Recommended Movie

Check out the German film "The Lives of Others" from 2006. It won an Oscar (for whatever that's worth-- "Crash" for best picture? CRASH?! and Gladiator?) for best foreign film. The film does a superb job of capturing the feel of East Germany in 1984, something to think about as we edge more and more toward socialism in this country. Mix together refreshingly complicated and unconventional (as in not stereotyped) characters, superb acting and an intelligent script and, not surprisingly, you get a great movie.
Now I'm not silly enough to expect Hollywood to produce these sorts of films, but our much-touted "independent" film-makers might wanna take note of the recipe. Nah... too busy making super-important movies about teenage angst in an American suburban hell. No stereotypes in those films. Nope...