Movie review: Iron Man 3

So Best Girl and I went to see Iron Man 3 on Friday. We are big Marvel movie fans--I specifically say movies because neither of us read the comics, but we do enjoy the films and the superheroes (I, especially, enjoy watching Thor, preferably shirtless. Yum.).

So this is just a brief review of the movie. We loved it.

Did you want more? LOL Truly, we enjoyed this movie from start to finish (stick around for the bonus after-credits scene!). I can't imagine any other actor succeeding in this role like Robert Downey Jr. does. His constant stream of consciousness talking is something that not many people can do well, but you can tell it's just second nature for him. The scene between Tony and the kid, Harley, he meets in Tennessee, was one of my favorites in the movie, just because of the quick-witted back and forth between the pair.

Iron Man 3 shows us a different side of Tony Stark, one that makes him seem a little less Iron and a little more man. I love Don Cheadle, so it's always a pleasure to see him as the Iron Patriot (although we totally agree that War Machine sounds way cooler). I wonder if there's been any consideration of expanding his story? Would love to see that!

And of course Pepper gets to wear the suit! I'm not sure how I feel about Gwyneth Paltrow, honestly. She's pretty good in these movies, and I get the sense that not just anyone can keep up with RDJ, so she's got that going for her. Do I think she's the most beautiful woman in the world? Um, no. But anyway, she has many of her own kick-ass moments in this movie. It's always awesome to see girls fighting the baddies right there with the boys.

The reason I opened this review with the declaration that we like the movies, not the comics, is because I'm sensing that a lot of comic book purists will not be happy with some of the events in this movie. The little research I've done suggests that the Mandarin, is a completely different villan in the comic books than he is in the movie. I can absolutely get and appreciate how screwing with a book character in a movie is totally wrong (Madge from The Hunger Games, anyone?), but for this movie, I thought the Mandarin twist was pretty cool.

So overall, we felt the movie was very entertaining and had us completely engaged from start (actually, pre-start, because they showed the trailer for Thor: the Dark World. Again, YUM.) to after-credits.

Early April Movie Reviews

Since I haven't been reading as much lately, and I really haven't been enjoying what I've been reading all that much (with a few exceptions, god I have to get some reviews up!), here are some thoughts on some movies I've seen recently:

Jurassic Park (in 3D, natch) (rated PG-13): Best Girl and I saw this over the weekend. I have ZERO memories of this movie from its first release EXCEPT: when my parents got their big, 50-inch TV, my mom would always pop JP into the VCR to demonstrate the surround sound system. Best Girl LOVED the ride at Universal, and we were pleasantly surprised to see how true the area in Florida was replicated from the movie. The movie was pretty scary (I will venture a guess that 1993 PG-13 standards are not the same as 2013 PG-13 standards!), but overall we very much enjoyed the movie. We enjoyed it so much, in fact, that we picked up the movie on DVD at Target the same day. :)

Robot & Frank (rated PG-13): my colleague at work does lunchtime films for the adult population once a month, and she decided to show this one. I'd never heard of it, so I put it on hold. It was interesting--it takes place in the "near future" and is about an ex-con (Frank, played by Frank Langella, who I love) whose son gives him a robot health aide to make sure he's eating well, sleeping enough, and to basically be a loyal companion. It seems Frank might be starting to get a little...forgetful. Frank soon realizes that Robot might be the perfect companion to pull off one more big heist. This was a cute movie with a great cast (James Marsden, Susan Sarandon, and also Liv Tyler, who I'm not really fond of). Much of the movie revolves around the local library and it's transformation to a digital repository, which of course I found especially interesting.  It wasn't a movie I would've picked up on my own but it was cute enough.

Easy A (rated PG-13): my brother and I were discussing how much we love Stanley Tucci one night, and he (my brother) pulled up a few of Tucci's scenes from this movie on YouTube, so of course I had to borrow this from the library. I have to say I thought this movie was absolutely adorable. Of course Stanley Tucci OWNED this movie, but Emma Stone is adorbs and Thomas Hayden Church was a nice surprise, too. I don't know why I was so hesitant to see this one; I loved it!

