It probably wasn’t all my fault that my mind strayed to recollections of Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman during John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt. In fact, if there’s any blame to assign, I think Shanley should share in it.

A National Public Radio commentator recently told his audience that he hoped The Reader will tank, at least in the awards sweepstakes. He was reacting to star Kate Winslet’s fliply ironic comment on an English radio program that appearing in a Holocaust film is a nearly sure-fire way to get honored by awards grantors.

The name isn’t as familiar to the general public as Superman or Spider-Man or Batman, but comic book fans consider the Spirit one of the seminal figures in the genre. He debuted in 1940, the creation of Will Eisner, as a noir prototype, an avenging figure stalking the nighttime streets of a aging city. The Spirit differed from other comic heroes of the time in that he had no powers other than a mysterious resistance to punishment (he is a murdered cop returned to life). He was also a blatant womanizer, and the stories contained a strong dose of humor.

I’m not going to lie: I went to see Valkyrie with my poison quill sharpened.