My Son, The Odd Duck

I wrote about my daughter and how she gets Johnny Depp and movies and acting. Now, I have to write my son. My son who is an Odd Duck. My son who marches to his own beat. And I love him for it.

My seven year old little boy is so different from other little boys. He's not into sports or wrestling or cars or anything like that. We tried the basketball and baseball, but...after two seasons, he decided he needed a break. And that's exactly what he told us. "Mom. Dad. I need a break."

My son has a thing for cartoons. More than most children. He not only enjoys watching them, but he loves drawing them. And actually, he's quite good too. He has big dreams of becoming an illustrator or a cartoonist. His biggest goal is to one day work for Pixar/Disney/Nickelodeon.

Speaking of Pixar, the day after the Golden Globes, he comes downstairs and says "Mom, I wrote a letter to Lee Unkrich. Can you mail it?"

My response was "Ummm..who? What?"

"Lee Unkrich!" he said with an annoyed sigh like I should totally know who the heck Lee Unkrich is.

"Sure, Bubba," I said. No...my son is not really named Bubba. We don't live in the south. But it is my nickname for him. "Sure, Bubba. But...who the heck is Lee Unkrich."

"MOM! He directed Toy Story 3!!! And he won that award last night!!!"


Oh. Yea. I should I have known. My son is obsessed with anything Toy Story right now. He actually saved up his money to buy Lotso. You know...the pink, dirty bear that smells like strawberries. Now Lotso and my Bubba are inseparable. While other seven year old boys are playing with Backugan or WWE figures, he has Lotso.


But I was proud. He sees Toy Story as more than just a cartoon. A little kid movie. He knows that there is so much work that goes into it. He understands that there are directors and producers and actors and artists and writers that all come together to make a spectacular film.

He also has a bit of a morbid sense when it comes to movies. He seems to become enthralled with movies that are based on actual events that really happened. Bad events that really happened.

Like Titanic. It's one of his favorite movies of all times.


He's been bugging me to please watch Pearl Harbor. Another subject that fascinates him. It's been making its rounds on tv, but I haven't been able to catch it early enough in the evening for him to watch the whole thing.


The other day, I had put on Dr. Zhivago. He was playing nicely with my daughter until he wandered into the den and spotted the train scene.

He sat down. He stuck around, abandoning his sister. He was taken by how they would only let 50 persons in the cars and how they slept on wooden bunks with straw. How it was a long journey and a dangerous one. How cold it was. How they passed through burned villages.

Holding onto Lotso, he was engrossed, asking me if it really happened. Unfortunately, yes.

Titanic. Pearl Harbor. A war in cold, bleak Russia. These are the things that interest him. It's such a far extreme from Woody, Buzz, Phineas, Ferb, and Spongebob, his other interests. In some ways he seems a little immature, but then he sees these historical based movies and he wants to discuss them. Break them down. Learn from them. And argue that there was no reason for the bad events to happen. And suddenly he is wise beyond his years.

My little odd boy. He's either going to grow up to be a fantastic artist. Or a wonderful history teacher. My odd little boy with his strawberry scented teddy bear and a thirst for history. I wouldn't have him any other way.

My Daughter Gets It

I am a beaming, proud Movie Junkie Mama right now. I do believe my daughter gets it. She gets and appreciates the movies and the people who bring it all together.

It's Award Season. Last night was the Golden Globes. I have many memories of watching the Golden Globes and the Oscars with my mother as a very young child. It was a time before flat screen, crystal clear tvs. It was a 19 inch on some rickety stand and rabbit ears and Reynolds Wrap to make the picture come in clear. I'm not even sure the Golden Globes was on regular channels. I'm pretty sure it started on TBS. I could be wrong. Feel free to educate me on this one in the comments section.

It was a time before the hours of Red Carpet on E! Channel. It was more about the people and less about the fashion. Unless you were Cher. Everyone wanted to know what Cher was going wear.

Now, it's an all day thing. It's like the Superbowl. And I love it. I have carried the love for the movies, the people, and even the fashion into the new millennium. I buy snacks and make sure my fuzzy Hello Kitty Blanket is clean and ready to be snuggled with on the couch. My husband knows to either join me or leave me alone. The tv is mine. Even if the Jets are in the playoffs, find another tv to watch it on.

