Thursday's Three Line Reviews

And here they are:


THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE:
Loosely based on a true story, this is more of a court case drama than a horror movie, though it did have some creepy scenes. I found it very entertaining and enjoyed it. Jennifer Carpenter was excellent as the possessed Emily Rose as she twisted her face and her body to give the character real freakishness.

CAST AWAY:
Great movie that is mostly centered around one character who is stranded on an island, unless you want to count Wilson the non-verbal Volleyball. I tried to think of any other actor that could possibly pull off carrying a whole movie by himself besides Tom Hanks and I couldn't. For a movie with little scenery, dialogue, or score it really can hold your interest.

THE SWEETEST THING:
This movie tries too hard to be a raunchy sex comedy for women and it just doesn't work out. I found Cameron Diaz and Selma Blair annoying and the whole plot just stupid. Christina Applegate is the only one who is worth watching.

JACK:
Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, this bittersweet movie about a boy who ages four times his actual age is good. Robin Williams is perfect with little subtle things that he does that convinced me he was really a ten year old. Bill Cosby should get more roles like the one in this one as he reminds us just how lovable he can be.

FRIDA:
Very artsy move about the Mexican Artist Frida Kahlo. Interesting and visually stunning. Salma Hayek is great in the lead, but still beautiful...perhaps too beautiful to play Frida.


9:
This animated movie about a burlap doll that comes to life in post-apocalyptic times where there are no humans alive is stunning. Mix Toy Story, Wall-E, and the Terminator all up and you get 9. This is NOT a children's movie, for it is very dark and dreary, but is imaginative and great story telling.

EXTREME MOVIE:
A bunch of crude sketches thrown together about teens and sex makes a silly late night movie. It has a lot of familiar faces in the movie, but it's really only worth watching if you are suffering from insomnia and there is absolutely nothing else to watch. It might be worth watching if you are a fan of the t.v. show PIT BOSS and want a quick glimpse of Shorty's ass (which I didn't and it took me by total surprise and now I'm not sure I can ever watch PIT BOSS with a straight face again).

THE RAGE: CARRIE 2:
Amy Irving returns to this weak sequel for Stephen King's CARRIE as the high school's counselor who is trying to save another telekinetic girl from wreaking havoc on the school's bullies and snobs. This would be a much better movie if it wasn't a sequel to CARRIE. And if they left the whole psycho/move things with my mind bullcrap out of it and just left it as a Romeo and Juliet story with two teens from opposite ends of the school cafeteria falling in love.

TRANSAMERICA:
Felicity Huffman plays a pre-op male to female transsexual who discovers she has a son. Without telling the young man who she really is, the embark on a road trip and bond. This movie is just brilliant and unlike anything I've seen before.

SPIRITED AWAY:
Japanese anime that has the tripping out feel of Alice in Wonderland to it. A little girl is lost and surrounded by the most bizarre creatures, characters, and scenarios. It doesn't really make sense, but you get so lost in the weirdness of the story that you find yourself enjoying it.

SHERRYBABY:
Maggie Gyllenhaal is a recovering drug addict/ex-con/trailer trash type who is released from prison and wants to renew her relationship with her very young daughter. I really wanted to like this movie because Maggie Gyllenhaal was great and I thought a lot of it was very realistic, but the root to Sherry's problem just ruined it for me. I felt the story used the whole molested as a child is an excuse to be an drug addict and loser as a cop out and for once I would like to see some one that is a druggie/piece of work just because they chose that route and not because some one shoved them in that direction.

OLD DOGS:
This movie has so many funny people in it and yet it fails to be funny. It has moments, but these moments just don't come together as a whole movie. Seth Green is wasted in this movie, John Travolta is annoying, and Robin Williams needs to find something with a similar tone but with better writers where as Matt Dillon, Justin Long, Rita Wilson, Ann-Margaret, and the rest of the cameos all need to ask their agents "WTF??" and poor Bernie Mac went to the grave with this as his last role.


ENEMY AT THE GATES:
Fantastic movie set during World War II as Russia and the Nazis battle for Stalingrad. It is a cold, dreary, bleak movie with a great cast such as Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, Joseph Fiennes, Bob Hoskins, and Ed Harris. Not sure how much is true, but it still makes a great war movie and the tension between the Russian Hero Sniper (Jude Law) and the Nazis' greatest sniper (Ed Harris) as they hunt for each other is intense at times.