What have you seen lately?
Enjoy your reading (and viewing)!
Christi

March Movie Reviews (and my feelings on James Franco)

I have been on the fence about James Franco for a long, long time. I really want to like him--I love the idea of him being our generation's Renaissance Man--but something about him just doesn't ring true. My ex-husband has always said never to trust anyone with beady eyes, and for the most part he has been completely spot-on with that advice. Something about James Franco just doesn't ring true for me, like he's made it his life's mission to make us all look like idiots or something.

Still, I enjoy some of his work. Of course I loved him in the Spiderman movies :) and he was absolutely amazing in 127 Hours (rated R)--especially THAT scene, which was done in one horrifying take (I really feel he deserved the Oscar that year, not just a nod). If you can stomach it, I highly recommend it.

Best Girl and I (and a few of my friends) saw Oz: The Great and Powerful (rated PG) a few weeks ago. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. Mila Kunis is, as aways, stunning. James Franco was better than expected, although I felt the cockiness of the character was more along the lines of how I think Franco might act in real life. But who knows?  The two things I loved best about this movie were Finley, the flying monkey, and the China Doll. I want each of those things for my very own.

Finally, this evening I treated myself to the movies to see the other Franco film out right now, Spring Breakers (rated R). Entertainment Weekly has been raving about this movie for several weeks, and naturally I was curious to see Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens fully breaking out of Disney. Hudgen proved herself, but Gomez's character was a little too clean-cut to really gauge how well she's going to do outside of the Disney bubble.

I was also curious to see how James Franco did as Alien, rapper and local thug. I was not disappointed but instead quite surprised at how well Franco transformed himself:

Until Franco took off the sunglasses, you couldn't even really tell it was him. He didn't just embrace this character, he became this character. It was an amazing transformation. 

This movie is not for everyone, of course. Lots of drug use and drinking, sex and gratuitous nudity, and violence abound. But it was an interesting film that I enjoyed. I never took a spring break trip during college, and you can bet your butt I'm not going to let Best Girl take one, either!

I don't have a final verdict on James Franco. I do enjoy his performances as an actor, but I get the feeling that he's always acting.

Enjoy your reading!
Christi

DVD Reviews 5

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Here are a couple of DVDs I watched recently--borrowed from the library, of course!

Seven Psychopaths (rated R): I just could not get into this movie,  I don't know why. I thought all the actors were interesting but the storyline was just all over the place for me. There's just something a little scary about Christopher Walken, I gotta be honest. Woody Harrelson was fun as a psychopath with a soft side for his puppy, though.

Inglourious Basterds (rated R): EXCELLENT movie. I now officially love Christoph Waltz--he was such a good character in Django Unchained and such an evil character in this movie but good or bad, his characters definitely made each movie. I thought this movie was very engaging, although with more subtitles than I was expecting. Still, I was definitely kept involved in this movie, and of course, being a Quentin Tarantino film, there were more twists and turns than expected. Brad Pitt played a redneck with ease, and the actress playing Soshanna was stunning. I did love that Samuel L. Jackson and Harvey Keitel loaned their voices to some small parts, too!

Have you watched anything fun lately?
Enjoy your reading!
Christi

February Movie Reviews

Sheesh, I really suck at this whole blogging thing, don't I? To be fair, a lot of what I'm reading now are books for consideration on the awards list I read for, and I'm not loving most of those titles. And you all know how I feel about reviewing books I hate.

BUT! I watched a bunch of movies this weekend!

Flight (rated R): borrowed this one from the library because I'm trying to get as many Oscar noms in as possible before Sunday (not doing too well on this one, I gotta be honest). Good movie, difficult to watch. My coworker worked for an airline in a past life and won't watch this out of principle. I gotta admit, the idea of a drunk and high airline pilot is scary. Denzel Washington pulls it off, though, and I thought the movie addressed the theme of culpability fairly well--was the pilot's state of inebriation to blame for the accident? If not, should he still share some of the responsibility? And, I have to say that the actual crash scene was soooo difficult to watch. Very well done.

