Two More Quickie Reviews

Changeling
This movie moved me to tears and made me writhe in my seat, beyond uncomfortable thinking what I would do if I was in Angelina Jolie's terrible situation. You'd think after Pride and Glory, I'd have enough of bad cops, but this movie took police corruption to a whole new level--especially since this was a true story! Jolie shines as the main character, and the guy who plays the crazy man on the ranch is perfect for his part (as is the Police Captain). Overall I liked this movie a lot more than other critics and highly recommend giving it a chance. ****

High School Musical 3

I may have been the oldest person there without a child, but it was worth the potential embarrassment to enjoy Zac Efron and friends in their Senior Year at East High. While the costumes and sets were much more high quality, what with a feature film budget and all, I wasn't as impressed with the songs as I was with the made-for-TV HSM 1 and 2. Make fun all you want, but had Zac Efron not been in this movie for some big screen eye candy, it wouldn't have come close to rivaling the original or first sequel. That said, it was fun and peppy and is sure to please its actual target audience--kids and tweens. ***

The Return of Quickie Movie Reviews

Even though I may not have been blogging a lot lately, but I definitely have not been slacking in the movie-going department. Here are three quickie reviews from recent weekends:

The Duchess
Gorgeous costumes, gorgeous scenery, gorgeous sets, gorgeous Keira Knightley. Not so great? The way men treated women back then. We may not be equal yet, but my God at least we've made a few advances. It may have yet-another-Keira-Knightley-period-film, but at least it was well done! ****



W.
Josh Brolin's Bush chuckle was spot on. Dick Cheney looked like a total D-Bag. Elizabeth Banks' Laura Bush never aged a day. Condoleezza Rice managed to annoy me more than ever before. But it was actually quite interesting. It definitely wasn't the Bush bash I expected from Oliver Stone... at least until the last 10 minutes. Unfortunately it may have been the most entertaining 10 minutes of the film. ***

Pride and Glory
Could've just been another good cop-bad cop movie but this movie was a little more complex than its police drama counterparts. Several big twists kept my interest for the entire 2+ hours--although I'm sure super talented Edward Norton helped, too. And who would've guessed? Colin Farrell was great as a cussing, corrupt cop. ****


I know what you're thinking: only three? Don't worry, three (plus) more reviews to come in the near future...

I am The Batman

It took me until Sunday night, but I finally saw The Dark Knight this weekend.

Really, there's not much to say other than WOW.

It was an excellent movie--great storyline, great action, great visuals, great stunts, great cast.

As everyone and their brother has reported, Heath Ledger was pretty darn amazing as The Joker. I may have nightmares about that makeup tonight.

And OH. MY. GOD. Christian Bale is SO ATTRACTIVE. We're talking beautiful, gorgeous, flawless in those super expensive suits and hot cars. Siiiiigh.

If you haven't seen it yet (although I'm thinking with what they are predicting to be record-setting box office sales, everyone must have already seen it), run and do so NOW. I guarantee it's playing about every 45 seconds at your local theater.

Feel The Beat from the Tambourine

I may or may not have seen Mamma Mia two times this weekend. No joke.

It was THAT GOOD.

I saw the musical at Mandalay Bay in Vegas years ago and while it was fun, I don't remember enjoying it that much. Totally not the case for this movie.

Meryl Streep is beyond awesome. She really can do no wrong in my book and this is no exception. Amanda Seyfried has a great voice and is super cute as Sophie and OH. MY. GOD. Colin Firth is adorable. When he sings "Our Last Summer" I couldn't stop smiling and again, OH. MY. GOD. Him in the stretchy disco outfit at the end was hysterical.

Love Love LOVED it.

...Even if Pierce Brosnan can't sing to save his life.

Read some other reviews if that was too gushy:
Salon
VH1 (Kurt Loder)
BuzzSugar

Quickie Review: Hancock

Today I went to see Hancock on the spur of the moment with my dad. We were by the theater and didn't have anything else to do, so we wandered over to see what was playing around 1pm. I've never done that before I don't think--funny. Lucky for us, Hancock was starting right when we arrived.

