Written by Greg Monday, 23 November 2009 03:40

I seldom engage in blogging for the masses.  You know, about things that most people care about.  About things that most people probably shouldn't care about, like my opinion on pop culture.  Seth Godin calls this a cat blog, and I default to his wisdom.  But Megan told me I needed to post on the family site, and since my ratings can't suffer much, I'll take the opportunity to fill in some of the profile info. that would go on my Facebook profile if I actually used it.  Kind of.  Well, I really just want catalogue some stuff I'm into.

Movies

Stranger Than Fiction. 2006.  If you normally like Will Ferrell, you probably didn't like this.  If you're like me, this movie could make you grudgingly respect him as an actor.  If you haven't seen it yet, you're missing one of the best things on film in my lifetime.  That may sound outlandish, but if you really think about the value of the best stuff on film, the competition isn't too stiff.

Dan in Real Life. 2007.  Meg and I really enjoyed this one.  Steve Carell can play likeable as well as anyone on the big screen, the family dynamic is fun, and there is a moral somewhere in there.

Juno. 2007.  I'm officially casting my vote.  Smart.  Funny.  Engages a difficult issue.

The Dark Knight. 2008.  I'm just agreeing with everyone else.

Taken. 2009.  This one surprised me, as I rented with B-flick expectations and a naive hope for a minimum of secret agent cliches.  As it turned out, this is one of my favorites of all time, for two reasons.  One, with a plot hinging on sex trafficking, the movie manages to avoid even a single sexually explicit scene, proving that it can be done.  Who knew.  Two, the main character plays the role of a trained operative who acts like a trained operative and a father who acts like a father.  His daughter is . . . taken, and he goes after her.  Does he play around?  No.  He kills people who get in his way, makes people talk by whatever means necessary, and gets the job done.  There are no moments of indecision or dramatic moral dilemma.  C'mon, the guy's a trained killer.  There are no goofy long-lasting fights or guys that should have been dead who pop up for one last go.  He kills 'em good and dead the first time, quick and efficient, and wastes no breath on cute quips.  Like secret agents quip.  He hardly even talks.  I've been waiting a long time for this character.

State of Play. 2009.  This one I also rented with low expectations, but I guess that's my m.o.  I really liked that it was simultaneously about the plot and the death of print news.  The twists were sufficient to keep me engaged (despite Affleck, who does a better than expected job).  I went in as a Russell Crowe fan and came out more of one.

Music

I've recently developed an addiction to all things Cold Play.  I'm not proud of it, since it feels so mainstream, but there you have it.  While I'm confessing, I've also had a couple of songs by The Fray on repeat.  I continue to have mixed feelings about John Mayer.  It seems like he's trying too hard a lot of the time, but every now and then some soulful authenticity comes out.

My Cat

Just kidding.

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