Here are some more of the movies I saw over the past three days:

Cadillac Records Another movie set in the 1950s with lots of beautifully restored cars. This was set in Chicago, where a junk man (Adrien Brody) founded Chess Records and launched the careers of Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, and Etta James played by Beyonce Knowles. I'm always a little suspicious of movies where the actors are also producers (Beyonce), but it was okay. It was a little hard to follow with Adrien Brody mumbling around, or maybe enough wasn't made of it, but it looked to me like the record producer was paying his artists with Cadillacs and when they asked for cash, he pointed out to them that cars aren't free.

By the time Chuck Berry came along Muddy Waters was no longer selling records, so in one scene Mr. Chess told the accountant to pay 10% of Chuck's royalties to Muddy Waters, so I think a lot of cooking the books was going on, and eventually (especially in those little written summaries before the credits roll) we are told that the artists sued a lot of white artists for stealing their work, including Chuck Berry successfully suing the Beach Boys for the tune of Surfin' USA. I did enjoy the songs and Beyonce did a good job singing.

The Wrestler
This is the movie where Mickey Rourke plays a washed-up wrestler. It's really true to life as I can imagine it would be, spending $900 on steroids, and living in a crummy trailer right on the edge of bankruptcy. I'm not a big fan of boxing and wrestling movies, watching people abuse their bodies, but in between those scenes it was a better movie than I expected. Marisa Tomei plays a stripper who is getting on in years, although she still looks great in my opinion, middle-aged guys are turning her down for lap dances, preferring younger strippers. This isn't a light-hearted movie in case you were wondering.

Doubt
Starring Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman, I watched this movie twice because the first time I was trying to figure out if it was about a scary dragon lady nun, or was it about priests molesting altar boys. Well, I didn't spend the whole movie trying to figure it out, but maybe a few minutes thinking How refreshing, it's not going to be about bad priests, but that is exactly what it was about. Sr. Aloysius played by Meryl Streep is a delight with her dry humor and practical solutions. This movie was made from a stage play, so it focuses more on relationships and people talking to each other than on fabulous sets or exterior shots or car chases.

Bride Wars
A piece of fluff about two best friends who end up with their weddings being held simultaneously at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. It wasn't horrible, but I wouldn't watch it again if it came on free TV.

Pride and Glory
The Netflix description: "A corruption scandal fractures a family of New York City cops in this generational drama about homicide detective Ray Tierney (Edward Norton), who's tasked with investigating a precinct run by his brother (Noah Emmerich). As if that weren't enough, Ray's fellow officer and best friend (Colin Farrell) may turn out to be dirty."

Okay, keep in mind that I don't get out much: somehow I got the impression that Mark Wahlburg was in this movie so I spent most of it marveling at what a good actor he must be because whatever role he had, he certainly didn't look anything like I remembered him from The Departed. This usually happens to me while watching movies starring Angelina Jolie - it's not until 3/4 through that those big lips finally get through to me and I realize that's her. It's not a bad way to go through life, kind of goofy and vague, because it's so much fun finally figuring it out.

Hotel for Dogs
This is a good movie for 12 year old and younger kids. The story line was a little far-fetched for me, but that's okay. There were a lot of different dog actors so if you like dogs, you might enjoy watching them make their marks. I always get anxious when animals are in peril, so that kept me occupied. My favorite part was the end credits where all the people who worked on the movie appeared with their dogs. One guy had birds, one woman had a snake, and one guy had a black and white short hair cat, which as you can imagine refused to sit nicely for the camera.