Anyway, I digress. Here’s what I think about “The Blind Side.”

The book was better. But the movie’s pretty daggum good too. I only read the book because a friend told me it would never work as a movie, anyway, and there was no point in waiting. My friend was right, the book is dense and wordy, and roughly half of it is about the evolution of the left tackle position in professional football. The Michael Oher stuff takes up the other half, and that’s what John Lee Hancock focuses on here. He gets the vast majority of it exactly right.

Sandra Bullock is well-cast as Leigh Anne Tuohy, a well-to-do Memphis interior decorator who takes in a homeless kid who is also a very hot football commodity. His name’s Michael Oher, and he’s immense. Huge. Massive. Surprisingly, he’s also quick on his feet, agile, and has a pretty sweet jump shot. The movie finds a clever way to use his hoops skills to introduce Michael to his future high school football coach, Coach Cotton.

The race and class issues are addressed, and as in the book, we get a sense of how political correctness has actually made these problems worse, not better. No one can seem to believe that the Tuohy’s take Michael in for any reason other than personal gain.

You know from the trailer and from real life that Michael is black. For some reason, this matters to a lot of people. And only some of them are openly racist.

The movie, like the book, contains textbook examples of Christian-minded conservatism in practice. Michael’s mom, it turns out, is addicted to crack cocaine. Leigh Anne meets Michael’s mom, and is remarkably non-judgmental. This is a great-ish performance from Bullock, playing an unapologetically conservative woman. Giving great support are Tim MacGraw as Leigh Anne’s husband, who was a star point guard for Ole Miss, and Ray McKinnon as the head ball coach. Newcomer Quinton Aaron excels as Michael Oher, a role that I thought would be nearly impossible to pull off. Several Southeastern Conference football coaches make cameos, to varying degrees of success. I wanted Georgia Coach Mark Richt to show up so that the actor playing Oher could lay him out and maybe knock some damn sense into him, but…

There’s bit of a scuttlebutt on BH over the swipe at George W. Bush. Some folks see it as a typically liberal slam of the former president. I didn’t know about this joke before watching the movie, and I found it rather innocuous. It was a federal government building, and W. was the head man at the time…didn’t bother me. In fact, one of Bush’s problems was that the Federal Government grew under his watch, and he wasn’t as conservative as advertised, so it didn’t bother me one little bit.

If you like football movies, this one’s better than “Remember the Titans,” not as good as “North Dallas Forty.” Good performances, some approaching great, and a lot of humor make this movie an inspirational choice for your family this Thanksgiving.

“The Biggest Loser” has a typical reality show premise. A large group of contestants starts out at the beginning and as the weeks go by contestants are eliminated until the end of the season. Unlike other reality shows, though, this show has an important message to send out to viewers about living healthy, taking care of your body and maintaining your self-esteem.

On last week’s episode though, the show’s message was overwhelmed by a push from the NBC network about staying green. During the ninety-minute episode that aired last Tuesday, there were numerous public service announcements about taking care of the environment. Those announcements tackled such issues as fixing leaky faucets, using less plastic and buying local produce.

Additionally, there was nod to the green movement during the episode itself. The Entertainment Weekly recap of the episode noted the following about an exchange between Bob, one of the trainers on the show, and one of the contestants: 

Bob blessed Allen with some product placement: a stupid Ziploc bag that’s “made from 50 percent wind power.” Allen: “That’s good for the environment!”

Allen’s statement may be true and working to preserve the environment is a worthy cause. However, numerous public service announcements about NBC going green and a mention of a environmentally-friendly product so blatantly in one episode is a bit much.

“The Biggest Loser” may have a lot of great qualities and it may inspire a lot of people to lose weight and change their lives. That is a solid message for a program to be promoting. However, the excessive marketing for a green campaign during  the episode overshadowed the episode itself.

NBC may want to heavily promote going green but an overzealous bid to promote a green lifestyle could turn viewers off quickly and make NBC prime-time the biggest loser after all.

Imagine that the entire world as you’ve known it has come to an end right before your eyes. Almost everyone has died, or gone crazy scavenging for food, even becoming cannibals in the name of survival. Your beautiful wife, who was the light of your life, left you to wander off in the night and die rather than endure another terrifying day of huddling from the elements and hiding from the human monsters that most everyone else has become. 

