Pam and I have seen five movies this summer. Didn’t realize it was that many until we counted them up. We go the first four months (at least through April 15) without seeing any movies at theaters. So all five of these have been in the past six weeks or so.

• Shrek the Third. Pretty good. I’m afraid the whole Shrek thing may be losing its appeal for me. The first Shrek was great, the second one very good, this one…still plenty of laughs, but as if I was laughing at jokes I’d already heard.
• Oceans 13. Pretty good. Not as good as Oceans 11.
• Evan Almighty. Very good. We laughed a lot.
• Live Free or Die Hard. Very good. Of course, we’re Die Hard fans, as well as Bruce Willis fans. And we love high body counts. And Justin Long is the Mac guy in the Mac/PC commercials, and we’re most definitely Macintosh people. So of course we loved this movie.
• Transformers.Okay. We saw it this afternoon. Kinda cheesy, but some good action. If they do a sequel, I’ll skip it.

Pam and I saw two movies over the holidays at the theater, and rented two more.

• Casino Royale. Most people I talk to liked the new James Bond movie. So did we. It was definitely a different Bond, and a much more ruthless one (where Roger Moore would have snuck up on a guy and given him a karate chop to knock him out, Daniel Craig just shoots him in the neck). This movie had no great, dasturdly, world-threatening plot (and those do get kind of silly sometimes), just a suspenseful action movie. I look forward to seeing the next Bond movie with Daniel Craig.
• Apocalypto. I really liked Mel Gibson’s latest film. The buzz said it was extremely gory. True, though perhaps not as bloody as I was expecting, considering all of the hype. Or I’m just numb to it. Anyway, it was a fun ride.
• Talledaga Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. This Will Farrell flick about a Nascar driver was merely okay. It had its funny moments, but I wouldn’t bother seeing it again. We rented this one, of course
• March of the Penguins. Finally found out what all the fuss was about. Rented it, learned a lot about penguins, a subject which has been on my Must Learn About list.

Yesterday Pam and I saw Clint Eastwood’s new movie, “Flags of Our Fathers,” about the famous flag-raising on Iowa Jima during World War 2. Excellent movie with a complex structure, moving back and forth between the battle, the battle’s aftermath, and present-day.

Photos from the actual battle were shown throughout the credits. Nobody left until the credits ended. It’s neat when that happens.

We hadn’t seen a movie since July 1–Superman.

Went to see “Superman” this afternoon. I liked it. This new guy, Brandon Routh, makes a good Superman, though maybe I think that only because he looks so incredibly like Christopher Reeve.

Don’t care for Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane. Margot Kidder was a better Lois Lane, though Terri Hatcher is the ultimate Lois. Kevin Spacey was a hard-core Lex Luthor, compared to the somewhat comedic Gene Hackman.

The little exchange between Superman and Lois about the world needing a savior was quite interesting. I’m sure, once it’s out on DVD, that clip will show up in numerous church services as a sermon illustration.

Pam and I watched “Munich” last weekend. I read the book upon which it was minimally based back in the 1980s, when people still said the story never happened. Reviewers played up the angst which the Israeli assassins felt, but I was actually a bit disappointed with that part; I though the hype exceeded the substance. But the action was good, and I enjoyed the movie. It just wasn’t what I expected.

Okay, that’s enough pop culture fluff for this week.