Armchair Critic....some movies

I've been looking at some movies here recently and have read two books so I will give you my opinions.

New Moon....second of the Twilight series. I'm not a fan. I got the first movie out of curiosity because I did not read any of the books. I didn't care for the first movie that much, finding too many mistakes in it (which is a past-time of mine....looking for errors that the directors should find. ) Anyway I got the first movie and it wasn't horrible, but it wasn't good either. My granddaughter, however, loved it. So I got the second movie for her more than anything. It was even worse than the first one. Actually, this one made the first one seem excellent by comparison. They leave you totally hanging at the end....making it a movie with no ending. A shameless promotion to keep buying their movies to find out what's next. It's reminiscent of a TV soap opera. My advice is not to waste your money. However, they are so popular.....I can't understand exactly why....but their popularity seems to hold.

Then I watched The Blind Side with Sandra Bullock. I hesitated with this one because I thought it was all about football and it really wasn't. I guess it was about the capacity to love more than anything. Based on an honest to God true story with actual pictures of the people involved at the ending, its a movie well worth your time. It was excellent and I can understand why Sandra Bullock won the award for this one. You won't be sorry you watched it and will want to see it again.

Next up is The Princess and the Frog. OMG.....what a delightful movie! Its just as much for adults as it is for kids. Lots of music and feel-good scenarios. The plot line is a good one too. There is one small sad part that very young kids may tear up over so use your own judgment over whether it may be too sad for your child. Its the death of a firefly, one that plays a pretty prominent part in the movie but they even turn that into a feel-good occurrence. This is another great movie.....another Disney one, of course.

Then there is Sherlock Holmes. You know Robert Downey Jr. is an excellent actor and you either love him or hate him in movies. The original Sherlock was always quite droll but never really got himself involved in anything strenuous or any kind of fighting other than using his wit and intelligence. Sherlock has been reinvented. I like this new Sherlock.....a lot. He's not only super intelligent but he can hold his own in a fight too. There are bits of humor here and there that make his character and Jude Law's Dr. Watson most likable. The movie was very good and I really liked the fact that everything was explained.....how the crime was committed or how the escape was managed...etc. I think they are on to something here and I hope that many more Sherlock movies grace our screens. I don't think you'll be sorry for watching this one at all.

The last movie is an old one. I don't know how I missed this one. I had read the book but somehow managed to miss the movie. It, too, stars Sandra Bullock, along with Samuel L. Jackson, Matthew McConaughey, Ashley Judd and Kevin Spacey. A Time To Kill. This is a powerful movie that revolves around the attempt murder and rape of a 10 yr old black girl in the deep south, Mississippi. It causes all sorts of problems as the perpetrators are two white men who are caught and must face justice for their crime. This movie is not for the younger set, obviously. It will leave you changed...... I know it will affect people differently, depending on your background and where you are from. It has a message to deliver. A powerful one. It made me cry and I'm not sorry I watched it.

The books I read are Breathless by Dean Koontz and A Dog's Life, An Autobiography of a Stray by Ann M. Martin. Breathless was just ok as far as I'm concerned. Koontz has certainly written much better books but this one was light reading and ended upbeat while basically setting itself up for more stories to come based along these same lines and/or the same characters. A Dog's Life was good. It was easy and fast reading, meant basically for the younger set (10 and up) , I'm sure. It intrigued me because it was the story of a dog's life told from her point of view, she was the narrator of the story. Anyone who is an animal lover will love this book. You can finish it in a day.

Well, that's it. Hope I was able to help you out if you were wondering about certain movies or these two books. I have pre-ordered Avatar so I will be watching that when its released. I hope its as good as I've heard that it is. Have a great up-coming week everyone. And....of course.....remember to ......Keep Smilin'!!

Time for Mischief.....

I've talked about my old neighborhood and the close relationship I had with a bunch of my neighbors there before. The other night I was thinking about them and this memory popped into my head. I hadn't thought about this in years!