And now all that’s left is you – and the ten-year-old son whose care has become your entire purpose of your existence. You had a good life once – until just a decade before – with a dignified career, nights at the opera, and joy emanating from every pore of your beautiful spouse. But now it’s all a memory, and a fading one at that. You haven’t been called by your own name in so long that you and your son are only known as Man and Boy. 

What then, the universe asks? Do you keep a faith in God, or curse the hopelessness around you? Do you try to maintain the fire of a good soul and pass moral values to your son, or do you let your morals and humanity eventually slip away? If your morals slip away in the middle of nowhere, does anyone notice? 

Those are the questions that lie at the root of director John Hillcoat’s profoundly moving adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book “The Road.” Starring Viggo Mortensen in an alternately feral and saintly performance of shattering emotional depth – his are the most haunted eyes I’ve ever seen sustained in a film performance – it is a film that doesn’t shy from some of the most disturbing questions of human existence, yet also guides viewers gently through to a sense of grace and hope that will move, for even days afterward, those brave enough to take the journey. 

The film takes place against some of the most shockingly bleak landscapes (actually Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Oregon, and Mt. St. Helens in Washington) one could ever imagine in America, with millions of rotting trees that have collapsed and cities that have been laid to utter waste. The film never explains whether the destruction was wrought by man-made actions such as nuclear warfare (which appears to be the case, due to the fact that Mortensen’s voiceover says that “all the clocks stopped at 1:17 a.m.” and in a flashback to that moment, he sees walls of flame reflecting off the glass of his home) or an environmental catastrophe (a theory bolstered by the fact that at least one more major tree-felling earthquake takes place in the course of the film). No blame is placed on mankind in either case for the moment of destruction; it is left a disturbing mystery, nagging at the back of viewers’ minds but in a way that expands the sense of dislocation and uncertainty. 

Following the course taken by many other films about desperate journeys, the Man and Boy are heading in the vaguely defined direction of the ocean. The hope is that there, where the land ends, so does the destruction – that beauty will take over, and the opportunity to float away to a better life in an unravaged corner of the world. Yet this vague sense of hope is also often overwhelmed by the sense of constant fear and isolation they have to contend with along the way, never quite knowing who to trust. 

At one moment, they may be running for their lives from a roving band of cannibals that still look like normal, civilized humans. At another, they’re dodging a nasty rainstorm through a shivering night. Yet moments of grace and joy come as well, as when they discover an underground nuclear shelter packed with edible food and warm beds and are able to have a semblance of their former lives for a few days – and yet even then they know it can never last for long. 

There are brief, powerful cameos throughout the film, highlighted by Robert Duvall as a man whose eyes are blinded by cataracts and soul is shattered by the loss of his own son, and Charlize Theron as the wife who gradually loses all hope amid a series of flashbacks. They are among the better people that Man and Boy encounter, but the lesser-known Michael K. Williams also has a pivotal role as The Thief, a man who robs Man and Boy and then forms the ultimate ethical challenge for Man in whether to extract revenge or forgive him for his desperate act. 

In the end, “The Road” is a modern-day parable about the need to maintain morals even when all sense of morality seems lost. It is about maintaining a fire of righteousness even when surrounded by those who have gone wrong. And it is a film that once seen, will be hard to ever forget.

Picking up where the first movie left off, “New Moon” opens with Bella (played by Kristen Stewart), having recovered from the vampire attack that almost claimed her life, starting her senior year of high school and celebrating her 18th birthday with Edward Cullen, a vampire who refuses to attack humans, and his family. After an ill-fated accident resulting in Bella’s blood being spilled at the Cullen residence, which is almost too much for certain members of the family, Edward (played by Robert Pattinson) decides to leave Forks. He believes he is protecting Bella from the dangers of the vampire world by doing so. He asks her to promise him not to do anything reckless.

Bella, utterly heartbroken and losing all semblance of functionality to the point of becoming zombie-like, is haunted by the memories of her time with Edward and seems incapable of pulling out of her new depression. Finally, after about four months, Bella makes an effort to reconnect with old friends, one of whom is a childhood friend, a Native American named Jacob Black (played by Taylor Lautner). During this time, she accidentally discovers that, by being reckless and putting herself in dangerous situations, she is able to see images of Edward in her mind more clearly and hear his voice. Desperate to be with him no matter the cost to herself, she purposefully continues to put herself at risk.