This year, I wanted to see if my kids would be into it. After all, I was about their age when I started watching the Awards with my mother. I was about their age when I started to recognize faces in different movies. So, over lunch, I explained to them what the Golden Globes is. I didn't get into the whole Hollywood Foreign Press thing, because quite frankly, who cares. I don't. I just want to see my favorites win. I don't care who nominates them. So, I told them about how they watch tv and movies and pick the best and then one of the best gets the big award for being the best of the best.

My daughter pondered for a minute while eating her Peanut Butter and Jelly. And then, she began to amaze me.

"Johnny Depp. Johnny Depp should get the award."

I didn't even know that she knew who Johnny Depp was. And I questioned that.

"Yeah. He's the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland. That movie should get the award too. That's my favorite movie. He's also Jack Sparrow. And Willy Wonka. And he looks so different."

Then my son chimed in, amazed that this man:

is this man:

and this man:

and this man:


"And he was in that Imagination movie, Mom. You know...Imagination of Doctor Someone..."
Yes. He step in for Heath Ledger and transformed himself into the character that Heath Ledger created.



I explained to my son that Johnny Depp is an actor that loves to dress up as different characters. He loves make up and costumes and making himself different in every role. Making himself unrecognizable.

Then, my son asked if he's the "pizza man". And I was baffled. "What pizza man?" I never get the door when the pizza man delivers. I was beginning to wonder if there was a Johnny Depp look-a-like working for Papa John's. Or a Jack Sparrow wannabe. Maybe a Willy Wonka weirdo?

"You know...the guy with the make up in that movie with the pizza face and the knives for fingers..." my son explained.

Ahhhh....Freddie Kruger. No. He's not Freddie Kruger. And then I remembered...the young and innocent Johnny Depp.

"But he's in that movie!!" I exclaimed and told them that it was his first movie role and he was very young and yes...the pizza man does him in.


"Man! Johnny Depp is in EVERYTHING!" my son yelled, happy for a man he didn't know existed minutes before.

My daughter went back to insisting that Johnny Depp just must win. He's that good of an actor. And I loved it. I loved that she seemed to understand that the award goes for someone who is versatile and thoroughly entertaining. Not the hottie and the fashionable. Not the Edward Cullens or the Jonas Brothers or the High School Musical teeny boppers. No iCarly or Wizards of Waverly Place or Hannah Montana.

She is way more advanced in movie viewing than I was when I was her age. I watched the award shows hoping to see Han Solo/Indiana Jones. I hoped Ricky Schroeder would win for Silver Spoons. I didn't get it, until years later.

But my daughter. She gets it.

I need to rent more Johnny Depp movies and introduce her to this:

or even this:


And this morning I remembered that he is the voice of Jack Kahuna Laguna on Spongebob:


I told my son, because he wants to be an animator when he grows up. He was beyond amazed.

"Johnny Depp is awesome!!!"

Conquering 2010's Personal Disappointment

I did it. It came back to my local theater. The Movie Gods had heard my cries. Or maybe it was the magic of Dumbledore. Either way, I got a second chance. And no big snow storm was going to stop me. Okay, a snow storm can't stop me. Mainly because it didn't start snowing until we left the theater. And the fact that I practically live next door to a multiplex, snow would never be an excuse. Unless it is in drifts over my head. Which would be like a two foot drift, because I'm really short.

BUT...I did it. I saw it.


I'm not even going to critique it. Let's face it. I'm not qualified because I am Harry Potter Obsessed. Just like I am Star Wars Obsessed. And RENT Obsessed. And Dexter Obsessed.

Geeze, I'm such a geek!!

But really, of course I liked it. I beyond liked it. I loved it. And for those who have read the books and know the deaths and the endings, this was a hard one for the Muggle fan to watch. Knowing that it is the beginning of the end is just so sad.

I do have one complaint about the movie. It's this man:


Professor Severus Snape. He's my number one reason for wanting to see the movie. And he wasn't in it enough. I'm lucky if I had ten minutes with Snape.