In November of every year, most men get out their weapons and head for the woods so they can rough it for a few days hunting deer. They don't wash or shave (they want to blend with nature so it won't scare the deer.....at least that's the excuse they tell us) and probably don't change their underwear or socks either during this time. I'm not even sure they brush their teeth and I don't even want to know. Anyway, the wives of these 'great white hunters' also look forward to them leaving. I don't know what a lot of the wives did, but in our little circle of friends in our neighborhood where every man was gone....we women had a ball. We ordered dinner out and in some cases even had it delivered. We had get-togethers at each other's homes and we played cards, drank, cussed and generally had fun. We slept in, watched what we wanted on TV and took up the entire bed, loving every inch of it. For the most part it was all good innocent fun.

Now this story takes place back in the early 60's. Most of us women were pretty darned innocent. I think I was just 21 years old, if that. You have to remember that society, in general, was pretty prudish then. The movies on TV as well as the box office did not have a lot of swearing and never EVER the F-word. Now....all of us had heard about these so-called secret movies called smokers. None of us had ever seen any or even knew anyone who had seen any. It was a guy thing....it was p.o.r.n. Curious? You bet. We all were. Well, for THIS hunting season one of the girls had a real treat for us....or should I say "reel". She said her brother, who lived with them but who had also gone hunting, had a couple reels of smokers.....and she found them in his room. We all put our heads together....one of the other girls had a movie projector. There were no VHS tapes back then....or at least not in my circle of acquaintances. We decided we would meet at my house because I was the only one who didn't have kids at the time.

The night of the 'showing', they all brought snacks, their choice of alcoholic beverage, wore comfy clothes, and the ones who needed it had babysitters at their houses....we were ready. The one with the projector showed up and set it up and it wasn't until then that she said what are we going to show these on. I didn't have any wall space that was suitable.....and we wanted a good view! Someone suggested a sheet thrown over the traverse curtain rod....so we did that after first closing the drapes. We turned off the lights and settled in for the show.

The movies were old 8 mm, black and white. They were so faded and such poor quality you could hardly see anything......probably they were copies of copies of copies....well, you get the idea. Anyway the plot line lacked imagination big time. Woman's husband out of town, she orders pizza....pizza guy delivers, she answers door with next to nothing on and before you know it they are in the bedroom and she's moaning and groaning like you would never believe. The more we drank, the funnier it became. Each movie was rather short, maybe 25 or 30 minutes, hard to remember now. I can't remember how many movies she had....maybe 2, maybe 3, but we watched them several times each, laughing harder each time.

I don't know who now.....I guess the shock from the realization sort of emptied my memory banks a little....but one of the girls went outside for some reason....maybe for some fresh air.... and she came back in, wide-eyed and terrified. At her news, we all ran outside and looked. Seems as though the movie was showing right through my picture window (even though the drapes were closed) and from outside it was like being at a drive-in theater. We all were half drunk, half hysterical, scared and laughing at the same time. We closed up and dispersed faster than an illegal gambling joint.

I lived in absolute terror that the police were going to break down my door and search my home looking for contraband.....I envisioned my picture on the front page of the paper......the embarrassment I would bring my parents. We girls all talked about it in hushed whispers. Then after weeks passed and nothing more came of it, we breathed sighs of relief. We all vowed that we'd never ever do anything like that again.....and we didn't. But now as I think of it, I have to laugh out loud.....and I'm also wondering if old Mrs. Fugate on the next street over had been looking out her window that night. LOLOLOLOLOL

Another movie review.....

This time its the movie, Sideways. The cover on the DVD boasts that it was nominated for FIVE academy awards, including best picture and best director. That it was the winner of TWO Golden Globes, including the Best Picture. And Access Hollywood has deemed it "The Best Comedy of the Year". Well, with all THAT going for it, I figured I was in for a red carpet evening.

crickets

I'm seriously wondering what these people are smoking. At first I thought maybe it was me.....but I'm not going to fall into that trap again. I'm a normal person and I still DO have a sense of humor. I know its still in there someplace....although its getting harder and harder to find lately. But back to the movie. To say I was grossly disappointed is an understatement. Even the full frontal nudity of one of the bit part male characters didn't liven me up. Now maybe if he had been something to look at it may have....but he was nude except for a knit cap and shoes....very much out of shape and when good looks were passed out, he was taking a nap. So that was a failure too. It wasn't even funny.

