1. Rambo: I didn’t come into the theater with terribly high expectations. The last Rambo film (III) was awful, and I wasn’t sure how an older Rambo taken out of his Cold War context would be any better. However, the film accomplishes Slyvester Stallone’s goal of achieving some measure of closure for the series. We finally do see Rambo coming home (to Arizona, of all places!) If you can stomach the truckloads of genre cliches and exploding bodies, Rambo is worth at least a DVD rental. 
2. There Will Be Blood:  A flawed masterpiece. Very atmospheric, reminding me at times of Antonioni’s The Passenger and L’Avventura.  I felt that critics overrated Daniel Day-Lewis’ performance–the real pleasure is watching newcomer Paul Dano as boy preacher/huckster Eli Sunday. All in all, a great combination of oil, greed, and religious fanaticism–this time in turn of the century California. 
3. Persepolis: Despite the rather depressing subject matter (the coming of age of a young girl in revolutionary Iran), Persepolis never feels like a downer. It is as boisterous, defiant, and scattered as its Abba-listening protagonist. My only complaint is that the black-and-white animation doesn’t really convey the storyline’s full emotional depth.