With Jacob’s help, Bella rebuilds an old motorbike to further her dangerous escapades. She soon comes to discover that Jacob might be exactly what she needs to heal from the hurt of her broken relationship. She begins to feel alive and happy again, even though the memory of Edward is still painful. Her friendship with Jacob, a member of the Quileute tribe, leads her to a new discovery concerning the secrets of their heritage, as Jacob must deal with a newfound ability to transform himself into a werewolf. In the midst of this, Bella’s life in is danger with the arrival of Victoria, the vampire mate of James, who was killed by Edward and his family in the first movie.

The emotional tension and plot slowly culminates in the end where Bella must save Edward from deliberately provoking the Volturi (a secret vampire society that regulates the laws over others of their kind) into killing Edward. Like Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” Edward has received information leading him to believe Bella is dead, and he believes that, by provoking the vampire leaders, he can end his misery.

Fans of “New Moon” will love it, but many critics will groan! Also, those who go into the film expecting lots of action and excitement probably will be disappointed, because the movie isn’t so much about that as it is about Bella’s heart-brokenness and the boy/werewolf who brings her back from her depression and helps her feel alive again. Those who have not read the books will still enjoy it, but may not be able to understand everything, as the finer details will be lost to them. It’s obvious, therefore, that Director Chris Weitz is catering to the fans with his adaptation as opposed to the critics, and fans won’t be disappointed.

The production values of “New Moon” are held to a higher standard than the first movie, “Twilight.” For example, it does a much better job of staying true to the book than the first movie, and the character portrayals are much more believable as they demonstrate greater emotional depth. Although the actors give excellent performances, it is Kristen Stewart who carries the movie to the end. The screenplay is also well written, although some scenes had to be arranged differently than they were laid out in the book, but, overall, the movie is a fair and accurate representation.

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

The content of “New Moon” includes many positive, moral elements – surprising for a movie about vampires, werewolves, and teenage romance. For example, Bella is willing to give up her life for Edward if that means saving him. Also, Bella and Edward do not let their relationship go any farther than just kissing. Furthermore, Edward consistently refuses to give into Bella’s demands to be turned into a vampire because he is afraid that she will lose her soul and be damned to Hell, although in the end he acquiesces on the condition that she marries him first. Lastly, the vampires who drink human blood are shown to be the evil, bad guys, and though the good vampires struggle with the temptation to do so as well, they do not give into their bloodlust.

That said, there are many reasons to be concerned about the content in “New Moon.” For example, Bella makes it very clear she wants to become a vampire and doesn’t care about her soul. She even tells Edward he can take her soul as long as it means that she will get to be with him forever. As the heroine of the story, someone that young, impressionable girls would idolize, this message is potentially dangerous and misleading. Along these lines, the intense relationship between Bella and Edward is disconcerting. The impression is given that neither of them is capable of existing without the other. This kind of love is more like a combination of love, lust, and obsession rather than true love. In that light, the movie is filled with high emotion and teen angst to the point where characters are unable to function properly. Thus, the message being sent to teenagers and young adults is that this is what love really is – a message that is encouraged as the characters are portrayed as truly knowing their hearts and having an accurate understanding of what love entails.

Other elements of concern include some unresolved discussion concerning whether vampires still have souls and if they are ultimately destined for Hell. Because of this uncertainty, Edward is greatly opposed to turning Bella into a vampire, but Bella’s constant insistence finally wins out, though this particular event doesn’t take place in this movie.

Taken together, these elements, and “New Moon’s” strong Romantic worldview, its occult and pagan content, brief violence, Bella’s reckless behavior, and Edward’s suicidal actions, are unacceptable viewing for media-wise moviegoers.

“The Twilight Saga” and “New Moon” make the world of vampires and werewolves look very attractive. Parents and children should be aware of this and use appropriate discernment.

Ultimately, the driving question raised by “New Moon” is:  “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36).

