On Friday night Daisy went off to a sleepover.

(Oh, great God of Sleepovers, how I do worship and love thee. So benevolent. So magnificent. So nookie-enabling.)

The wife and I had an entire evening to kill so we decided to go see a movie. I had watched a good portion of the Oscars earlier that week and had been dismayed by the tiny percentage of nominees that I had actually seen. In fact, if you excluded animated flicks, I had not seen a single movie nominated for any of last year's Oscar. Gah.

We considered movies like The Departed (winner for Best Picture), but that didn't seem like it necessarily required a big screen. We might as well rent that one. After careful consideration, we settled on Pan's Labyrinth. This seemed like the best choice for several reasons

• Won multiple Oscars (Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Most Pretentiousness)
• Would benefit from being seen on a big screen
• Lets us pretend that we still appreciate big city culture

We had both been wary of this movie because it didn't really fit the profile of entertainment that we typically enjoy. Neither Hank nor I really enjoys scary or depressing movies, but this flick seemed somewhat grounded in the world of fantasy, and the critical reviews were astounding, so we made an exception.

Well, we all make mistakes.

As it turns out, I am undeniably shallow. I want the sympathetic characters in the movies I see to have some possible reason to live or way to enjoy life. I'm not demanding that every movie be sunshine, dipped in chocolate, and topped off with a blowjob, but I need a reason to be optimistic. I'm ok with a sad ending, but please don't make the whole journey depressing.

I don't want to see romantic comedies where the entire movie is an inevitable slog towards cutesy displays of public affection, but nor am I interested in cinematic experiences where I must constantly consider whether it's inappropriate to snack on candy while watching a man get his leg sawed off. I'm picky that way.

I think I'll go watch The Daily Show now.