Background: When I first heard Will Smith as as superhero, I was pretty much like "pass." Then I saw a whole trailer and realized it was Will Smith as a drunk, not-so-perfect superhero and I decided I might want to see it after all. It opened to not-so-perfect reviews, but I was still interested--despite those reviews it was #1 at the box office for 4th of July weekend.

And you know what? It was a fun movie! Lots of cool special effects, Will Smith was pretty good in it, I can't get enough Jason Bateman, and there was even a surprise twist that I totally didn't see coming and wasn't spoiled by any trailers! No, it wasn't deep or meaningful but it was fun and sometimes you just need to watch a fun movie, especially during the summer. ****

Quickie Review: WALL-E

Warning: If you want to read a really good review, head over to Gretch-a-Sketch and read hers. I liked it a lot. If you're okay with mediocre, proceed...

I loved this WALL-E! How can I love a movie where there was no real dialogue (other than [adorable!] bzzzzing and bleeping) until nearly halfway through the show? How can I love little animated robots and find them totally endearing and cheer for their love story? How can I hear laughter from the kids behind me yet receive quite a number of political messages all in the same show?

It's the magic of Pixar, I tell you. This is a movie that kids and adults can both enjoy and really benefit from--it makes you think for sure! Messages sent: 1) Protect the environment--wow. 2) Don't let technology get out of control or the robots will take over! 3) Maintain real personal communication [not fake, virtual communication] and 4) Get active and get out of the recliner!

That's a lot from a little Disney show. I really enjoyed it and everyone needs to see it to understand all the very important messages it sends. *****

Indiana Jones and the Aliens

Okay if you haven't seen the new Indiana Jones movie, stop reading right now cause I'm going to give away the ending big time.

I went with my mom, sister and uncle to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull today to liven up the trip to Minnesota (not exactly thrilling so far...). I haven't really ever watched the Indiana Jones movies before (gasp! crazy I know) but my uncle was dying to see it so I figured why not?

The movie started off a bit slow but then got gooooood. The action scenes were fun, there was no false effort to make it something that it wasn't (i.e. a love story or family drama) and Harrison Ford looked good! I didn't mind the crazy impossible stunts or bizarre impossible story line.

UNTIL THE END
(this is where you stop reading if you haven't seen it and don't want me to spoil the ending)

In the end, it was a kingdom of aliens. ALIENS.

Are you kidding?

My sister told me I would hate the end and I did. I just hate when movies resolve insane plots with aliens. Of course you can make up whatever you want and blame it on aliens! I want a real answer or at least real in the realm of Indiana Jones. When did these movies become SciFi? I guess I shouldn't be surprised with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg at the helm but COME. ON. And the space ship? Terrible. Just awful.

So overall I liked the movie until the last few minutes. Just as my sister predicted. If you're okay with stupid alien endings in otherwise alien-free movies, you'll love it.

Quickie Review: Get Smart

Let me preface this by saying that in my opinion at least, Steve Carell can do no wrong. I love him as Michael Scott, a forty-year-old virgin, a guy who loves Lamp and now as Agent 86.

That said, Get Smart was a funny movie! I don't know why the critics have panned it as much as they have. No, it's nothing deep and meaningful but it's full of hilarious moments, good action/stunts, a twist in the plot and--funniest of all--the guy from Heroes and his techie-geek partner (Bruce and Lloyd), who apparently have their own movie coming out straight to DVD (wow?). Their fake fight with Steve Carell was priceless.

So if you're in the mood for a lot of laughs, plenty of outrageousness, some awkwardness and a whole lot of things blowing up, then you'll enjoy Get Smart. I definitely did! ****

Read MamaPop's review

Monday Night on Showtime: Take Two

Last night I gave Weeds and Secret Diary of a Call Girl another chance. After all, I love Weeds and wasn't going to give up on it after one mediocre season premiere (in which seriously? nothing happened). Secret Diary wasn't bad last week but wasn't anything great, either.


