Frost Nixon

While initially reluctant to watch a movie that was "only" about an interview with an ill-reputed politician from the 70s, all doubts were gone with the wind, pretty much as soon as it started. The actual interview turned out to be more exciting than any boxing match we'd ever seen, and definitely more intellectually stimulating.

For some, back in the 70s, Richard Nixon was the personification of evil. But what this movie sets out to show is that there's hope for anyone who is willing to admit their mistakes.

Girl's Best Friend

If you're one of those types of people who tend to regularly get upset with their fellow humans' nagging quality of sheer imperfection, and you're open to the possibility that "anything is possible," even that your life and critical character might be changed by a quadruped not much bigger than a football, (even if "its" name should be as corny as "Binky"), then you might enjoy this movie.

It's an example of how life sometimes seemingly unjustly rewards the cold and cynical with undeserved happiness.

Now, isn't that what life has been all about, for many of us - enjoying the undeserved?

New In Town

I used to be a city slicker, brainwashed by the politically correct dogmas of our time until I discovered that the gist of what life is all about was found in a totally different direction than the pseudo-coolness and artificial hipness society forces on its victims in the process of finding players for its game.

So, I could perfectly well relate to the role Rene Zellweger was playing in "New In Town."

Coincidentally, I recently recorded the German version of the very Christmas hymn ("Come All Ye Faithful") that the villagers of "New Ulm" sang in the freezing winter of Minnesota - a hymn that the bulk of my former city acquaintances and "friends" would certainly sneer at and would not be able to relate to, but then I doubt if they've come to experience mere fractions of the joy the Christian life has to offer (along its many trials).

While the heroism involved in moving from Miami to Minnesota remains the type that's probably purely reserved for the movies, I also share the belief that what really counts in life is the spiritual sunshine that springs forth from the believing hearts of friends, more so than fun in the sun (as much as I enjoy the latter).

And if you should have made similar experiences in life, I'm sure you will enjoy this movie, too.