Stardust

Stardust is basically a fairy tale for adults. It is a fantasy tale about a young man named Tristian, who upon seeing a falling star, promises it to his love Victoria. He journeys out of England to a magical kingdom called Stormhold to find it. Upon finding the star, he discovers that it is a actually a beautiful young woman named Yvaine (Claire Danes). He starts off trying to get Yvaine back to England, but begins to be her protector when it is discovered that not only is an evil witch (Michelle Pfeiffer) after her, but also an evil prince. Robert De Niro also shows up as Captain Shakespeare, a captain with a fiercesome reputation, but a soft side.

I don't know, I had mixed feelings about this movie. It was entertaining, but not the best movie I've ever seen. I didn't find Captain Shakespeare as funny as I think he was supposed to be. I also didn't like Tristan as much as I know I should have and I thought Claire Danes was too old for her part.

It is purely a fantasty tale for adults too. There is implied sexand a lot of rough violence that would not be good for kids.

Am I judging this movie too harshly? Did others like it better?

3:10 to Yuma (2007)

Ben and I just watched 3:10 to Yuma this past weekend and I really liked it. It was a gritty western that really seemed to harken back to old school westerns. I'm glad they've been bringing back some excellent westerns in the past few years - they could make more!

3:10 to Yuma is the story of a poor Southwestern rancher (Dan Evans) that is on his last leg literally. He has been denied the water rights to his ranch by a guy who owns the place just upstream and Dan owes money to him. The guy is basically trying to get Dan and his family off the ranch in order to sell the property to the railroad for a fat profit. Dan has two sons and a nice wife. He was in the civil war and lost part of his leg. Dan's oldest son, William, has hit the point during his teenage years where he has no respect for his father. I'm not looking forward to those years! Dan is played by Christian Bale, one of my favorite actors.

One day, Dan and his boys witness the robbery of an armed stage coach by Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) and his gang. Ben realizes that Dan and the boys are no threat and steals their horese for a short time so they can't report him. Dan rides into town to figure out his financial problems and reports that Ben and the gang were last seen heading to town. He helps to keep Ben's attention in order to capture him and then volunteers to help lead Ben to Contention to put him on the 3:10 train to Yuma for $200. This money will make it so he can keep his ranch.

The journey is exciting to say the least with Ben's gang and other foes trailing the group. Dan's son William follows and saves the bunch. William has a coming of age story where he learns that the outlaws glorified in the dime novels he reads are not the heroes they are made out to be. Ben and Dan learn more about each other. I just wish they would have had more time to talk!

I don't really want to reveal more of the plot as it will ruin the movie. I really liked the ending. It was surprising to me and made me sad, but also was a good end to William's tale. If you are looking for good story telling or a good western, I highly recommend this movie!

Northanger Abbey (2008)

I watched the new Masterpiece Theatre Northanger Abbey this past week and really enjoyed it. It was SO much better than the 1980's version. I bought the 1980's version thinking - it's Austen, I will like it. A lot of strumming guiters and 80's hair later, I realized that I was wrong. This version of the classic novel was more true to the novel and was a funny, light-hearted farce on gothic romances. I liked it!

Northanger Abbey is different than most Austen as it is a light hearted comic farce of the gothic romance novels that Jane Austen was so fond of. Catherine Morland is a 17-year old girl that loves to read gothic romance novels. She comes from a rather large family and is very excited when her neighbors, the Allens, decide to take her with them on a trip to Bath. While there, she meets Isabella Thorpe, a young lady who knows her brother James. Catherine also meets Henry Tilney, a funny and charming young man. She becomes friends with Henry's sister Eleanor and finds herself being pursued by Isabella's brother John Thorpe. Henry and Eleanor's father General Tilney invities Catherine to Northanger Abbey to visit. Catherine is sure it will be full of gothic romance just like her novels, but soon learns that she may let her fantasies carry her to far.

I thought this was a great adaptation and I highly recommend it!

Persuasion by Jane Austen

I meant to reread all of Jane Austen's six masterpieces before Masterpiece Theatre started broadcasting them on TV, but as you can see, I am too slow! I just finished rereading Persuasion a couple of days ago. I have read it a couple of times before, but it has been almost ten years since the last time I read it. After Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion is my second favorite Jane Austen novel.

