So, I had a pretty busy weekend, here's the run-down of what I saw with a short review.

Brokeback Mountain: Not bad, but definitely not what I expected. Everyone kept saying how this was an amazing love story...it's not. Yes, it's a long affair (I think it turns out to be 20 years), but they (Jack and Ennis) actually just meet up once or twice a year to have sex...it mostly seems like the relationship is 80% sex, 20% emotional. Anyway, I've definitely seen better, and now that I've seen it, I would have said that Crash was "robbed" if Brokeback won.

If I ever watch it again, I might have to turn on the subtitles, Ennis was a little hard to understand most of the time.

Memoirs of a Geisha: A lot better than I thought it was going to be. It got some really bad reviews, but it turned out to be good. Of course it would have been better if it were in Japanese with English subtitles (yes, I know most of the actors are actually Chinese...but if people can learn Aramaic for Passion of the Christ, then people can certainly learn Japanese). I think this story (upscale prostitute falls in love with a stranger) was much better than Brokeback.

Munich: Good movie, but wouldn't have been in my top 5 for the year. Just because it's based on a true story and is directed by Spielberg shoudn't make it a contender automatically. Anyway, I would still recommend it for a one-time viewing.

The upside was that the movie was 3 hours, but didn't feel like it.

Syriana: Probably my favorite of the weekend, but Beth hated it. It did seem to drag in parts, but was only 2 hours. I think part of what made it "feel" so long was that scenes changed every 2-3 minutes...very hard to keep up, but it all seems to come together.

If you don't know what it's about, it's basically about all the wheeling-and-dealing and corruption associated with the oil business. Crazy!

Some parts were confusing, but I would watch it again.