There is just something about Alan Rickman as Snape that sends delightful chills up my spine. First of all...the whole all in black wardrobe thing. So bad ass!
And the way he carries himself, looking down his nose at the whole world.


But most of all, his voice. His voice is what does it. It's smooth and precise. It's cold and calculating. And the way he always takes those dramatic pauses between words. Only Alan Rickman can pull that off without sounding like a stoner trying to find the words that escaped his brain. C'mon. We all know that guy.

He's such a force in the Harry Potter movies and unfortunately he just was not in this one long enough.

Hopefully, next time, Professor Snape will get more screen time before it is all over for him, Harry, and the rest of the Harry Potter Universe (including us Muggles).

Stumbling Upon a Treasure

Every once in a while, as I flip mindlessly through the channels, the kids are busy keeping to themselves, my husband is obsessively playing Bejewled, and the stars are lined up just right...I will stumble on a movie that I have never seen before and get to watch it in peace. A movie that is just about to start so I can catch it right from the beginning. A movie I have never even heard of. A movie that ends up just delighting me.

Stumbling upon such a movie is like stumbling upon a rare treasure. It's like doing laundry and finding a 20 dollar bill in the washing machine that no one remembers existed. I love that feeling. And it doesn't happen that often. Especially where I am left alone and no one needs a snack or help with something or complaining about my lack of housekeeping skills. Just me,the couch, a blanket, and my dogs.

Yesterday afternoon this happened to me. I had a long night on Saturday, involving an emergency, middle of the night babysitting for a neighbor. All I wanted to do yesterday was sleep, sleep, and sleep some more, but if I did that my sleep would continue to be all messed up. I'm a night owl as it is. I don't need to encourage that bad habit. Especially when I have to be up by 6 am if I don't want to homeschool my kids. Which I don't. They NEED to GO. Get OUT!!! Give me MY space and time. I don't know how homeschool moms do it. Big Kudos to you!!

Anyway, I decided to turn on the tv to see if there was anything on that would at least help me keep my interest and keep my eyes open without resorting to propping the lids with toothpicks.
I flipped through the guide, not really seeing anything I hadn't seen before or had any interest in. There really is nothing on tv on Sunday afternoons.

I saw something called Nobody's Baby. It was the only movie that was just about to start, so I figured "What the heck." Worse came to worse, I would just fall back to sleep.

Nobody's Baby was absolutely adorable. Warm, witty, charming. A great Sunday Afternoon movie.

I don't believe this movie was ever released in the theaters, but it is definitely worth checking out. The plot is a simple one: drifter, heart of gold, not-to-bright criminal Skeet Ulrich finds a baby and decides he wants to keep her. With the help of his best friend, and a small group of trailer park misfits, they keep the baby from falling in the wrong hands, and keep him from getting caught.

But the real reason to see this movie is because of this guy:

Do you see him? I didn't at first. I caught of glimpse of him, somewhere in the greasy, balding hair, bad teeth, bushy 'stache, and welfare glasses. And I questioned whether I really saw him. Could it be? Was it him?

I looked closely again:


And I still doubted myself. Could that be this man:


Is this another one of his hundreds of faces?


And it was. Gary Oldman is pure genius in this movie as a bumbling, idiotic criminal with a fetish for chapstick on his "other lips". He makes the movie. He completely loses himself in the role. Gone is the British actor. Instead, there is an out of style, moronic, goofy, red neck, good ole' boy. To bad the academy doesn't recognize little known films like this one, because Gary Oldman deserved something.

So, I stand by my previous statement in a previous post that Gary Oldman is indeed the top chameleon actor out there. No one else does it better.

It is a joy to find a good movie when you least expect it. It is a treasure when you find Gary Oldman in the movie.

If you do happen to watch this movie, don't turn it off as soon as it is over. As the credits roll, there's a little something extra. Gary and co-star Mary Steenburgen do a little line dancing. Staying in character, Gary's rooster like, loose legged dance moves were just too funny. It was just so hard for me to picture him as Sirius Black. Or Dracula. Or any other wonderful character he has bought to the screen.

