Movies of the 80's

I recently wrote a post about some movies I consider "classic" family movies, that every kid should see. Today, I thought it might be fun to make a list of some of the best films of the 1980's, since parents of my generation have a soft spot for them, but the next generation might have missed them. These are not movies I consider "must-see", but they are fun.

Best Classic Movies For Families

I'm kind of passionate about kids being "culturally educated" in the arts. Probably comes with being my dad's daughter. And, though I shouldn't be, I'm consistently surprised at the dearth of classic movies people have actually seen. It's depressing. 

"Now You See Me", Unless You Don't

If you think "Now You See Me" is a heist movie, think again. If you think it's a supernatural magic movie, you're also wrong. I can explain the whole movie in just a few words. 

The Trouble With Doctor Who

Dang dang dang.

I did it.

I got hooked on yet another British TV show.

"Doctor Who" regenerated in 2005, after a very long time off the air. It was completely off my radar. I had heard of the show, but had never seen any episodes, and didn't know anything about it.

Until now. 

My son has been watching lots of "Who" lately, particularly the episodes with Matt Smith as The Doctor, but when I started in, I wanted to go back further and start near the beginning. I wasn't especially impressed with the first few episodes (or the first Doctor) of the resurgence, so I jumped ahead to the point that David Tennant took over the role. Having skipped pretty much a whole season, though, I think there are some plotlines I missed, but it doesn't seem to matter much. I'm still hooked.

What You Need to Know About "Who"

So, you want to watch "Doctor Who", but you don't know where to begin? Here are some basic things you might want to know:

Blu-Ray: Warm Bodies

After reading my dad's article, I decided to watch "Warm Bodies", even though it's a decidedly different movie than my normal selections.

"R", the zombie telling his story through voice-over narration, doesn't know what caused the zombie apocalypse, but there are 3 distinct versions of people left on Earth-- the humans, the "corpses" (zombies as we know them) and "boneys", which are corpses that have given up and rotted into evil skeleton creatures.

Book Club Book: The Devil in the White City by Erik Larsen

My sisters and I all like love to read, and we all enjoy similar books (mostly), so we decided to start our own little book club. Plus, it gives us an excuse to get together each month and eat food and chat-chat-chat, which is the best part. Aside from the reading. 

Our first two books were blah-to-terrible. We read (well, I think I'm the only one in the group who finished both books... so... yeah... girls-- get reading!!) "An Uncommon Reader" and "Gone Girl". 

Book: Inferno by Dan Brown

I made the mistake of reading this article: a parody of Dan Brown's writing style, shortly before reading his newest Robert Langdon adventure, "Inferno". While it couldn't sour my taste for Brown's storytelling, it did point out that he uses some obvious and over-used (almost cliche) writing choices. The point here is, I may have gone into "Inferno" slightly jaded. That may have colored my experience in reading the book. Maybe not, though...

Flaming Passion

My daughter and I just had a funny conversation:

Katie: Mom, what does "flaming passion" mean? 
Me: Where did you hear that? 
K: I didn't hear it. I think I read it. 
Me: Where did you read it? 
K: I don't know. I just know I read it somewhere. 
Me: It's like a really strong feeling of love, affection and attraction. 
K: Hm. I bet they say that in "Twilight", huh? "My heart was filled with flaming passion!" 
Me: Well... sort of, but not in those words. 
K: Are you going to make me read those when I get older? 
Me: (laughing) No. It will be your choice.
K: I bet she says all kinds of things like that in "Twilight". It's probably stupid.

My daughter is nearly 11 years old, and pretty innocent. She only watches pre-approved, clean shows and doesn't read anything written for older people, so I think she's just not remembering. I suspect she heard it on the BYU-TV show "Studio C", used as a joke and without any innuendo, really (in the clip below). She is just smart enough to pick up an unknown phrase and pocket it away for later. Still, I hope this isn't one I hear her use later...