A Movie Trifecta

My streak (of posting) ended last night.  I met a friend for dinner at Ninja City (it's good, and has the positive virtue of being open on Mondays) and then we went to the Capitol to see The Whale.  And, honestly...I liked the movie in spite of itself.  The movie is not a happy one -- depressed man overeats himself to death -- and, let's face it, I am not the type to feel sorry for that sort of thing.  Also... let's just say that we sort of knew the ending from the opening scene.  But the acting was quite good (Fraser was the lead but all were impressive) and the plot twists did manage to tie all the characters together.  Some of the people in the screening were visibly moved (men and women) and in tears... as I told my friend, subtract the sappy music... well, life is full of regrets, the point is to minimize them, correct?

Actually, I have been on a film fest lately; over the weekend I watched "Pork Chop Hill," the Gregory Peck Korean War film from 1959.  It had quite the all-star cast (Gavin Macleod and Woody Strode among them) and while in many ways the film was out of central casting, it did depict the nature of the war, no one wanting to be the last to die, yet duty called...  Today I watched "Tongues Untied," a documentary about the gay black male experience of the late 1980s.  Words cannot describe the awesome, especially given the highly artistic nature of the film, which made it...less than watchable.  Alas.  810.

The Duke was highly entertaining; too much so, if you ask me, though I think it proves my rule about people playing up to beat Duke.  The UNC game will be the real test if this team is any good or simply merits a 7 line in the tourney, though I half think they should get one anyway, just for the fact that they really haven't beaten anyone; just a bunch of wins against the teams they should beat, which is nice but hardly meritorious.