Friday's Five Favorites...It's The End of The World

It's the end of the world as you know it. The Earth is barren. Water is scarce. Disease and Zombies run amuck. Alien crafts fly above. Any idea is possible. And you are in the fight for life. You want to survive. Who do you want by your side? On your team? Who do you want to help with the fight to survive in this futuristic, dreary, post-apocalyptic world?

It took me some time. But I came with five Movie Characters that I would want standing with me as we kicked Zombie Alien butt. Or hunted and forage for food. These are the ones I want on my team. I call dibs on them.

NUMBER FIVE:
Luther from THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW-

So, you might be scratching your head...thinking "who?" No, it's not Jake Gyllenhaal or Dennis Quaid (sadly for me, I did not chose Dennis Quaid). No, I choose Luther, the black homeless man with the dog that rides it out in the library. It's really quite simple and very easy to choose him. For starters, he was already homeless before the storms came and ended life in NYC and most of America as we know it. So, he already had a few tricks up his sleeve on how to survive. He knows how to insulate himself against the cold using pages from newspapers and books. I'm pretty sure he knows how to get the tastiest morsels from trash. And the biggest reason why I want him on my team? He's GOT A DOG!!!! Everyone knows that the one who always survives is the one with the dog. Seriously. I'm sticking with the man with the dog.

NUMBER FOUR:
The Terminator for TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY-

"Come with me if you want to live." Yep. That's all I need. Plus he will protect you with his own body as a shield and go to no ends to make sure you stay alive. He's a cyborg. So, no matter how many hits he take, he will keep on kicking ass. And he'll look so bad ass too with half his face peeled away to reveal his robotic skull and glowing red eye. And cyborgs don't eat do they? So that means you don't have to feed him. Do they eat? I'm geeky, but not geeky enough to know that. Please feel free to reveal the inner geek in you if know if cyborgs eat or not and comment down below.

NUMBER THREE:
Fox from WANTED-

This girl can kick ass!! She can drive a car like it's no one's business (and pick you up without even stopping!). She can curve a bullet. She's got neat little gadgets and gizmos like that gun that can bend and she can shoot from around the corner. She can survive all sorts of stunts. And she's got some sort of formula for a bath that will heal you quicker than any doctor or hospital every could. I'll never have to worry about hunting, running from Zombies, or being so injured that it would be beyond repair if she was on my team. Plus, Fox knows when to take one for the team.

NUMBER TWO:
Doctor Carlisle Cullen from the TWILIGHT SAGA-

And there's the sound of hundreds of teen girls and Twi-Moms and maybe a few gay men gasping. NOT EDWARD? No. Not Edward. As a matter of fact if this was a list of the Five Top Movie Characters I Would Push Off A Cliff If Left Alone With At The End Of The World...Edward just might be on that list.
No...I chose Dr. Carlisle Cullen because he's not moody, brooding, or heart sick. Carlisle seems intelligent, mature, so not annoying. But most importantly...he's a Doctor AND a Vampire. Doctor AND a Vampire!!!
This means that he's got hundreds of years of medical experience under his belt. He goes back to primitive methods of medicine, which is good because in our barren, disease ridden world we might need to go back in time with medical science.
And as a Vampire, he's strong and fast. So, he can pick me up and carry me up on trees or deep into caves or something like that to get away from the Zombies. It'll be so fast that we will look ridiculous. Or he can snap necks and tear limbs from torsos faster than a blink of an eye.
But, the biggest plus of have the Good Vampire Doctor on my team is that if I am so sick or so injured, he has a heart. He won't let me die. He'll just bite me, inject some venom into me, and then the next thing I know I'll be just as strong and fast as him. I'll be Vampire. I won't die. And I'll sparkle like I'm going to a rave too!

NUMBER ONE:
Professor Albus Dumbledore from HARRY POTTER-

Let's face it. The man is a wizard. One of the best Wizards there ever were. With a flick of a wand and a twinkle in his eye, he can make delicious food disappear, make bones mend, turn bad guys into mice, change the weather, and provide a well furnished tent. He's kindly, smart, interesting, and very grandfatherly. He's got the whole time turning spell down so he could turn back time and figure out how to end the Apocalypse before it even begins.
And he can bring Harry along too, but only if Harry is stoned on that Felix Felicis stuff, also known as Liquid Luck. Because then Harry goes from slightly annoying to great frickin' entertainment. Come to think of it, if it's the end of the world I might want some of that Lucky Potion stuff too.
Need I say more?

