It was a great weekend for big screens. The Critic's Choice Awards, watched at the gym, were made more appealing from the tentativeness of the Oscar's, and Don Cheadle accepting the innaugeral Joel Siegel award for actors who are also good people. I thought it strange that he accepted an award for using his celebrity to publicize the crisis in Darfur, but didn't use his time at the mic to mention the issue.

Saturday night plans for Juno became plans for a drink and Atonement with Nate + Melissa. Thanks to the exceptional film, I think I've come to terms with Keira Knightly as a real actress (though not a real human; why can't she stop posing her face?).

Beautiful costumes, music, people. cinematography. Stylistically, it seemed to reference multiple Very interesting direction andgenres depending on the purpose of the scene, sometimes Casablanca-classic (McAvoy running after face-posing Knightly as she rides away on a tram), sometimes almost surreal (blood-red-curtained hospital room at night, with whispered conversation about croissants while the nurse re-wraps bandages over a soldier's throbbing brain). Overall, very contemporary, but not overwhelmingly so -- rather than feeling like a 2007 period piece, it is a fairly timeless film set (primarily) in the past.

Keira Knightly's Cecilia Tallis is too flat to form an opinion of, though it doesn't turn me off -- she's mostly forgettable, but not offensive; Briony Tallis is selfishly bitter and misguided, I can'tlike her; and James McAvoy is so wonderful that I did love his Robbie Turner until realizing the character is far too weak a man for me to be comfortable esteeming as a romantic hero. Despite this, I must have felt empathy for them, because I still loved the film. Comparatively, Sweeney Todd's line-up are all just bad people, for whom I felt nothing, and I don't particularly want to see the film ever again. In conclusion: quality film with characters I am ambivalent about is better than quality film with dislikable characters and lots of fake blood.

Then, Sunday, the final big screen of the weekend. Dissatisfied with 46" and imperfect black levels, Brian spent an unspeakable amount (think fabulous Tiffany ring [what?! who put that link there? Can't have been me.]) on a new TV far too large for any other apartment we will move into. We were halfway through constructing the Ikea throne when the King of TVs was delivered. Many cords, much recycling, and some Northlake pizza and pink wine later, we watched Harry Potter -- at least I did; Brian fell asleep halfway through. Apparently while money can buy as much entertainment as one wants, lack of sleep will still still get the better of you.