The series shows the war through the eyes of 12 Americans who fought in the war or contributed to it in some way. Using diaries, journals, and new interviews, it follows these Americans as their personal journeys intersect with one another throughout the war effort. Hollywood actors, including LL Cool J of  “NCIS: Los Angeles,” Rob Lowe, Amy Smart, Jason Ritter, and Steve Zahn, portray the young voices of the Americans. The original Americans include a war reporter, an Army nurse, a young African American from Toledo who became a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, a second-generation Japanese American, and a Jewish immigrant from Austria who wound up in the Pacific Theater.

The series draws on more than 3,000 hours of World War II footage culled from archives and private collections around the world. Restored and enhanced through HD technology, the footage brings to light some riveting stories on America’s fight for freedom against the National Socialist armies of Germany, Japan, and Italy.

Some of the war scenes warrant caution for older children, however, because of the violence depicted, some light foul language and rear documentary shots of naked soldiers.

“WWII In HD” is extremely compelling viewing. This patriotic series has a very strong Christian, moral worldview, with heroic everyday people making great sacrifices as they join the battle against horrific evil.

The film, set to bow at the Starz Denver Film Festival this weekend and already airing on Showtime, does offer more than just those recycled themes. It’s an occasionally fascinating look into the modern actor’s mindset as well as the anger the general public feels when they hear celebrities pontificating on events of the day.

Director Barry Levinson

We’re also given a peek at the passions driving some celebrities to speak out on the issues. Yet the film is emblematic of Hollywood productions which strain to achieve balance but come up mostly empty.

The bulk of the film features liberal celebrities from the Creative Coalition, a nonpartisan group, maneuvering around last year’s Democratic National Convention in Denver.

The group itself may not choose sides, but we see plenty of footage of its actors beaming as President-elect Barack Obama speaks. And when some of those celebrities pack their bags for the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, they look as if they’re preparing for a funeral.

“She’s All That” actress Rachael Leigh Cook is forlorn when she realizes Republicans will be invading her Minnesota hometown. “But what can you do?” she asks with a shrug.

Maybe, if you’re part of a nonpartisan coalition, you go and learn what people who disagree with you think about politics.

Levinson, who conducts one interview wearing an Obama knit cap, complains about the rise of flash over substance while watching Gov. Sarah Palin’s appearance at the RNC. But he has nothing to say about similar hoopla surrounding Sen. Obama or his throng of admirers.

“Poliwood” takes a half-hearted stab at defending actors for being out of touch elites who don’t understand how reg’lar folks think. Levinson lets actor Matthew Modine shares memories of back breaking work of his youth and the pride he felt in a job well done.

That’s wonderful, and it’s likely many of today’s stars worked just as hard – or harder – before fame and fortune came calling. But living in a cocoon of fame and wealth for an extended period can change a person’s perspective, sometimes radically.

When Jennifer Lopez sang, “I”m still Jenny from the block,” was anyone buying it?

A few celebrities acquit themselves well regarding their right to speak out, including Susan Sarandon, Ellen Burstyn and Modine.

Aging political troubadours David Crosby and Stephen Still ramble on in platitudes that add nothing to the debate and only support those who say celebrities should keep their yaps shut.

“Poliwood’s” focus keeps shifting, robbing whatever potency the film essay might have had otherwise. Levinson detours into a conversation about how the mainstream news is getting too bogged down in tabloid fare and often exploits story lines that tell us little about the way government works.

The film also takes time to savage Joe the Plumber for overstepping his bounds by acting as a war correspondent for PJTV. And yet the entire film is about celebrities who, one could argue, overstep their bounds every day by talking about matters they’re not well versed in.

A few scenes prove pure dynamite, like watching pollster Frank Luntz gently lecture some Coalition members about the harsh words they use in trying to sway the masses. Before Luntz can finish, actors Josh Lucas and Gloria Reuben nearly jump out of their seats, both recoiling at being told their methods might not be effective.

Even better, listen as actress Lynn Whitfield shares why she won’t be joining her Coalition peers at the RNC. “I don’t have the skill to communicate with people who have hurt my feelings so deeply,” she says.

Anne Hathaway makes a valid point that often journalists will ask an actor about a political topic even though the actor had no intention of of discussing the subject.

