Terminator: Salvation (2009)

I had a good conversation about meta-physics and science fiction genre after seeing this film with a friend. It seems to me the Terminator shares quite a bit with the Matrix. I found this Terminator a mildly intellectual exercise and one which manages to satisfy. I.e no major holes in the story, though there are obviously paradoxes. One weird thing which isn't giving anything away I don't think, is seeing your own father as a young kid. How weird would that be? (And then of course, how much weirder, as I was reminded by my buddy, later sending him off to die -- without telling him perhaps -- to make it with your Mom to have you?)

Doubt (2008)

The universal signifier of a gay boy: he wonders if he looks fat? This could have been a much shorter film it seems to me. I was able to get through it using some FFwd in about an hour without really missing anything. I read through a few reviews before writing this. They pretty much pan Streep's performance. I actually liked it. I thought it was good and had a lot of good gaffuws at how impressively and stylishly her character, despite being so one-note, actually makes progress in her investigation.

The Reader (2008)

Kate Winslet and the boy protagonist, Michael Berg, spend a lot of time naked in this film. This definitely improved Winslet's chances I think for the Oscar, and the crossover appeal. Ralph Fiennes seems a bit off here following the boy's mostly exuberant performance, else the boy had really changed in demeanor quite significantly having grown up greatly. I found exceptional and strange compassion for Winslet's character, perhaps it was a good understanding of one of her weaknesses, I guess. [Hey, the actor playing the boy is probably in his late teens, early twenties.] Winslet's was a very worthy performance.

The Living End (1992)

Made in the middle of the devastating peak of the AIDS crisis, the movie muses on the nihilistic themes of death. The death sentence leads to a road trip and love, sort of.