Master and Commander

Loved it, and not just because the French get it in the neck. It's our modern-day man's man, Russell Crowe playing an ocean-going version of Captain Kirk (without the overacting), full-circle in that Kirk was based on Horatio Hornblower. It's violent, but the worst stuff takes place just off-screen. If you can't stand a little ketchup, go see Sylvia instead, or the latest Hugh Grant pap.

Funny, Hollywood can't stand to give us the war we're actually fighting, but they show up with four war pictures this winter: Master and Commander, The Last Samurai, Cold Mountain, and, if you count it, Return of the King. They dare not speak the name of the enemy we face, but they do somehow seem to sense that people understand we are at war.