Super 8!!

Take a little bit of "E.T.", a portion of "Jurassic Park", a smidge of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (all directed by Steven Spielberg) and a heaping scoop of the Rob Reiner directed "Stand By Me". The result is "Super 8", written and directed by J.J. Abrams and produced by Spielberg. It is a terrific sci-fi movie, set in the '70's and starring a bunch of newcomer kids, all of whom were perfectly cast. I loved the fun, comic-relief moments, the authenticity of the kids' relationships and dialogue and the fast-paced script. The middle-school romance was sweet and endearing, the heroics just believable enough, and the pacing of the direction was excellent.  There are enough startle moments to keep you on your toes, and I have always liked Kyle Chandler, who plays the deputy/dad character perfectly.

"Super 8" had some of the best movie trailers I've seen in a long time-- scary, fascinating, enticing, with just a tiny bit of the story. I love a trailer that teases the viewers, making us want to see the movie, giving us just a taste of what to expect, without showing us the whole movie. Fantastic!!

This is a very Spielberg-esque movie and I enjoyed it very much. However, I was surprised by the heavy dose of common cusses by the tweens, mostly the s-word, so-called "religious" swearing, and one loud and clear f-bomb (said by an older character). It was unnecessary and annoying, and made my 12-year old uncomfortable.

We are in the habit of letting a movie run through the credits, and we were rewarded this time with the film that the kids in the movie were making-- a zombie flick intended to be entered in a local film festival. It was very funny.

Props to Pandora!

My 16-year-old son recently introduced me to the Pandora app on the ipod touch.  I tend to be very particular about music and haven't really used it much for music, but it occurred to me to look for a comedy station, and, much to my delight I found a PG comedy station!  It is mostly clean, family-friendly comedy-- bits from various comics shuffled together for my enjoyment.  The only thing I've heard that I wouldn't consider "family-friendly" was a short routine about sex after marriage.  Really, though, with hours of listening to it, that was the only even moderately offensive thing!  Well, unless you count the "bible" swears.  Those are used quite freely...

The comics include our family favorite Brian Regan, as well as Jim Gaffigan, Henry Cho, Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, Bill Cosby, Steven Wright, Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen Degeneres, Frank Caliendo, and a bunch I'm not very familiar with, but who are also very funny.  My one complaint is that they don't play very much Ellen, and she's hilarious.  Oh, and they play too much Cosby.  I know most of his routines almost by heart, having listened to them since I was a girl and my dad had a couple of his records.

Thumbs up and big thanks to Pandora for providing my children and me with a place to hear some great comedy without risking too much naughtiness or language making its way through their headphones...

Anticipating 2012 Movies

My two-and-a-half teenage sons and I are very excited about next year's promised crop of movies. We are looking forward to:

Spiderman.  Yep, another "reboot".  My son tells me this version will be truer to the comics, including Gwen Stacey as Parker's big High School crush, rather than MaryJane, who came much later in the comic books.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.  I love Martin Freeman.  I think he's such a fantastic, understated,  subtle actor.  I was so impressed by his performance as John Watson in the BBC production "Sherlock", and I can't wait to see his Bilbo Baggins.  I have a soft spot for hobbits as it is, so the casting of Freeman pushes this movie into the short list of my most anticipated movies for next year.

"The Dark Knight Rises"-  I was so impressed by Christian Bale's Batman, in spite of his throaty stage voice, and in spite of the darker nature of the most recent movies.  I found "The Dark Knight" a bit too dark for my taste, but "Batman Begins" is one of my all-time favorite films.  Just great entertainment.  I am interested in where the story will go, now that Bruce Wayne's lady love has been killed, and he has resigned himself to a life of "darkness".




The 2012 movie I am most looking forward to has to be "The Avengers".  The bringing together of so many awesome characters, played by fantastic actors can't be anything short of amazing:  Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk (played by Mark Ruffalo this time), Hawkeye, Thor and Captain America... did I miss anyone? Enjoy the trailer.

Have You Seen This?

One of the funniest things I have ever seen on the internet.  Whether you are a supporter of Romney or not, this is hilarious.  I love the idea of "bad lip reading".  It reminds me of when we were young and sometimes my dad would just turn down the sound on a particularly bad movie and he (and my brothers, probably) would make up funny dialogue to go along with the stupid action.

This is very good, but most of their other videos are pretty stupid.  I did like the Justin Bieber/Rascal Flatts video, though.  That was good for a laugh, even though I hadn't ever heard the real song...

Enjoy!

Oh Captain, My Captain...

Lack of spending cash has severely damaged my movie attendance in the last few years.  I was very disappointed when I missed the many theatrical showings this year, but my sons and I have enjoyed catching up on my husband's ridiculously-oversized TV at home.  Tonight's installment was the highly anticipated (at our house), "Captain America", which my second son has been talking about since it first went into development.  I wasn't sure what to expect.  As usual, I went into this movie not really knowing the back story, and (as with Thor), not sure the star was good-looking enough to impress me as the hero.  And (as with Thor) I was pleasantly surprised.  Chris Evans provides some lovely patriotic eye-candy.  

