For what it's worth

Seeing as the Golden Globes have been cancelled, I guess I'll take this opportunity to talk a little bit about my favorite movies and performances of the past few months. I think that a large part of what has made my recent movie watching frenzy so enjoyable is that living in Brazil (where we get movies several months later) I hadn't yet seen the previews for Juno and There Will Be Blood (Michael Clayton I actually saw while still in Brazil in December) or been over-inundated with reviews, etc. That aside, all three of the above movies, all vastly different, are worth your $11.75 or whatever outrageous price people are charging these days.

I will say that American Gangster deserves an honorable mention, though many will accuse me of being biased due to my Denzel obsession. If that were the case, though, I would be pushing The Great Debaters as well, which, I must say, had me tearing up and wishing I had joined my high school debate team.

In terms of noteworthy performances by actors, Daniel Day Lewis was incredible in There Will Be Blood, and I was also quite taken by young Saoirse Ronan in Atonement, which was a very beautiful movie, visually speaking, but does not make my hit list. Tommy Lee Jones deserves a mention for both In the Valley of Elah and No Country for Old Men, though I wouldn't say that either movie, even the latter with all it's hoopla, impressed me. Last, but certainly not least, my new obsession: Josh Brolin - gotta love the slicked back hair - who appears in American Gangster, Elah, and No Country. And, he's married to Diane Lane, what more could you ask for?