Django Unchanged (rated R): drove to a movie theater an hour away to catch this one before it comes out on DVD, and I'm so, so glad I did. Lots of blood, more so than Pulp Fiction and I think less than either of the Kill Bill movies, but this film is quintessential Quentin Tarantino. EXCELLENT acting all around. Christoph Waltz is AMAZING, Jamie Foxx is endearing, Samuel L. Jackson was PERFECTLY cast, and yes, I even enjoyed Leonardo DiCaprio--he pulls off evil surprisingly well. (Seriously, WTF is it with that kid, that he doesn't age at all? He looks almost exactly the same as he did in his Growing Pains days!). I liked the dig at the Ku Klux Klan, and I truly enjoyed Quentin's cameo role. My bladder felt the movie ran a little long LOL but it was a great movie and I'm glad I made the effort to see it on the big screen, the way it was meant to be watched.

Tiny Furniture (NR): I borrowed this from the library. After seeing Lena win the Golden Globe for her series Girls (which I haven't yet seen but am on hold for), and reading her cover article in EW, I was a little intrigued by her. This movie, though, was just beyond me. I get it--it's about a post-grad with no job prospects moving back home--but sadly I just couldn't get into it and was just WAITING for something to happen. Sigh.

What have you seen lately?
Enjoy your reading!
Christi

DVD reviews 4

More movies, yay!

Pitch Perfect: Not sure why I wanted to see this, except that everyone said it was a great movie. I thought it was OK, I'm certainly glad I borrowed it from the library and didn't pay for it. I most enjoyed Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins as the commentators (JMH is a spectacular actor, just sayin'). Anna Kendrick and Skylar Astin are adorbs. It was a cute movie, there's just a little too much innuendo for me to want to show it at a movie night at the library, but it was cute. 

The Bourne Legacy: Best Girl has a thing for Jeremy Renner (uh, Hawkeye AND he's a lefty, like her!), so that's why we borrowed this. Plus, someone told me that we didn't have to see the first Bourne movies to follow this one. Wish I could remember who that person was, because THEY LIE. We had no idea what was going on for the first 45 minutes of the movie LOL Thank goodness for IMDB--I was sitting on the couch trying to follow the movie with the plot synopsis, and then trying to explain all of that to a 10-year-old! Once the action started up, the plot didn't really matter that much anymore, and we did enjoy those parts. Best Girl hates when movies end without definitive endings, though, and this is one of those.

Enjoy your reading (and viewing)!

Christi

DVD reviews 3

I watched a few more movies this weekend; thought I'd share my thoughts.

Beasts of the Southern Wild (rated PG-13): I picked this up because of the little girl who's been nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress (Quvenzhane Wallis)--she was 6 when she made the movie and is 9 now. Let me tell you, this girl has some acting chops. I don't know if she's the best actress out of those nominated, but she has tons of talent for her young age, and she's cute as a button to boot. Anyway, I can't really even describe the movie appropriately--here's the description from IMDB: 

Faced with both her hot-tempered father's fading health and melting ice-caps that flood her ramshackle bayou community and unleash ancient aurochs, six-year-old Hushpuppy must learn the ways of courage and love.

Even that doesn't do this movie justice. It's unlike anything I've ever seen before, and is fantastical but hauntingly realistic at the same time. A really well done film.

Frankenweenie (rated PG): In general, I am a fan of Tim Burton's work. I like almost everything I've seen of his (granted, I haven't seen everything). Having said that, I must admit that I didn't finish this movie. I just couldn't get into it, and I'm not really sure why. I just had to put our beloved chocolate Lab down last week, so maybe it was a little too close to home for me? Whatever the reason, sadly I didn't finish this movie.

Have you seen anything good lately?

Enjoy your reading--and viewing!

Christi

More movies!

