The Road is a post-apocalyptic drama about a father and son trying to survive cold, hunger, and cannibals. It is very powerful. There is an element of hope in the film but overall it is quite depressing. Although I don’t particularly like the movie, I’d classify it as a great film. (Probably my pick for Best Picture of 2009.)

If you’ve been reading this blog for any amount of time, you could probably guess that I love escapist movies. I’d prefer to watch Star Trek over a movie like The Road any day. But sometimes you have to eat your vegetables.

I put movies into three categories.

1. Sweets: For me, 2012 is the equivalent to a Hershey bar. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a marshmellow peep. (I hate peeps.)

2. Steak: I’d classify Iron Man as a sirloin, Star Wars as a New York Strip, and The Shawshank Redemption is a big juicy filet mignon. Mmmm.

3. Vegetables: The Road and Schindler’s List are peas and carrots. Definitely part of a healthy film diet. For me, 2001: A Space Odyssey is on that list as well.

I think it is important as a filmmaker to have a healthy diet of all kinds of film “food”. Too many vegetables and you miss out on all the flavor in the steak. But it’s also good to eat a good candy bar once in a while so you don’t lose touch with the kid inside of you.

What movies do you consider vegetables? And how much of each kind do you “eat”?