Executive produced by Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me), and directed by Matt Ogens, Meet the Hitlers is a documentary that examines the relationship between names and identity, by exploring the lives of people linked by the name “Hitler”, a name that still has power and influence over people’s lives, 70 years after the Nazi leader’s death.

This is seven stories in one: a socially awkward man in Germany who is determined that he is the only living relative of Adolf Hitler; an utterly normal teen-aged girl with a variant spelling of the name (Hittler), who is proud of her name and not at all defensive about it; an immigrant carpenter from Ecuador whose father gave him the first name of “Hitler” because he wanted his son to be unique; an older man who seems to carry the name lightly, but whose daughters had to endure taunting and bullying because of it; a neo-Nazi in New Jersey whose naming of his son “Adolf Hitler” led to a child welfare investigation and ultimately the seizure of all his children, all of whom had names honoring Nazi leaders; a photographer who has decided to devote the remainder of his life to mocking Adolf Hitler through his photographs; and finally, three brothers in New York State who are nephews of the Nazi leader through their father, Adolf’s half-brother William Patrick Hitler, and who are bound together by a heartbreaking pact.

Full disclosure: I knew nothing about this Marvel character before this movie came out and probably would have had no interest except for one very enthusiastic colleague.  I have watched several Marvel movies in the Avengers storyline, but Deadpool is a total departure from that.  It is profane, sexual, extremely violent, and very, very funny.  Apologies to Tony Stark, but in a battle of quips between him and Deadpool, Iron Man loses.  It’s not even close.

Wade Wilson, played by Ryan Reynolds, is living his perfect life as a street-level mercenary/vigilante, with his extremely hot girlfriend Vanessa, played by Morena Baccarin.  Things come crashing when he is diagnosed with multiple advanced cancers.  Desperate to find a cure, he turns to a shady organization and gets far more than he bargained for.  While he is cured beyond all expectations, he is also badly disfigured.  Ashamed of his appearance, he avoids further contact with Vanessa while hunting down the man he believes can reverse his disfigurement.

From opening sequence to post-credit teaser, this movie excels.  Highly recommended for Marvel fans who like their characters a little saltier.

Stanley Milgram was a psychologist who is most famous for conducting an experiment in obedience to authority.    His subjects were led to believe that they were part of an experiment studying the effectiveness of punishment in education.  They were told to administer ever-stronger electric shocks to another individual any time he gave an incorrect answer to a question.  Despite their discomfort, and despite hearing grunts of pain and protestations from the other room, many continued to shock the other individual up to the maximum of 450 volts.  Some objected part way through but were calmly told to continue, and most did (BTW, the individual being “shocked” was part of Milgram’s team, there were no actual electric shocks and the grunts and protestations were all pre-recorded).

Starring Peter Sarsgaard and Winona Ryder, Experimenter, through the nearly continuous breaking of the “fourth wall” by the Milgram character, tells the story of what motivated him to conduct such an experiment and the controversy surrounding the results and the methodology.  He conducted other, unrelated experiments, but always found himself returning to the obedience experiment, publishing a book on it 13 years after the original experiment in 1961.  This experiment has had such an impact, that it is referenced even now whenever new atrocities are uncovered.