Quatre.

This weekend I went to Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, The Wrestler, Frost/Nixon, and Revolutionary Road.

Michael Sheen might have been better in Underworld than he was in Frost/Nixon. As for the rest of the film, it was just as satifying as its predecessors, relying heavily on the mythology established in the first two to bolster its gravity.

The Wrestler was good. It is my second favorite Aronofsky film to Pi. Rourke and Tomei do an excellent job in their roles, and the "cinema verite" feel that I got worked very nicely with the subject matter. I can't speak to the redemption of Rourke, because the first movies I saw him in were Sin City and Once Upon a Time in Mexico. I might have even enjoyed him more in Sin City.

Frank Langella's performance is what makes Frost/Nixon work. Without it the movie plays a bit droll and procedural. That being said, the movie works very well, and Langella is worth the price of admission.

My favorite of the four was Revolutionary Road. Sam Mendes is great with great material. He's kinda worked with this subject matter before in American Beauty, but his experience and growth from his debut are evident. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet are both very good, with Winslet deserving her the nominations and awards that she's received so far.

I don't know if it is a trend, or I'm just more observant, but there seem to be a bunch of re-pairings of actors. Blanchett and Pitt in the CC of BB after being together before in Babel, Leo and Kate in Revolutionary Road after being together in Titanic, and coming up is Clive Owen and Julia Roberts in Duplicity after being in Closer.

Have any of my readers seen Milk with Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, James Franco, and Emile Hirsch? Penn keeps on winning best actor, and I'm starting to think I should see it. I can't say politcal bio-pics are my general fare, but I don't want to miss out.