Most of my recent DVD rentals have been letdowns: I had high hopes for The Shooter, but then it descended into a world of left-wing paranoia, in which oil-crazed senators from Montana control death squads in Ethiopia. With Danny Glover in the cast, I probably should have known better. Deja Vu was so silly it put me to sleep. Literally. And I started watching it in the mindset of a person who wanted to see a time-travel thriller. Music and Lyrics was okay, and its sendup of Wham quite funny, but the film was formulaic to a fault.

One pleasant exception: The Bridge to Terabithia, a movie based on a book, and a big hit with my kids on a recent rainy day. When the skies cleared, they took their sidewalk chalk and transformed our driveway into a vision from the movie.