Thursday's Three Line Reviews

So, the computer had a little cold. Off to the computer doctor it went. For two whole weeks. Was not happy about that. I don't like to be without my computer and updating my status on FB is annoying as it is with a Blackberry. I wasn't even going to try and blog from it.

I'll look at the silver lining though. My family and I took a really nice road trip. And I watched movies. Lots of them.

So, without further delay, I give you Thursday's Three Line Reviews. Lots of them.

NOBODY DIES IN LILY DALE-
A documentary about a small town in upstate New York which has the largest population of Spiritualist, Mediums, Psychics, etc. Very interesting as you watch different tourist seek answers from the other side. This little town of Lily Dale is now at the top of my must visit list.

LORDS OF DOGTOWN-
Based on the true story of the original die-hard extreme skateboard culture. Great camera angles and shots, great acting, great 70's vibe. Emile Hirsch is fantastic but it is this movie, not The Dark Knight, that really makes you see what a versatile actor Heath Ledger was.

HOME ALONE-
That classic holiday movie that everyone loved back in the day. It still cracks me up. It was great to rediscover this timeless classic with my kids who adored every scene.

LITTLE DARLINGS-
A late 70's/early 80's movie about a bunch of girls at summer camp who wager a bet over who is going to lose their virginity first. At first I thought it was campy and silly, but by the end of the movie I really liked it. Kristy McNichol and Tatum O'Neal are the stars, but it was great to see Matt Dillon before his S.E. Hinton days and Miranda from Sex and The City fame as a little girl.

CAPTAIN CORELLI'S MANDOLIN-
This movie has so much going for it: scenery, epic, period piece, and great story. Unfortunately, Nicholas Cage's horrible Italian accent made it so bad that I was rooting for anyone and everyone to just kill him when they had the chance. Christian Bale, as always, is pretty amazing in this movie going from a free spirit in love to a man hardened and destroyed by war.

THE HOTTIE AND THE NOTTIE-
This is a Paris Hilton movie that wasn't that great. However...it really wasn't that bad either. If there is absolutely nothing else on and you can't fall asleep and you've searched all there is to search on the web, then by all means go ahead and watch this because you might actually laugh at the sophomoric, gross, idiotic humor.

OBSERVE AND REPORT-
I like Seth Rogan and I love Anna Faris but this movie failed, failed, FAILED!!! Quite possibly the worse movie I saw this year. It tries to be a black comedy and the laughs just are not there and Ray Liotta needs to fire his agent ASAP after this mess and guest starring on Hannah Montana last week.

THE ROAD-
Quite possibly one of the most disturbing, haunting, emotional draining, best movies I have ever seen in a long, long time....maybe ever. This gray, bleak post-apocalyptic movie where all plant and animal life had died off over the years and people have turned cannibalistic was just absolutely horrifying and yet, this is not a horror movie. Viggo Mortensen was amazing as a man fighting to keep his son alive with hope even when his own hope and health is failing and he shows the lengths a parent will go to protect their child, which kept me thinking about this movie for days.

JENNIFER'S BODY-
Campy little horror/thriller with Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried as best friends, one a sexpot and the other a geek. Megan Fox becomes possessed and horny teen age boys begin to get killed off. Nothing great, but was entertaining.

NEWSIES-
Christian Bale in a musical about newspaper boys going on strike in the early 1900's.
Christain Bale + musical = One Happy Movie Junkie. Corny and Disneyfied, but I love it!

MY ONE AND ONLY-
A coming of age/road trip story based on the life of George Hamilton's mother, played by Renee Zellweger. Lots of different actors from television are in this movie. It was cute, but forgettable.

WALK ON THE MOON-
Another Viggo Mortensen movie from which my husband will now forever call him "Blouse Man". Diane Lane is a frustrated housewife vacationing in Upstate New York during the summer of love and has an affair with the "Blouse Man". I really liked this one, but mainly because I really like the era, Diane Lane, Viggo (of course!), and Anna Paquin who played Diane's young teen daughter who was discovering that becoming a woman is much more complicated and doesn't end when you get married.

