Strange as it may seem, considering what I do for a living, the bride and I went to a movie this afternoon. And one question immediately comes up: Why wasn't Linda Cardellini the female lead?

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The Ohio-born actor has said he's through with acting, according to this report.

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Yes, I've seen it. Some notes (and possible spoilers) follow…

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Not long ago, I had a post about the great sports movies, both someone else's list and some movies I thought should have been included. And somehow, to my great shame, I didn't think about "Major League." Someone else mentioned it in a comment on that post — but I had even forgotten that when I started this post.

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A few complaints about a list of the 25 greatest sports movies, after the jump …

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In praise of a very stupid movie, after the jump …

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Halle's from Cleveland and maintains ties to the area. So she brought her latest movie, Perfect Stranger, to town for a preview screening on Thursday. And that barely describes the fun …

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My review in today's Beacon Journal is here.

I went back and forth quite a bit while writing it, mostly because I was concerned that I was giving too much credit to a movie that was aimed at me, or at least aimed at me when I pretend I am about 30 years younger.

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Over the weekend I caught a little bit of "Teacher's Pet," the 1958 comedy starring Clark Gable as a hard-bitten newspaper editor and Doris Day as a journalism teacher. I've always been kind of fond of it and even as a kid I learned a journalism lesson that can still hold — the one about the virtue of brevity in storytelling.

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DISASTER. Something ate almost all my first 3 hours of blogging, and now I have to file. I'll try to reconstruct some notes later.

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And its name is Oscar. Possible Sunday-night spoilers, after the jump …

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No mockery here. We're talking about movies that have won kudos from AARP. Here's the press release:

AARP The Magazine, the world’s largest circulation magazine, today announced the winners of its sixth annual Movies for Grownups Awards. From Best Movie to Breakaway Accomplishment to Best Actor and Actress, AARP The Magazine’s Movies for Grownups Awards honors a range of cinematic accomplishments in 13 categories, all of which are featured in the March/April issue, available February 1, 2007.

Top honors went to The Last King of Scotland—an unblinking look at the rise and brutal reign of Uganda strongman Idi Amin—which was named this year’s Best Movie for Grownups. …

Donald Sutherland was awarded Best Actor 50 and Over for his role as a defiant Parkinson’s patient in Aurora Borealis. And Helen Mirren, starring as Queen Elizabeth in the days surrounding the death of Princess Diana in The Queen, was named Best Actress 50 and Over. Clint Eastwood took the top honor as best director for his two-part World War II saga, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima.

The 2007 Movies For Grown-Ups Award winners will be presented with the coveted La Chaise d’Or trophy—The Golden Chair—a whimsical trophy in the shape of a Barcalounger, at a private gala awards dinner held at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles on February 6, 2007.

For years I've been talking about the Chamber of Commerce theory of entertainment awards. Basically it says that organizations issue awards based on what they think makes them look good — socially responsible, politically aware, far-ranging — instead of what actually is good. Of course, other factors can also come into play, among them sentiment and the need to honor previously overlooked careers, but when in doubt, the Chamber of Commerce theory explains a lot.
I'm still scanning this morning's Oscar nominations but there appears to be a lot of Chamber of Commerce action — the bump for "Blood Diamond" in the major acting categories, for example; the overlooking of "Dreamgirls" for best picture and director; the nodding to independent film with "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Half Nelson," the acknowledgment of the international importance of film.
A few more notes: Mark Walhberg was very good in "The Departed" but Alec Baldwin stole the movie.

Jennifer Hudson may have been submitted as a supporting actress but let's be real: "Dreamgirls" is her movie. Let me say it again: "Dreamgirls" is her movie.

Never underestimate Clint Eastwood.

You've got a fair number of Oscar contenders on DVD or headed that way, including "Little Miss Sunshine," "An Inconvenient Truth" and "Jesus Camp," with the anticipated post-Oscar bump making the likes of "The Queen" and "Babel" more accessible in theaters.

I planned to add more to this as I took a closer look at the nominations, but ended up writing up those notes for Wednesday's Beacon Journal. You can find that piece here.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I saw "The Departed" recently after watching its Hong Kong predecessor "Infernal Affairs." And, in another step toward writing more about movies, I filed a piece for the Beacon Journal about the two, which you can find here.

That wasn't a review of either movie, since George Thomas reviewed "The Departed," although I did say "Infernal Affairs" was also good. But we live in a comparison age, and someone at work pretty quickly asked me which one was better. I've already said in the blog that it's kind of a push,  but if pressed to make a pick, I'd lean toward "Infernal Affairs."

I don't expect everyone to feel that way. Watching "Infernal Affairs" means getting used to subtitles, for one thing. And "The Departed," which topped the box office over the weekend, boasts an amazing amount of star power for American audiences — Nicholson, Damon, DiCaprio, Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg — as well as the handiwork of Martin Scorsese, one of the great American directors and a personal favorite.

I'd probably say that the greatest living American director is Clint Eastwood, based on many decades of watching him (The last time I was reviewing movies on a regular basis, my bill of fare included his "The Gauntlet.") and on his consistently high accomplishment in recent years. But I haven't fully tested that notion, and it's probably a better argument for another day.

Back to "Infernal Affairs," it does not lack in celebrity either, if you know Hong Kong cinema. But since I didn't know much about Hong Kong films, I was free to forget the stars and focus on their characters in a way that "The Departed" did not allow. There was also a melancholy to the story that's not nearly as evident in "The Departed" (which even ends on a visual joke.) Also, I saw "Infernal Affairs" before "The Departed" — which only seemed fair, since it was made first — so the American film had me nodding at the scenes transplanted from the original, as well as being aware of the plot departures.

Now, I'll probably watch "The Departed" again at some point, and I'm sure I'll enjoy parts of it. But I'm more likely to sit through all of "Infernal Affairs" — and I'm really curious about its two sequels — because it had a wholeness that is lacking in the more anecdotal and overlong "Departed."