We’ve seen many films over the past two months. Maybe it’s our way of dealing with the economic times. Up In the Air impressed me as not quite sure if it wanted to be a comedy or a complex film. So, it tried to be alot of both and achieved neither. Meryl Streep was as terrific, as usual, in Julie & Julia, as she was incredibly wasted in It’s Complicated. After all, she can save a film such as The Devil Wears Prada. Avatar was spellbinding for what it suggests how films and videos may be presented (I think of the educational possibilities). Robert Downey was good, the latest Sherlock Holmes film not so good. We’re enjoying the Netflix rentals with Jeremy Brett. Up is not the best of the Pixar repertoire and the five minute pictorial of Elle’s life is among the more poignant and graceful that I’ve ever viewed on screen. The Road is not as sharp as the novel and such would be asking alot. The Book of Eli is entertaining and recommended as a double feature with Mad Max. My favorites of the season are Hurt Locker (is this really a movie as it seems to be filmed in action); Crazy Heart as I’ve always been partial to Jeff Bridges; and The Messenger. How is Ben Foster not an award nominee?!

Taken as a whole, these films seem to say that devotion & love is the path of righteousness; that this path is littered with disappointment before final failure.