WHIP IT-
Drew Barrymore directs and co-stars in this movie about a pageant girl who is pressured by her mother and finds an escape by secretly joining a roller derby team. Learned a lot about roller derby rules and actually want to see one live. Ellen Page, Juliette Lewis, and the rest of the cast looks like they had a blast filming this movie.

THE STRANGERS-
At first, this movie is frightening but then quickly began to bore me. Liv Tyler plays a young woman who is trapped with her boyfriend in a secluded summer home and tormented by three quiet strangers wearing masks. After awhile, I found myself wondering when the killers were just gonna do the job already.

APPALOOSA-
And yet, another Viggo Mortensen movie. Also starring Ed Harris, this movie is a quiet, simple western that I found very enjoyable. The only thing that annoyed me was Renee Zellweger who's character was predictable and she looked like her collar was on too tight.

NOTHING LIKE THE HOLIDAYS-
A holiday movie based on a Chicago/Puerto Rican family where the father has a secret, the mother wants a divorce, one son just came back from Iraq, the daughter is a struggling actress, and the other son's Jewish Wife is out of place. Sounds like a real Christmas to me. I enjoyed this one and it is filled with great actors and actresses like Alfred Molina, Elizabeth Pena, John Leguizamo, Debra Messing, Freddie Rodriquez, and more.

EXTRACT-
I love Jason Bateman and I love Mila Kunis, so I really wanted to love this movie. It tries so hard to be witty and quirky, but I actually had to watch it in segments just to get through it and I very rarely do that. You know a movie is not that great when Gene Simmons is the best part of the movie.

FRIENDLY FIRE-
A 1978 movie that I remember seeing on t.v. years ago. Carol Burnett and Ned Beatty play the parents of a Vietnam soldier who was killed during the war and they are trying to find out just how he was killed only to be met with silence. Carol Burnett is brilliant in this as she reminds us that she's just not one of the funniest ladies there ever was, but could also hold her own when it came to drama.

WITHOUT A PADDLE-
I expected a low-grade, vulgar humor type comedy with this movie and was pleasantly surprised that it was a genuinely witty, charming movie. Three childhood friends are reunited as adults when their fourth buddy dies and decide to fulfill their dreams of going into the wilderness to find a lost treasure. It was The Goonies grown up and downsized, but it was still cute and Burt Reynolds steals the show.

REMEMBER THE DAZE-
It's the last day of school and Seniors want to party and get high and freshmen want to explore the high school world and get high. I liked this movie the first time around when it was called DAZED AND CONFUSED. It tries so hard to be as cool as Dazed and Confused, even having the word DAZE in the title, but it fails because D and C is just about one of the coolest stoner movies ever made.


Out of all the above movies, I have to say if you can rent one...and you have the head for it, pick THE ROAD. I have never seen anything like this movie and I don't know if I ever will. This story stayed with me for days. I had to sleep with the light on that night. It made me think of how we take so much for granted. It made me hug my kids tighter and promise them a trip to Disney World soon.

Like I said, if you do decide to rent THE ROAD, make sure you have the head for it. It is haunting. Gut wrenching. Bleak. Gritty. Gray. Heavy. But a fantastic movie nonetheless.

Friday's Five Faves-Chameleons

Today's Five Favorites are Actors and Actresses that I think look different in a lot of their roles. Ever see a movie and then realize that it's....so and so who played a completely different role and looked different and acted different in so many of their roles? They just emerge themselves into the characters they are playing and completely transform themselves. Sometimes it's not even about the hair and make-up and wardrobe. Sometimes it's just how they act and they become the character and you forget the actor/actress that they really are.

This was hard for me because there are so many good ones. I originally had a list of about ten, but ten doesn't start with an "f", so it doesn't go with the whole Friday Five Favorite theme...so, I thought and I thought...and I crossed people off the list and put them back on again...but I finally came up with my list. My apologies to Daniel Day Lewis, Vincent D'Onofrio, James Caviezel, Charlize Theron, and the two that kept going on and off my list several times: Billy Crudup and Gerard Butler.

And I also have to mention Heath Ledger. He could have been the one. He showed so much promise, was so good right from the start. It's a shame we will never know how much more he could have given the audience.