It's A Cold, Cold Hell I Live In

I come from the land of four seasons. We have our picture perfect Spring. Our hot and lazy Summer. The brisk Fall. And Winter. The cold, bitter winter. And truth be told, I love all four seasons. I am not one who dreams of retiring and moving south to God's Waiting Room. Or becoming a migrating Snow Bird, causing population booms all over Florida from November to March. I can't imagine the holiday season without scarves and hats. Without bundling up as you walk from store to store doing your shopping. Without some occasional snowflakes against the twinkling Christmas Lights.

But, I am currently in a Cold, Cold Hell. I love the cold winter months...from the inside of my windows. My husband was on a fourteen month layoff. Times were tough. We started cutting back. Now, that he's back to work, we are still holding back on some luxuries and expenses because...well, bills need to be caught up and we need to be prepared for the next lay off. Just in case. Because quite frankly the economy sucks right now and his job isn't the most stable.

One of our cutbacks is the heat. We have heat. Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to warm my house with my oven like my mother used to do. She also used to dry my school uniform in the oven because we didn't have a dryer. Almost burned the house down with that. But that's a different post for a different day.

Anyway, we have heat. It's just that my husband idea of warm and my idea of warm are two different things. Plus, we have a large house that needs to be heated. And no carpeting, so it's not insulated well enough to maintain a comfortable temperature.

My husband thinks 66 degrees is warm enough. I think 76 is just barely right. Even though we have just been through one of the worse blizzards in New York State History and it is FREEZING OUT, the thermostat is set at 66. 66 degrees is warm enough for my husband to walk around wearing jeans and a wife beater looking like a damn redneck with a beer in his hands on a Saturday night. Me? I'm wearing sweats, a fleece zipped up to my ears, and I'm huddled under three blankets on the couch. With two of my three dogs laying on top of me for body heat. I trained them well.

And I cry. "I'm coooooolllllddddd!!!" And he groans. And mutters that I'm crazy. It's not cold.

While he looks like this:

(only minus the smoldering look and add a can of beer in his hands).

I look like this:

(Minus the scruffy beard and receding hairline. But I'm pretty sure I got that same crazy look in my eyes.)

And with the cold winter months, I begin to hear the haunting cold score of a movie called Promised Land play in my head. Promised Land is a movie that was released in 1988, in the middle of my obsession with Kiefer Sutherland. I had seen him as Ace Merrill. I had seen him as David the Vampire. Now, he was making odd, independent, little movies and I was determined to see every movie he ever released. I was a love sick teen that was pretty convinced that Kiefer and I were destined to meet and fall in love. I had a scrap book dedicated to him. My first, and only, published piece of work was a short little blurb (I like to call it an article, but who are we kidding) where I sang praises of Kiefer to BOP Magazine. Do they still even publish BOP Magazine??

Since no one else really knew or cared who Kiefer was, my poor mother got suckered into being dragged all over the place to see his limited released movies. We went all the way out to Long Island to see a lame movie called The Killing Time. Kiefer was awesome. The rest of the movie? Not so much.

I dragged her to some dingy hell hole of a theater in some rotten neighborhood to see Bright Lights, Big City. And to the city. Twice. Once to see Crazy Moon (what? exactly. No one knows this movie. We were the only people in the theater. I'm pretty sure we were the only two people who saw this movie, EVER!) And another time to see Promised Land.

Promised Land was such a cold movie. Bleak and filled with cold scenes. Lots of despair in the movie. I don't mean a cold movie as in cold hearted or cold performances. I mean the movie was COLD!! I remember lots of white and crisp blue skies. Lots of snow. Lots of vapored breaths. It was COLD! Beautifully filmed, but really should have been watched on a hot dog day of summer afternoon and not on a cold Saturday afternoon in a big, old drafty theater in February.

The plot of the movie is cold too. It follows the lives of two students after high school: the hotshot jock (Jason Gedrick) and the awkward misfit (Kiefer Sutherland). Two very different young men from the same small town with bleak outlooks. Though Kiefer shines as he always did, Meg Ryan steals the show as his off the wall, somewhat trashy, lonely and searching bride who has some great, humorous lines.

