Kinsey

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I watched Kinsey last night, and was really surprised by what a good movie it is.  While it glosses over the fact that Kinsey had some serious sampling errors in his methodology, which makes some of his statistics invalid, it rightly focuses on his determination to expose the truth about human sexual behavior.  What was important about his research was not whether 50% or 20% of people engaged in an activity, he was exposing the fact that any percentage engaged in them, and that none of the side-effects that the “moral” pseudo-medical information warned of actually took place.

Contrasted with the increasing absurdity of the Abstinence-Only sex education that the “Family Values” crowd wants to instill in our youth these days, it’s easy to see the same forces of denial at work.  I’m not a fan of bullshit in any form, and neither was Kinsey, for as a scientist, he couldn’t rely on hearsay and superstition when attempting to provide real answers about sex. 

Give the movie a rental when it comes out on video, both Liam Neeson and Laura Linney are great in it.

Million Dollar Baby (No Spoilers)

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Holly and I went to see Million Dollar Baby tonight. What a great movie. I've seen the Aviator, and between the two, it's no contest, my vote would go to Million Dollar Baby. I should still get to see Ray before the awards, and I might make it to Sideways, but Finding Neverland has left the area... I don't want to give anything away, so I won't say too much about the movie, other than to say I completely wasn't expecting what I got. I knew there was some kind of unexpected plot turn in the movie, as I'd seen it vaguely mentioned. I thought I might know what it was, and boy, was I wrong. I think everyone leaving the theatre was stunned.

The Aviator

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We caught a matinee of The Aviator yesterday here in Vegas. It's a great film, and even though it's three hours long, I never got bored. As much as it pains me to say it, Leonardo DiCaprio does a great job as Howard Hughes, but Cate Blanchett really stole the film as Katherine Hepburn, in my opinion. The aircraft in the film all looked great, even though I knew they were computer generated, it was hard to tell. This is definitely an Oscar contender, as are DiCaprio and Blanchett, in my book. If you're not a geek, don't worry, this isn't an "airplane" movie, it's more of a personal drama about Hughes. The aviation in the movie is more of the backdrop against which the story of his life is told, though there were people clapping in the theatre once the Spruce Goose took flight. Personally, I liked the showdown with Senator Brewster (Alan Alda) even more.

If you want to read Roger Ebert's review, it's here.