Virginia Madsen was one of the stars and I like her. Her part was nice. Sandra Oh was another one. She played a sex-crazed single party gal. Nothing was funny though. If anything, it was sad in more than a few spots. WHAT movie were these critics watching when they said it was the best comedy of the year??? It was more of a 'character study' type of picture. I kept watching it...thinking to myself....its GOT to get better soon.....after all, it won best picture. In my opinion it didn't get better, it only served to make me angry at the male character who was due to get married.....and this week long trip taken with his best friend was his last as a single guy and he wanted to be wild....and he was...much to the dismay of his friend. The poor friend took a lot of abuse and still hung in there.

I've concluded that its best not to take any stock in these crazy recommendations of Hollywood and their so-called critics, as well as the people who hand out the awards. Either they are all under the influence of something or I'm just stuck in a rut.....a rut that says Good movies, really good movies, should be the ones winning these awards. Don't waste your time or money on this one....its not what I would call a really good movie. Hell, its not even a good movie....on a scale of 1 to 5, I would give it a 2, at best.....and I do that because of some nice scenery of California wine country. And so I continue with my quest....to find some really good entertainment we can access from the couch or easy chair with our feet up and, if we desire....in our jammies.

Big Comfy Armchair Critic.....

Well, this time its movies. My family and I didn't do much other than kick back and relax this holiday weekend. For the most part the weather cooperated.....a far cry from the weather we usually get on Memorial Day. Its almost always very cold and raining. But this year was beautiful and backyard picnics were abundant.

A bargain bin find, the first movie is Identity with John Cusack. The stage for a perfect thriller movie is set.....run down motel in the middle of the Nevada desert...its raining cats and dogs which has caused flooding and all the roads to civilization have been washed out. Its raining through-out the movie. Its night through-out the movie. Cell phone availability is not available and of course the landline telephone wires are down. Several people from different walks of life end up here because of car trouble or because of the roads being washed out. Enter into the mix a cop who is transporting a very dangerous mentally insane criminal to a last ditch meeting in an attempt to keep him from being executed for butchering several people and everything is there for a nail-biting night. Of course the mental patient/criminal escapes and of course the police car radio doesn't work either. One by one they are being murdered. I would be lying if I said it wasn't holding our interest....but the ENDING.....the ending was just so weird and disconnected that we all just sat there with dumb looks on our faces....looking at one another in utter confusion. Its almost like the writer just got bored with the whole thing and ended it like this because he couldn't think of any way to tie the plot up to make any sense. Later on as I was lying in bed just before sleep claimed me....I was thinking....how would you feel if you found out that all the blogs you read were written by just one person with multiple personality disorder. This is the road that this movie takes you down....a very strange and twisted road. My advice on viewing it....don't bother with it unless you plan on getting drunk while watching....then it won't matter anyway.

The second one is an oldie and I bought this mainly for my granddaughter....who is CRAZY about animals.....all animals. She is only 6 so we do have to be careful what she watches. Supposedly The Bear won all kinds of awards and I saw a tiny preview and it looked great. It mainly focused on an orphaned baby bear. It was amazing to me how they managed to film something like this; to get wild animals to do things that went along with the story line. The movie WAS great but not for small children. I know its nature but kids just don't understand why a grizzly would attack and kill horses or dogs. I am sooooo glad that I previewed this movie first before we looked at it with the 6 year old. Needless to say, she will have to wait about 8 more years to view this one. The movie, however, does deliver a powerful message at the end and you come away being glad that you watched it.

Another movie I watched was Seven Pounds with Will Smith. Now I really do like Will Smith....I think he's a fine actor....but this movie kind of threw me. Its my own fault. I didn't really read what it was about.....I just ASSUMED that by the name of it, it was about a baby. You have to be in the right kind of mood to watch this movie or it will surely leave you depressed even though it changes the lives of 7 people for the better forever. I have mixed emotions over it.....I can't say that it was a bad movie but I can't say that I really enjoyed it. It was just so morose. The ending was truly bittersweet.