And every winter this movie's musical score finds it's way into my brain. The music is beautiful and there is something cold to the notes. It fits so well with the movie. Especially Plymouth Waltz. If I ever get rich I want to buy the rights to Plymouth Waltz, produce my manuscript into a movie and use that music for the trailer and for certain themes. I'll rename it Paige's Theme and....Sorry. The whole Mega Million Craze of the past few days had me dreaming and wishing what I would do with hundreds of millions.

Anyway. The music is beautiful. And cold. That was my point. It was fitting for a cold day in New York City, watching a cold movie, in a cold, old theater. And it haunts me every summer.

I'm trying something new with the blog. It's a New Year, so might as well try something new. I'm not very computer savvy, so hang in there with me. I'm attaching a video. (I hope it works!) A trailer for Promised Land. Watch and listen carefully about halfway through. You can catch the music. Maybe you'll even be intrigued to rent this movie. But I do advise waiting until the snow melts and the weather warms up.



Feel free to comment on whether or not the video works. But don't expect me to fix it if it doesn't. My brain is too frozen and my fingers have been exposed to the cold air long enough as I type. It's time for me to get back under some blankets and dogs.

A Movie Junkie Christmas

With the Holidays behind us, the trees (that's right...I got more than one tree) getting dusty and begging to be taken down, one might wonder....what does Mr. Movie Junkie get his Movie Junkie wife for Christmas?

I have to say, I am not the typical wife. I'm a bit odd to shop for. I get asthmatic with perfumes. I sell Avon, so don't buy me cosmetics. I am not a clothes horse and am quite happy and fashionable in my Mets over sized sweat pants and my "CAN YOU DIG IT?" t-shirt. (10 points if you can name the movie that quote is from.) I don't do jewelry outside of my wedding band and engagement ring. Good chocolates would be fine, but Mr. Movie Junkie wouldn't know a Godiva dark chocolate Grand Marnier Truffle from a Watchamacallit Bar. So, what did he get me? Did he do good? Are they movie themed?

Yes. He did good. Yes. They are somewhat movie themed. Sort of. Kind of.

You see, some of you know our story. We met in a movie theater. He was an usher. I was the candy girl. It was love at first sight, despite what his girlfriend at the time says. I found out the manager was stealing from my shifts and blaming me, quit and did not see him again for seven years, when he walked into my Toy Store. We dated, married, and the rest is history. We've been together happily ever after...except for when he snores...and when one of our three dogs makes a mess and suddenly become MY three dogs...and maybe some other little, minor things (his smoking)...but yeah...we are pretty happy and blessed.

When we were getting married, I decided that I wanted to collect pieces of Department 56 Christmas Villages. I didn't want to just go nuts and randomly buy different houses and buildings and stores and restaurants. I mean, have you SEEN the prices on these little houses? I decided to pick and choose carefully. I decided that each year I would buy a building that would represent something special in our life. Since we were getting married, the first piece that I bought was a Church and it came with a little Bride and Groom.

The second year, it was a Toy Store to represent when we met again and knew that "this is it". Then, I started popping out a couple of rugrats...literally like one after the other...like poptarts out of a toaster. I believe the politically incorrect term for my kids is "Irish Twins". And my little Christmas Village became the worlds smallest town ever. Just a Church and Toy Store. The town's motto was "We Play and Pray." Population: 2. The Bride and Groom.

A couple of years later, after we had gotten two of our three pups, I spotted a Department 56 piece that was a Pet Store with puppies in the window and gushed about how perfect it would be to buy it and continue my dream of having the Perfect Movie Junkie Christmas Village. So, we bought the tiny Pet Store and my little town grew ever so slightly.

And for the longest time Mr. and Mrs. Bride and Groom had just those buildings: Church, a Pet Store, and a Toy Store. Not much of a town, but still...it was MY town. I hinted over the years that I wanted to add to it, but Mr. Movie Junkie always had an excuse: we're too broke. I'm out of work. They are so ridiculously expensive. Blah, blah, blah. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

Truth be told, I think the Pet Store one just made him all grumpy because he didn't want to be reminded of the fateful day we adopted the Yappy Papillion and the Dumb as Wood Mini Schnauzer. Two dogs that he claims he didn't want. I think he resented the village.

