The Curious Movie

So, we watched "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" the other night. I had really been looking forward to it because I love F. Scott Fitzgerald and I had recently read the short story this movie is "based" on.

The only similarities are the name of the main character and the fact that he ages backwards. I am not kidding or exaggerating. That's it. If they had given the character a different name, they wouldn't even have had to credit Fitzgerald at all.

Having said that, I really enjoyed the movie. I loved the acting and the story was interesting. The love story didn't ring true with me, but maybe that's because it wasn't what I was expecting. And the makeup in this movie is incredible. Whoever made Brad Pitt look 20 again is more than welcome to come over and give me a few tips!

All in all, I would recommend this movie for one viewing. I don't think I'm likely to watch it again, but it was a pleasant way to spend three hours.

I am thoroughly entertained

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. We got a lot of work done around the house and had some relaxing time as well.

My dad is lending me his USB turntable, with which I can transfer all my old records into MP3s. I cannot tell you how excited I am. All those records I collected when I was a kid (you remember, those round black vinyl things?) can now be enjoyed once again! The down side is that I have to sit here while it's recording and separate the tracks. But that's okay - I'm enjoying it.

The other thing I've discovered is Netflix. Well, I wouldn't say discovered so much as received a free month and figured I'd better use it before it expires. Back when we joined this before they didn't have instant movies available on the computer. How cool is that? I might be spending way too much time online in the very near future. Maybe I can watch movies while I transfer my old records! Oh, bliss!

Movie Monday

This Movie Monday I want to talk about some really BAD movies I watched this weekend. We spent the whole weekend sick in bed, so we had plenty of movie-watching time. I highly recommend that you SKIP the following films.

The City of Ember - While very family-friendly, nothing much really happened in this movie. Right about the time I thought they were finally going to a have a good, rollicking adventure, the movie ended. It takes so much time setting up the background and introducing the characters that there's no time left for the interesting stuff. Also, a lot of things go totally unexplained. One character asks how the bugs and moles got so large, and then they just never tell you. Overall, I was bored.

The Invisible - This is supposed to be a suspense/action movie, a race-against-the-clock sort of a deal. A teenager is going to die if they don't find him quickly enough. So why do they waste so much time doing almost nothing? Time drags on and on, and you just know in real life the kid would be dead. And then there's a sort of weird love story angle that never really pans out. I just kept yelling, "Come on!" Very hard to watch.

The Messengers - Who exactly are the messengers? They never tell you. This scary movie has its share of startle-you-out-of-your-seat moments, but other than that it's pretty lame. They never really explain how the bad guy doesn't happen to know he's the bad guy (until it's convenient to the plot for him to "remember"). The teenage girl is just stupid. I mean, I'd move into a tent in the back yard rather than go back into that house again. And if the ghosts were after the bad guy, why did they keep attacking the innocent family? Totally dumb movie.

The Game Plan - Another movie about a tough guy man's man who finds out he has a little daughter and by the end of the movie he's a cute, squishy, ballet-dancing, fingernail-painting fool. One or two cute scenes surrounded by hours of boredom.

Movie Monday

Welcome to Movie Monday, when I randomly select a DVD I own and review it for you. This week, I've chosen a movie I watched while I was recovering last week, because I enjoyed it just as much this time as I did the first time I saw it.

She's the Man stars Amanda Bynes. The movie is roughly based on Twelfth Night, which happens to be my favorite Shakespeare play, and that's why I bought it. Bynes plays Viola, who masquerades as her twin brother Sebastian so she can play on the boys' soccer team. Of course, it's a boarding school, and she has to room with the gorgeous Duke (played by Channing Tatum), and ends up with a crush on him.

Meanwhile, Duke has a crush on Olivia, who likes Sebastian, who is really Viola! Confused yet? It sounds confusing, but what it adds up to is comic hilarity at its best. When Viola's roommate sees tampons in her bag, she is stuck coming up for an explanation. "I get nosebleeds," she says in her boy voice. Then she proceeds to demonstrate how to use them. One of the funniest scenes ever!

My favorite line in the movie is, well, anytime Viola tries to say things she thinks guys would say. "Suck it up! Be a man! Rub some dirt in it!" She just plays the part to perfection. I highly recommend this movie for lots of laughs.

If you'd like to join in, choose a movie you own and tell me three things: why you bought it, what's it about, and what's your favorite line. Happy Monday!

Movie Monday - the beginning

While watching a new movie the other night, it occurred to me that it would be fun to go through my video library and review the films on my shelf. Not only would this give me a chance to watch the ones I've bought and not viewed yet, but it might give you people with Netflix accounts something to do, and the rest of you some good ideas for what to rent and what to avoid at the video store.