Finally the last movie we watched was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
This movie was very good and very long at 2 hours and 46 minutes. But it was interesting and quite amazing how they were able to make Brad Pitt look so young toward the end....he looked like a 16 year old kid.....a very good looking 16 year old. Its not a movie for everyone because its kind of slow moving in spots but I enjoyed it and so did my daughter. My teenage grandson wanted more action and I think he entirely missed the emotions that were involved here. The characters are warm and you care about them.....except the character, Daisy. She ticked me off more than once and I found her to be rather cold and overly vain until she entered old age herself....then she acted like she actually had a heart. But maybe that's just how I took it. Its a good movie and worth the time to watch it unless you're into shoot 'em ups.

My take on some movies.....

Ok, as promised, I am going to delight you with MY TAKE on three movies that I recently viewed. These aren't brand new, just released ones, as I wait for them to come out on DVD before I view, in the comfort of my own home so I can watch in jammies and pause for bathroom breaks if I so desire....not to mention a dish of ice cream.

First up is American Gangster. I put off looking at this one because I am a Denzel Washington fan and I WANT him to be the GOOD guy. He is such an excellent actor, however, that he can take on whatever is thrown at him and portrays the bad guy just as well as the good one.

American Gangster is based on the true story of a real gangster. Most people think that gangsters were either Irish or Italian, but this one (Lucas) was black, which enabled him to fly under the radar. He was very good at what he did. The movie had predictable violence and he shows himself to have about as much concern shooting a guy in the head as he would have stomping on an ant. He deals in the drug trade and the movie takes place during the Vietnam war era. Lets just say that our military covertly played a part in supplying illegal drugs to thousands. Lucas was from a large family and gave them all jobs helping him out. He put the hurt on the business dealings of other, more established gangsters, causing them to attempt to get rid of him, using different methods. The soft side of Lucas is shown too by his purchase of a large mansion for his mother to live in. The other side of the coin shows a police officer (played by Russell Crowe) being punished by his own kind because he's too honest and his personal life suffers due to his dedication on getting to the "big guy" doing all these drug imports. The movie is good but its LONG. The ending has a nice little twist that will put a grin on your face. On a scale of 1 to 5, I would give this one a 4.5. I've only seen it once and I'm sure if I look at it again, I will notice much more that I missed the first time around. If you like these types of movies, I don't think you will be disappointed. However, this is obviously not for the younger set.

Fool's Gold with Kate Hudson is the next movie. I just love her and had heard (from someone I'm going to bitch slap) that this was a good movie. I don't know....maybe its just me....but I found this movie to be horribly BORING. I was dismayed that Kate would make a movie so boring because she's so.....GOOD. But boring it was. Its supposed to be a romantic comedy and it was SORT of romantic but I didn't laugh anywhere that I can recall. I'm not a fan of Matthew McConaughey either, so that didn't help. The daughter of the rich guy just wanted to make me smack her into next week.....she was so stuuuuupid. Although I guess I can call her a good actress then because she did pull off her character very well. I would have been really REALLY upset if I had paid $8 or more at a movie theater for this waste of time. On a scale of 1 to 5, I give it a 2 and that's only because of the scenery. I can't think of any reason why, other than they would probably fall asleep due to boredom, a kid 10 and up couldn't watch this. I don't think they will like it though. There is a little violence over the finding of the gold.