Persuasion is the story of Anne Elliot. Poor Anne is the sensible daughter of a silly vain baronet, and has an equally silly and vain older sister. Her mother died when she was 14 and she was then taken under the wing of her mother's good friend Lady Russell, who lives nearby. At 19, Anne feel in love with a young naval officer named Frederick Wentworth. She was persuaded by Lady Russell and her father to break off the engagment because Wentworth had no money and no connections. Now, eight years later, Wentworth has returned, and as a wealthy captain. He is on the market for a wife, and Anne has to endure watching his flirtations with other girls. Anne has changed over time, but her love for Captain Wentworth has not. Can she stand up for herself now, or is she still under the influence and opinions of others?

I love this novel about second chances at love. It has wonderful character growth. Austen is an excellent character writer. The attributes of different characters are not so different from people I know today! I love this novel and can not recommend it enough. If you liked the latest Masterpiece version of this novel, you will love the book. The different story lines that were rushed in the movie are fully laid out in the book and make much more sense.

300

Ben and I watched 300 last weekend - while Kile was sleeping. It didn't seem like a toddler approved movie! We are probably the last people in the world to see this movie, but it came from the library two other times when we were gone for the weekend so this time was the first chance we had to actually sit down and watch it.

300 tells the story of King Leonidas of Sparta and his herioc battle against Xerxes the evil king of Persia who is trying to conquer Greece. Leonidas and his 300 men are able to hold a narrow pass with their extreme fighting skills against thousands of invaders for days. Their bravery inspires Spartans to continue the battle against Persia at the end.

I liked this movie. It was highly stylistic and quite beautiful to watch. Beautiful isn't the word I'm looking for, but it had wonderful imagery and cinematography. Bad CGI annoys me, but the CGI used in this film looked wonderful. I'm suprised it was not nominated for an Oscar.

I heard a lot of press before watching this movie about how it wasn't historically accurate. You know, the way the entire movie was set up was more like a retelling of a myth or legend from the voiceover narrator to the depections of monsters. It was kind of obvious it wasn't meant to be 100% detailed to history!! Some people get mired in the historical accuracy thing a bit too much.

I enjoyed this movie and recommend it to others that may not have seen it yet. It is a violent film so I do not recommend it to people who don't like watching violence.

For One More Day by Mitch Albom

I just received For One More Day for Christmas from my brother-in-law. It is the first book I've read by Mitch Albom and has been on my "to-read" list for awhile.

For One More Day tells the story of Charley "Chick" Benetto and his relationship with his mother, Pauline (Posey). Chick had a brief career as a baseball player, married, had an unsatisfying career in sales, and eventually lost it all into depression and booze after his mother's death. He is so far removed that his own daughter doesn't invite him to her wedding. Chick tries to commit suicide and returns to his childhood home only to find his dead mother waiting for him. He spends the day with her revisiting his troubled childhood (his dad left and never came back) and decisions that he made that he later regretted, especially the times he didn't stand up for his mother.

This novel was a brief, interesting read. It is a beautiful, simple story of a mother's love for her son, and how a son can take it for granted until it's too late. It also poses an interesting question, if you had one more day to spend with a deceased loved one, who would it be?

Persuasion (2008)

Persuasion is the story of Anne Elliot. At 27 she is considered an old maid and on the shelf. She had a marriage proposal 8 years before that she rejected due to the persuasion of her friend Lady Elliot as Wentworth had no fortune. Captain Wentworth has returned and is now quite wealthy and looking for a wife. Anne struggles as she watches him flirting with other women and regrets how she was persuaded as a youth. Ironically Anne's family has been unwise with their money and is now renting out their house to Wentworth's sister. The Elliot's move to Bath to try to live in style on a smaller income. Will Anne and Wentworth be able to put aside the past and get together?

I enjoyed watching the new version of Persuasion on Masterpiece. It's always nice to see Jane Austen novels on TV. That being said, I thought this version was very rushed. It was only an hour and a half long and there was not enough time to fully develop the plot. I liked the plot development in the 1995 version, and especially liked watching Anne change and grow through the movie. There was no such development in this version. I especially disliked the rushed "revelation" about Mr. Elliot at the end and Anne sprinting through the streets of Bath. It seemed rather silly to me. I wish they would have taken the time to make this movie even half an hour longer to give it time for proper plot development.

