This weekend, I saw three movies in three nights: "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" (Friday, River Park), "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (Saturday, Clovis Mall) and "Recount" (Sunday, my couch in the Tower District).

Here are my thoughts: one was made for fun, one was made for money and one was made because it was a story that needed to be told. I enjoyed all three, but I think my perceptions of the filmmakers' motivations for each one are telling.

"Indiana Jones" returned for the fourth time, 19 years after "The Last Crusade," and it seemed to lack a freshness that came with the previous three. Or, rather, there was no suspense (save that one scene with a snake -- I hate snakes). For $200 million, and countless action sequences, at no point was I afraid that the main characters would be in actual peril -- even when their jeep-boat-thing went down a three-drop waterfall. It was enjoyable, mind you, but it seemed a bit too obvious and predicable throughout. And maybe that's because it was made for its fanbase, which expected the usual shtick.

While I got what I was looking for with "Indy 4," I got more than I expected from "Sarah Marshall" -- or should I say from Marshall (aka the film's writer/star who plays that character on CBS's "How I Met Your Mother")? Jason Segel, who doesn't appear to be afraid of full-frontal male nudity, is the latest member of the Apatow film family to get an unlikely star turn. Segel made a movie that he would enjoy, if he were in the audience.

From "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" to "Knocked Up" to "Superbad," it's clear that audience focus groups were the furthest thing from the creators' minds. (After all, a subplot involving a puppet "Dracula" musical -- which I loved, by the way -- isn't exactly mainstream fare.)

It's a welcome -- albeit crude and raunchy -- trend: don't just give audiences what they're expecting but something new. That's how George Lucas came up with "Star Wars" in the first place, and then followed it up with "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Now, he's recycling himself, hoping to feed the beast that he created. Producer Judd Apatow and his boys don't seem to care what will appeal to mass audiences. And yet, "Virgin," "Knocked" and "Superbad" each grossed more than $100 million at the domestic box office, all the while being criticized for not being family-friendly (aka "bland").

We'll see if the crew's next project, "Pineapple Express," can keep the streak alive, but who am I to poo-poo a formula that has been successful so far?

While Hollywood titans fight over what gets seen at the multiplex, there are other avenues for stories to be told outside the pressures of the theater box office: the home. HBO has gone political this year, following up its seven-part miniseries based on David McCullough's "John Adams" with "Recount," a docudrama detailing the debacle that was those 36 days following the 2000 presidential election. I doubt either fine piece of storytelling and filmmaking shouldered the same burden that "Indiana Jones" and "Sarah Marshall" have to contend with.

That's not to say HBO is a nonprofit operation, but rather -- like the Apatow Family -- the premium cable channel just seems more willing to push boundaries (the "Real Sex" series is just one example) and worry about ratings later. Thus "Recount," a docudrama that could easily be droll to anyone not interested in the subject matter. But that's what HBO is saying with this film: you should care about this story.

In this century, if there were any political episodes about which movies should be made, the Bush v. Gore court battles for the presidency make a good argument to be among the 9/11s, the Iraq wars and the Hurricane Katrinas. For more than a month, this story led the A section in newspapers across the country. And it's fascinating to see the relatively behind-the-scenes players in both campaigns fight to the finish.

"It doesn't get more political than this," Bush team member and HBO's "Adams" alum Tom Wilkinson remarks. While Kevin Spacey, who plays a Gore staffer, says: "The funny things is, I'm not even sure I like Al Gore."

It's almost as though they're just playing a game, but they're scraping it out harder than any professional athlete I've seen on the same TV screen. They're not coasting, as Harrison Ford appears to be doing in his latest effort. And they're not shocking you for the sake of it as Jason Segel is guilty of (at least once, but probably more like seven times) in "Sarah Marshall."

But again, coasting and shocking can be enjoyable, too. There are ways films can speak to us, without pandering to the lowest common denominator.

Um, yeah. That's all I got.