Pondering The Hereafter

So, PJ had some good Hereafter laughs at the door this past week.

"Madam, you'll find the hereafter behind door number one," he was heard to say.

This conjured up images of the recently departed encountering Monty Hall in some type of after life limbo. Well, let's look what's behind door number two. Oh, my goodness, you've got the goat.

Anyway, after the laughs, he reluctantly plodded into the theater to watch Hereafter. Why, reluctantly, you ask?

Well, simply put, PJ finds Clint Eastwood and Mel Gibson movies dark and depressing. These movies invariably contain brutal scenes graphically depicting rapes, beatings, murders, head bashings, etc.

Clint really disturbed PJ when he let the Million Dollar Baby have her plug pulled. Exhibitors like to send the moviegoers home happy. Clint couldn't let Hillary wiggle a toe or two? He couldn't send us home knowing that though she wouldn't be back in the ring, she would, at least, survive and maybe even walk again?

And Gran Torino! He made such a production of dressing up and getting well groomed for his own funeral.

And then there's Mel. The man is obsessed with torture be it via 12 volt batteries or obsidian razor-sharp-beheading blades.

So, anyway, a resigned PJ, fully expecting to be exposed to pain and more pain, was kind of surprised with Hereafter. Sure, we witnessed a quarter million people die in the Indonesian tsunami, and, yeah, the kid's twin brother is assaulted and killed by a passing car, but what is this, the female lead doesn't die? The mouth-to-mouth works!

What's going on here?

Clint, in a rare and soft moment has her survive after getting a glimpse of the "hereafter," and what follows is actually a rather peaceful movie.

PJ is thinking that maybe Clint is "mellowing," a rather interesting play on words.

If only Mel could mellow. Hmm.