 1995 studying the Holocaust, I remember thinking that my generation would be the last one to have face to face contact with actual survivors.

In watching this movie, I became a bit saddened. Actually, more than a bit...with memory fading daily and survivors dying, how can we possibly help our kids (and the world) understand what happened?

That an entire shtetl of Trachimbrod in Ukraine (1,042 people) was simply wiped off the map to the point where people there don't even know it ever existed?

And the only thing that remains is a small marker in the ground?

It's a massive burden for this transitional generation, though I suppose that is something that Foer recognizes and why his book (and Liev Schreiber's film direction) are poignant, helpful, and critical.

Movies on a Plane…Brief Observations

Image via Wikipedia

While flying to Israel, I managed to consume 6 different movies thanks to Delta’s great in-seat entertainment system. You can rewind, fast-forward, and pause (particularly helpful when flying with small children).

However, a movie on a plane isn’t the same as one at home on a DVD (at least, it FEELS different), so I can’t give a full review to each one. But, they do warrant 2 lines of commentary for posterity sake (me) and as a public service (heh) for you.

 

1. Tropic Thunder –if you like slapstick humor, this is a good one. The hype from others was, IMHO, greater than the reality. Still, some clever lines.
2. Pineapple Express- even more slapstick humor. Actually, really, really dumb, but if Seth Rogen does it for you (he does for me), there are some good belly laughs.
3. Lakeview Terrace- What’s not to love about Samuel L. Jackson playing a badass type? Well, a lot, if it is the 800th time that he’s done it. The movie was fine, but predictable.
4. The Dark Knight-ok, I get it. This one was FANTASTIC.  I thought that the Heath Ledger accolades were trumped up due to the suicide, but I was wrong. He was just incredible. Of course, I wonder how much psychology played into that for me. Would have been cool to see on a big screen (or at least a TV).
5. Mamma Mia!-if you like Abba (and who doesn’t?), then it’s worth it. If not, skip it. Hard to see Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan in a musical role (makes you understand how actors (see #3 above) get typecast for a reason. Light and airy, but not an all time great.
6. Hancock-certainly the most unusual of the bunch. Thought Will Smith did a solid job. The special effects (as with Dark Knight) were definitely memorable. Worth investigating.

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