When a Stranger Calls is my third review. Now I had seen the original Carol Kane version way back when and it was a heart-stopper that you just can never seem to forget about. This is a remake of that movie. They have updated it to modern times. Of COURSE our heroine has to babysit at a house that is something out of Science Fiction Plus in the middle of BFE....with NO neighbors and the nearest town 20 minutes away. She's been grounded and one of the things she's lost is her cell phone so that's not with her. The movie follows the plot of the original pretty much and it still makes you stop breathing, even though you basically know the storyline. One impressive thing is that this movie actually proves that you can be scared and not have to deal with copious amounts of blood. It was really a nice detour for a thriller movie, I might add. Note to film-makers: We don't always have to be subjected to blood and gore to be scared. Of course, movie makers still have a hard time dealing with reality here. There is just NO effin' way a teenaged girl, alone in the middle of BFE, is going to unlock the door of the house and go outside in the dark, in the middle of a storm with winds of nearly gale force, and run probably the length of a football field to go inside a "supposedly" rented guest house to ask for help.....only to have to run all the way back again. Tree limbs breaking all around her and....oh yeah....the power is out too. Get real here folks! But then, they've always had a hard time keeping heroines out of basements during a power outage, wearing nothing more than shorty pj's. At least this heroine is dressed. It was a good movie; it was scary and it kept you on the edge of your seat. On a scale of 1 to 5, I give it a 4.5 also. (I rarely give a perfect score, as you can see.....well, there WERE mistakes in the movie) It was, however, good entertainment. I would say that it would be ok for ages11 and up, depending on the maturity of the child.

I hope you've enjoyed MY TAKE on these three movies. Have a great holiday weekend...and BE SAFE.

Oh what a sunshiney day.....

Today was so gorgeous that it was a downright shame to have to go to work. When I came home later in the afternoon I saw so many bicycles out. It was as if they had sprouted forth like flowers, anxious to feel the rays of the sun and the wind in their tires. I saw kids riding with fishing poles, heading for the lake. People were just OUT...enjoying this beautiful day. We've all been cooped up for so long this winter....today was indeed a breath of fresh air.
Today at work I heard that this summer is supposed to be a record breaker as far as HOT temperatures. A heating and cooling guy was talking about having several customers that already want central air installed to beat the rush. He's a happy camper. I'm thinking that along about July we will all be complaining about the heat. Sigh...I guess there is just no pleasing us, is there?
In the meantime, I'm happy that snow is now a distant memory. I shouldn't say that out loud because we HAVE had snow this late (and even later) in the season before and it could happen again...but I'm gonna risk it.
Watched two of my $5 movies, Dejavu with Denzel Washington. It was good, held my interest but really played with my mind and there isn't a whole lot left to play around with. It was worth every penny of what I paid for it. Scale of 1 to 10....I'd give 8, mostly because I like Denzel. If anyone else had played his part, I'd give it a 7.
The other one was Secret Window with Johnny Depp. It was a bit slow in spots but I got a kick out of Depp and some of the humorous things he did. It was based on a story written by Stephen King and since I've read so many of his books, I predicted the ending accurately. I'd say that on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give it a 5.

My family, a meal and a good movie....Priceless

We had family day again at my house and all went well. It was like waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak….but it never did. Everyone got along great, even the under 6 set.

We usually watch a movie as well as have a dinner but it just seemed like there were no movies available we wanted…..we’d seen a lot of them already and the ones we hadn’t, we had no interest in seeing. Hmmmm a dilemma. So we looked through the bookcase of older movies I have on hand. I chose one that I hadn’t seen in a long time and no one else in the family had seen it at all. Somehow this one had slipped through the cracks, possibly because of its name. Nine Months. A movie staring Hugh Grant, Julianne Moore, Joan Cusack and Tom Arnold….not to forget Robin Williams. There are a few spots that sort of drag, but the delivery room scene is so hysterically funny that you will be gasping for breath. Trust me on this. Even the guys enjoyed watching, although reluctantly, because they thought it was going to be a chick flick. So don’t be afraid to rent this one, even though I think it came out in 1995. The soundtrack is a good one too for those of us that like the older soft rock type of music.

After that movie, a friend stopped by with the latest Alien vs Predator. Since the little ones were asleep by now, we watched it and I guess I’m showing my age here because on a scale of 1 to 10, I would give it a 3. Lots of gore, a plot that is nearly non-existent, lots of scenes that I didn’t understand and acting that was pretty horrible. The original Alien movie was terrific as far as I’m concerned and the second one, Aliens, was good too, but these cheap-shot spin-offs are terrible.

Tomorrow starts off another week and already we have Winter Storm Watch posted for our area beginning Monday evening; a possibility of 5 to 8 inches of new snow and strong north winds. What can I say? You all know by now just what I think about THIS. Meanwhile, I hope you’re making happy memories on this Sunday.