Tim always takes his nieces and nephews to the movies around Christmas (last year we saw Sherlock Holmes), and this year there's nothing out that they haven't already seen, so tomorrow we're going to see Monsters, Inc. in 3D. (This batch of nieces and nephews are aged 21, 16, and 14. So the choice of movie isn't an age issue.)

I'm cool with that, although I'd be happy to see The Hobbit, but they already saw it.

So I ended up not going to see The Hobbit, and I was sad, because instead I got suckered into seeing that Cirque du Soleil movie in 3D. The 3D was terrible, the performances were mostly meh, James Cameron is a hack, and there was nothing cinematic about something that was filmed explicitly to be seen as a movie. There were several wow moments, and the Beatles skits and Elivs scene were great, but otherwise it was underwhelming, and bordering on annoying (really, we have to watch a behind-the-scenes short/trailer of the movie we are about to watch before the movie? How full of yourselves are you?

It had the same filming quality of any other CdS performance recorded and aired on TV, but with worse editing choices, crap lighting (some of the shots were gloomy and nigh invisible, and others shadows were falling in odd spots, like a head silhouetted on someones butt), and 3D that was blurry more often than not.

For those interested, Silent Running is on "free" on-demand on Comcast/xfinity. IMO it has the strongest hippie sensibility of any mainstream science fiction film ever made - complete with Joan Baez performing two songs on the sound track.

Unlike other films thought of as hippy it is neither pretentious nor arch and deliberately self-mocking. It does not even think of itself as hippie. It is the film equivalent of the working class kids who ran away Haight-Ashbury. (Not saying it is not *mockable* . That is a different issue. One of the key plot points involves the main character overlooking something that means that both he and the writers were very very stoned - which if you think of it adds to the whole hippie thing.) Anyway, I would not suggest this to someone who hates Joan Baez's music or hippies, but I think everyone else will enjoy it.

Just to clarify - not the only plot hole, but a whole different level of WTF than the others. Nonetheless, really good story telling and emotionally true to the time in which it was made.

The other key to enjoying Silent Running is taking Very Very Seriously the plight of the three little robots that look like window air conditioning units.

I kinda think they look a lot like ancestors of R2D2. But I admit they also look like window air conditioning units.

We just saw "This is 40," I thought it was pretty great, but I also loved "Funny People" so maybe I drank the Kool-Aid?

I took myself to Les Miserables this afternoon.

I was less than impressed with Jackman's performance and voice, so that kind of colored my appreciation. I don't think anyone else was that bad.

Crowe was meh, the rest were ok, Hathaway and Samantha Barks were good.

The degree of realism in the sewer scenes made them unwatchable.

Saw The Hobbit again.

I liked it even more the second time.

I just watched Looper. I enjoyed JGL and Bruce Willis, but any time travel movie that flat out tells the audience not to think about the mechanics of time travel is not a friend to me.