There. I feel a little better mentioning them. Now, on to my Five Favorite Chameleons.

NUMBER FIVE-
Julie Walters:

Have you seen this woman? Chances are you have and you didn't even know who she was. We all know her as Mrs. Weasley, the redheaded mom of the redheaded Weasley brood in the Harry Potter Movies.

But, did you know that same woman is the fiesty member of Donna and the Dynamos in the movie musical Mama Mia?

And she completely blew me away as the aging, eccentric actress in Driving Lessons. Even though she played opposite her Harry Potter co-star, Rupert Grint, I never saw a Weasley in this film. Ever.



NUMBER FOUR-
Sacha Baron Cohen:

Not a big Sacha Baron Cohen fan, but I give him lots of credit for transforming himself in every role he takes on. Even if it's the ridiculous Bruno.

Or Borat, the character that put him on the charts.

Or the very funny French Car Racing Enemy in Ricky Bobby.

My favorite has to be from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. That's when I really sat up and noticed that this comic shock valued actor can really impress.



NUMBER THREE-
Jude Law:

This pretty boy has taken on several roles where you lose the whole Jude Law person and just see the character he has portrayed. There are several roles where I had to remind myself that yes, it is indeed Jude Law.

When he was the android, Gigolo Joe in Artificial Intelligence: AI.

Or the evil villain opposite Tom Hanks in Road to Perdition.

The dirty, scruffy, sickly looking, love torn Civil War Confederate Soldier in Cold Mountain.

Or the lovable widower and father in The Holiday.


NUMBER TWO-
Viggo Mortensen:

He would be number one, but his beautiful, unique eyes give him away ever time. This is a very handsome man that knows when to be handsome, when to be ugly, when to be the hero and when to be the villain. He transforms himself every single time.

Forget the Hobbits and Gollum and the elves and fairies. He is the star of all three Lord of the Rings movies.

He does western very well, from Hidalgo to Appaloosa and even Young Guns II.



He played angry, mean, cool, and cold with a twist in Eastern Promises.

And he can even do romance, like in 28 Days.

And I'm looking forward to seeing him in The Road, playing a father in a post Apocalyptic future. The DVD is sitting on my coffee table, just waiting to be watched.



NUMBER ONE-
Gary Oldman:

This man is probably one of the most versatile actors of all times. He looks different in every single role he has ever played in. From the latest Batman movies to Harry Potter. From Sid and Nancy to The Fifth Element to The Unborn to JFK to The Scarlett Letter to Dracula...and on and on and on and on.

I'm just gonna post a bunch of pictures. You judge for yourself.









But don't judge on pictures alone. If you haven't seen the movies, I recommend you do. Their acting completely and totally transforms them.

Thursday's Three Line Reviews

Thursday's Three Line Reviews are back!! I've been so busy with the end of school, summer, and putting in a swimming pool. Enjoying the pool. Hating the pool when we had a weekload of problems. Fixing the pool. Then enjoying it again.

So, basically...I had very little time for watching movies. Plus I'm trying to finish a book I am reading...and I have turned into my mother when it comes to reading. I used to be able to polish off a whole novel over night. Now...I read two pages and I nod off.

But, I am starting to catch up with my movie watching. I am also trying to watch movies on my "Movies every Movie Junkie should see" list. This is a list of movies that are classics or people rave about or had been nominated and I had never seen them. I can now cross off Shawshank Redemption, Training Day, and Rudy from that list.

Okay...enough Rambling. Here they are. This week's Thursday's Three Line Reviews:

PUBLIC ENEMIES-
Every watch a movie and just think "eh"? This is one of them. You would think a movie about John Dillinger and gangsters, starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale and directed by Michael Mann would be exciting, but it wasn't.

DEAR JOHN-
This movie starts off slow, but has so much promise. Then it fails, big time. I love Amanda Seyfried, but I got more joy over the fact that Henry Thomas was in it.

TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE-
Special effects and Kristin Stewart's acting improved in this movie. With all the millions the TWILIGHT franchise is making, you would think they would hire better make-up and wig people because the wigs were beyond obvious, the pale vampire faces looked like pancake makeup from 1932, and Edward needs some serious grooming around the eyebrow and sideburn areas. Bryce Dallas Howard shined as the recasted Victoria and I wish there was more of her in the movie.