So, without further ado, I present {TRUMPET FANFARE} Movie Monday! I hope you'll join in and post about your favorite movie, either in the comments or on your own blog. If enough people join in, I'll even make a spiffy little graphic.
Today's movie is The Princess Bride. I'm choosing this because I just watched it last night. Now, honestly, if you haven't seen this movie, run out and buy it right now. Don't bother renting it because you're going to want to watch it again and again.

Told as a fairy tale read by a grandfather to his sick grandson, The Princess Bride is the story of Buttercup and Westley, their love, and the obstacles they face before they can be together. This movie also has some of the most interesting supporting characters ever. Who could forget: "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." There are so many great lines in this movie, I couldn't pick one as my favorite. Superbly well-written by the same man who wrote the book, this movie is supremely quotable.

But, like the grandfather says in the beginning, this story has something for everyone. Sword fights, danger, humor, and more humor, and a beautiful romance. Girls will love it. Boys will love it. Adults will love it.

So, what's your favorite quote from The Princess Bride? What's that - you don't have one? INCONCEIVABLE!!

Unexpected delight

I am a big fan of Steve Carell, so when I saw that the movie The 40 Year Old Virgin was playing on Oxygen the other night, I recorded it.

Now, I expected it to be raunchy, and it was. I expected the foul language, and in its original, not edited-for-tv form it has PLENTY. But what I didn't expect was the wonderful message this movie delivers.

The main character, Andy, spends the whole movie being teased by his friends because he's a virgin. And even though he has several opportunities during the movie, he stays that way right up until the end. What happens at the end? He gets married - and THEN he gets to "know" her.

Did you hear me? They waited until they got married! Not only that, but the movie does an excellent job of showing all the negative things that can happen when people don't wait until they're married. I was truly shocked. Who would have expected this from Hollywood?

Now, I'm certainly not recommending you go rent this, especially not if foul language and nudity in movies bothers you. But if it happens to be on tv in its edited form again, try to catch it.

Oh, and the Hair parody at the end - just priceless!

Some movies I've seen recently

Fake Quote of the Day:

"I know a good movie when I see it." - E. Wood

I've watched a few movies recently that I thought were worthy of comment. We have the Encore set of movie channels that comes with our digital package, so we have the opportunity to catch lots of "new" movies about two years after they hit the theater.

We watched Invincible a couple of weeks ago. I highly recommend this movie. Not only is it a true story, it's told with lots of heart and is well-acted. And for me to say that I liked a football movie, you know it has to be good. It's also the first football movie I've seen that makes playing football look like a tough job, which I liked.

The other night we saw The Night Listener. Awful. Just awful. The audience is deliberately misled in the beginning, and it just gets worse from there. Don't even watch this if you're a Robin Williams fan.

Then there's The Guardian. Now, this could have been a good movie. But it had some major problems. First of all, there's no clear beginning. And then there's no clear ending. And then there's all the stuff in between. I had the privilege of studying screenwriting with a bona fide professional and I can tell you she would rip this script apart. But the story itself is enjoyable and life-affirming and worth watching. So this one gets a mixed review. Watch it if you're an Ashton Kutcher fan.

Fight Club. Now this is one screwed up movie. If you can stand the blood and violence, it's worth watching. Though I have to admit Hubby and I figured out the secret very shortly into the film and weren't surprised at all when it was "revealed." Still, it was interesting.

My favorite recent film was The Prestige. We figured out the big secret only a few moments before it was revealed. Hubby loved it because Nicola Tesla was in it, among other reasons. I just thought it was brilliant. Watch it, then watch it again. Because you'll want to.

What movies have you enjoyed recently?

Cultural Literacy

Years ago I got a book called Cultural Literacy by E.D.Hirsch. It contains all those little things you should have learned in school, but might not have, or that you learned and have now forgotten. The idea behind the book is that there are so many references in everyday life to events, people, places, artwork, and literature of world history that anyone not familiar with them ends up being culturally illiterate.

I remember at the time I read it thinking, "This is all well and good, but where's the entertainment category?" People reference popular entertainment of the past all the time without even thinking about it, but if you've never seen that movie or heard that song, it goes right over your head. I was reminded of this recently when my kids listened to a radio play which was a sort of parody of The Wizard of Oz. They had no idea. They had never seen it.

So yesterday, we sat down and watched The Wizard of Oz. They enjoyed it tremendously and we had fun seeing it together. Right after that, since we're heading to Disney in a couple of weeks, we watched Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. And guess what the kids say right after they get shrunk? "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto." Funny, huh?

What's your favorite expression that comes from a movie or television show of the past?

But what was he happy ABOUT?

We seem to have fallen right into the swing of school this year. That's definitely a good sign. I think all my preparation paid off. Even on a day like today, when we went to the last free movie of the summer at our local theater, we still came home and got all our work done. Excellent.

