After taking a break from hockey to see The Ides of March – directed by George Clooney and starring Ryan Gosling (more about this below) I next saw Goon, a comedic take on The Last Gladiators that I feared would be in really bad taste but which turned out to be insightful and oddly powerful in light of having just been through the Chris Nilan story. This movie is directed by Michael Dowse (FUBAR and FUBAR 2) and written by and starring Jay Baruchel (The Trotsky and Tropic Thunder) promised to be very funny and off centre and it lived up to its promises. The story is actually based on a real life minor league enforcer so it actually has some depth of character and plot (not too deep mind you). I decided to hold it to the standard of Slap Shot – the classic Paul Newman hockey flick and it more than met the challenge. It is now my favourite hockey movie. It will be in theatres shortly and I urge those who loved The Trotsky and Tropic Thunder to go see it. A warning, however, it does not hold back on the violence of the fighting scenes or our baser appetite for fights in hockey and the beer drinking that follows. Oh… if you have not seen The Trotsky or Tropic Thunder – see them as well. Baruchel is crazy brilliant in that order.