As some of you may know, (that is if there is anyone out there reading this) I like to watch movies, and today was no exception. So what did I do about this precarious situation? I went and saw a picture flick. The name of tonights feature was "About Scmidt" a film that, in my opinion is a cinematic masterpiece. A film that is truly head and shoulders above the rest of this crap that "Hollywood" puts out these days, I mean lets take a look at a few of our other options this weekend.....Oh boy, the much anticipated "House of a 1000 corpses" debuted(what a weird word) this weekend. Now, I have not seen this film(nor do I intend to) so it might just be THE STANDALONE GREATEST FILM OF ALL TIME. But I highly doubt it. Rob Zombie, now there is a guy that I would really like to spend some good quality time with(feel the sarcasm.) He truly is one of the most up-standing, models-of-virtue of all time. Who wouldnt want to sit and watch his creative juices flow for a whole 88 minutes. Hmmmm....man I can envision it now, death and dismemberment, closely intertwined with a spine tingling search for a "magical, mythical" character called (drum roll please) "Dr. satan." Wow, not thats art in its most refined form, wonderful. (if you dont believe be about that dr. satan thing check out the synopsis of the film here Truly a film worth not watching!

Or we could take some time and look at the big box office hit from last week, "What a girl wants." Now I could go on and on about this movie but I think that the brief overview of the film does the situation justice;

"Amanda Bynes plays a 19-year-old New York City teen who travels to London to find the father she's never known (Colin Firth), discovering that he's an upper-class socialite. Of course, her crass American-ness causes copious comic fish-out-of-water situations." Wow, lets take a look, "Copious comic-fish-out-of-water situations." Now that has oscar written all over.

OK ok ok, all of that brings us back to "About Scmidt." A film that is as awkward and difficult to watch as the life that it reflects. Jack Nicholson plays a recent retiree, who is caught in what seems to be the later end of a rather doleful life. Truly a life without apparent purpose. This is Alexander Payne's third film, set to the backdrop of the "gorgeous" Omaha, NE. landscape. Which I am probably biased, but oh well. Payne invests in a painstaking process to accentuate the mundane in this film. From the colors and the settings, to the awkward pauses and speeches, to the close-up shot of Schmidt's wife's armpit, all of this to show the regretable nature of the film. A quote from the science-fiction film, "Barbarella" states that "A life without cause is a life without effect." Which is smack dab in the middle of where Warren Schmidt finds himself. If you have not seen this film I would Highly recommend it. It truly is a lost mans search for a purposeful existance. The primal cry of mankind to "know and be known."