Yeah, so this is, like a day late. Or two. I must be turning into Evan. (I keed! I keed!)

Actually, there’s a real reason that these have been later, lately (huh?). When we started the site, I had a cushy dayjob where all I had to do was sit around in a cubicle all day and do nothing. That gave me copious amounts of time to write blog posts. Then the economy tanked (lousy Republicans! or Democrats! pretty much whichever you’d like to hear me blame!), and I understandably got laid off. So not only do I not have hours and hours where I sit in front of a computer with nothing to do anymore, I’m actually working two jobs (one part-time, one freelance) in an effort to, y’know, keep my cat well-fed. (You should see how he looks at me. So sad. So smelly.) So these might be a bit more erratic, unless of course I suddenly develop some discipline. (By the way, I’m not looking for your pity — just your money.)

Anyway, what? Oh yeah, movies. Once again, these are in the order of my level of interest, which changes by the hour.

Miracle at St. Anna
Well, yeah. Of course St. Anna does miracles. She’s a friggin’ saint. But aside from that, this one looks pretty awesome. Provocateur-director Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing, Bamboozled, She Hate Me) tackles a World War II picture? It’s an idea that’s so good, you wonder why it hasn’t happened before. This one follows the all-black American 92nd Infantry Division, who get stranded in a small Tuscan village and come across a priceless artifact. Looks kind of like a cross between a war film, a mystery/thriller, and — yes — a Spike Lee movie.

Recommended if you liked Windtalkers, Three Kings, or Summer of Sam

Eagle Eye
Yes, it has Shia LaBeouf. And yes, apparently I’m the only one who doesn’t realize how awful he is. (Come on, guys — was he really that bad in Indy 4? I’m not sending him any fan mail or anything, but I wasn’t shaken to the core by how awful he was, the way everyone else seems to be. Whatever.) But they’ve paired him with Michelle Monahghan (Gone Baby Gone) and it looks like they’ve put together a nifty little thriller. Apparently, some terrorists frame them for crimes and force them to commit heinous acts. Y’know — the usual.

Recommended if you like 24 or the Bourne trilogy, or you wish 88 Minutes hadn’t sucked

Fireproof
Yes, it’s a “Christian movie” (whatever that dubious phrase may mean). And yes, “Christian movies” usually suck. But it looks as though they may be finally coming into their own. Yeah, I know that’s what they said about One Night with the King. And Facing the Giants. And — frighteningly — even Left Behind. But this one has some potential, and advance reviews have been pretty good. This one is about a firefighter who has to rebuild his marriage — and he does it with Jesus’ help, not through the triumph of the human spirit. That makes it a hard sell, but give it a chance and I don’t think you’ll be (entirely) disappointed.

Recommended if Ladder 49 didn’t have enough “Jesuses per minute” for you

And…more after the jump.

Choke
I tend to be a fan of Chuck Palahniuk (who also wrote the seminal Fight Club), but I tried reading Choke and just couldn’t make it through. There’s only so much spoiled white trash people who hate their lives that you can take. Fortunately, Clark Gregg has done all the work of reading the book for me, and made this nifty little Cliffs Notes version. (Yes, it looks that faithful to the book.) This is the story of a sexual addict who chokes on food in restaurants for fun and has to impregnate a nurse in order to save his mother. See what I’m talking about? Virtually unreadable. But you get a “A” for effort, Chuck.

Recommended if you liked Fight Club, or, um…yeah, I don’t know. This movie’s in a league of its own. (But definitely not recommended if you liked A League of Their Own.)

Towelhead
For those of you who don’t know, “towelhead” is a derogatory term for an Arab. Being as young as I am, I grew up in a world that was virtually devoid of racist terminology, so I’m always surprised to learn these things — the only time I hear the words are in the titles of movies made by people who think they’re combating racism in provocative ways. And…it looks like that pretty much sums up this movie. The big-screen debut of director Alan Ball (who wrote American Beauty), this film tells the story of an Arab girl growing up in Texas. It was based on a popular novel, and it features Aaron Eckhart…so it’s probably worth a look.

Recommended if you liked Persepolis…maybe

The Lucky Ones
There are few types of films I care about less than dramas about the Iraq War. (Yeah, yeah, Hollywood, we get it: it was a mistake. As usual, we’re all very impressed by the 20/20-ness of your hindsight.) This one throws something new into the mix, though, by making it a road movie about some veterans. It’s still a little too serious for my tastes, but if that sounds good to you, go nuts.

Recommended if you wish Stop-Loss had had more Road Trip to it.

Nights in Rodanthe
Um…can someone explain to me why, exactly, we need more than one Nicholas Sparks movie? The guy just writes the same book over and over again. A Walk to Remember was vaguely interesting for saving Mandy Moore’s career — and making Switchfoot’s; The Notebook wasn’t interesting at all. And now Nights in Rodanthe stars Richard Gere, which makes it negatively interesting. If you’re thinking about taking me to this movie, please just put me on the rack for several hours instead. We’ll both be much happier that way.

Recommended if you can’t find a DVD of Gone with the Wind