Good vs. evil vs. okay vs. bad vs...

Couple of morality plays in my fiction of late:

• First of all, if you haven't seen Gridiron Gang yet and are at all in favor of football movies, rehabilitation of criminal youth, or "gripping tales of the triumph of the human spirit" as featherynscale put it, I strongly encourage you to catch this before it goes out of the theaters entirely. I saw it several weeks (okay, maybe a month) ago and while I did go in with low expectations, I was quite pleased. Given my background in working with criminally adjudicated teenagers, it should come as no surprise to folks that I cried three times. Nice flick; very realistic and based on a true story, which never sucks. I think I'll wait until they release the original documentary and the film in a joint pack before picking up the DVD, though.
  
• The Depahhted, on the other hand, is not especially realistic but it is especially... Scorsese. Mark Wahlberg actually probably gets the best role in the film, and Nicholson chews the scenery a bit too much for my tastes, but the Mafiaesque turns of plot are delicious if you like your movies with a little heft to them. As one might imagine, though, not for the sqeamish. Also, plugging your ears/going to the bathroom/making out with your date during any and all scenes involving the female "psychiatrist" will improve your experience, in the opinion of all three of us that went to see it. Scorsese still can't write any female characters who are neither women nor whores to save his life.
  
• Finally, an interesting-yet-awful duology by Jacqueline Carey called "The Sundering" (Banewreaker and Godslayer, respectively) takes the standard Tolkien mythos and turns it on its head, with a sympathetic Dark Lord and minions, and truly unlikeable "good guys". She could have done a MUCH better job of creating her own names for people/places/things (there's not even a good "spot the reference" game in this series, it's too transparent), but the idea is compelling enough to keep me reading. "If all that is good considers you evil - are you?"

Catch a Fire is next on the what's-good-what's-evil list, I think... some sort of motif...thingy going down, seems like. Of course, after that Casino Royale is next on my list, which is a tad bit more straightforward...