Somebody find me a tie! I don't care what kind, but by God, it had better be red!

Haven't talked movies for awhile. So. The last four movies I saw were Burn After Reading, Ghost Town, Seven Pounds, and The Spirit. Liked 3 out of 4 very much. As always, it's the little things:

Definitely like the Coen brothers' movies that feel mostly goofy, but Burn After Reading starring George Clooney, Frances McDormand, and Tilda Swinton just felt mean. (Though Brad Pitt seemed to have a riot playing Chad - but when the only character I like in a movie gets shot in the head, that sort of spoils it for me.)

Ghost Town, starring Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear, Téa Leoni (and an hilarious, though brief, Kristen Wiig), directed by David Koepp, was sweetly charming without being saccharine, a gentle reminder that we have a really short time on earth in which to be nice. And is there any other semi-serious movie which includes a mummy's severed penis that needs a big jar? (Not to mention, a fabulous nod to the scene in the original In-Laws where Alan Arkin as Sheldon Kornpett implores his dental patient, "Don't clench!")

Seven Pounds, starring Will Smith and Rosario Dawson, and directed by Gabriele Muccino, though perhaps predictable, (and with a graphic PSA re: cellphones, texting, driving) did have several unexpected moments, was unstoppably lovely, tragic, and deserves HUGE kudos for reminding people about the [almost] lost art of Letterpress! I loved it when Dawson as Emily (the artist) told Smith as Ben (the IRS rep) she used to be "hot, like unauditably hot."

The Spirit, starring Gabriel Macht, Eva Mendes, Scarlet Johannson, and Samuel L. Jackson, and directed by Frank Miller, really captured that comic book feel more than any other comic book movie to date. Largely because it refused to take itself seriously. Dude! They're comic books. Fun, entertaining, lampooning "litratchur" and the politics of humanity, usually with awesome wit and style. The Spirit is no exception, it's graphic noir film art at its cleverest. So lighten up all you Sin City fans who found this such a travesty. If you don't, that dirth of humor is "gonna kill you all kinds of dead."