I told you I was falling behind on my reading! I did watch two more movies today though--yes, in one day! I was off of work for an appointment today, and the appointment didn't take nearly as long as I'd thought it would, so I treated myself to an afternoon at the movies. By myself. Which I have done before, back when I was pregnant (Best Girl is 10, to put that in perspective). There's a stigma to going to the movies by yourself, but I don't know why. I didn't have to share my popcorn, I didn't have to worry if my companion was having a good time, and I was able to leave when I wanted.

And the movie? Silver Linings Playbook. A. MAZ. ING. You are aware that I heart Bradley Cooper, right? Jennifer Lawrence can apparently do no wrong and Robert DeNiro, Chris Tucker and the woman who played Bradley Cooper's mom nearly stole the movie with their supporting roles. I was engrossed from beginning to end--and was even able to overlook the whole Philadelphia Eagles aspect of the movie (which is saying a lot coming from a Giants fan!). Seriously, I love this movie. It's rated R mostly for language, but I felt it was a very realistic portrayal of families and of mental illness. And can I just tell you that I saw Matthew Quick (author of the book the movie is adapted from) at my first Collingswood Book Fest (he was promoting Sorta Like a Rock Star), and I DIDN'T get his book and I have been kicking myself about it for, what, three years now?

Then this evening Best Girl and I sat down and watched The Odd Life of Timothy Green on DVD. What a sweet, sweet movie, a quiet movie, which makes it a departure from most of what Disney puts out. It's a movie about a couple who desperately wants a child of their own, but can't conceive. There was nothing inappropriate at all in this movie (it is Disney, after all), no violence or language. It was just a sweet story and I really enjoyed it (although, to be fair, Best Girl did not like the ending. I thought it was a good fit).

So, that's what I've been up to. I have a ton of movies on hold at the library, so hopefully you don't mind the movie reviews, because I'll have more coming up soon!

Enjoy your reading!
Christi

January DVD Reviews

Obviously I"m not doing a great job on my resolution to blog more in 2013. While I'm not in a reading slump, per se, I haven't been reading as voraciously as in the past. I have, however, been trying to catch up on my DVD movie viewing. Want to hear some thoughts on them? 

The Hangover, part 2 (rated R): Loved the first movie, and heard they're working on a third, so wanted to catch up. I was disappointed that the plot was almost exactly the same. I love Bradley Cooper, but Ken Jeong clearly stole this movie. And I like saying Zack Galifianakis LOL

Ted (rated R): I had such high expectations for this movie but sadly, it wasn't as...bad...as I had heard it would be, which meant that it wasn't as good as I was hoping it would be. I know, I'm demented if Ted wasn't raunchy enough for me! I've always had a crush on Mark Wahlberg (yes, even back when he was Marky Mark) so that was definitely a bonus. And Mila Kunis continues to amaze me--her role as Jackie on That 70's Show gave no indication that she would become a beautiful, stellar actress. As for Ted himself, I'm sorry, it was just so hard for me to listen to him talk and not picture Peter, Stewie or Brian Griffin. It was a funny movie, just not as pee-in-your-pants-funny I thought it would be.

The Words (rated PG-13): I love Bradley Cooper, have I mentioned that? OMG so much. And so I wanted to see this movie no matter what. It was an interesting story--Dennis Quaid reading from his book about a man who published a book as his own, that actually belonged to yet another man. A thinking movie, you know? And great casting--not just Cooper, but Dennis Quaid, Zoe Saldana, Jeremy Irons, Olivia Wilde--who I don't think I've seen in anything before, but she's stunning--even Michael McKeon and JK Simmons (the Farmers Insurance guy!). 

Have you watched anything awesome lately? Let me know in the comments!

Enjoy your reading!

Christi

Movie Review (sort of): The Avengers

First, the backstory. Actually, most of this is backstory, do you really need another review of The Avengers???

I saw the preview for this movie when we went to see the Hunger Games and for some strange reason I was oddly excited for it. I'm not really a superhero person--up until that preview, the only Avengers movies I'd seen were Iron Man and Iron Man 2. But something drew me to The Avengers, and I eagerly wanted to see it.

