The Calm Before The Storm

So it's April.. and that means it's less than a month until summer movie season. In May alone we have "Wolverine," "Star Trek," "Angels and Demons," "Terminator: Salvation," "Night at the Museum 2," "Up," and "Drag Me To Hell." I'm saving up the money now. And I'm sure some of those movies may end up being awful.. but at least they are movies I want to see.. There's been so little worth going to the theaters for... that it's a bit depressing. Only a few more weeks to go.

On the positive side some really good DVDs have been coming out. I finally got around to seeing both "Slumdog Millionaire" and "Doubt." Both really good and both worth a rental.

As most of you probably know "Slumdog Millionaire" was this years best picture winner at the Oscars. Now I haven't seen all of the films that were nominated so I can't say whether it deserved the win.. but it's definitely worth watching.. The movie follows the story of a kid who grew up in the slums of India.. and gets to be on their version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire".. but he's not there to win the money.. He's there to find someone. I don't want to give more away than that. It's a very uplifting and enjoyable movie.. It's not as good as I thought it would be. I think my expectations were too high because of all the praise it received. But I certainly enjoyed it and am glad an uplifting positive story can win an Oscar. B+


"Doubt" is an adaptation of an award winning stage play. The writer of the play wrote and directed the movie. I wasn't sure if I'd like this one because of the subject matter... basically a nun suspects a priest of having inappropriate relations with a male student at the school. But everything is discussed in a very puritan way. I didn't find myself uncomfortable or grossed out by the conversations in the movie. I was really impressed with this one... I find myself still thinking about it days later. I don't want to give anything away but I will say the performances are superb.. You put Meryl Streep, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and the beautiful Amy Adams in a room and you can expect some high quality drama. I listened to a "Creative Screenwriting Podcast" that interviewed the writer.. He gave some good insight into where he was coming from when he wrote the story. He was really fascinated with the concept of "doubt" and now I am too. Excellent movie. A

PS. Interesting side note: apparently the author also wrote and directed "Joe vs the Volcano." Odd.