I got to skip work today and go see Martin Scorsese's The Departed. Great cast, great performances and a cool soundtrack (what is it with Scorsese and the Stones? he even snuck an Exile on Main Street CD cover in the film). What I liked is that it's quite different from his other gangster films and the fact that the story was told in a unique way. It starts off with a quick progression of events that set up the story and then settles into a more familiar pace. I also appreciated the not so obvious ending.

I also saw a preview for Frank Miller's 300. The official site has some nice before and after production shots as well as some of the initial still frames used to develop the visual style. If the movie lives up to the preview it should be pretty cool. The visuals are very unique, almost painterly but not in a gimmicky way...like pages from a graphic novel come to life. The same could be said for Sin City but this film looks very different (as did the respective graphic novels). I watched the preview again online but the style and dramatic visuals didn't hold up as well. I am definitely going to try to catch this one in the theater.

We just got back from camping in Big Basin. The chilly air, foggy forest and blueberry pancakes were just what I needed before being fully engulfed my the coming holiday season. I am sure that this will be the last camping trip of the year though...the real winter weather has got to be comin' soon.

The trailer for the new Christopher Guest film "For Your Consideration" is now online. It certainly looks funny but so did the preview for "A Mighty Wind" and I was disappointed with that. Let's hope it lives up to "Best in Show" and "Waiting for Guffman"".

Borat was freakin hilarious. It had it's share of forgetable moments but overall it was well worth my ten bucks. Honestly, it could have been just ok and one scene in the middle of the movie would have still made it worth it. This scene was so good/offensive the people sitting behind us had to get up and leave - which kinda made it even funnier to me. I was laughing so hard I though I might throw up a little. I know, gross, but it was that funny.

I read a story, before seeing the movie, about two frat boys suing the makers over getting them drunk and tricking them into looking stupid for the film. At first I kinda sympathized with them for being set up but after seeing the movie they really should have known better. I don't care how drunk and stupid they are, it was their racist and sexist words.