Last Five Movies

The Spirit (2008)
One of the silliest things committed to film in recent history. It's bad, but in a good way. I understand what Frank Miller is trying to accomplish, but it comes off as odd in a movie made in 2008 rather than 1958. Lots of intentional laughs, the least of which is the sight of Sam Jackson in full Nazi regalia.

Valkyrie (2008)
This movie has gotten an absolutely terrible rap, mainly due to the fact that Tom Cruise is in it. Despite the many opportunities for it, there aren't as many "I want the TRUTH!" moments here as you may expect; Cruise is actually fairly subdued in it. In fact, if it were anyone BUT Cruise, I think people would take to it better. Still, it's pretty good.

"The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (1981)
The TV series version of the novelization of the radio series written by Douglas Adams. This is of the highest order of geekdom, influencing pop culture to this day (AltaVista's Babel Fish and Radiohead's "Paranoid Android" take their names from it). Your tolerance of this will depend on your tolerance of the driest and silliest of British "humour."

The Wrestler (2008)
A movie about where has-been professional wrestlers literally go to die. The fact that Mickey Rourke has aged badly and has plastic surgeried his face to near-unrecoginizability really helps sell him as a wrestler who has gone from his late-'80s WrestleMania heyday to wrestling in high school gyms. There are only two wrestling movies better than this: Hitman Hart and Beyond the Mat. But those are both documentaries about real wrestlers. This is as good as "fake" wrestling movies get.

Lots of Oscar bait out at this time of year, and, if it wasn't so damn depressing, The Wrestler may have been better than...

Gran Torino (2008)
It's scary to think that Clint Eastwood is actually age-appropriate to play the racist, retired auto worker in this, his probable last on-screen role. I suspect Clint will keep directing (hell, Sidney Lumet is still directing at 84), but I doubt we'll see him acting again. Which is a shame, because he's really good in it.

A fitting final role. Check it out.