Ari and I are back into our regular weekend routine of renting a movie. It’s a nice way to pass a boring Saturday night in Parentown. You’ll remember we saw Wonder Boys a few weeks back (still working on Mysteries of Pittsburgh, by the way–I’ve been distracted lately by tree felling and drought/heat crippled grass). Last weekend, it was Billy Elliot. It was good. What I saw of it was good. We got a late start and I ended up falling asleep about three-quarters of the way through. Ari loved it, though. The basic premise is: boy in hardened, poverty stricken family takes a shine to a recreation that traditionally falls outside of his gender base. Turns out he’s really good at it, too, which makes it hard for people to criticize or ridicule him for it.

This weekend, we rented Girlfight, the indie film with Michelle Rodriguez. The basic premise: girl in hardened, poverty-stricken family takes a shine to a recreation that traditionally falls outside of her gender base. Turns out she’s really good at it, too, which makes it hard for people to criticize or ridicule her for it. Besides, she’d end up beating the shit out of them if they did. This one I did not fall asleep for. This should not be construed as a negative evaluation of Billy Elliot. Merely that for Girlfight I was not as sleepy and, well, dammit, it was a fantastic film. I’ve always liked boxing. I’ve never actually boxed. Probably never will. So I get my fix vicariously from movies like this. The fact that Michelle Rodriguez hit the angst-driven-just-wants-to-be-understood-teen nail so hard on the head helps my opinion of this film. It had an amazing soundtrack, too. Moments of lonely piano added an artistic melancholy that at first seemed to contradict the toughness of the action, but in truth fit perfectly.

We’ve been real lucky lately, Ari and I. We haven’t rented a bomb in a long, long time. (Watch, next week we’ll probably get struck with The Jazz Singer Part 8 or something equally horrific. Yeesh.)

Also, congratulations to the great people I know who participated in yesterday and today’s Blogathon. This has certainly made for some most interesting and gripping writing. Very exciting, and certainly a test of endurance. And all for good causes, too. Zang!

And now, as Westley said to Fezzik in The Princess Bride, “I don’t envy you the headache you’ll have when you awake, but in the meantime sleep well and dream of large women.”