As far as the film itself is concerned, I was blown away by the computer-graphic animation (or whatever it's called) that was used to make Evans look much, much smaller than he really is.  It was seamless-- amazing!  They even made his face look slightly slimmer.  He was so cute-- like his own little brother.  Special effects just get better and better. 

This isn't Evans' first foray into the genre of comic-book movies.  He stole the show as "Johnny Storm" in the "Fantastic Four" movies a few years ago, but I wasn't sure he could pull off the sweet-kid-turned-soldier. I was impressed by his seemingly effortless performance. He's a lot more talented than I realized.  I completely believed he was a skinny, bullied young man, and I completely bought his physical transformation that didn't change who he was inside.  

I also enjoyed Hugo Weaving as the Captain's nemesis, Red Skull, but I had a hard time shaking the image of him as Elrond (a leader of one group of elves in the LOTR films), and that was distracting. Not his fault, just what got stuck in my head.  He was good, though, sufficiently evil and naughty.  

I had anticipated that, because the story is set in the 1940s, much of it would have a corny feeling, but the director and scriptwriters handled the cheesy, comic-book stuff really well-- it was amusing, and a little uncomfortable to watch the Captain performing for crowds, encouraging them to buy war bonds, instead of doing what he wanted to do and fighting against the Nazis, but the reaction of WWII-era children (especially those reading "Captain America" comics) was very well written and heartwarming.

There were a few unintentionally amusing things in the movie, which I wouldn't have even noticed had they not been pointed out by someone (so sorry, I can't credit whom, because I can't remember; if anyone knows, please tell me so I can give credit where it's due) such as the fact that the bombs heading for the U.S. were conveniently labeled "New York", "Chicago" and "Boston", in English, though the baddies were German.  Also I wasn't totally convinced that the Captain had to make the choice that he made at the end-- I understand the story has to go that way, but... really?  He couldn't turn the plane around?  I won't say more, I don't want to spoil it if you haven't seen it, but it seemed like a silly thing to do, really.

This was a four-star film, engaging, fun, adventurous, humorous and surprising.  Just what you go to the movies to enjoy.

I found the photo on: http://www.figures.com/forums/news/12450-new-photos-chris-evans-captain-america.html

The Lackluster Lantern...

This weekend, we finally got around to watching last summer's least-liked super-hero movie, "The Green Lantern".  I was, in a word, unimpressed.  I'm not a big Ryan Reynolds fan.  I think he was cute in that movie he was in with Sandra Bullock where she was his boss and they faked an engagement; comedy ensued... but this time, he wasn't cute, he wasn't really all that likeable, and between the dull dialogue, the slow pacing, the obvious CGI, and the easy comparisons to superior films, it was just a big disappointment.

I'm not a big comic book fan, but I love a good super-hero movie, and, even though I had heard from everyone that it was pretty lame, I thought we should give it a fair chance.  Going in with low expectations often helps a movie seem better than it was.  No good here.  Nothing could have saved it.  The Green Lantern story is decent, I can see the appeal of the character, and I totally understand the coolness factor of the Lanterns' power-- how cool to be able to create anything your mind can come up with-- but it didn't translate well to the big screen.

Now on to "Captain America"...

My friend gave me the Liebster Award!

I will pass it on to the blogs listed below.  These are the rules:
The Liebster Award is one given to highlight up and coming blogs. These blogs usually have less than 200 followers. It does come with a few rules: 

1. Copy and paste the award onto your blog.
2. Thank the giver and link back to the blog that gave you the award.
3. Reveal your top five picks and let them know by leaving them a comment.
4. Hope that your followers spread the love to other bloggers. 


Here are my picks:
http://lauradbastian.blogspot.com/
http://dancesdishesanddreams.blogspot.com/
http://craftingintherain.blogspot.com/ (this blog has over 200 followers, but it is such a great blog, I thought she deserved to be noticed)


I don't follow very many blogs, I simply don't have time to read them.  My favorite blogs besides these 3 are well over 200 followers, so they don't really qualify. 


Check out my friends' blogs, though.  You'll be glad you stopped by. 

A Friday Night Flick

Working full time makes it very difficult to find time to blog.  SO this will be short, because it's the end of my work week and I'm exhausted and tomorrow is another busy day.  My sons, husband and I watched "The Adjustment Bureau" tonight, which features my imaginary boyfriend, Matt Damon, as a politician whose life is being controlled by the titular Bureau, who inexplicably doesn't want him to be with the girl he loves (Emily Blunt), so he runs around a lot and looks stressed out or sad a lot, and keeps breaking her heart by just disappearing from her life (except I'm fairly sure she saw him on TV, because he's running for Senate... um... not sure why she didn't just go to HIM and confront him...) and she gets engaged twice to another man (some guy named Adrian, I think), then twice ditches said fiance, poor fella.

It's pretty good, somewhat predictable, but refreshingly creative and energetic. It's no Bourne movie, and the story seemed a bit... flat, but it was a decent free library dvd.  I liked the humor, Damon had a lot of cute, flirtatiously funny lines.  I liked Harry an angel (?) who ends up helping them, he was well played by Anthony Mackie.  He's good-looking and seemed to be the only Bureau member with a conscience or brain.