I asked Best Girl if she wanted to go--unlike me, she LOVES superheroes. She's been Batgirl AND Supergirl for Halloween (she kicked ass as Captain Jack Sparrow when she was 5, too, but I digress), loved all the Spiderman and Iron Man movies--I thought the Avengers would be right up her alley. However, she declined to see it with me. What what?? Her reasoning was that she hadn't seen any of the other movies.

So I remedied that. First I brought home Thor from the library. And thus my obsession with Chris Hemsworth begins. Holy schizz, do I love him!!

How is it possible that his brother is Gale, one of the two things I hated about The Hunger Games?

The movie was pretty interesting, too, and after that Best Girl was totally into seeing The Avengers. But she still wanted to see the movies (one of the monitors at work said that the only movies we really needed to see were Thor & the second Iron Man, but Best Girl wanted to see them all). I found Iron Man and Ed Norton's Hulk on TV and DVR'ed them for her, and brought Captain America home from the library.

So the stage is set. I love Thor, Best Girl loves Captain America. We went on a Friday night to see The Avengers. Here's the recap: the movie was abso-freaking-lutely awesome! There was action, there was laughter, there was tension, there was hottie Chris Hemsworth--seriously, I could marry him, but he'd have to dress like Thor all the time--although this works, too:

*drools* I Googled these images. It took a really, really long time to bring myself back to this post.

and Best Girl wants to BE the Black Widow ("she can kick, she can punch, and she has a gun!"). This year's Halloween costume will be easy-peasy!

If you're living under a rock, get thee to the theater to see The Avengers immediately. Best Girl left the movie and all she could talk about was how she couldn't wait until it was released on DVD :)

(*tears self away from above image*) So, um, yeah, the movie was great!! Seriously, Robert Downey Jr. is my second favorite Avenger, but Mark Ruffalo was pretty awesome, too. Best Girl has a thing for Captain America, but I just am not feeling it. And Samuel L. Jackson rocks, as always!

Enjoy your reading!
Christi

The Hunger Games Movie: My Thoughts

Just in case you were wondering what I thought of the movie LOL I spent an entire week going back and forth on this. People have been constantly asking me what I thought, and my response is "I don't know." I do need to see it again, but I probably won't get to, until the DVD comes out. Obviously, spoilers abound. And I apologize for the length of this post.

What I liked:

• Cinna (LOVED)
• Thresh
• Rue 
• Caesar (but I knew that ahead of time. Stanley Tucci can do no wrong.). I especially appreciated that the filmmakers expanded his role so that we, the viewers of the Game, would understand what was going on.
• Seneca Crane: Delish. That is all.
• some of the effects: I liked that when Katniss lost her hearing, we did, too--although it was far more severe in the book.
• some of Effie: I'll admit, I was not a fan of Elizabeth Banks being cast in this role. She did a good job, though--and the faults I had with Effie were not because of her acting (see below).
• some of Haymitch (the train scene, especially). 
• Katniss. After watching Winter's Bone last year, I had no doubt that Jennifer Lawrence could pull this off. What I didn't realize is that she is destined for so much more than this.
• the violence (sort of): I liked how Gary Ross handled the violence and the killings. BUT there wasn't enough.
• Donald Sutherland: I've read other reviews where he's been bashed, that he looks like Santa Claus pruning roses, not nearly as evil enough to be President Snow. I respectfully disagree. If memory serves, he's not a huge character in the first book, so we don't really know that he's evil yet. Katniss has a gut reaction to him, but it's not truly justified (except for the whole "let's send kids to their deaths every year" thing) until later on in the story. So, I think he did a great job setting up his character for further development. Especially with Seneca.
• Gale: because we only had to deal with his mug for, like, ten minutes. (Not a fan of Liam, but would TOTALLY be on board for Thor to play Finnick!)