But this year was different. This year, he surprised me. He moved on. Perhaps my addition of an overgrown Doberman mix puppy made him realize that to love me...is to love my pups.

And he bought me a new little, fragile building. Perhaps the most special one of all. A Movie Theater. It's perfect!!! He remembered. He remembered that I wanted to continue to collect them. He remembered that I wanted only buildings that would have meaning to me. To us. He remembered where we first met and flirted innocently (in spite of his ex-girlfriend) and had ABSOLUTELY NO CLUE that we would one day be the Bride and Groom in our own little private town that included our two beautiful kids, three crazy dogs, one tiny cat, two bad idea turtles, and two never dying fish.

BUT...that's not all!! Mr. Movie Junkie went above and beyond this year. Which is nice considering that we had stopped buying Christmas Gifts to each other as a sacrifice to be able to afford other things like furniture, home remodeling, vacations, eating out, etc. etc. etc. It had been awhile since we bought gifts for each other at Christmas.

Mr. Movie Junkie thought above, beyond, and out of the box. And I supposed they all have something to do with movies...or at least some form of storytelling.

Another Holiday Collection I have growing is the Macy's Holiday Plush of the Year. My Mother In Law has been getting one for me every year for the past few years. It's a lovely tradition and I love them all!! But some are missing, so my dear Husband has bought me Garfield from a few years ago. Garfield the Cat...comic strip...made into a not so great movie...see the movie connection?

And I am a HUGE fan of Dexter and a bigger fan of John Lithgow as the Trinity Killer. So, I now have a Trinity Killer Bobblehead. Dude!! It's freakin' JOHN LITHGOW and he's a BOBBLEHEAD!!! It just doesn't get more awesomer than that!!!

Actually, it does. Because the best gift is my RENT gift. I'm a RENThead. Saw it on Broadway 3.5 times (don't ask about the .5). Saw Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal in September of 2007. Cried when it closed down. Watched the movie enough times that my kids know the lyrics to La Vie Boheme better than 7-8 year olds should. (Hey! It's not like they know what the term "Mucho Masturbation" means!!). And RENT Filmed Live on Broadway on DVD and watched that more times than I can count. You look at my top played songs on my iPod and you better believe just about all of them are from RENT.

Mr. Movie Junkie scoured the Internet to find me the perfect gift. He knew Diamonds, clothes, perfume, fur coats just wouldn't do. And aside from a RENT related gift, the only other most perfect gift for me would be a puppy and he wasn't making that mistake twice in the same year...for a second time. (Think about it.)

And he found it. I now actually own PROP from September 2007's production of RENT. I actually own the candle that Roger lights and the matches he lit it with in "Light My Candle". I own a piece of Mimi's lavender lace sleeve in that scene. And I have the cast's autograph. All of them. Including the original Mark and Roger.



Yeah. I know. I was speechless too.

He did good. He did real good.

Remember: No Day But Today!!

A New Year...But First, The Year in Review.

So, it's been a long time since I blogged. Months. So much has happened. Too much has happened. 2010 wasn't a great year. Sure, memories were made and there were happy occasions, but unfortunately these happy moments tend to be overshadowed by things like unemployment, being so broke that you are eating pasta for days on end (just so you don't have to give up Internet or cable), and of course death.



As 2011 came rushing at me, I realized I needed to think positively for the new year. I needed to set goals. Resolutions...though I hate that word. No one keeps their resolutions. But goals they keep. I have been successful with goals before. Quitting smoking (though that took a few tries to get it right). A family trip to Disney World. Rescuing a pup from a shelter (ok, that goal took about thirteen months of daily begging to my husband before it became real. And even till this day he shakes his head with disbelief at my overgrown, goofy, paper towel eating, static sheet shitting puppy).

So...goals. Positive goals. My theme for 2011 is "Healthy and Wealthy". That's it. If I think Healthy, I will be Healthy, and I will eat Healthy...and maybe drink less. Maybe. If I think Wealthy, I will be Wealthy by...saving money...spending less...keeping my eye on how much I spend...and write, write, write.