This movie is advertised to be a thriller, and I suppose it is, though only just barely.  They cuss a handful of times, including the obligatory "you-can't-stop-us" f-bomb, which Hollywood seems to think belongs in any movie not PG, but which I could have done without.  Who needs it?  And the little sprinkling of "sexual content" was very short-- short enough to wonder why they even put it in.  It wasn't graphic, but sexy enough to make my two and a half teenage sons uncomfortable.  And me, sitting next to them, as well! We did the "cover your eyes!" game that we have to play with so many movies.  Ugh.

Thanks to IMDB for the details such as actors' names, and to the world wide web for the photo. Google's image search is a wonderful thing.

And we're back.

I finally finished watching all 6 seasons of "Lost" today.  The final episode, which generated fan complaints and dissatisfaction, was actually lovely.  I enjoyed it, in spite of the tears I shed while watching.  Of course, there are multiple questions in the so-called mythology of the series that were left unanswered, which was mildly frustrating.  There were things I didn't understand that never got

Granted, I didn't dedicate 6 years of viewing to the show, like fans who watched it during its run did, and maybe that contributed to the feeling that I'm just glad to be finished with it, rather than feeling disappointed that the end didn't explain everything.

I do think the show didn't really need 6 seasons to tell its story.  I think 4 or 5 would have been sufficient...

I did find myself very attached to these characters, Desmond, Charlie, Hurley and Sawyer in particular. Good stuff...

I don't want to say too much because I know that future fans would probably not appreciate me spoiling any of the fun, and there are a lot of mysteries and secrets to enjoy. If you haven't watched it, give it a look!  It's on Netflix streaming, or your local library might have the DVDs for your enjoyment.  Just be careful, because if you like it as well as I did, you'll have a hard time doing much else besides watching TV.

Now it's time to catch up on my TV shows, movies and (especially) books!!

A Season Late and an Admission Price Short

I'm finally, slowly, catching up on the summer moviest that I missed out on during the actual summer.  The list I wanted to see included a handful of comic-book-ish movies, such as "Green Lantern" (haven't seen it yet), "Thor" (check out my sort-of review, HERE), "Cowboys and Aliens" (yes, I know it's based on a Graphic novel which is not the same thing as a comic book... see my review, HERE), "Captain America" (really looking forward to seeing it), and "X-Men First Class", which I watched with my husband and 3 1/2 teenage boys.

Here's what I thought:
I have a longstanding Hollywood crush on James McAvoy, so I was really looking forward to his screen presence, his voice, his accent (oh, that accent...) and his interpretation of the character of Charles Xavier. I think he was as good as ever-- bringing charm and sweetness (but not too sweet) to Xavier and intelligently spouting out sciencey lines with ease.  He was great; I wanted to see more of him.  My only distraction (besides those blue eyes) was that every time he put his fingers on his temple to read someone's mind, I was reminded of Shaun Spencer (played by James Roday) of Psych.  So that pulled me out of the movie. I am curious whether Xavier does that with his fingers in the comic book?? Look at the pictures if you don't believe me...

 

 Actually, Mcavoy used one hand through the movie, as does Roday (most of the time), but I couldn't find photos of them both doing that, so just enjoy the comparison and don't worry about that detail, please.

Magneto (Erik Lehnsherr), the other main leading character, was played by Michael Fassbender, who was good.  He was believable and effective, and I liked his relationship with Xavier.  His power to move, manipulate and use metals magnetically was excellent.  Modern special effects are magic!

Then there was Kevin Bacon!  When I was a teenager, Footloose hadn't been out all that long, (it came out in 1984, when I was 12), and Kevin Bacon was still a cute, young adult whose star was rising fast.  I have always liked him, and I have very much enjoyed his often humorous appearances in movies-- in particular his cab-stealing cameo in "Planes Trains and Automobiles" with Steve Martin.  He played a rather evil man in "X-Men First Class", Sebastian Shaw, whose manipulation and torture of a young Erik create a world of anger and hatred, resentment and unhappiness for Erik.  Bacon's performance was good, his character was consistent.  I think I prefer him being subtly funny to him being evil, though...

I liked getting to know the X-Men a little bit, the young mutants with their various abilities were interesting, and some of them went through some good character growth and maturing; others seemed there just to fill the room, but it was fine.  I loved Hugh Jackman's little cameo, but I could have done without the f-bomb he dropped.  I also cannot recommend this movie unequivocally, because of the repeated scenes of women in lingerie and one in a bed who is obviously not wearing anything at all.  I want movies I can watch with teenage boys and NOT get uncomfortable!! As my Step-Mother pointed out recently, the problem with sexuality and immodesty in movies is that it's actually real people not wearing clothes, acting these things out, as opposed to violence and explosions, which are not real.  Sexual content in films is not necessary, and it doesn't make a movie any higher quality.  In fact, I think it denigrates women and makes me NOT want to purchase copies of those films.   But I digress.

Overall, "X-Men First Class" was a fun movie, with some humor, some heart, a little revenge and science, and I liked it.  I won't be buying it, however.  Sadly...