SHUTTER ISLAND-
Perhaps my biggest disappointment in the movies I've seen in the last week or so. Long, gray, and dreary, which wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't figured it all out within the first ten minutes of the movie. Leonardo DiCaprio is brilliant, but I can never get past his baby face to believe he is a man of maturity and the best thing about this movie was the small performance from Jackie Earl Haley.

SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION-
The best movie I've seen this week. Everything about it was brilliant from the acting to the directing to the story itself. Stephen King rules as a non-horror storyteller and Morgan Freeman just rocks.

TRAINING DAY-
I really wanted to like this movie and kept waiting for a big twist that never came. It wasn't a bad movie and was enjoyable, but Ethan Hawke always irks me for some reason and it's hard to get past that. Thought Denzel Washington was great, but out of all his roles over the years, I am not sure this is the role he should have taken the Oscar home for.

TAKING WOODSTOCK-
A semi-fictional account of how Woodstock came to be, this movie has it's moments. Some parts were witty, Liev Schreiber makes one ugly woman, and Imelda Staunton shined in this movie. A bit slow at times and I would have liked to see some of the concert itself or interacting with some of the stars of the concert.

COLLEGE-
It was late and I couldn't sleep, so that is my only excuse for watching this garbage. I'm all for funny, sophomoric, drinking movies, but this one crosses the line from sophomoric to moronic. This movie also gets my vote for the most annoying movie character EVER: Carter Scott, played by Andrew Caldwell (who might just get my vote for most annoying actor ever).

RUDY-
Rudy's dedication to Notre Dame boderlined obsessive, psychotic, stalkerish behavior and I kept thinking some one really needed to get that boy some help. However, by the end of the movie I was crying. Sean Astin is always sweet in most of his roles, but Charles Dutton steals this movie.

LUCAS-
A sweet classic from the 80's where the nerd and football captain fall for the pretty girl. I'm pretty sure this movie is the movie that started the trend of the "slow clap" in movies (Rudy included). Most likely Corey Haim's best role, he was adorable as the nerdy, misfit, title character and Charlie Sheen was great as the jock with a heart.

Happy Birthday Harrison Ford

Today is Harrison Ford's 68th birthday. That's right...Han Solo...Indiana Jones...turns 68.

I love Harrison Ford. I mean, I looooooove this man. I've loved him since I first saw Star Wars. Everyone else was all about Luke, but I knew that Han was THE MAN. Forget that sissyboy, Jedi Knight wannabe. It was Han that saved the day at the end of the movie. He saved Luke's ass with his badass ship, the Millennium Falcon. Only THEN was Luke able to fire into that little port hole thingy which was the destruction of the Death Star.

All my little friends were Team Luke. I always was and always will be Team Han.

Yeah, Han Solo was the man. Harrison Ford is the man, still to this day.

He went on to give us one of the greatest action heroes of all times: Indiana Jones. He was tough. He was smart. He knew how to use a whip. Looked great in a hat. And had his flaws too (suffered from sever ophidiophobia). Look it up.

Harrison gave us other great roles too. He played in Blade Runner, Air Force One, Regarding Henry, The Fugitive, Witness, Working Girl, and so on and so on and so on. He's done action. Comedy. Romance. Carpentry. He's done it all.

One of my favorite roles of Harrison's? Allie Fox in The Mosquito Coast. This is a movie that got limited release, back when I was in high school. Because of the combination of Harrison Ford and River Phoenix, I insisted on seeing it. None of my friends wanted to travel by subway into an unknown neighborhood to see it. It was the only place around that was playing it.

My mother was the only one who saw my dedication to my childhood crush. She and I went by subway to an old school theater that was falling apart. I was a little freaked. I was young and naive. The neighborhood wasn't the greatest. The theater was dingy and dirty. And it was my first subway ride in years due to a horrible childhood experience on a subway car that led me to suffer from siderodromophobia. (Look it up).

But once the movie started, I was taken away. This was a different kind of role for Harrison Ford. A step away from the cocky, action seeking, leading man with the witty one liners. A huge step away.

In Mosquito Coast he plays a radical and unstable father who whisks his family away to the jungles of South America to establish a Utopian society and putting them all at risk. There's something very haunting about Harrison Ford's portrayal. Something that was unforgettable.