Don't get me wrong. I'm very realistic. I know I am not going to be the next JK Rowling. Hell, I am not even going to be the next Lucia St. Clair Robson (who? Exactly. But, look her up...she's awesome!) But I need to think positive...think Healthy and Wealthy...this means eating right, spending right, and writing right.

So, my goal is to write a little bit each day. Some days I will have the time to write for hours on a short story or one of my novels. And other days, when laundry is piled up and the cooktop needs a good scrubbing (that would be today), I still have to write. Even if just for a few short moments. And this is where my blogs come in handy. It may not be a fictional romance or a twisted tale of terror, but it's something. It keeps the juices flowing. It's off the top of my head. It's RAMBLING baby!! And yet, it's still writing.

So, I'm back. Rambling about movies. Movies, one of my most favorite things in the world. It's up there with reading, writing, and breathing for me.

And what better way to start the New Year than to look back at the old year. The best. The worse. The biggest disappointment. The greatest loss.

The best? I've raved about it before and I will rave about it again and again. The best movie I watched in 2010 is The Road with Viggo Mortensen. How this movie was overlooked by the Academy is beyond me. I guess it was just too depressing. Too scary. Too realistic of an Apocalyptic future. Too haunting.

The Road has been making its rounds on Showtime lately and I've been avoiding it at all cost. I recommend it to EVERYONE, but watching this dark, haunting movie once is enough for me to get it. It hung over me like a dark cloud for days and I cannot relive that. Not to mention it makes me want to stockpile on truckloads of canned goods and bottled water, grab my kids and run for the hills or an isolated island. It is because of this effect this story had on me that I think it was the best movie I saw in 2010.

The worse movie I watched in 2010? Well, it was going to be Observe and Report with Seth Rogan, until last Thursday when I sat down to watch Gang of Roses. What can I say about this movie? I love a western and when I saw the little synopsis in the Guide, I thought "Oooh...a Western about female outlaws. Sounds cool."

Oh Good Lord. Where do I begin with Gang of Roses? Let me put it this way: It's a western that stars L'il Kim and Bobby Brown (yes THAT Bobby Brown aka Mr. Whitney Houston). And the girls all wear tight, midriff baring, boob popping leather hip-hop meets Grand Ole' Opry outfits. Need I say more? I don't think I'm even going to waste my time.

Biggest disappointment of 2010? Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One. No, no...it wasn't bad. I'm not even sure if it was good. Because I never got to see it. That's my own personal biggest disappointment. I'm such a Harry Potter fan. Seriously, you should see my house during Halloween. I have a life sized Dementor that floats in my living room. I have a banner that boasts all four houses of Hogwarts. I dyed my son's hair black when he was three just so he could be Harry Potter for Halloween. Poor kid cried. But he made a damn awesome Harry Potter.

I am so, so, so disappointed in myself that I did not get the chance or take the time to see the latest installment, and the first half of the end, of Harry Potter. I hang my muggle head in shame as I beg to still be considered a great fan of Harry and company.

The Movie that should have won the Oscar? Of all the movies that where nominated, I stand by my opinion that District 9 was the best of the ten. Haven't seen it yet? You gotta check it out.




And then of course, we lost some of Movie/Television's Finest in 2010. We lost a Golden Girl, The Angels' Charlie, another Redgrave, a Lost Boy, the inspiration for Stand and Deliver, The Fonz's Mr. C., and Dennis Hopper. They will all be missed by fans, friends, or family. I do believe the world of movies will not be the same without Dennis Hopper to portray those odd, quirky, and sometimes frightening Dennis Hopper-esque roles.

And here it is folks. My first post in a long time. My first post in the New Year. Hopefully, I'll continue to blog and keep up my goals. Healthy and Wealthy in 2011. I just have to remind myself that everyday and take each day as it comes. Gosh, I sound so damn positive right now. It's almost sickening. But aren't we all so bright about the outlook of a New Year? Remind me to re-read this post in about 12 months, so I can see if I still have the same chipper attitude going...and see if I'm rich...and thin.

From the Movie Junkie to you:
Happy New Year!!! May your year be as Healthy and Wealthy as I hope mine to be.