The movie was Happy Feet. All I can say about this movie is that it was cute. There were a couple of laughs. For the most part, I just kept feeling like the plot meandered in too many directions. I mean, what's the conflict here? It seemed there were three or four things that all could have been the main conflict, and the plot kept moving around those things without making any of them the most important. I really liked the combination of live actors with the animation, but other than that, I don't think I'd watch it again.

Free movies are a good thing.

Scary stories

The other night, I was watching the movie When a Stranger Calls, which is just a variation on that old campfire story about the girl who keeps getting phone calls while she's alone babysitting, and when the police trace the call, "The call is coming from inside the house!" I actually really liked the movie, because it didn't have any blood and guts. When you see the two dead people, they're just dead. Most of the movie is the fun kind of jump-when-the-music-swells suspense. I like that.

Anyway, this movie got me thinking about all those scary tales we used to tell each other at slumber parties. You know, when you'd hold a flashlight under your chin and tell tales guaranteed to make your friends jump and squeal? Many of them have become urban legends ("..and when he got out to open her car door, there was a hook hanging from the door handle!!"), others have become movies.

My favorite one ends with the line "Humans can lick hands, too." Brr! Gives me the cold shivers, just like a good scary story should. (If you don't know the story, email me). What's your favorite scary story?

Review - POTC 3: At World's End

Remember Back to the Future? If you're old enough, you remember the excitement of the second and third movies being filmed simultaneously, and knowing at the end of the second movie that the third was imminent. Remember how great the second movie was, and then how lame the third one was? I'm feeling much the same way about Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

If you've been around here much in the last year, you know I'm a big fan of the Pirates franchise. I loved the first movie, and I thought the second one really lived up to my expectations, as far as what should happen, how the characters acted, etcetera. This third one, I came out of the theater wanting a do-over. Like, maybe give the writers a second chance and they could come up with something better. It was, as Marty McFly would say, heavy.

I don't know if the writers were under too much pressure, or if they just ran out of ideas. First off, the references back to the first two movies struck me as lame. For example, characters randomly mentioning sea turtles for no real reason was apparently supposed to be funny, but just fell flat. And attempting to fit the "why is the rum gone?" theme in by having them ask, "Why is all BUT the rum gone?" just came across as forced.

This movie also moved from the realm of fantasy into the much-less-enjoyable realm of mythology. Suddenly, we have a sea goddess trapped in human form, and major strings attached to Will's mission to stab the heart of Davy Jones (and why do I always think of the Monkees when I hear that?). We also have the bizarre locale of "The Locker," where Jack has been sent. The whole scene there bored me, when it was obviously supposed to be funny. The only part of the mythological aspect I liked was the boats going past, but only because it advanced the plot.

And then there is the ending. SO depressing! It's definitely been left open for a fourth film, but two of the main characters are effectively out of the picture. There is a darkness about the whole film, from the beginning in Singapore to the very end. And yet, the plot lacks a truly evil bad guy. Jones, Beckett, Norrington, Barbossa, Calypso, and even Jack and Will, play the bad guy at various points in the movie, but none of them are the really nasty bad guy you can't wait to see suffer. As a result, no one is truly good and heroic either. You can't have a true hero if you don't have true evil.

Now for the positive. I loved the action sequences. The special effects are magnificent, especially the maelstrom sequence. Though again this smacked of the mythological, since it is obviously not physically possible. The acting is superb. Certain aspects of the plot, for example what happens with Will's father, are very nicely resolved. And the opening for the next movie is sheer brilliance. Perhaps they can return to the fun, fantasy world created in the first two movies.

If you haven't already seen it, wait for the DVD. Unless you are a die-hard fan like me.

What does the PG in PG-13 mean?

This morning on a box of sugary kids' cereal, I noticed an ad for Spider-Man 3. It got me thinking: why do PG-13 movies get advertised to little kids? I mean, it's one thing to have ads on television, but when they put toys in Happy Meals or cereal, which you know no self-respecting 13 year old is going to admit to eating, they have to know who the target audience is.

And that got me thinking that they wouldn't waste money on advertising and promotion if they knew it wouldn't pay off. Which means that there are parents who let their six-to-twelve year olds go see these movies. And I just don't get that. My oldest son will be 11 in July, and even though I would love to share some of my favorite movies with him, I don't. Movies like the first Spider-Man, while fun, are also very scary, and have a fair amount of violence. Even my beloved Pirates is just too intense for him (though in its favor there is no bad language).

I know that a lot of the movies I watched as a child and teenager were rated PG, when today they'd probably be PG-13. But I was forbidden to see R movies, even on video. And that is as it should be. Why are people so anxious for their kids to grow up? I knew someone a few years ago who let her five-year-old watch the Indiana Jones movies and Harry Potter movies. My son still hasn't seen those.

Maybe I'm just over-protective. I won't argue that I'm not. But I think that the world could benefit from a lot more over-protectiveness and a lot less 8-year-olds watching people kill each other.