I think I mentioned it above but I really liked the new Brendan Gleeson movie The Guard. Also not in a Best Picture sort of way, but it was entertaining.

Did not care for Another Earth.

Believe me, I'm really not interested in ANYTHING that's good in a Best Picture kind of way.


I'll have to give Winter's Bone another shot, when my life slows down a bit. Maybe in 2015 or so.

I enjoyed The King's Speech a great deal. I also read a book on the story by Lionel Logue's grandson. In the book, Bertie was not nearly as anguished about the whole prospect of improving himself. Had me wondering how much the filmmakers out and out invented and how much they assumed the grandson had whitewashed.

Actually, while I can't say the filmmakers didn't invent things for dramatic purpose, one of the bizarre tales of the movie is that 6 weeks into pre-production, they interviewed the grandson - who produced Logue's personal diary for them - which had never been used for any other source about the story. This was, as you might imagine, a treasure trove for the filmmakers.

On the commentary, the director says the diary was followed pretty closely - so I'm going to assume the movie - with allowances for dramatic license - follows Logue's point-of-view of the proceedings fairly well.

If the movie version of The Help is anywhere near as good as the book, it'll be worth seeing. I think the material will translate very well to the screen.

Rose and I just watched "Trick R Treat" last night - we both loved it, and I especially enjoyed that Rose screamed before the opening titles even started.

Why? Did you sit on her popcorn ?

30 Minutes or Less was awful.

I have issues with the movie existing. Taking a very real tragic event that happened to one specific person and making a comedy out of it raises flags. Not a comedy that exposes the awfulness of it in some way, just a straight up farce comedy.

So I was curious how I'd feel watching it.

But I'm pretty sure it just plain sucked so I don't get to explore the interior monologue of being amused by something I find kind of repugnant.

So having never heard of 30 Minutes or Less beyond seeing a billboard for it somewhere, um, what real tragic event is it repugnantly based on?

Brian Douglas Wells

The actors have said that they weren't aware of it. The writers have said that they were only minimally aware of it and their story is entirely made up by them. The producers (including Ben Stiller) say they were unaware of it.

Frankly, I don't buy it from the entire group (though am sure any one individual, other than the writers, might have been).

One reason why I say the the writer's had to know (something a spoiler here):