We almost get a reason to applaud the celebrities and their outspoken ways when director Spike Lee nails New York Governor David Paterson with a tough, but fair, question about city school funding. Paterson can’t come up with an answer, but the liberals in attendance, including Lee, simply laugh at the governor’s awkwardness and the question is dropped.

The Creative Coalition co-produced “Poliwood” but the film does it few favors even if it proves intermittently enlightening.

But if you just wanna see stuff blow up on an epic scale and watch the world fall apart in a good old-fashioned disaster movie, then check out nearly any Roland Emmerich film: “Independence Day,” “Godzilla,” “The Day After Tomorrow” and “10,000 B.C.” provide hours of jaw-dropping action to go with hilariously poor logic in plotting and laughably bad dialogue. Yet they are often undeniably entertaining despite their faults, and with his new film “2012,” Emmerich has fashioned his biggest, craziest cinematic opus yet. 

This time, the entire world is coming apart at the seams because sunspots are shooting nuclear radiation into the Earth’s core and making it overheat, so viewers will get the thrill of seeing landmarks from the White House to the Vatican and every major world hotspot in between fall to pieces in stunning fashion – all on December 21, 2012, the day that the ancient Mayan civilization predicted the world would come to an apocalyptic end. 

Starring John Cusack in a bizarre yet brilliant change of pace after spending most of this decade making depressing dramas (“Grace Is Gone”), direct-to-DVD action films ( with Morgan Freeman) and romantic-comedy retreads like the awful “Must Love Dogs,” the film rips into first gear within minutes. Picking one of America’s most lovable Everyman movie stars for the lead role of Jackson Curtis, a divorced limo driver who’s fighting to stay on his kids’ radar by taking them on a weekend camping trip that leads to them stumbling upon clues to the impending end of the world, is a casting masterstroke that keeps viewers rooting for our hero no matter how implausible the circumstances get. 

And the circumstances definitely get crazy. As the streets of Los Angeles rapidly buckle and form gaping holes just behind his limo, Cusack races to pick up his family – even including his wife’s new live-in boyfriend, Gordon – and race them to the private Santa Monica Airport in the hopes of taking off in a private plane and buying some extra time to figure out where to travel next. This race through the streets is one of the most staggeringly silly yet cheer-inducing action scenes I’ve ever seen, topping even the best chases from the “Lethal Weapon” series – albeit with some rather obvious CGI effects. 

Once in the air, Jackson and Gordon – who conveniently had some flight training in his past – head to Yellowstone National Park, where Cusack first noticed things were getting strange in the Great Outdoors and had just met Alex Jones-style talk-radio host Charlie Frost. Played to hilariously crazy perfection by Woody Harrelson in what might be his ultimate crackpot role, Frost is thrilled with the world’s impending collapse, since it validates the wild predictions he’s been making for years on his show. More importantly for Jackson, Frost has a series of secret maps that will reveal where 400,000 of the world’s most elite people are gathering for a chance to escape the cataclysm and relaunch life as we know it. 

This movie has everything but logic in it: outrageous car chases, absurd flight stunts, massive earthquakes, a tsunami that slams a naval carrier into the White House, and even volcanoes that launch massive, rapid fireballs through the sky. Add in world landmarks being decimated wholesale, and the hoot-worthy sight of the world’s largest animals including giraffes and elephants airlifted over the Himalayas by helicopters. If you’re willing to suspend disbelief enough to see an elephant suspended over Mount Everest, you will be entertained by this film. 

On the plus side, no one can complain that the filmmakers short-shrifted them on special effects. And in a refreshing side note, there is little or no bellyaching from propagandistic characters railing that this is all mankind’s fault due to pollution and CO2 emissions – it’s purely the sun that’s at fault for this one. Well, that and the weird stroke of fate tying in with the Mayan calendar, of course. On the downside, the film is 2 ½ hours long, with the last half-hour becoming nearly as exhausting to viewers as it is for our heroes, leaving one to wonder “What else can go wrong?” 

I’m sure Roland Emmerich is laughing at a computer screen somewhere right now, plotting the answer to that very question.