What did you think about it?

Hairspray (2007)

Kile and I just watched Hairspray Monday night as Ben was out of town. Well, mostly I watched it, although Kile paused from playing once in awhile to watch the catchy tunes and dancing. I have never seen the original 80's movie or the Broadway musical, so this review is based on the 2007 movie only!

I really enjoyed this movie. It was fun, light hearted, and something you can watch with your kids. Tracy Turnblad dreams of being on the Corny Collins Show and rushes home each day to watch it with her friend Penny. One day, Corny announces that there is an opening on the show and Tracy tries out. She is turned down though for being overweight and for supporting intregration. She is sent to detention for being late to school and meets some new African American friends that teach her their way of dancing. She shows her new moves off to Corny and is able to earn a place on the show. Her popularity threatens Amber Von Tussle and her mother Velma (the station manager) in the race for Miss Teen Hairspray. Also Amber's boyfriend Link Larkin starts to notice Tracy (who is madly in love with him), much to Amber's dismay. Will the Corny Collins show become integrated? Will Tracy become Miss Teen Hairspray?

I liked the sense of humor of the show and really liked Nikki Blonsky's portrayel of Tracy. She was so light hearted, happy, and fun - it was a joy to watch her. I also liked the movies message of liking people no matter how they look - fat or think, black or white. I also really liked James Marsden as Corny Collins. What? He's hot!

I highly recommend as long as you like musicals. I liked the music and dancing a lot, but somehow don't think Ben would have enjoyed it!

Rhett Butler's People by Donald McCaig

I was very excited to receive Rhett Butler's People from my friend Jenn for Christmas. Learning Rhett's side of the story seemed like a great new take on Gone With the Wind.

Rhett Butler's People tells the story of Rhett Butler from an impetiuous youth to shortly after the ending of Gone With the Wind. It also tells the story in fragments of various family members and friends involved with Rhett through the years including the back story of Belle Watling and Rhett's sister Rosemary.

While it was great to get a different perspective on Gone With the Wind, I think my biggest mistake was reading this directly after reading Gone With the Wind again. McCaig has a rather abrupt writing style where he moves from piece to piece of writing, without filling in the details. It was rather jarring reading it at first (especially after Mitchell's great original description), but I got used to it. While the characters in the original novel are described in great detail, the characters in this novel were rather flat, especially the supporting "People" such as Rosemary and Colonel Andrew Ravenal. I wanted to care, but often found myself not caring, waiting to hear about Rhett again. There were many small details that were not correct as compared to the original novel, which was quite annoying. Also, they explain why Rhett was expelled from his family, but there was nothing about taking a carriage ride with a lady and refusing to marry her . . . the original story from the original novel.

What I wanted from this novel was more about Rhett and his adventures. We learn about how in his youth he traveled around the world to exciting locations and made money as almost a secondary, by the way . . . I wanted to know more details about this - and not quick stories about his friends and sister. I liked the ending and thought it was very appropriate. I just wish it would have lasted for a longer period after the ending of the original novel.

One major problem I had with the book was that McCaig decided to "white wash" Rhett. All of the sudden, Rhett is a flaming abolitionist growing up in South Carolina. There is no reason from the original novel to believe this. It is more likely that Rhett was not an abolitionist and was more a man of the time. I know it's more P.C. to make him one now, but it is not historically accurate.

I recommend this book for anyone who is obsessed with all things Gone With the Wind like me, but DO NOT read it directly after reading Gone with the Wind. It is worth a read, especially for the ending. I hope that someone else writes more about the adventures of Rhett someday.

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

I just finished rereading Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell for my Mom's Club book club. I must say, I am extremely glad that I read this book again, it is a masterpiece. It's also a lot different reading a book when you are 29 versus 14! If you know the plot or don't want to know the end, skip the next section.

