1) The Spirit. There is not doubt in my mind that this is the worst movie ever made the history of motion picture. Prior to seeing this disaster, every review I read was (surprisingly) negative. I made a posting about this movie hinting it was probably a below par and replica of Sin City's stunning visuals. However, both of my predictions were wrong.

This movie lacked off the bat a plot. As the view we are thrown into a story line that seemingly feels like you are watching what should be the middle of the movie. Director Frank Miller, assumes the audience will have the ability to pick up on the vitals of the plot: a super hero fighting crime. What contributes to making the plot seem imcomprehensible is the lack of character development. Every character introduced with little or no character development. The audience isn't given a chance to build some understanding of the characters, such as their motives, reasoning, feelings, etc. The characters are literally through into the plot with seemingly no reasons for why. On top of that the movie is flat out boring. The highlight of this failed visual motion picture was when the credits came on.

2) The Invasion

• Failed remake.
• Thrill-less, psychologically it fails to stimulate any visual or theoretical interest.
  
• It is lame and possibly the worst alien attacks movie in this genre.
  

3) Deception

• Ridiculously bad and laughable plot. Unbelievable, even in the genre of fiction.
• Predictable and boring.
• Ludicrous plot twists and ending.
  
• Acting is horrible-- seems like the star studded casts (i.e. Hugh Jackman and Ewan McGregor) were in it for a quick pay day.
  

4) Burn After Reading

• Another attempt by Hollywood and the Cohen Brothers to throw egg on the Republican Party's National Security Policies.
  
• Crude and senseless violence.
• The plot is "thrill-less" and "unlikeable characters who do stupid things."
  
• Take the advice of Kevin Ranson from MovieCrypt.com: "Burn Before Watching."
  

5) We Own the Night

• While the acting was OK, the plot was a joke. Here is why the movie's plot is a joke(a major spoiler and you should thank me for saving you time by not seeing it): Joaquin Phoenix goes from a flashy, drug using, likable club owner to an 'honorary' policeman (with zero training) putting an end to the Russian mafia.

Honorable Mention: MI:III, Ghost Rider, and The Bourne Ultimatum

1. President Obama charged the tax payers $3, 350 to for an enhance-security PDA to replace his beloved BlackBerry (James and Rooney 2009). Is that necessary? 43 Presidents before Obama did just fine without a BlackBerry.
   
   
2. Apparently, the new (i.e., the so-called "change" motto) standard is failing to pay your taxes results in appointment to as a Cabinet secretary. For example, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner failed to pay $43,000 in back taxes while working at the IMF (Champ 2009). Today we learned that Cabinet nominated Tom Daschle failed to pay over $120,000 in back taxes (USATODAY 2009). That's funny, since the Democrats favor raising taxes for the top 2-5% income earners. I'm guessing Mr. Daschle falls into this category since he earned more than four million dollars in 2008. Wait a second, his party and him support higher taxes for the rich, but yet he fails to pay them--odd.
   
   
3. The Republican National Committee elected fellow Marylander Michael Steele as the new GOP chairman. He's my Obama. Steele summarized fact #2 perfectly: "So what's the standard down to, to be a Cabinet secretary? You don't have to pay your taxes? Come on (Lawrence 2009)."
   
   
4. Finally, the world agrees with me and economist are grasping how over-valued the British economy and pound has been for the past decade. Last year around this time, the Sterling was roughly 2:1 compared to the dollar. Today, the exchange rate is hovering around 1.40ish. John Roger attributed terrible economic situation to the simple fact that "the UK has nothing to sell (see article here)."
   
   
5. The Economist examines why Europe is so in love with Tintin and the reasons why Americans have failed to fully grasp this unique superhero (see article here).
   
   
6. A jailed C.I.A. mole has been accussed of continuing to spy for Russia via his son (see article here).

____________________________________________________________________
Champ, H. (2009) Today's Cabinet Lesson: Pay Your Taxes. CBCNEWS. Available here.
James, R. and Rooney, K. (2009) Obama's First Week. TIME, vol 173: No. 5.
Lawrence, J. (2009) New GOP Chair Comes Out Swinging. USATODAY. Feb. 1, 2009. Available here.
USATODAY (2009) Daschle Apologizes for $128K Tax Error. USATODAY. Feb. 2, 2009. Available here.