The film is set in the mid-1970s and the lead couple, Arthur and Norma Lewis, are played by James Marsden and Cameron Diaz. He works for NASA and she’s an elementary school teacher. They’re a relatively boring couple with one son  The movie begins with the doorbell ringing very early in the morning and the couple finding the box on the doorstep. Mrs. Lewis learns more about the box from Arlington Steward, played by Frank Langella, the mystery man who dropped it off. The young couple has recently faced some disappointing news about their jobs and the financial benefits of pushing the button are obvious to both of them, even though their financial situation has not been detailed enough to show a compelling desire for them to lean towards pushing the button at the expense of another person’s life.

Whether or not to push the button is the psychological dilemma that the characters are faced with. Will they choose to benefit themselves at the expense of a stranger’s death? Will the button really cause a person’s death, and if they push it not believing in the consequences are they still accountable for it?

It is, after all, just a button. In a box.

Unfortunately, though, the debate about these issue is over rather quickly. Instead of focusing on the reasons behind making either choice, a decision is made hastily. The movie then becomes about the consequences of the decision rather than the choice itself, which would have been a far more interesting concept to explore.

From the decision about the button until the end of the movie, the film explores the repercussions that come from the couple’s choice. Once that choice is made, the movie quickly trends into a surreal and strange journey too bizarre for viewers to care much about. The premise of the movie comes with enough questions to last for the rest of the film, but instead of slowly answering them and raising the stakes on the choice, the movie instead takes the audience into an even stranger world that involves lightning strikes, identity loss, and zombie-like behavior. These odd events keep occurring without a full or clear explanation.

Also, because the movie starts off quickly, there is very little time to develop the lead characters and their status in life. From then on, it is hard to understand their actions and motivations and to empathize with their plight. We know the couple faced frustrations at the workplace and obviously a million dollars would be beneficial, but who are these people before they receive the box is a question never asked. Since the box comes into play so early in the movie, the characters are often doing and saying things that revolve around it.

Overall, I did like the premise of the movie and I was intrigued when I saw the commercial. However, if you expect a psychological thriller about a strange choice and how a couple makes it, you’ll be sorely disappointed. This movie focuses on the less interesting consequences of the choice and the weird and paranormal nature of those consequences.

The movie had a lot of promise on the outside but on the inside, viewers will quickly learn how shallow this box really is.

Vastly overweight and carrying her second child at the far-too-young age of 16, Precious is an African-American girl living in the Bronx who’s stuck four years behind her age group in the 7th grade, with a single mother who is verbally, emotionally and physically abusive towards her. Her father is only in the picture enough to come over and rape her, which led to her first child being born with Down Syndrome, and Precious utterly unaware of proper prenatal care or even a delivery date for her second.

The only thing that brings her any sense of joy is her imagination, which Precious uses to block out horrific moments of the past and present with visions of herself on red carpets and other glamorous situations. But when a school official steps in and orders her to go to an alternative school for troubled young women, a concerned teacher, social worker and eventually a male post-natal nurse discover the extent of Precious’ problems and help her take the drastic actions needed to save her life.

This may all sound like a vision from hell, but people like Precious exist all around us in modern society, where the welfare state and ingrained, multi-generational poverty and an often-negligent school system perpetuate rather than solve their problems. But in the new movie “Precious,” this starkly realistic portrayal of one fictional life points audiences in the direction of true hope by showing that it only takes a few concerned people to save a life and turn it around towards productivity and pride.

“Precious” has been a sensation since its January debut at the Sundance Film Festival under its original title of “Push,” which in turn was based on a cult-hit novel by Sapphire that’s been a sensation since its 1996 debut. The two books and their attendant films are drawing extensive comparisons to the classic novel and movie, “The Color Purple,” and not only due to their subject matter of African-American women learning to stand up for their dignity and self-worth – they also both feature what should be career-making performances from heretofore unknown or disregarded actresses.

The film stars the stunning, one-of-a-kind Gabourney Sidibe as Precious and longtime hack comic Mo’Nique as her monstrous mother with a tragic past of her own, in what are likely the odds-on favorite performances for next year’s Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress Oscars. Yet the film also features a wonderful performance by Paula Patton as the teacher who breaks down Precious’ walls by forcing her to learn how to compose her thoughts in a notebook, and surprisingly strong yet small turns by a de-glammed Mariah Carey as Precious’ social worker and rocker Lenny Kravitz as the male nurse who is the first man ever to treat Precious with respect and friendship.

