Movie weekend

Robin got an unexpected Saturday off, so we've been catching up on movies, seeing Pan's Labyrinth and Letters from Iwo Jima in theatres, and a couple of others at home: Cabaret (1972), and Saraband (2003). My quick ratings:

**** Letters From Iwo Jima (2006) . Great film - my pick (so far) for Best Picture of 2006. See it in a theatre, not on a home screen.

*** Pan's Labyrinth (2006) . Good, but not as good as I'd expected from reviews.

**** Saraband (2003). Ingmar Bergman says it's his last movie. Sigh. When you see this movie, you know you've been run through the ringer, and seen something extraordinary.

**** Cabaret (1972).It captures the decadence of 1920-30s Berlin, the Kurt Weil-like music of the time, and great performances by Liza Minelli, Joel Gray, and Michael York. What's not to like? Nothing, from Robin and my point of view. Son James was more subdued in his praise.

A good old fashioned double feature

Robin and I went to see "Children of Men" in Monrovia last night, then got back in line and saw "The Good Shepherd". Two good films in one night!

"Children" was an excellent sci-fi film, convincing and scary, with extraordinary camera work. Its vision of a nightmarish future paired neatly with "The Good Shepherd" - a revelation of the ugly doings of our government in the recent past. The illegal and murderous manipulations of the OSS/CIA, supposedly in the name of anti-communism, are laid bare - and there are plenty of scary reminders that these creepy Skull-and-Bones boys are more powerful than ever, now operating under the guise of the so-called "war on terrorism."