What I didn't like:

• The build-up to the Game: I loved seeing District 12, and I totally get that there had to be some backstory, but by the time they were in the tubes at the Game, I was exhausted and actually bored.
• Peeta AND Josh Hutcherson: Hear me out. I spent the entire movie HATING Peeta. That stupid look on his face. His stupid everything. Leaving the theater, it FINALLY hit me: I don't like Peeta. And, I don't like Josh Hutcherson. Which leads me to admit that I think that dolt boy is perfect for his role as Peeta.
• the freaking mocking jay pin. Epic fail, Gary Ross. Epic fail. It didn't have to be Madge, but it should have been more than a freaking thrift store find at the Hob.
• Effie: she just wasn't ditzy enough. 
• some of Haymitch: I don't have anything against Woody Harrelson as an actor (although it's really hard for me to not see Woody the bartender from Cheers in anything he does). I know that there are people who don't like his acting, or his personality, or what have you. I'm not one of those people. I suspected that he would do Haymitch justice, and he did, but I think he could have done more. Where was the falling off the stage at the Reaping? He should have been drunker.
• the Mutts. I get it, there definitely wasn't enough time to explain the eyes and stuff. But my first thought upon seeing them was that someone borrowed the wolves from Twilight and tossed them in the arena. Of course the bulldogs don't actually look like wolves, but to me it looked like they were created using the same computer program. And where was Caesar during this part? He could have explained what they were--not even have to getting into how they're the Tributes, he could have said they were genetically mutated, like he did with the Tracker Jackers. And why weren't they walking on two legs?
• Lack of injuries (and overall general health): Katniss and Peeta (and yes, I realize what their names are, put together, and yes, I really want to use that, but yes, I realize that I might have some younger readers so I'll refrain) were definitely NOT injured enough at the end of the Game. Didn't he almost lose his leg in the book? And I felt that the starvation and dying of thirst wasn't touched on at all. How long were they in the Arena--two days? Three? A week? Twenty minutes?
• Cannon: the cannon was not consistent at all.
• Lack of couch in the final Caesar scene: to me, it was little things like this that seemed like really stupid mistakes. In the book, much is made of the fact that they have to have enough seating for two winners during the interview, so they get a couch, and Katniss takes that opportunity to play up her "feelings" for Peeta. In the movie, they're sitting on two chairs. To me, this would have been an easy and not too expensive way to demonstrate the danger KatPee was in. (That's not what I want to call them.)
• The suicide scene: in the book, KatPee are taking the nightlock because they really can't see any other option--one of them going back to District 12 just won't cut it. In the movie, it's clearly a "let's pull one over on the Capitol" move, and did nothing to demonstrate that Katniss has really developed feelings for Peeta.
• Where was the bread???? Bread plays such an important role in the book--not just with District 11's gift after Rue dies, but throughout the whole book. Katniss is amazed at how different Capitol bread tastes, the scene with Peeta throwing her the bread (something else I didn't like--if you didn't read the book, that scene was just nonsensical), etc. Little things that could have been added.
• The knowledge that Gale will be more prominent in the next movie.

Are you still with me? LOL Overall, I enjoyed the film, but I certainly can't say that it was the most faithful movie adaptation of a book ever--that honor has to go to Hugo. It was just really hard for me to separate book from movie.

What did you think?

Enjoy your reading!

Christi

Movie review: The Muppets

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I don't get to the movies nearly as often as I'd like, and 99.9% of the time I do get to the movies, it's to see something that Best Girl wants to see--although to be fair, I usually want to see the same movies! We were lucky enough to get to the movies twice over Thanksgiving weekend, and I absolutely fell in love with both films.

For a review of Hugo, the first movie we saw, click here.

On Black Friday, instead of fighting the shopping crowds, we decided to head out to see The Muppets. Best Girl and I took my mom, nephew (age 4), and niece (almost 3) to the movies--it was the littles' first movie experience! We grabbed our popcorn and settled in. Again, we were early so we had a nice selection of seats (and it was the 11am showing, as well), but the theater got pretty full by the time the movie started.

