Movies recently passing through our DVD player that I saw for the first time:

• My Neighbor Totoro (perfect little movie; I want a catbus)
• Howl’s Moving Castle (awe-inspiring but a bit incoherent)
• March of the Penguins (noisy, noisy penguins; behind the scenes is actually stronger than the sanitized main film)
• Good Night, and Good Luck (claustrophobic in scale and focus; lots of smoking; eerily allegorical to current political discourse)
• Stand-in (an early Bogart in a supporting role behind Leslie Howard)
• Only Angels Have Wings (my first exposure to Howard Hawks, I think; an early Cary Grant)
• Madagascar (delightful; far better than expected; Sacha Baron Cohen’s a show-stealer)

On a related note, in response to Jason’s post about this list of 102 must-see movies, alas, my count is only 40 — but not the same 40 as Jason: my 40 are probably more obscure and older than most others’.

Update, May 8: Added Good Night, and Good Luck; I forgot about it earlier.