Beautiful Boxer (2003) rating: 8/10

A gay effeminate kid tries kickboxing to make money for his family. He finds a measure of success, and he decides to keep on doing it to try to make enough money for a sex change operation. Sound crazy? This movie is based on a true story.

Black Book (2006) rating: 8/10

On my visit to Amsterdam, I did see the Dutch Resistance Museum, which discusses the measures the Dutch took against the German occupation, including hiding or attempting to hide Jews. I remembered watching this film earlier but not really realizing it was depicting the Dutch. I just watched the film again and well it's actually kind of an action film with some surprising twists and quite watchable.

MacGruber (2010) rating: 6/10

I happened to ffwd to the point where VanCunth says: "you're like a broken record..." The line MacGruber says after that was worth the 25 minutes I spent watching this movie. Well, that and seeing usually straight-laced Ryan Phillippe walk around with a celery stick up his ass.

La Mission (2009) rating: 8/10

Benjamin Bratt plays a macho ex-con bus driver, Che Rivera, in San Francisco. He lives in the Mission District with his son who is gay, but not out to his father.

You might predict what comes next, but it's surprisingly well played.

Also, the music is quite good.