I'm back!

i know you all have been dripping with anticipation, just waiting for me to post again, so here goes:

Thoughts on Best Football Movies - Varsity Blues and Jerry Maguire have to be on the list, hands down. Since I've never seen Necessary Roughness or Little Giants (which I can't imagine is good), I'm knocking those off. For the most part I agree with the rest of P's choices. Friday Night Lights was highly overrated and works much better as a tv show than it did as a feature film. The entire topic does beg the question - why so many fewer good football movies than baseball movies? Even the best football flicks (AGS, Program) pale in comparison to the best baseball films (The Natural, Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, Sandlot, The Rookie, Major League, the list goes on). I'd argue that baseball translates far better onto celluloid because there is a natural folklore element to the sport that facilitates more engaging storytelling. Football, while exciting to watch on tv, has much less personality and as a result is more difficult to craft characters and story around.

Best Place to See a Movie - Alamo Drafthouse, Austin Texas. If you haven't had the pleasure of taking in a movie in a theatre where you can order food and drink, you need to give it a try. I caught The Simpsons Movie at the Alamo Drafthouse during one of my recent trips to Austin. The theatre has every other row removed to make room for a small table on which to sit your food and bucket(s) of beer. For the Simpsons showing, the Drafthouse had a special menu including Duff beer, a Krusty Double Burger Meal, a Ribwich, a Donut Casserole, and more. The entire experience was amazing. There is no better way to watch the Simpsons than with a Duff in your hand. I'd only give The Simpsons Movie itself a 1.5 PB Jar rating, but after a couple buckets of Duff at the Drafthouse it was an easy 3.

For some additional insight into the Alamo Drafthouse, rent Hot Fuzz on dvd and check out their US Tour documentary for the screening in Austin. In fact, rent Hot Fuzz anyway because it is hilarious. While I don't think the hotly anticipated follow-up to Shaun of the Dead could possibly have lived up to my unfairly high expectations, it put forth a valiant effort and any shortcomings were more than made up for by the non-stop blood, guts and laughs of the film's final 20 minutes.

Best Movie of the Summer (so far) - It is a tough call between Ratatouille (3 PB Jars) and the Bourne Ultimatum (3 PB Jars), with Superbad (3 PB Jars) and Knocked Up (2.5 PB Jars) close behind. A full summer round-up is called for next week, once Fall is officially upon us. I had high hopes for Shoot 'em Up and 3:10 to Yuma, but based on preliminary reviews (NYT called Shoot 'em Up a "worthless piece of garbage") I'm doubtful that these will crack my top films of the summer.

So, that's about it. See you all again in another 2 months.