Director Lee Daniels is only making his second film here, following the barely-released and critically derided “Shadowboxer.” But his command of incredibly difficult and dark subject matter is masterful. Following the lead of classic filmmakers who understood it was more effective to leave viewers filling in their own vision of horrific details rather than hammering them with graphic imagery, he shows the bare minimum footage necessary to get the idea of Precious’ abuse across while emphasizing that hope, self-reliance and positive values are essential to overcoming any difficult life situation. And it’s those positive vibes that drew Oprah Winfrey and black filmmaking powerhouse Tyler Perry to attach their names to the film as “presenters,” in the hopes of drawing attention to this valuable enterprise.

If you can handle the depictions of abuse and frequent profanity (which declines as Precious learns to become more eloquent), “Precious” is an unforgettable experience that’s not easily shaken.

The “Mad Men” finale was a satisfying, although a bit too tidy, end to its 3rd season. When I was 8, my teenage sister introduced me to a card game called “52 Pick-Up.” When I handed her the deck, she tossed cards across the room. As I whined, she said, “What else did you think a card game called ‘52 Pick-Up’ was about?” When writers Weiner and Levy created chaos with all my familiar characters in the opening episode, I should have thought “52 Pick-Up.”

After all, they just had a merger for heaven’s sake. What else to expect? Relationships between and among characters changed as work and economic status changed, and they were reshuffled into new and less pleasing ones. But we became gradually more accustomed to the new “order,” although the dominant “feeling” was a cheerless dreariness. There were some memorable moments. When a drunk Lois amputated the erstwhile new Brit super star Guy MacKendrick’s foot with a John Deere tractor in the office, I laughed out loud for minutes. Taken one show at a time, they were good, but the cumulative gloom and doom became stifling.

The finale begins with the all consuming “Connie” Hilton telling Don that Putnamm, Powell and Lowe is about to be acquired by McCann Erickson. When Draper complains that he has been “used” by Hilton, Hilton pulls an “Ayn Rand” and states that he alone built Hilton. Hilton expresses disappointment with Don for being a whiner and thought he was not like “one of them.” Funny stuff. But Draper gets the joke and is determined to persuade all the key former Sterling Cooper people they should start their own firm. He has some reservations. He recalls his father’s death when he tried to go it alone by leaving his wheat co-op.  This represents “risk” (duh), while Ayn Hilton represents “reward.” But Burt Cooper makes Don realize he will have to right past wrongs if he is to create this new firm.

At this point, it begins to feel like an inside-out version of “The Godfather.” There was even the “it’s just business” line uttered by Hilton. Michael Corleone’s business solution was to blow away the other families; Draper-Corleone’s solution was to persuade all those he offended that he now understands their true worth.

He admits to Roger that relationships matter. Draper praises and values Lane Pryce’s financial ability. He prostrates to Pete as long as he can bring $8 million worth of business with him, supplementing Roger’s $24 million American Tobacco account. Burt Cooper is warding off the grim reaper by staying active. A newly svelte Joan (Marilyn Monroe has been dead for 18 months) knows where all the client boxes are buried, as she leads a midnight raid to steal them.

But Peggy and Betz are causing problems with the plan. Draper makes a perfunctory effort at marriage-saving but is relieved that Betty wants to marry the Rockefeller connected and wealthy Harry Francis. Don gets off alimony free with a Reno divorce. Look for Betz to mess with Harry’s head next season. Peggy and Don’s relationship went south this year.  She wants his respect. The Draper-Olsen relationship is serious stuff for Weiner/Levy. Draper really does need her and says she is the only one who understands “how everything has now changed” since the Kennedy assassination. He admits even if she says “no,” he “will spend the rest of my life trying to hire you.” Ah, true (business) love. She caves.

The old crowd is back together again, temporarily holed up in the Pierre Hotel. Except for legal questions, the ending of the show was plausible. Weiner/Levy gave the characters and fans what they wanted. But I am getting hip to their tricks. That “old gang of mine” will be soon recalling that old proverb “be careful what you wish for.”

I can’t wait.