This week, the shows somewhat redeemed themselves.

Weeds had some funny parts (hello! Celia's hair and makeup in prison? Priceless!) and some things actually happened. Apart from a few bad moments (why did Nancy have to pee in her latte cup?) it was a little more like the old Weeds, especially the little cliffhanger at the end of the episode. Let's hope the season is now moving in the right direction.

PLUS: Silas's haircut? H-o-t HOT!

And as for Secret Diary, I actually enjoyed this episode. It was far less about what it seems to be obviously about and more about a real girl and her job--plus there were more than couple of very clever one-liners. I can't help but be jealous when I watch this show though... man, I wish I had a British accent!

The final verdict: much improved from last week and yes, I will continue to tune into Showtime on Monday nights for some quality summer TV.

Another Quickie Book Review

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
I literally read this book in one day. I couldn't get enough of it and ended up suffering through a pretty terrible sunburn thanks to sitting in the sun for about 5 hours and reading it. But guess what? It was worth it.

I loved this book. It's the story of a man who leaves veterinary school after a personal tragedy and hops on a train... a train that ends up being a circus train and a new, crazy, mysterious, dangerous, magical chapter in this man's life begins. Gruen did a TON of research about circus trains to get every detail as authentic as possible and it shows--I was not only entertained by the love story and thrilled by the murder plot but also learned a lot about the fascinating world of a depression-era train circus.

If you haven't read this book, go get it and read it now. You'll thank me later. Just make sure you have a whole day to read it cause if you're anything like me, you won't want to put it down. *****

Young@Heart = :-)

I totally forgot to post about the movie we saw on Wednesday!

Having seen just about everything in theaters as of then, I turned to the trusty Glenwood Arts theater to check out the indie movies. Lucky for us, Young@Heart was still playing! I saw a trailer for it a while back, but had forgotten about it (thanks, I'm sure, to a lack of mainstream distribution). However, I had read a bunch of great reviews about it so we decided to forgo the sunshine and sit in the AC while we checked it out.

And boy am I glad that we did! This movie was so heartwarming. I loved seeing these senior citizens sing their hearts out--even those who couldn't actually sing a note and/or were totally tone deaf. The documentary was set up so that you fell in love with these people almost immediately and really grew attached to them and their songs. I totally teared up when not one but two chorus members died the week before the performance. And I couldn't help but smile when they belted out the correct words in their new songs! Definitely a feel-good show and one that everyone should see.

Check out the trailer below:

Three Quickie Book Reviews

Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster
Another Jen Lancaster masterpiece! I laughed out loud on several occasions and she also inspired me at the same time. It was a very real look at losing weight with plenty of hysterical anecdotes thrown in for good measure. Quintessential Jen--I can't wait for her next book... but will it be young adult fiction or another memoir? Check out Jennsylvania.com for more about the book and Jen's amazingly clever (and only a tad cynical) take on life. A total must-read. *****


The Life Before Her Eyes by Laura Kasischke
This book was overall... confusing. It switched back and forth between the present and the past but without much notice. I felt like I knew early on that the girl and the woman were the same person, but they never actually really said that was the case for sure. I read it very quickly and it was filled with intricate description but I can't say that I enjoyed it much. However, I am excited to see the movie starring Evan Rachel Wood and Uma Thurman [click here to watch the trailer] because I think that the story will be easier to follow with visual representations rather than trying to dissect the vague characters of the book. **

I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley
I heard about this book of essays from Jen Lancaster's blog (see Such a Pretty Fat, above) and was excited to see it on the Buy One, Get One 1/2 Off table at Border's. I was slow to get into it but once I did, I found her writing to be just the right amount of snarky, and the essays were actually very entertaining. I especially loved the essay about her name. Sometimes I found myself thinking "did this really happen to her?" but you know what? I bet it did. ****

Sex and the City the Movie

I have waited in anticipation for months--no, years--to see Sex and the City: The Movie.