So, here's to the sexiest man that is thirty years my senior and still going strong. He is making an Indiana Jones 5, so he shows no signs of slowing down.

The man is almost 70....and he's still got that devil may care smirk that can melt a girl's heart.

The Worst Movie? Really?

Last night I watched what was considered on of the worst movies of 2009. All About Steve, starring Sandra Bullock and...those two guys from The Hangover. Their names escape me at the moment. We're in the middle of a heat wave and our pool is broken....my brain is seriously melting as I type this.

Anyway, last year, hundreds of critics everywhere declared that All About Steve was one of the worst movies of the year. Perhaps even THE worst movie of the year.

So, I watched it. And I giggled. I chuckled. I laughed out loud. It wasn't a masterpiece...but the worst? Really? Come on!!

I tried to figure out why it was rated so harshly. It was actually enjoyable. It was light, mindless, goofy, silly, cartoonish, and stupid in a very Jim Carreyish kind of way.

See...I'm wondering, what if the roles were reversed? Sandra Bullock is playing a goofy, off the wall, overly obsessed, walking warehouse of useless knowledge who believes she's in love and he loves her and will go to the ends of the earth to follow him. Meanwhile, she's really turning into a lovable stalker who's heart is being played with by the plottings of the leading man's foe.

Now, let's take Sandra Bullock out and let's make it a goofy man. Jim Carrey is a perfect example. Let's make the object of his desire a beautiful woman. He's crazy, goofy, quirky and he'll go to the ends of the earth to reach who he believes is his soulmate. OH! WAIT!!
That's been done before! It's called Dumb and Dumber! It was a HUGE HIT!!

The only difference between the two movies is that Jim was played out to be goofy and stupid. Sandra's character is goofy and smart.

And this movie bombed. I think it's because it's a sexist community out there. I guess girls can't be smart? Or goofy? Or both? I don't know. I thought Sandra pulled it off quite well.

Maybe...perhaps the movie would have been better received if it was released when both Sandra Bullock and those guys from The Hangover (I really need to google them) didn't have other big movies out in the same year.

Sandra blew everyone away with The Blind Side. The Proposal was her big comedy movie. And The Hangover?? Well...loved by all.

Those movies overshadowed All About Steve. All About Steve didn't even stand a chance.

Rent it. Sit back with an ice pop and the A.C. or fan blasting. Empty your mind, because this movie really does not require an ounce of thought. And just enjoy it for what it is. Who says every movie has to be a perfect, plot hole free production. It's a movie!! A figment of the imagination. A place where you can escape and where question could be left unasked. Don't be so critical. I've seen much, much, much worse.

Bradley Cooper!!! That's his name!! That's the love interest guy...well, the actor that plays him. Still unclear on the second guy. It'll come to me....one day when my brain stops melting.

In the Midst of Twilight Mania...

With all the hype of the new Twilight movie, Eclipse, there is another vampire movie I want to recommend. A fantastic vampire movie. It's a little Swedish film called Let the Right One In.

Filmed mostly on dark nights, in stark rooms, and in snow this movie chilled me to the bone. It's not really scary, but it's just eerie. A young, lonely, bullied boy befriends a little girl who is a vampire. And she too, thirsts for friendship. But she also thirsts for blood.

I saw this movie about a year ago and thought it was brilliant. Today, as I did my daily browse on IMDB, I saw there is a movie coming out called Let Me In. It is an American Remake. I watched the trailer and it seems like it is staying very true to the original Swedish film...but I don't know if we can pull off that loneliness, that coldness that the original movie managed to do so well.

If you are a vampire movie fan, rent Let the Right One In. Rent it and see it before the American version comes out. I don't know why they needed to remake it. Not when the original was so good. And if it's because people don't want to read subtitles, then they are just being lazy. Sometimes, movies with subtitles are part of the art. Hearing the original language being spoken is part of the story. The actors are part of the story making. It would be as if another country went and remade an American Classic like Jaws. Can you imagine anyone else playing Brody, Quint, and Hooper?

I usually don't mind remakes too much. Not if they are done right. But I think we are starting to get a little crazy with all the remakes. And if a movie is done so perfectly in another country, in another language, we need to respect that. We need to let it be and see the movie in it's original form.

