First, I saw The Last Station. Anyone know much about Tolstoy? I didn't recall much. The film is about the last year or so of his life when his devoted Tolstoyans were trying to get him to give his life's work 'to the people' instead of letting his heirs inherit. Helen Mirren was fabulous, and Christopher Plummer has succeeded in replacing my previously permanent mental image of him as Von Trapp.
Next was Crazy Heart. I was a bit dubious about this one for the same reasons I avoided The Wrestler last year. But this one won me over. The music was just great, and it seemed the picture it portrayed of an aging, alcoholic troubador was realistic.
This next one was the one I intended to see all along. Billed as a smart thriller (no on screen violence) and Hitchcock like, I was really looking forward to it. The last movie I was surprised by was No Way Out, which was out when I was in college. The ending to this one was equally surprising to me, but completely reasonable. The only thing I took exception to was the premise behind the thing, which I won't go into because you really should go see this.
The only problem is that this movie thing has become a lovely mid day escape. I'm going to have to look for some more to go see while I can. You know, it's surprising how many people are in a theater during a weekday afternoon, too. A colleague told me that we had an executive that would go to the movies, get a hotdog and sit in the movie for an hour or so before going back to work. I always wondered how he could stand missing the end of the movie.