The Verdict?
As Carrie says about Berger's book: "I love love love love loved it. I looooooved it!"

Honestly? It was two and a half hours of pure movie/TV bliss.

It wasn't perfect--there were definitely moments I wasn't such a fan of (hello Mexico trip! Why?), characters I wanted to see more of (I missed Harry and Anthony and Steve--they all made appearances but had very minimal presence) and maybe too much of Carrie and Samantha (Charlotte's role was underdeveloped and Miranda was such a jerk for the first half!).

BUT

I still love love love loved it! I looooooved it!

Even though it seemed pretty dark about halfway through, it ended up happy in the end--thank God. I found myself tearing up, smiling broadly, laughing, thinking, and especially cracking up at the woman a few rows in front of us who was very loudly enjoying the show. It was fantastic.

Read Slate's Review

Will I see it again? Abso-fuckin-lutely.

Last Issue of The Paper?

I finally watched the last two episodes of MTV's The Paper today. I can't believe the season is already over, and neither can Entertainment Weekly. I feel like it just began and Homecoming just happened! Seriously!



I'm still trying to decide if I should have my students watch it next year or just leave it for a special occasion, but I'm thinking more the latter since most of it seems to be more about drama than actual newspaper production. However, the last two episodes were very deadline- and issue-centered which was nice to see. I also loved how the teambuilding outing brought the staff together (even though it was minus one editor-in-chief) and how the staff fought the attempted assistant principal censorship!

Overall I enjoyed Season 1 of The Paper and am hoping there will be another season... maybe this time it will star girl Alix? Or maybe they'll ditch newspaper and get a crazy group of yearbookies together for some more quality reality TV! You can bet I'll be watching.

No One Mourns the WICKED!

Except me, that is. I am already in mourning because it's over!

Today was WICKED at the Music Hall and it was even better than I remembered. I was afraid the old building would provide for nasty acoustics and/or sound system but thankfully it was a-MAY-zing! Glinda was actually pretty hilarious (although strangely Mary-Katherine-Gallagher-inspired) and Elphaba was outstanding.

I also found out in my exploration of the program that the guy who played Fiyero is married to the girl who played Nessa Rose and they met when playing Chris and Kim in Miss Saigon--and I totally saw them in that! Plus she is DeeDee from the New Mickey Mouse Club so even cooler.

Overall it was wonderful except I cried during "For Good" thinking of my friends... of course. Now I am just depressed it is over! I hate when something you look forward to for a really long time comes and is then over. I bought those tickets at the beginning of February! Oh well at least it was a great afternoon of amazing entertainment. I can't wait to see it again!

Here's a clip from the cast that I saw:

This Show is BACK!

I saw this on Give Me My Remote and couldn't put it better myself:

Dear Grey's Anatomy,

Thank you. I’m whole and healthy and I’m going to try to trust you. I don’t know if I can, but I’m going to try. I’m not sure if I have a room where our kids can play but after what you’ve showed in these post-strike episodes, there’s definitely room on my TiVo for you. It’s episodes like that when I feel lucky that I’m a chick, and therefore have no issues with all the crying, and the giddy feelings I had with all the kissing. You righted some wrongs. We all went through some therapy. Stick with it next season - it’s not easy but you kept one patient alive. Don’t screw up again.

Love, EVERYONE

***
I just got done watching the two-hour season finale of Grey's Anatomy (DVR'ed from last night when I was busy moving back to KC) and only two words come to mind.

One: WOW.

Two: Kissing! Good lord was there some smooching going on during this episode! But also Good Lord was it about time! Cally and Erica--whoa. Dr. Webber and his wife--sorta unnecessary. Izzy and Alex--oh nooooo! George and Lexi--uh what? And finally, Der and Mer--it's about damn time!

