So we got the white Christmas that we wanted, satisfied our seasonal desires and all�so�it can all go away now. Tacky decorations, cheesy lighting and, especially, the snow. It made its appearance and it can go now. Well�being Canada, I think that�s unlikely to happen. We get snow and lots of it and after almost 49 years you�d think I�d have figured that out.

Enough mitt the weather reports already.

My sister gave me a VHS copy of �Shrek� for Christmas. I love that movie. It�s the best role Eddie Murphy has ever had. The movie is stupid, schmaltzy, and a tad gross in places, but I love it.

We went to see �The Lord of the Rings� a few days ago. It�s big and dark and nasty. I think I really liked it. We�ll have to go again though �cause I missed a few things. I have never read any of the Rings books so I didn�t know what to expect.

I find it an ever increasingly rare event that I can go to a movie and be amazed and left stunned. I remember when I first saw �Goldfinger�, I couldn�t sleep that night I was so excited. (ten years old) I just loved that car. I was so moved by the original �Godfather� that, years later when it came on television, I bought a brand new colour TV just to see it properly. When the original �Star Wars� came along I was speechless. All those incredible special effects.

I don�t know if I�m getting old or just cynical or that maybe today�s films just fail to amaze, but they just don�t make me go oo-ah any more. The latest �Star Wars� didn�t make it for me. �Shrek� was cool because I loved the writing and the animation. So maybe that�s where things are happening � animations.

Don�t get me wrong, I love all kinds of movies. My taste in cinema is just as eclectic as my taste in music. Most of my fav�s are old black and white movies from even before my childhood. Just about anything John Huston ever made is at the top of my list. Also, Hitchcock and Orson Wells. I love �Casablanca�, �The Big Sleep�, �Citizen Kane�. Even the �Misfits� with Marilyn Monroe has some allusion to high art.

It�s getting more and more difficult to find any new American films with any sense of artistic expression, though. The last American filmmaker to my mind that had any artistic sensibility was Francis Ford Coppola � And, for him, that all ended with �Apocalypse Now�. That film was an absolutely brilliant rendition of �Heart of Darkness� but I think it probably sucked the life out of poor Francis.

We�ve always been interested in �foreign� films � particularly French ones (from France). Some favourites are �Guarde a Vue�, �Birgit Haas Must be Killed�, �Cyrano de Bergerac� with Gerard Depardieu and �Mephisto�.

A few nights ago we rented �Indochine� with Catherine Deneuve and �the Horseman on the Roof� or �le Hussard sur le Toi� with Juliette Binoche. �Indochine� was about the last days of French imperialism in what is now called Vietnam. It only became Vietnam after the French were kicked out � and rightfully so � in 1954�or was it 53. I can�t remember. It�s a very scenic movie and extremely critical of the French.

�le Hussard Sur le Toi� takes place in the mid 19th century when Northern Italians were rebelling against Austrian occupation. The Hussard was in hiding in Southern France during a serious outbreak of Cholera. Amidst all that, there�s still beauty and love to be had. How French.

There are so many good films out there that don�t get any or much notice and I could write a book on all the ones I like. Heck, I could fill a good sized phone book with Brit films alone.

But I won�t

Arc