Mary & Max and Green Zone

I watched 2 completely different movies last night. Mary & Max is an animated film that's most definitely not for kids. Based on a true story, it tells the tale of Mary, an 8-year-old from Australia who becomes pen pals with Max, a 40-something from New York. Mary is funny looking with two parents who stopped giving a damn before Mary was born. Max is an overweight loner who likes having chocolate hot dogs. Mary randomly picks Max out of a phone book and starts writing to him and this turns into a lifelong friendship that has some severe highs and lows. There's talk about murder, suicide, cats with eyes missing, lots of dead fish and sex. And it's all animated. I'm still not sure what to think about the movie. The animation was pretty impressive and at times, the movie was pretty funny - in a very dark way. But towards the end it just got really depressing. I applaud the filmmakers for doing something different.

Then there's Green Zone, the Matt Damon-led film that takes place during the opening days of the Iraq war. It was a very smart, edge-of-your-seat thriller that keeps you guessing right up till the end. It's the kind of movie that I can see a lot of people not wanting to bother with, since war films - especially one about a war that continues to this day - isn't the most uplifting of stories. But it's very well made and keeps you on your toes throughout. Definitely worth checking out.