Movies in our home theater: Moral dilemmas at their best

Okay, some of you have been to my home and know I don't have a home theater. Hey, if I'm watching a movie in my living room, it's a theater. And if it's my home, it's a home theater.

Dick and I love movies. And we've earned the privilege of purchasing theater tickets at the "Senior" discount rate. Occasionally, we don't want to wait until a movie comes out on DVD, but most often we do.

He usuallly chooses them, mainly because I have a lousy track record - I can't tell you how many DVDs I've picked out that as soon as I bring them home, he says, "We've seen that before." Sometimes he has to watch the first few minutes of the movie to discover we've seen it before, but it's happened many times.

But his lousy track record is for the number of bad movies he's chosen - usually if there's no one in it we've ever heard of, it's a clue it might be bad. But sometimes he forgets that the description on the cover of the DVD is designed to make it sound good even if it's a bomb. "There's no stars in this one, but it looks really good." Yeah, right.

My point today is how I've noticed the running theme of many movies we've recently watched - the dilemma of moral consciousness.

Have you seen "Gone Baby Gone" with Casey Affleck, Ben's younger brother? It is excellent - but everyone I've talked to about it has said the same thing - "I loved it except for the ending." I won't ruin the ending for anyone, but it's about a very difficult decision someone has to make and whether or not he/she follows his/her moral code. And of course, we all have different beliefs and moral codes.

Another great one is "We Own the Night" with Joaquin Phoenix (one of my favorite hotties). It's the story of two brothers - one good and one bad - or is it?

And most recently, we watched "Michael Clayton." An awesome story about several people who are faced with a moral dilemma - who makes the right decision? Who makes the wrong one? It makes you wonder how some people can sleep at night.

So when I'm asked what my favorite type of movie is, my new answer is that it's a story where the main plot includes a moral dilemma, because it's fascinating to see the decisions people make.

So what is your favorite type of movie and why?