It was a full weekend for us. Time is running out for Ron and I to see all the Oscar nominated movies before March 7th. We finally got around to seeing two important films and one piece of fluff.
Precious - I'd been told repeatedly that I needed to see this movie. I knew, however, that it would be one of those films that I only saw once. Child abuse is a difficult topic and something painful to watch and acknowledge. It was painful to watch but it was a very well-written and honestly acted story. Now I know why Mo'Nique has won a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors' Guild award for Best Supporting actress. She was horrifying and excellent as the abusive mother. Gabourey Sidibe was very good as the abused, illiterate 16 year old girl. This was a hard movie to watch but truly well done and worth seeing. Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz surprised me - they did very well in their small roles and Paula Patton was inspiring as the teacher. Go see this movie if you haven't already. (Dana, I should have listened to you about taking Kleenex!).
Invictus - I love Morgan Freeman. He's exactly the kind of guy I would want as a dad or granddad. He just seems so wise and warm. He was the perfect actor to portray Mandela and he did it beautifully. I don't love Matt Damon - I can't honestly tell you why, I just don't. He's a good actor and kinda cute, but something about him leaves me flat. He was good in this movie, though. I enjoyed Morgan Freeman more than I enjoyed the movie - there was way too much rugby in it for me. Maybe I would have liked the movie more if I understood rugby. I just found myself squirming and wincing every time someone got hit on the field - it's a brutal game like football where the only protective equipment used appeared to be mouth guards. I wanted more about Nelson Mandela and less about rugby. It's definitely worth seeing but not one of my favorites.
Valentine's Day - So many known actors in this - ok, too many knownactors in this movie. This was a cute, funny, mostly feel good movie. My main complaint is that there were far too many threads running through the film - too many little stories to keep track of. If Garry Marshall had just cut half of the little story lines out, he could have spent more time on the really special ones. My favorites included Ashton Kutcher, Jennifer Garner, Patrick Dempsey, Jessica Alba, Eric Dane, Bradley Cooper, Julia Roberts, Emma Roberts and George Lopez. For me, they could have left out Jamie Foxx, Jessica Biehl, Anne Hathaway, Topher Grace, Queen Latifah, Shirley MacClaine and Hector Elizando. The Taylors (Swift and Lautner) were cute and funny. My favorite was the child actor Bryce Robinson who played Edison - just adorable. There were a couple of surprises toward the end that ultimately made the movie satisfying even though the very end was totally predictable. I liked it for the most part, but it was a total chick flick. Go see it at your own risk!
Monday, February 15, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Ron & Laura and the Valentine's Day Curse
Our first fight ever was on Valentine's Day 1980. Well, it wasn't really a fight - more like a misunderstanding, but it started a tradition of not so happy Valentine's Days for us. We were seniors in high school and it was our first Valentine's together. Sometime before THE day, I had made a silly comment like "you don't have to get me anything for Valentine's..." YOU know I didn't mean it, but HE didn't get it. So, of course, on THE day, I showed up at school with a card for him and a big red bow that I put on my head (I know. Very lame, but I was 17 - ok?) Anyway, I gave him the card and a big kiss symbolically giving him ME. Then I waited...nothing...I can only imagine what was going on in his head.
"But she said that I didn't need to get her anything! Fiddle!" (He used to say "Oh, Fiddle!" when he was upset - that was his kind of swearing. He has gotten a little more colorful over the years!).
I can tell you what was going on in my head. I couldn't believe that he didn't get me ANYTHING. Didn't he read the boyfriend handbook? He didn't get me anything on Valentine's Day? Wow...he must not really care... Why didn't he read my mind and realize I did want some gesture of his undying love? I tried unsuccessfully to act like my feeling weren't hurt. In his defense, his dad was a pitiful role model on romance, so what did he know?
Everything got smoothed over the very next day when Ron showed up with a poem that he wrote on lined notebook paper just for me. That's all it took! I WAS loved after all...I still have that folded piece of notebook paper and cherish it to this day...
Ever since that first Valentine's Day, Ron has tried to redeem himself but something has gone wrong...like when he decided to take me out to dinner but didn't make reservations, so there was no way we'd get in...or the time he had my diamonds reset into a new wedding ring and the jeweler made a mess of the setting....or the time he got me a coffee mug and it was actually a birthday sentiment on the cup...or the time that he took 5 year old Mandy & Becky to pick something out for me, but ran out of time to take Jenny and she got her feelings hurt...he just couldn't win.