Plot Overview
I think everyone knows the classic story of Katie Scarlett O'Hara, the headstrong, spoiled Southern girl - but I'll recap in case you don't. Scarlett is in love with her neighbor Ashley Wilkes, but discovers just before the start of the Civil War that he is going to marry his cousin Melanie. For spite, Scarlett marries Melanie's brother Charles Hamilton. Charles dies of sickness without ever facing battle and Scarlett finds herself a pregnant 16-year old widow. After her son's birth, she goes to Atlanta to stay with Melanie and Melanie's Aunt Pitty-Pat. Scarlett finds Atlanta exciting, but life in mourning as a widow rather drab. Life is lightened up when Rhett Butler scandalizes society by "bidding" for her at a ball and dancing with her all night. Sherman eventually starts his march to the sea, but Scarlett can't leave pregnant Melanie alone in Atlanta after promising Ashley to watch out for her. After Melanie gives birth, Scarlett, her son Wade, Melanie and Baby, and Prissy (Scarlett's slave) are rescued by Rhett Butler who drives them out of Atlanta. He leaves them though and decides to join the army, but to Scarlett's anger. She arrives back at her plantation, Tara, to discover the place has been devistated by the Yankees, her mother has died, and her father has lost his marbles.

Scarlett works hard to find food to keep everyone fed. She is getting by after the war, but the Yankees raise taxes on Tara and are going to take it away if she can't pay them. She visits Rhett Butler in his Atlanta jail to try to seduce him to marry her (he is rich and she wants the money) or to become his mistress. He refuses, but luckily on the way home, she meets up with her sister Suellen's beau, Frank Kennedy, and lies about her sister being engaged to someone else. She is able to persuade Frank to marry her within two weeks and use his money to pay the taxes on Tara. Frank runs a general store and Scarlett pushes him to make more money. She borrows money from Rhett to buy her own mill and scandelizes Atlanta society by running it herself. She has a daughter, Ella, with Frank. After she is accousted in Shanty town, Frank and other vigilantes take their own form of justice against the assailants and Frank is killed in the process. Rhett proposes to Scarlett the day of the funeral before she can marry anyone else.

Rhett and Scarlett start off having a happy marriage, but Scarlett's love for Ashley comes between them. They have a daugther, Bonnie Blue Butler, that Rhett adores. Scarlett suggests separate bedrooms because she doesn't want to have any more children, much to Rhett's anger. Bonnie dies in a riding accident at age four and Melanie dies about a year after due to a miscarriage. Scarlett realizes that she has loved Rhett all along and that her love for Ashley was an illusion. By this point, Rhett has had enough with their marriage and tells Scarlett "I don't give a Damn" and leaves. Scarlett vows to win Rhett back and the book ends.

Laura's Thoughts
I thought this book was VERY well written. The characters were fully developed including all secondary characters. You really don't get a feel for the secondary characters in the movie as you do in the book. The dialogue was fantastic, especially some of the witty dialogue between Rhett and Scarlett. The description of the scenary and live in the Civil War days is uncomparable. The book is 960 pages long, but riveting. Although I know the end, the book still had me sobbing, much to my son Kile's dismay.

I liked how the book gave a good overview of what life was like for a rich southern family before, during, and after the war. Scarlett is not the most likeable of people, but I liked reading about a strong willed woman who does what she can to survive. The love story between Rhett and Scarlett is not a typical or conventional story and it rivals those of Elizabeth and Darcy, Cathy and Healthcliff, Romeo and Juliet. I just wanted to slap Scarlett though for her silly longing for Ashley. Ashley in the book is more attractive though then Ashley in the movie - although he is still no match for the manly Rhett Butler.

What I didn't like about the book is what most people would probaby say, the blatant racism. Take this critism with a grain of salt though. I really don't like a "white washed" past where we pretend that people were never racist. I think it's important to learn what we used to be like as a nation so that we never go there again. Taking that in to account, I understood that Scarlett's ignorant feelings towards African Americans was typical for a Southern lady at the time, although I thought it was racist.

Scarlett is a character that you love and hate. The way she treated her first two children was quite cold and hard to understand as a mother. Her treatment of Melanie and Rhett is also annoying. I'm glad that she grows as a character and by the end realizes the error of her ways, but it would have been nice for her to appreciate people while she had them. I like how she is a well developed, very three dimensional character that grows throughout the novel.

The introduction to the version I read compared this book to Anna Karenina, Vanity Fair, and Madame Bovary. I've read all three of those novels, so it was interesting to ponder the strong willed women in each novel. I think Scarlett is the most like Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair. Any one else read these books and have thoughts?