People seem genuinely happy on the show. And it's still good. See Grey's writers? People don't have to be miserable to get ratings. These post-strike episodes are the best I've seen in several seasons. Keep up the great work and maybe, just maybe, people will start to REALLY LOVE this show again.

Prince Caspian Reviewed

The boys couldn't wait to see the next installment in the Chronicles of Narnia movie series and so we went on opening day.

I enjoyed Prince Caspian a lot, although I will agree with BuzzSugar that is was heavy on the battlescenes... and the characters weren't really developed very well. Luckily, they were in the first one so we could sit back and enjoy how pretty Peter is! Susan's lips bothered me, though, and one big complaint: Edmund was far too agreeable! He must have really grown up in that year!

Anyway probably my favorite part was the Regina Spektor song "The Call" at the end. LOVED IT!

This was a sad movie to see, though, as it marked the last movie the four of us will see together... at least for a long time. It was a good one to end on.

Quickie Review: Earthly Pleasures

Somehow I have found time to read lately, and I blew through this one. Earthly Pleasures by Karen Neches started off great. The premise is very creative and original: Skye works as a "greeter" in the welcoming center of Heaven. She provides orientation for people who have just died and the entire description of heaven is pretty amazing--people can type anything into their "Wishberry" and it materializes immediately! God is a woman who works in the HP Sector (Higher Power) and they watch people still alive on a reality show called "Earthly Pleasures."

Fun so far, right?

Well, about halfway through, the story turns away from heaven to a pretty ridiculous romance complete with mistaken identities, a crazy old woman (there may have been more than one), multiple comas, and a former celebrity playboy-turned-nice guy.

I really wish a) the second half of the book would've incorporated more of heaven or b) the book would've ended halfway through. Overall, an easy read and the first half is definitely enjoyable, but it was hard to really like it by the end.

Oh and I'm pretty sure anyone very religious wouldn't really like it. What I liked about heaven and God being different may not fly with others. Proceed with Caution, Christians!

I AM IRON MAN

Against my will, I went with Chad, David and Tony to the 10:40pm showing of Iron Man last night. The 10:40pm part was against my will, not the movie.

You see, try as I might, I couldn't stay awake in this movie. Again, that had nothing to do with the movie itself. I was just so darn tired from waking up at 6am every day last week and staying up too late almost every night that I found myself doing the embarassing head jerk too many times as I nodded off.

I felt terrible because guess what? This movie is actually REALLY good. Even missing out on a minute here or there, I kept up with the exciting plot and enjoyed all the special effects. Robert Downey, Jr. was awesome as Iron Man--is it weird, though, that every time I see him I think of Heart & Souls?--but I thought Gwyneth Paltrow was too skinny and kinda weird as redhead Pepper. The opening sequence was awesome and the end very conveniently (but not annoyingly) set up a sequel with four little words at a press conference: "I am Iron Man!"

TOO AWESOME.

I can't wait to watch this movie again when I am totally awake!

Update: This movie freaking made more than $100 million in its opening weekend. WOW! It was good but that is one of the top 10 openings EVER. It never ceases to amaze me how crazy people go for comic book movies. Oh and that sequel? Already has a release date, somehow.

Here's EOnline's report of the weekend box office breakdown.

Quickie Review: The Know It All

After what seemed like quite a while but was really only about two weeks, I finally finished The Know It All by AJ Jacobs. How much fun was this book? Not only did I learn about everything from Animals to Zeros, but it was intertwined with a bunch of fun anecdotes, an unsuccessful run on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, crazy Mensa conventions, a couple's struggle to conceive and way too many attempts to impress others with (pretty much) useless knowledge. Education + entertainment = absolutely enjoyable!

Check out this description and excerpt from Jacobs' web site

I'm definitely going to read Jacobs' other book, The Year of Living Biblically, in which he writes about his quest to obey all the rules of the Bible for an entire year. If it's half as entertaining as The Know It All, I'm sure I'll love it.