S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night

Saturday thoughts:

• I probably messed up on the best scene of the year when I picked the opening bit from Wall-E. That's not even really the best scene in the movie, which would be the love scene where Wall-E and Eve are flying through space. Beautiful.
• Went to see Benjamin Button today. It's really long, but it's very good. The acting is great and the frame story is a bit chilling because of its setting, leading to a last shot that is pretty creepy. More than anything, I can tell you this -- if you're in an Oscar pool this year and you have to pick Best Makeup Effects, I can guarantee this one will win. They shouldn't even bother nominating any other movie.
• When I reviewed Valkyrie, I gave my list of the directors whose movies I would immediately go see for no other reason than their direction. Valkyrie's Bryan Singer was on that list, along with Benjamin Button's David Fincher. It's a bit more mainstream than Fincher usually makes, but it's just as dark as any of his others.
• Speaking of, I think I may have to consider adding Christopher Nolan to the list. He doesn't necessarily get the props for being as original as Shyamalan or as artistic as Cuaron, but he just cranks out great movies. Memento, Insomnia, The Prestige, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight. Not bad.
• Movies out of the way, have to get to football, right? What can you say about the Ravens today? They may have been lucky to win, but they did make big plays when they needed to, forcing the turnovers and stopping the Titans a foot short on their game-tying drive. Their offense may have been rough, but Flacco made the plays he needed to make and they made no mistakes. Anybody who gets this far is good enough to get to the Super Bowl and one can foresee the Ravens making just enough plays to squeak through another week. So, for their sake, I'm rooting for San Diego. For football sake, I'm rooting for the Steelers. A Baltimore-Pittsburgh rematch would be something to see.
• As for the NFC, well... Today was Jake Delhomme's thirty-fourth birthday. Which means he was only twenty-eight turnovers away from having one for every year of his life. Way to choke, Panthers. No need to cover Larry Fitzgerald at all, I'm sure Warner will never look his way.