Based on Christopher Bram's 1995 novel (which I have started to read, and so far . . . uh . . . up to about page 24 . . . it's excellent) Father of Frankenstein, Gods and Monsters proposes an intriguing theory about the last days of director James Whale. Ian McKellen plays Whale, and Brendan plays Clay Boone, a gardener who becomes lured into friendship with the ailing geezer. Because others can describe this film better than I can, go to www.godsandmonsters.net. All I can say is, it's one of the best movies I have ever had the pleasure of viewing (and that statement has FAR more significance here than when I apply it to, oh, say Airheads), and if you can find it at your local video store, rent it rent it rent it! The guy at my video store reccomends it just as highly as I do, and it's a popular selection as well. Gods and Monsters has been among the top ten rentals for the past few weeks. If G&M is not available in your area, ask your video store to order it, and tell them about the top ten figures!

I actually got to see Gods and Monsters before its official theatrical release because it was featured at the Boston Film Festival (that's what the BFF on the ticket indicates). My poor sainted mother drove into Boston's back bay area to take me to watch it on a Sunday morning. After desperately scrounging for parking, and after racing around Copley Place (which is sort of a mall stuffed in the two top floors of a ten story building) for twenty minutes searching for the elusive Loews Theater Copley Place, we located our destination and settled down to enjoy, at long last (for it had been over a year since good ol' George of the Jungle), a new Brendan movie. It was all worth it.