This is way late. Here’s some DVD you can rent this weekend.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: This was the best film of last year. The story of an Elle Magazine editor (Mathieu Amalric) has a stroke and cannot move anything but his left eyelid. Confined to a hospital bed, he decides to write a book about his life; a book for which this film adapted. How could a film do this? How he writes the book I will leave for you to discover. But director Julian Schnabel and screenwriter Ronald Harwood put us into the mind of the main character. We hear his thoughts and see his memories. We get his philosophy on life. And let me say the film does not go for cheap sentiment. This is not necessarily a nice guy but one we can relate to. It will make you laugh (seriously), it will make you cry, and it will make you want to watch it again just to marvel at the emotional and technical masterpiece that this film really is.

2 The Sea Inside + 2 Before Night Falls = The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

I didn’t watch The Golden Compass because it sounded like a watered-down version of the book and I didn’t see 27 Dresses because my girlfriend saw it with a group. Proceed at your own risk.