Happy Birthday to Stephanie! 28 never looked so good. Damn, girl.

As a special birthday treat (a slight stretch, but I'll use it), there are ten new pictures in the closing pages of the San Francisco album. Stephanie took two of the pictures. In the captions I identify one of them--see if you can pick out the second.

That's right, I'm also listing this as a member of the 'Games' category of blog entries. Games never looked so lame. Damn, girl.

EDIT: Holy Cease and Desist Batman! Got an email from WB lawyers today, took the pic down as a result. Hope you got a peek.

Holy crap. More at The Movie Blog.

It feels like forever and a day ago that I went to see Rescue Dawn, but I guess it was actually only a couple of weeks. I haven't yet seen Little Dieter Needs to Fly (I'm having trouble getting my Netflix Watch Now feature to work), but I'm planning to now that I've seen this movie, which is basically a dramatization of the events described by Dieter to director Werner Herzog in that documentary. Herzog picks up the story again here, starring Christian Bale, Steve Zahn, and Jeremy Davies.

The story is about a young man who joined the armed forces so he could learn to be a pilot, and ends up crashed after a bombing run, captured, and placed in a prison camp. The story of his attempts to escape is what follows. There are a lot of familiar ideas, lines, and shots in the movie, but somehow the amazing acting and calm direction of Herzog transcend the script's flaws and manage to make it a better movie.

Christian Bale, as always, is great. I almost never have complaints about him, and this movie is no exception. His character is believable, although not necessarily as sympathetic as I expected him to be (circumstance does not always create affection, after all). Fortunately, Steve Zahn's character fills that hole, showing us a more fragile POW, Duane, who depends on Dieter for direction and salvation. Jeremy Davies also adds to the mix, although his character is sometimes a bit too much of something we've seen before (only skinnier).

The music is wonderful, although it sometimes contrasts so harshly with the story that I wonder whether it's there to be a contrast or to force emotion on the scene. Whichever is Herzog's intent, I admired the music a lot and wouldn't mind purchasing Klaus Badelt's score for repeat listens.

While not a perfect movie, Rescue Dawn eventually grabbed me and I was suckered into the emotional ending. It's one of the better movies I've seen this year; somehow Herzog is able to take an ugly situation and make it beautiful to watch, and Bale and Zahn are able to take that vision and give performances that aren't easily forgettable. I'm glad I sought it out.