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Word of the day : cerebrate : to use the mind ; to think

It's... THURSDAY! A.K.A. the end of Gabriel's first week of school. He and Julia made the Statesboro Herald yesterday - the photographer caught them as they were walking into the building.

Random thoughts: Tomorrow, we'll go to Savannah.
The Chick Fil-A in town here was packed yesterday! (and isn't that sad!)
China's badminton players? Sneaky!

A new month means 10 New Movies to be inducted in my hall of fame of 200 Essential American Films:

Hmmm... 70 down and 130 to go...

The Bridges of Madison County (1995; Clint Eastwood)
- An outstanding adaptation of a truly terrible book, Eastwood's middle-age, autumnal romance is a delight. Meryl Streep is at her best and Eastwood is vulnerable and touching in a way he had never really been before. Resplendent conversation.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977; Steven Spielberg)
- A grand vision, a movie of great curiosity. It perhaps goes on too long, but who cares? The sequence when the spaceship is landed and the humans are anxiously awaiting a sign from them is so carefully calibrated and directed, it evokes a myriad of emotional responses. In the lead role, Richard Dreyfuss gives his greatest performance; interesting enough, he wasn't even nominated for an Oscar for it that year, 1977. Instead, he won the Oscar that year for another film: Neil Simon's The Goodbye Girl. Talk about a two-fer!

The Conversation (1974; Francis Ford Coppola)
- The 70s masterpiece from Coppola that tends to be neglected, this Watergate-era paranoia thriller boasts one of the finest pieces of character acting you'll ever see - from Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert who starts to believe the couple he is spying on just might be murdered.

Duck Soup (1931; Leo McCarey)
- One of the funniest movies ever made, pure and simple. Great gags. Great jokes:
"I am willing to do anything to prevent this war."
"It's too late. I've already paid a month's rent on this battlefield."

The Fugitive (1993; Andrew Davis)
- Just a flat-out exciting, ultra-competent action thriller, with a protagonist we're extremely invested in (Harrison Ford), a wily adversary (Tommy Lee Jones), outstanding action sequences, and a pace that never flags over the course of two hours and fifteen minutes.

Gran Torino (2008; Clint Eastwood)
- Clint gives you what you want here. He snarls, curses, growls, looks contemptuously at almost every ethnic group shuttling through his Detroit neighborhood. It's a character for the ages, and the movie is a late-life masterpiece.

Greed (1924; Erich von Stroheim)
- One of the most famous and justly acclaimed of all silents, an emotional and visual torrent, a moving adaptation of Frank Norris' McTeague about the destruction of a couple.

The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944; directed by Preston Sturges)
- An absolutely hilarious, risque comedy from the grandmaster of slapstick, Preston Sturges. The late Betty Hutton wakes up the morning after a late night party to discover that she is pregnant, with no idea who the father is! Eddie Bracken (as a suitor) has scenes here that are so funny they make my eyes water.

The Silence of the Lambs (1991; Jonathan Demme)
- A film that stays with you (even if you don't like it), Demme and screenwriter Ted Tally's adaptation of Thomas Harris' celebrated novel, has one of the greatest villains in the history of pop culture, superb pacing and editing, two Oscar winning performances, terrifying scenes, and is one of only three films to sweep all five of top Oscars - Actor, Actress, Director, Screenplay, Film.

The Sting (1973; George Roy Hill)
- Sandwiched in between the two Godfathers was this 1973 Best Picture, a charming, old-school switcheroo con with that legendary Newman-Redford chemistry, a dandy of a villain (Robert Shaw), the irreplaceable ragtime of Scott Joplin, astute period design, and a marvelous trick ending.

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Let's get to the new movies opening this weekend:

Total Recall    A remake of the 1990 Schwarzenegger pic (which has become something of a cult classic, I think) and another go-round at the Philip K.Dick short story, Len Wiseman's film stars his wife, Kate Beckinsale, and Colin Farrell in the role of an unsatisfied man who goes mind-tripping. The critics don't like it at all, saying it is a definite step-down from Paul Verhoeven's earlier film. Co-stars Jessica Biel, the great Bill Nighy, Bryan Cranston.
Verdict: Interested

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days The popular young adult book series comes to the screen for the third time.
Verdict: Not Interested

Celeste and Jesse Forever    Andy Samberg and Rashida Jones (hey, it's an I Love You, Man co-stars reunion) star in this melancholy-tinged romantic comedy as a thirtysomething married couple growing apart. The reviews are superb; it co-stars Elijah Wood, Emma Roberts, and Chris Messina.
Verdict: Very Interested

360    From outstanding screenwriter Peter Morgan (The Queen) and director Fernando Meirelles comes this widely-panned, oh-so-serious drama about a panoply of sad people in different locations throughout the world; their stories eventually weave together. A great cast, though: Anthony Hopkins, Rachel Weisz, Jude Law, Ben Foster.
Verdict: Not Interested

The Babymakers    One of the worst-reviewed movies of the year, this alleged comedy stars Paul Schneider and Olivia Munn as a couple unable to get pregnant. Humiliated that he is shooting blanks, the husband decides to round up a crew to rob a sperm bank in which he deposited his, um, seed, years earlier. Groan. All together now: Ugh!
Verdict: Not Interested

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Today's entry in the 500 Greatest Performances of All TIme?

Colin Farrell
as Ray in In Bruges (2008)

As a hitman whose punishment for killing a kid is a waiting period in the historic, scenic Brussels town on Bruges, Farrell gives the audience great pleasure. He's funny, quick-witted, with a deep sadness. I love just listening to him talk, spouting writer-director Martin McDonagh's dialogue with rude, funny, profanity-laced glee. It's a one-of-a-kind performance and movie, a continental Pulp Fiction, full of odd delights (including Ralph Fiennes' stylized turn as Ray's boss). Farrell and co-star Brendan Gleeson are magnificent together. But when isn't the underrated Farrell good?

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Today's painting is by Thomas Gainsborough, who dies on this day in 1788.