After awhile, I think he got more and more resentful of this "made-up" holiday. He did successfully get me flowers once or twice but it made both of us feel badly for him to spend the ridiculously inflated amount of money for flowers that were going to die in a week or so. I have since let him know that I really DON'T want flowers or chocolates for Valentine's. In fact, I finally did grow up and realize that he didn't need to get me anything for this silly holiday at all. I publicly apologize to him for all the stress and grief that my silly expectations have caused us over this day.
We have spent today playing with our Wild Thing and plan to go to the movies after we drop him off with his mama. It has been a lovely day and there isn't one card, flower or chocolate in sight. Ron is a great guy, a wonderful husband, father and Buddy - He's my Valentine every day of the year and I'm lucky to have him!
"But she said that I didn't need to get her anything! Fiddle!" (He used to say "Oh, Fiddle!" when he was upset - that was his kind of swearing. He has gotten a little more colorful over the years!).
I can tell you what was going on in my head. I couldn't believe that he didn't get me ANYTHING. Didn't he read the boyfriend handbook? He didn't get me anything on Valentine's Day? Wow...he must not really care... Why didn't he read my mind and realize I did want some gesture of his undying love? I tried unsuccessfully to act like my feeling weren't hurt. In his defense, his dad was a pitiful role model on romance, so what did he know?
Everything got smoothed over the very next day when Ron showed up with a poem that he wrote on lined notebook paper just for me. That's all it took! I WAS loved after all...I still have that folded piece of notebook paper and cherish it to this day...
Ever since that first Valentine's Day, Ron has tried to redeem himself but something has gone wrong...like when he decided to take me out to dinner but didn't make reservations, so there was no way we'd get in...or the time he had my diamonds reset into a new wedding ring and the jeweler made a mess of the setting....or the time he got me a coffee mug and it was actually a birthday sentiment on the cup...or the time that he took 5 year old Mandy & Becky to pick something out for me, but ran out of time to take Jenny and she got her feelings hurt...he just couldn't win.
After awhile, I think he got more and more resentful of this "made-up" holiday. He did successfully get me flowers once or twice but it made both of us feel badly for him to spend the ridiculously inflated amount of money for flowers that were going to die in a week or so. I have since let him know that I really DON'T want flowers or chocolates for Valentine's. In fact, I finally did grow up and realize that he didn't need to get me anything for this silly holiday at all. I publicly apologize to him for all the stress and grief that my silly expectations have caused us over this day.
We have spent today playing with our Wild Thing and plan to go to the movies after we drop him off with his mama. It has been a lovely day and there isn't one card, flower or chocolate in sight. Ron is a great guy, a wonderful husband, father and Buddy - He's my Valentine every day of the year and I'm lucky to have him!
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow....
...or is it "Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today"? That's probably really the right way to say it but I am guilty of being a terrible procrastinator. To illustrate my point, I will confess to you that today, February 7th, I finally organized and put away all the Christmas decorations. I feel badly, but at least it's done.
I would have finished yesterday, but Ron and I decided to have a movie day. We started with "When in Rome" starring Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel. The funny thing is what I really wanted to see was "From Paris with Love" with John Travolta. Ron got his foreign cities mixed when he was buying the tickets - oh well. So it was a romantic comedy instead of action adventure...bummer. You know that I love a good romantic comedy, but unfortunately this one was pretty silly. The lead actors were cute but the story was just ridiculous. At least we only paid matinee prices on the tickets.
Next up was "Dear John" with Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried. This is a drama/romance based on a Nicholas Sparks book. **SPOILER ALERT** If you don't want to know how this movie ends stop reading now. I didn't want to see this movie because I am fed up with the way the Nicholas Sparks always kills one of the lovers in his stories...A Walk to Remember, Message in a Bottle, Nights in Rodanthe...I'll forgive him for The Notebook, because the lovers in that story lived a long life and then poetically died in each other's arms. So, I just knew he was going to kill one of these kids off before the end of the movie. I was wrong - there were some unexpected turns in this story and I was pleasantly surprised. The actors in this film are both talented, beautiful young people and this was an easy story to watch. I liked it. Besides that, I may give Nicholas Sparks another shot - his next story is called "The Last Song" and Miley Cyrus is in it...hmmmmm...I don't know about that.
Last but not least, we decided to watch "District 9" on pay per view since it's up for Best Picture this year. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I was surprised to find myself really absorbed by the story even though it had quite a lot of blood and goo in it. The story was very interesting and the characters were compelling. I found myself rooting for Wikus, the alien and his son....I don't think it merits a Best Picture nomination, but it was a very entertaining movie - you should see it. Just know that you really have to pay attention and be prepared to read the subtitles if you want to know what the aliens are saying. Really, good movie.
