We've watched a few movies of late. Monday night was Amelie, tonight was Mr. Holland's Opus. Granted neither of these are new movies, but they are still movies that deserve to be viewed by the masses.

Amelie was absolutely beautiful. The music throughout was perfect and it has some visual imagery and sarcasm that is magnificent. It is one of those movies that makes me wish I was fluent in French to understand some of the literary idioms as well (isn't that the worst part about not understanding a language?). Granted it's an R-rated movie, probably for some nudity and language, but that generally takes a back seat (for me) when it comes to artistic value. The movie was in a sense a love story, in a sense a "finding yourself" (I actually hate that phrase) story, and then at times an oddly-humorous tale. Worth seeing.

MHO was a great film when it came out, and it is a great film now. Sure, it has it's quirks, the ones that the music elites like to critique, but it does the job it set out to do. It's a feel-good story of a small-town man that dedicates his life to serving the public good. I am sure that many music students over the years can find some resemblance to their own music teacher. If you haven't seen this one, you should pick it up cheap on Amazon and watch it this weekend.