Reel alternatives
The next installment of Harry Potter came out this weekend, and instead I went to see Far From Heaven, primarily because I was more intrigued with it than all that Hufflepuff (although that's next on the list).

I really enjoyed the movie, and oddly enough it looks like a movie that might eventually show up on the curriculum of some modern U.S. history classes I took in college from the way it handles race relations and attitudes towards homosexuals in the 1950s. The film reminds me a lot of Pleasantville, in that in tries to bust the conventions of the "perfect" world of white, upper middle class, suburban life in the late '50s. While Pleasantville busted them in a more humorous way (since it was taking a sitcom angle), Far From Heaven tackled the issues in a meatier, more serious and often depressing way. The bright colors of the fashions of the day and the fall foliage in New England served as an amazing contrast to the darkness hidden within.

Julianne Moore was stellar in her role as a June Cleaver who becomes tormented for being a progressive (by '50s standards) thinker. And yet she's not even that progressive (especially with looking for medical help for her husband's homosexuality), it's just that she tries to treat all people as people. But, back then, and even to a lesser extent today, it was hard to treat people not like you with any respect (maybe because of fear, ignorance, etc.). Oddly enough, it's not just whites, either. The friends and acquaintances of Dennis Haysbert's character showed the same animosity towards Moore's character when they show up at a "colored" restaurant.