And that's my ramble for today. I'll get off my soapbox now. Don't forget to consider adding Let the Right One on your movies to rent list. Especially if you're a vampire fan and are looking for a good vampire movie to watch.

Toy Story 3- A Sob Fest

Yesterday was the official last day of school. Kids were home by 10 am. They only went into school to pretty much say good-bye to everyone and pick up their reports cards. I think it's a waste of an effort to get up and dressed and on the bus. Couldn't they just have sent them home the day before with their report cards?

But, whatever. Not to brag, but my kids came home with raving reviews. They had straight A's all the way down. The teachers wrote wonderful little comments about how great and well behaved and talented they are. It was one of those moments where a tear snuck out and I sniffled a bit, so proud of my babies who are growing up so fast. Too fast.

To celebrate the end of a long school year and those glowing report cards, DH and I took them to the movies. We went to see Toy Story 3.

I'm pretty sure I have mentioned before that Toy Story is HUGE in our house. My son is OBSESSED with Woody, Buzz, Jessie, Bullseye, and all the other Toy Story Gang. He can sit and draw those characters for HOURS. And...(I'm gonna brag again)...he's really good at it too. He's a great cartoonist for his age. His dream is to work for Disney or Pixar or Nickelodeon. Maybe make his own line of comic books. Or his own cartoon show. Maybe his own cartoon movie.

So, we went to see Toy Story 3. And right from the beginning, the sappy Mom in me begins to start to climb up from my heart into my throat. Andy, the little boy who so much loved his Woody and Buzz, is all grown up. He's going to college.

And one day, my kids will be all grown up. Going to college. And this movie shows how much life keeps going forward. Keeps moving on. You are introduced to a montage of home videos of Andy, watching him as a child who's imagination with his beloved toys is his whole world. Capturing those moments in time.

Then, there he his. Taller than his Mom. He has a cell phone. A laptop. His Buzz Lightyear wallpapered walls are covered with posters and stickers. He even drives his own car.

We are told that some of the toys are no longer with Woody's gang. Lost or sold at yard sales. R.C. Wheezey. Bo Peep. My lump grew even bigger as I thought of the toys I had thrown out or sold because my kids were no longer interested in them. I thought of toys that I had as a child, only to outgrow them and toss them aside.

The movie goes on and it involves the toys accidentally going to a Day Care center and Andy looking for them. He had no intention of getting rid of them. He wanted to box them up. Put them in the attic. Only take Woody to college with him.

Of course, it's a kid's movie and hilarity ensues at the Day Care. There's an extremely intense scene towards the end that involves a pit of fire and the toys realizing that their time has come to an end. They bravely just try to be there for each other as they all hold hands.

This is where the lump in my throat somehow escaped. A small sob rushed passed my lips and I tried to suck it in with a huge sniffle. This only resulted in some woman turning around to glare at me. A heartless woman who was too busy Facebooking on her iPhone to see that this was more than a kid's movie. Too dumb to appreciate the artwork that went into this movie. (Sorry. It's just that it might be my son that is behind a movie like this one day.)

There are other scenes. Scenes that made me think of how fast my kids are growing up. Scenes that made tears run down my face.

But the thing that got me the most was Buster. Buster, the little puppy that came at the end of the first movie. Buster, the dog that became one of Woody's good pals in the second movie. In Toy Story 3, Woody whistles for Buster. And an elderly, obese, graying dog slowly walks into Andy's room. Even Buster was getting old. Crap, Buster was near death's door. I really had to struggle to keep the sobs in.

And it is all so true. You outgrow your toys. Your childhood pet dies. You just know that Andy is going to get that call one day at college. His Mom is going to be on the other end, telling him that Buster had to be put down. Then Andy is gonna be the downer that night at a kegger, drinking beer and slobbering and slurring about his beloved childhood dog. C'mon. We've all been there. No?

Poor Buster. His time is coming so soon. A lot sooner than those toys.

So, bottom line? I hated this movie. Hated that it made my stomach twist up in knots. Hated that it reminded me that my kids are going to grow up and grow out of things. Hated that my dogs are going to get old and fat and barely move and force us to make a decision.

I hated this beautiful, well written, well executed movie. And I am never, ever getting rid of my kids' toys. Especially my son's Woody and Buzz and my daughter's Jessie.