The other night I was telling my parents about a fairly lengthy and complicated argument that Helen and I had a few weeks ago, which was about a whole lot of things really but could be said to ultimately be about whether or not humans should have freedom of choice, in spite of the fact that giving everyone freedom of choice invariably leads to destruction, victimization, and chaos. Well anyway my dad asked me if my standing up for freedom of choice would go as far as allowing things like 9/11 to happen, and I said that it would, and there was some hemming and hawing about that but whatever, it didn't really come to much. Then last night Matty Price and Keith and I went to see James Mangold's masterful existential western, 3:10 to Yuma - you know, the one with Gladiator vs. Batman. Wash and Russell are in it, too, and it is goddamned terrific. Oh, and ironically enough, it is about exactly that thing. Like, if you're going to give everyone the freedom of choice, then yeah, some of them are going to turn out to be Gladiator and kill a bunch of folks. But also, you'll have this guy Batman, and he will spend the entire movie demonstrating the power of a person with the freedom to choose what he is going to do and what he is going to be. It's Christian Bale's best performance ever, so that helps. And man, in terms of command of craft, this thing is a brick shithouse. Actually I was reminded powerfully of The Prestige, initially due to the Bale connection and the time of year no doubt, but also in the degree to which it was just thoroughly satisfying cinema, at a level of care, dedication and egolessness that, let's face it, Hollywood doesn't exactly stand up for any more. You give everyone in the world freedom of choice and you have to accept that some of them are going to blow up the World Trade Center, others are going to push Wild Hogs to $55 million in DVD grosses, and a precious few are going to make a Western so shit-hot it'll curl your toes back just as soon as turning the world. And that is just the consequence of being alive on the planet Earth, right now.

"Y'all got on this boat for different reasons, but y'all come to the same place." - Mal

"Yes, it's true. I am awesome. I am truly relevant." - Bex