Movie review - as if I know

This is very unusual, but lately we've seen a lot of movies. This is largely due to 2 factors: Brian's surgery and the discovery of the DVD kiosk at Kroger. At the risk of sounding like a really dorky advertisement for this kiosk thing, it is really great. Ours lets you rent new releases for $1 per day. That means if you rent something on Wednesday afternoon, as long at you return it by midnight on Thursday, it's only a buck. Goodbye Blockbuster! Hello kiosk! The only problem we've had so far is that a one of the DVD's kept skipping, but we cleaned it off and it was fine after that. In addition to the cheap-o rentals, last night Brian and I had our first date night in quite a while and we went to see Spiderman 3. At the theatre. The last movie I remember seeing in the theatre was I think about a year ago. In fact, last night we used a gift card that Brian got for his birthday in November.

So maybe it's been a while since I've seen very many movies, but I've noticed a few things that I thought I'd mention and see if anyone else thought these were strange:

• Ok, what's with the length of movies lately? Seriously, does every movie need to be 2 hours and 45 minutes, or is this really trendy? And who has this kind of time to commit to a movie? Forget dinner, if you want to get to bed before midnight, you better just start the movie.
• And does every movie need to be a trilogy? Or I guess it's just every movie that makes any money. Back in 2001 when you saw Shrek, were you thinking, man, only 6 more years until we get to see the 3rd? Don't get me wrong, I love Shrek as much as the next guy, but with Shrek, Spidey, Pirates, Bourne, Oceans, Rush Hour, and 28 days all coming out with their 3rd editions this summer, need I go on?
• Also, what's up with the complicated plots lately? Watching several of the movies we rented, we found ourselves confused and overwhelemd, which is not what I typically find enjoyable while I'm watching a movie.

So in case you're curious as to which movies we saw and what we thought of them (I'm sure you're dying to know), here you go:

• Pursuit of Happyness: like Kelsey said, mostly pursuit, not much happiness, but it was definitely worth watching. Sad and inspirational.
• The Prestige: Excellent. A little hard to follow, but really really interesting plot, keeps you on your toes until the last second. We watched it with subtitles for some reason, which helped us with the accents.
• Eragon: Brian watched this one while I was at work. He said it wasn't very good, it's a really serious sci-fi if you're into that.
• The Good Shepherd: Terrible. Well, ok, to be fair, it's probably really good if you are a history buff and really interested in the CIA's involvement in WWII. Brian and I were so lost that we turned it off after and hour and a half (which was only halfway through - see note on long movies above) and just returned it.
• Pirates 2: See notes above on long movies and complicated plots. I was confused and not that interested, and it was way, way, way, way.........waaaaaaay too long. It made me have no interest in seeing the 3rd one. Melanie did, and she said it was longer and more complicated. I think they should've stopped after the 1st, that was a really good movie.
• Spiderman 3: of all the movies we saw, this was the best. Of course, it's the only one we saw in the theatre, which makes a difference, but I really liked it. Interesting characters, really good special effects, relationship drama, etc. We thought it was at least as good as the first 2 if not better. I heard there may be a 4th...

So there you have it, not that I know what I'm talking about, but just thought I'd share. Anyone seen any other good flicks lately?