First of all I have to admit that I grew up with the Muppets. I have vivid memories of me, my little bro, and my parents setting up a card table in the living room on Saturday nights so we could watch The Muppet Show while we ate dinner (and, strangely enough, I remember eating lobster on a lot of those nights). I had (and still have) a Miss Piggy ornament (dated 1980) on my Christmas tree each year; Little Bro has (of course) Kermit. We were young--I was maybe four or five, and Little Bro was only 3 or 4--but those Saturday nights are some of the happiest memories of my early childhood. (Other happy memories revolve around watching Fraggle Rock on HBO; seems that Jim Henson was an integral part of my childhood happiness!) And of course we loved the movies--The Muppet Movie, the original, is still the best, but The Great Muppet Caper is a lesser-known but still fun favorite. The Muppets Take Manhattan is my least favorite of the original trio, but it did introduce us to the Muppet Babies, which is what Littlest Bro grew up watching.

So obviously I'm attached to the Muppets for sentimental reasons, and I've made every effort to get Best Girl to love them, too. She loves the original movies as much as I do, and actually had just rewatched The Muppet Movie the night before our journey to see the newest film.

If you were a fan of the Muppets growing up, like I was, you will absolutely adore this movie. It's old-school Muppets all the way. You've got the corny jokes, you've got the random celebrity cameos (Mickey Rooney  and Neil Patrick Harris were favorites, as was John Krasinski--especially because both Amy Adams and Rashida Jones, who are both in The Muppets, played John's love interests on The Office. Yeah, my mind works like that.), you've got the singing and the dancing. Amy Adams is one of new favorite actors--she is just so much fun and you can tell that she really loves what she's doing. I'm a little less enamored of Jason Segel--something about him just doesn't sit well with me. But, I totally get that he co-wrote the movie, so, OK. He just seemed a little bit stiff in the role.

Of course Best Girl loved the film, although she wasn't welling up with sentimental tears the whole time, like I was :) It ran a little bit long for Niece (who fell asleep in my lap) and Nephew (who started to get antsy about 20 minutes before the movie ended), but they enjoyed the movie as well as they could. We all loved the Toy Story short at the beginning, too (and yes, I teared up seeing Buzz and Woody again. I am a sniveling mess when it comes to anything remotely sentimental).

I can't wait for The Muppets to come out on DVD, because I know there are tons of little things that I missed during the first viewing. This movie is one that can be loved by children of all ages!

Enjoy your reading (and viewing)!
Christi

Movie review: Hugo

I don't get to the movies nearly as often as I'd like, and 99.9% of the time I do get to the movies, it's to see something that Best Girl wants to see--although to be fair, I usually want to see the same movies! We were lucky enough to get to the movies twice over Thanksgiving weekend, and I absolutely fell in love with both films.

First up was Hugo on the Wednesday of Thanksgiving weekend (actually, opening night). At first I was a little upset because I'd thought we were seeing the 2D version of the movie, but actually it was the 3D version. I don't really get the love for 3D of live-action movies--honestly I think they're a waste of time.

Not Hugo, though! Martin Scorsese is a genius--this film was absolutely stunning in every way, and the 3D was absolutely perfect. It was a gorgeous film visually, the cast was perfect for the roles, and I felt the story line stayed very true to Brian Selznick's Caldecott-winning The Invention of Hugo Cabret (it has been a while since I've read the book, though). Best Girl was impressed, as well, although she felt the film ran a little long. But, considering that she had zero interest in this movie before seeing the trailer, I felt it captured her interest rather well. And can I just say that Sacha Baron Cohen is absolutely spectacular as the Station Inspector. He is a magnificent actor.

There was only one other couple in the theater when we arrived--it did fill up, but didn't get anywhere close to selling-out status. Other family members hadn't even heard of the film when I mentioned it during the holiday, and I honestly don't think the trailer did this movie any justice. I hope that this beautiful film isn't going to be swept away too quickly, and that it will find its proper audience.

The review of the second film we watched will be posted soon!
Enjoy your reading (and viewing!)
Christi