Blog penance: Part 2 of ?

Now that the important part of my summer has been covered, I can now get into the less significant but still noteworthy occurrences.

MOVIES

This summer I saw a few movies that were crummy. "Bride Wars," "District 9," and "Lakeview Terrace" were three of them. Then I saw a few that I thought were quite good, and I was surprised at how much I liked them. "Changeling," "Inglorious Basterds," and "Nothing but the Truth" were three of those. I also saw some that are some of my new favorites. "The Devil's Backbone" and "The Seventh Seal" are the two that impressed themselves on me. "Devil's Backbone" (El espinazo del diablo, if you please) is a ghost/suspense story set in a Spanish orphanage during the Spanish Civil War. However, it is has a story with various themes and symbols running all through and throughout, and it never sacrifices story for scares (it isn't scary in the traditional, 'ghost story' sense). This movie is just too good for that.

"The Seventh Seal" is by prolific director Ingmar Bergman. The story takes place during the Crusades, and it centers around the question of God's presence/absence in the time of great suffering. Bergman was a former Lutheran, and in his movies (especially this one) he makes his questions and doubts about God painfully obvious. The movie was filmed in Swedish (Bergman's native tongue) in 1957, so some of the concepts and dialogue may be a bit alien and strange. Please don't let that deter you; go rent it now.

And that's part two! Only ??? more to go!