Sexy Lingerie and other unexpected outcomes

This week I needed to buy some lingerie. For a friend. I'm being serious. So on my way home from work, I drove to Rice Village to go to the VS store there. I circled the parking lot for about 15 minutes trying to find a spot. I finally found one all the way on the other side of the shopping center. So I parked and walked back to the store...only to discover a small sign posted on the window.

"Temporarily closed due to water damage."

Grrr. I walk back to my car, struggle through Rice traffic and head over to Highland Village to go to another VS store. I circle the parking lot for only about five minutes this time. Just as I'm walking up to the door I see the saleslady locking it and closing the shop. I missed getting in by one minute. Drat.

Now on to the movie review.

I rented Michael Clayton (not the man, the movie). If you're trying to remember which one that is...George Clooney was in it and nominated for best actor, the film was nominated for best picture and Tilda Swinton won best supporting actress. All of this means that the movie had to be either outstanding or truly terrible.

I was prepared for truly terrible. What I got was outstanding.

Now I have to throw in one caveat: there is a lot of foul language in this movie. And some of it is quite graphic. There's nothing else questionable besides the language, but it was strong enough to be offensive.

Nevertheless, the acting, writing and, above all, the plot were enough to set this movie apart as something truly worth seeing. I think what I liked most about this movie was how it never fell into predictable territory. I kept expecting it to turn into an Erin Brokovich type plot. You know the routine:

'One humble lawyer takes on Corporate America because of his love for the lowly and downtrodden.'

But the movie never went there. Instead, it showed the ugliness and decay of the industry, but without turning into a conspiracy theory. I believed the movie. I felt like the things that happened could really happen, do really happen. And then the full power of the film comes in at the end. It's almost a fist-to-the-stomach moment when everything comes together and it dawns on you what has happened and what it all means.

Stellar.