In which we impersonate Roger Ebert

i.e. film reviews.

1. Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill (link)
   
   Go. See. Feel. "A love story" pretty much sums it up. Multilayered and magical. Winner of the NCFocus Best Film of All Time award, claws down. Quirky people who find and love their life's work are very cool.
   The black and blue shins are because we are still kicking ourselves for not having tried to get a blog interview with the non-feathered protagonist, shown here onstage at the Del Oro with filmmaker Judy Irving and inspiration Gary Snyder:
   
   (contrary to the photographic evidence, they do all have faces.)
   
   
2. Robots.
   
   Recommended for all ages, although for the cruder bits it probably would have helped to have been between 8 and 14. Good capitalism vs. bad capitalism, which sounds dull, but the dialog is often hilarious and the message is excellent: those who see their customers as a resource to exploit will lose out to those who see them as people to serve.
   (we don't know if it is a true message, but we liked it anyway.)
   There were other take-home messages too; quiz your kids to see how many they can find. A great improvement over some kids' movies we've had the misfortune to buy tickets for, e.g. where the child lies with impunity and mom's reaction is "c'est la vie", although not in so many words.
   (Related: Thoughtful discussion on liberals' and conservatives' views on raising children here, Bush vs. Gore parenting here)