Next week there will be lots to choose from...Valentine's Day, The Wolfman, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Besides that we still need to see The Hurt Locker, Precious, An Education, and A Serious Man, and The Last Station. Maybe I'll get to see From Paris with Love after all.
Right now I am going to switch my focus to Super Bowl XLIV - as much as I like the Colts and Peyton Manning, I'm going to say sorry to all my friends back in Indiana, but C'MON SAINTS!!!
I would have finished yesterday, but Ron and I decided to have a movie day. We started with "When in Rome" starring Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel. The funny thing is what I really wanted to see was "From Paris with Love" with John Travolta. Ron got his foreign cities mixed when he was buying the tickets - oh well. So it was a romantic comedy instead of action adventure...bummer. You know that I love a good romantic comedy, but unfortunately this one was pretty silly. The lead actors were cute but the story was just ridiculous. At least we only paid matinee prices on the tickets.
Next up was "Dear John" with Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried. This is a drama/romance based on a Nicholas Sparks book. **SPOILER ALERT** If you don't want to know how this movie ends stop reading now. I didn't want to see this movie because I am fed up with the way the Nicholas Sparks always kills one of the lovers in his stories...A Walk to Remember, Message in a Bottle, Nights in Rodanthe...I'll forgive him for The Notebook, because the lovers in that story lived a long life and then poetically died in each other's arms. So, I just knew he was going to kill one of these kids off before the end of the movie. I was wrong - there were some unexpected turns in this story and I was pleasantly surprised. The actors in this film are both talented, beautiful young people and this was an easy story to watch. I liked it. Besides that, I may give Nicholas Sparks another shot - his next story is called "The Last Song" and Miley Cyrus is in it...hmmmmm...I don't know about that.
Last but not least, we decided to watch "District 9" on pay per view since it's up for Best Picture this year. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I was surprised to find myself really absorbed by the story even though it had quite a lot of blood and goo in it. The story was very interesting and the characters were compelling. I found myself rooting for Wikus, the alien and his son....I don't think it merits a Best Picture nomination, but it was a very entertaining movie - you should see it. Just know that you really have to pay attention and be prepared to read the subtitles if you want to know what the aliens are saying. Really, good movie.
Next week there will be lots to choose from...Valentine's Day, The Wolfman, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Besides that we still need to see The Hurt Locker, Precious, An Education, and A Serious Man, and The Last Station. Maybe I'll get to see From Paris with Love after all.
Right now I am going to switch my focus to Super Bowl XLIV - as much as I like the Colts and Peyton Manning, I'm going to say sorry to all my friends back in Indiana, but C'MON SAINTS!!!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Playin' hooky and going to the movies...
Every once in awhile it feels good to take a day off from work and just relax. No rushing around. No stress. Yesterday was that day for us. On my “To Do” List for the day…
1. Sleep in - Ron and I did just that – I slept in until 7:30 am! That never happens to me anymore – Ron didn’t come downstairs til about 9 am.
2. Relax – Stayed in my pj’s til 10:30 – a real lady of leisure!
3. Movies – Thought about trying to squeeze in 3 movies but then decided that 2 would be enough. Decided to see “Legion” & “The Lovely Bones.”
“Legion”
I have to admit that I do enjoy this genre of movie…end of days, biblically apocalyptic, and the fate of the entire human race depends on one reluctant savior that is in the middle of a crisis of faith…”The Seventh Sign” with Demi Moore and Michael Biehn; ”The Prophecy” with Christopher Walken and Eric Stoltz; “End of Days” starring He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named (the present governor of California –used to love him and now I REALLY don’t) are 3 of my favorites. I usually watch these on cable late at night when Ron has already gone to sleep. He agreed to see “Legion” with me because we went to college with one of the actors…Doug Jones. Actually, we were at Ball State University at the same time he was. I was his fiancé’s RA and Ron and I did actually attend Doug and Laurie’s wedding. I am quite sure he would have a difficult time remembering us. Nevertheless, we do feel connected to him and keep up with his career. Some of his credits include “Pan’s Labyrinth” as Pan; Abe Sapien in the “Hellboy” movies; “Fantastic 4 – Rise of the Silver Surfer” as the Silver Surfer. The sad thing is that he is usually unrecognizable in these roles. Anyway, Doug is in “Legion” as the Ice Cream Man. We went to see this movie to see Doug. He was on screen for about 60 seconds…really, that was it. He was scary but it was 60 seconds. There were some well known actors in this film – Dennis Quaid, Charles Dutton, Kate Walsh and Paul Bettany as the angel Michael. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a whole lot of backstory or substance to this movie. The scariest part was when a sweet looking little old lady spouted profanity, climbed the walls, crawled across the ceiling and then took a big bite out of one of the customers in the diner where the majority of the action was set. The angels Michael and Gabriel were quite beautiful but weren’t featured enough – they had amazing razor sharp wings! That just wasn’t enough to make this a good movie and I’m sorry that I can’t recommend it…
“The Lovely Bones”
I had heard about how wonderful this book was from my daughters a long time ago. I only read this book about a year ago. It really touched me. It was so tragic and horrible, but also beautiful in some ways. It never occurred to me that anyone would try to make a movie based on this book. The subject matter in this movie is also tragic and horrible, but parts of it were beautiful in many ways. The acting was excellent – Susie Salmon is played by Saoirse Ronan – a wonderful young actress. Mark Wahlberg is also fantastic as is Rachel Weisz. Stanley Tucci was so good as the murderer, he is nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor this year. He was seriously creepy and evil. This film is director Peter Jackson’s interpretation of the book. Some people are probably not happy about some of the liberties he took with it, but I thought it was very well done. I would certainly recommend this movie with the warning that it’s not a ‘feel good’ movie. When it was over, Ron and I just sat there for about 10 minutes while the credits rolled. It sucked the energy out of us, but it made us think.
