I spent part of Christmas at the movies. The movie theater was so barren that I considered going to another movie immediately after the first. I saw Valkyrie. I had read at least one review and that person didn’t like the movie. I knew I would be seeing this movie because my son was excited about it, but I wasn’t looking forward to it if it was as bad as the review proclaimed. The review couldn’t be more wrong.

The movie was very good. The actors weren’t unknowns outside of Tom Cruise. The movie had quite a cast of character actors. It’s a movie worth seeing to find out about the plot to kill Hitler by a few of his officers. often documentaries make it seem that most Germans agreed with Hitler or at the least just followed blindly. I found it remarkable that this group had enough supporters to actually take over the government for a few hours.

I enjoyed the movie from start to finish–and I’m not a World War II history buff. That would be my son. Check it out for yourself.

I saw Quantum of Solace on Saturday night. I didn’t think would see it this weekend. I was too tired on Thursday to make it to the midnight showing. Friday night I was busy. Saturday I had an all day workshop. I had gotten sick in there somewhere. I needed to write. But after Saturday’s workshop, tired as I was, I went with a few others to the movie.

I didn’t like it as much as the first. I often felt like I missed something along the way. I may have been too tired to follow the dialogue closely. It has a lot of action, so if you love action movies, this one is a must-see. The filming of the action scenes bothered my eyes. The scenes were partly blurry just like they might be in real life. I was left feeling a bit out of sorts. The villians were sufficiently creepy. Bond was cold and calculating, yet tormented. I haven’t read any reviews, so I dn’t know what others have thought. The movie has done well over the weekend though–lots of tickets.

Anyone else looking forward to seeing this movie? I enjoyed that last one for the dialogue and tension between Bond and Vesper. Where do those female names come from anyway?

I’ve been busy working on my novel. I plan to reach 50,000 words today. I hardly slept last night, so I don’t know if I’ll be seeing the movie tonight. My weekend is booked, so I may be waiting until next week.

In Columbia Pictures’ Made of Honor, Tom (Patrick Dempsey, left) gets some words of advice from his father, Tom Sr. (Sydney Pollack, right). Photo By: Peter Iovino. ©2008 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. and Beverly Blvd LLC All Rights Reserved.

I was surprised and sorry to hear that we lost Sydney Pollack. I just saw him in a movie I rented–Avenue Montaigne (that’s the English title). I also saw Recount on HBO, a movie he produced. He has directed some of my favorite films, including The Way They Were. His enormous talent will be missed.

Even I had gotten the power his name had in Hollywood. “It’s a Sydney Pollack movie? Oh, it must be good.”

Sydney Pollack as Brian Sobinski in drama romance ‘Avenue Montaigne’ 2007

Last night I watched part of “Zodiac,” which is about a serial killer who called himself Zodiac. I remember this story as a kid. Although most of the murders happened when I was too young to remember, the book came out when I was older. There was a lot of conversation about this serial killer–even in Nebraska. I never thought too much of it as a kid. Now, living here in Northern California and now that I know all the places where the murders occurred, the movie is especially creepy. It’s still unsolved. The case is still open in San Francisco and other places. Makes me wonder…

Even if you’re not into these types of stories, the movie is worth watching to follow how it unfolds and to learn about the people who were involved.

I didn’t see many movies this fall, so I saw the Oscar nominees on DVD. I really don’t understand why “No Country for Old Men” won. It was horribly violent. Although I think most, if not all, of the nominees were violent films. “No Country” was violent in a psychotic way. I also saw “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”. It didn’t focus on what Jesse James did during his life. Most of that came as narration and not vivid cinematography. I really enjoyed this movie, and I didn’t think I would. it moved at the right pace and kept my interest. The acting was excellent by both Casey Affleck and Brad Pitt. I’m not a big fan of either one. If I had a vote in the Oscars, I would have voted for “Jesse James”.

Do you love movies? Independent movies? San Jose’s film festival, Cinequest, starts this Friday. Danny Glover and Michael Keaton will be here. The Q&A sessions with actors, directors and writers are well worth the time spent standing in line. Although if you buy the right pass, you don’t have to stand in line. I went years ago when Val Kilmer was being honored. If you want to do something different this weekend, check it out.

Ick. What a song. I have been pondering over a quote from the movie “The Last Kiss.” While it’s not the greatest movie, there is one line that I think is brilliant. The character who says it is the father/therapist.

“What you feel only matters to you–it’s what you do to the people you say you love that counts.”

I wish everyone realized this. You have no idea how sick I am of hearing “but, I don’t feel _____”. Feel free to fill in the blank with whatever you’ve heard. I have heard every line, every excuse. It’s true–none of it mattered to me. I really don’t give a crap how you feel. I do care how you treat me.

Feelings aren’t the truth. Thoughts aren’t the truth.

Anyway, I have back pain, which is causing some pinched nerves. I’m currently typing this with two wrist braces. It’s not going well. Slow. Frustrating.

Last night I watched “The Notorious Bettie Page.” It is a movie that I wanted to see because I knew next to nothing about her. I found the moive quite interesting because it added the political climate of the time to Bettie’s story. I also found that I empathized with her. I don’t know if she really felt like people only cared about her looks, but the writer and director certainly emphasized this aspect. The message is that she’s too pretty. Too pretty to be taken seriously. Too pretty to be anything more than a sex object. Now that I get. That’s how I get treated. All of this reminds me of one of my favorite old Hollywood stars–Heddy Lamar. Not because of her movie work or beauty. Because of her brains, which few people know about because obviously a pretty girl can’t possibly be smart.