dude, where's my noose?

exactly why would i want to go to fremont for a party? you cannot be serious. you're not hot enough & i'm not nearly that desperate.

fyi, the most depressing films of the past couple years:
1. House of Sand & Fog
2. Million Dollar Baby
3. The Pledge
4. Mystic River

having railed against 'Hollywood endings' for seemingly an eternity, i have nothing but love for artists' refusal to deliver Hallmark style, artificially sweetened denouements. sorry, but "It's [Not] a Wonderful Life", people. for the studios to submit to test audience blather is to ignore that half our enlightened country voted to re-elect the Accidental President. don't ask us what endings we prefer--we're just not the most discerning bunch of people.

but verisimilitude in film, while laudable, is still enough a rarity that i would have preferred the heads-up prior. "House" gets the nod for no.1 because of the absolute blind-siding. you think it's just a quaint picture about property rights & intersecting lives, rounded out with some immigrant struggle cliches & boilerplate class commentary, when it suddenly spirals into a dolorous, self-destructive/suicidal free-for-all. bravo, that's one hell of a sucker punch. excuse me while i fire up some of the "The Smiths" to complete the effect.