Last Thursday night (1/24/2008) I caught the one-night-only showing of the movie "Spirit of the Marathon". If you are a runner, go see this movie. If you know someone who runs and you think they are crazy, go see this movie. (They've added an encore showing on 2/21/2008)
The movie follows six people who are training for the 2005 Chicago Marathon. Two are professional athletes, two have run the Chicago marathon previously (one of them wants to qualify for Boston) and the other two runners are marathon novices. You get to see their training up close and follow them through the ups and downs. One of the professional athletes is Deena Kastor, an American who won the Bronze medal in the marathon from the last Olympics. In her second week of training, she runs 145 miles - around what I run in a month. She gets the official "bad-ass runner" label from me...
The cinematography on race day is great - lots of shots of the course, the individual runners and good history throughout on marathons in general (guest cameos by people like Paula Radcliffe, Amby Burfoot, Alberto Salazar, etc. Lots of familiar names if you read Runner's World). Adrenaline pumping finishes by the two professional runners and a strong sense of pride for the four non-professional folks (after my tough CIM run, I could really relate to one of the runners :-))
Definitely check it out if you get a chance.