All in all, we accomplished what we set out to do - we had a calm, relaxing, stress-free day. Playin' hooky was just what we needed!
1. Sleep in - Ron and I did just that – I slept in until 7:30 am! That never happens to me anymore – Ron didn’t come downstairs til about 9 am.
2. Relax – Stayed in my pj’s til 10:30 – a real lady of leisure!
3. Movies – Thought about trying to squeeze in 3 movies but then decided that 2 would be enough. Decided to see “Legion” & “The Lovely Bones.”
“Legion”
I have to admit that I do enjoy this genre of movie…end of days, biblically apocalyptic, and the fate of the entire human race depends on one reluctant savior that is in the middle of a crisis of faith…”The Seventh Sign” with Demi Moore and Michael Biehn; ”The Prophecy” with Christopher Walken and Eric Stoltz; “End of Days” starring He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named (the present governor of California –used to love him and now I REALLY don’t) are 3 of my favorites. I usually watch these on cable late at night when Ron has already gone to sleep. He agreed to see “Legion” with me because we went to college with one of the actors…Doug Jones. Actually, we were at Ball State University at the same time he was. I was his fiancé’s RA and Ron and I did actually attend Doug and Laurie’s wedding. I am quite sure he would have a difficult time remembering us. Nevertheless, we do feel connected to him and keep up with his career. Some of his credits include “Pan’s Labyrinth” as Pan; Abe Sapien in the “Hellboy” movies; “Fantastic 4 – Rise of the Silver Surfer” as the Silver Surfer. The sad thing is that he is usually unrecognizable in these roles. Anyway, Doug is in “Legion” as the Ice Cream Man. We went to see this movie to see Doug. He was on screen for about 60 seconds…really, that was it. He was scary but it was 60 seconds. There were some well known actors in this film – Dennis Quaid, Charles Dutton, Kate Walsh and Paul Bettany as the angel Michael. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a whole lot of backstory or substance to this movie. The scariest part was when a sweet looking little old lady spouted profanity, climbed the walls, crawled across the ceiling and then took a big bite out of one of the customers in the diner where the majority of the action was set. The angels Michael and Gabriel were quite beautiful but weren’t featured enough – they had amazing razor sharp wings! That just wasn’t enough to make this a good movie and I’m sorry that I can’t recommend it…
“The Lovely Bones”
I had heard about how wonderful this book was from my daughters a long time ago. I only read this book about a year ago. It really touched me. It was so tragic and horrible, but also beautiful in some ways. It never occurred to me that anyone would try to make a movie based on this book. The subject matter in this movie is also tragic and horrible, but parts of it were beautiful in many ways. The acting was excellent – Susie Salmon is played by Saoirse Ronan – a wonderful young actress. Mark Wahlberg is also fantastic as is Rachel Weisz. Stanley Tucci was so good as the murderer, he is nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor this year. He was seriously creepy and evil. This film is director Peter Jackson’s interpretation of the book. Some people are probably not happy about some of the liberties he took with it, but I thought it was very well done. I would certainly recommend this movie with the warning that it’s not a ‘feel good’ movie. When it was over, Ron and I just sat there for about 10 minutes while the credits rolled. It sucked the energy out of us, but it made us think.
All in all, we accomplished what we set out to do - we had a calm, relaxing, stress-free day. Playin' hooky was just what we needed!
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