If you have never read Gone With the Wind, I highly recommend it. It's a bit of a slow read at first, but believe me, it gets much better. Gone With the Wind is a great American novel that I believe everyone should read.

Persuasion on Masterpiece Classic This Sunday!

The Jane Austen season starts on PBS this upcoming Sunday January 13th. If you are like me and have a DVR, beware if you have Masterpiece Theatre programmed in. Mine was not going to tape because it's now called just "Masterpiece" on the guide.

Persuasion vies with Pride and Prejudice as my favorite Jane Austen novel, I hope this TV version lives up to my expectations.

Entertainment Weekly had the following to say about it. . .

"Masterpiece Classic kicks off its four-month Jane Austen marathon with this adaptation of her final, most brooding work. Sally Hawkins (Vera Drake) is heartsick Anne Elliot, whose dad (Buffy's brillant Anthony Head) perusaded her to snub her penniless fiance. Eight years later, Pops has fiittered away their fortune and the beau is back - now a rich naval captain (MI-5's Rupert Penry-Jones). As passionate as it is mature, Persuasion is not Austen's usual romance peopled by befuddled lovers. This is a grown up love story. A-" Aubry D'Arminio

Shrek the Third

Ben, Kile, and I watched most of this movie on Sunday night, but just finished it up tonight. Kile still doesn't watch much TV yet, but really liked to watch bits of this and laugh at Donkey!

Overall, I thought Shrek the Third was a good movie and a strong third addition to the Shrek Trilogy. Fiona's father, the King, passes away and leaves the kingdom to Shrek and Fiona . . . unless they can find the other heir, Artie. Shrek, Donkey, and Puss in Boots head off on an adventure to find Artie with the new knowledge that Fiona is expecting a baby. As Shrek stresses about becoming a father, Prince Charming gathers the fairy tale evil villians to take over the Far Far Away kingdom and captures Fiona and her fairy tale princess friends.

It's a good adventure and had great humor as usual. I especially liked the wit with the princesses - Cinderella being a neat freak, Sleeping Beauty being narcoleptic, etc. We enjoyed the movie and if you are looking for some light, fun entertainment, I'm sure you'll enjoy it too!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

My husband Ben got me Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on DVD for Christmas. We watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire for a recap and then watched our new movie this past weekend.

Lord Voldemort had returned at the end of Goblet of Fire and in this movie there is a persistent fear of him. The Order of the Phoenix is a secret order of wizards that have banded together to fight the dark lord and include such luminaries as Lupin, Sirius, Snape, Mad-Eye Moody, the Weasleys, etc. At Hogwarts, Harry starts his own band of warriors after the Ministry of Magic decides to smear Harry and Dumbledore and ignore the return of Voldemort. To this end, the Ministry of Magic plans Dolores Umbridge on campus as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher who takes away student rights and does not teach any sort of defense. Harry and his friends secretly teach each other defense techniques to be ready for the return of the dark lord.

First of all, I love the Harry Potter books, but haven't always liked the movies. I think the movie was okay, but not as good as it could have been. I must admit that I didn't like the first Harry Potter movie that much and it has put me to sleep twice before. Chris Columbus took the book too literaly and really needed to chop some stuff out to make the movie more interesting. This movie went to the opposite end and really chopped out too much information. If like Ben, you haven't read the books (or like me its been a few years since you've read the book), you can get really confused on what is going on. A movie should be able to stand on its own without having read the book. The books get darker in tone as they progress through the series, but this movie seemed to take all of the darkness out of the book, and none of the lighter fun moments. I missed them! The movie was pretty good, but could have stood to be longer. Number 3 is still my favorite movie. Does anyone thing I'm being overly critical?

Laura's Top Ten Books for 2007

I went through the list of books I read in 2007 (yes, I'm a nerd and have been keeping track of my reading material for the past couple of years) and luckily the books I marked as my favorite ended up totaling ten to make a perfect top ten list. Note my list for 2007 only means that I read the books in 2007, not that they were necessarily published in 2007. I also didn't include two of my all-time favorite books (Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier and Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding) that I reread this year for book clubs. I was reading them for the third time each I believe so it's obvious I like them!

Here are the top ten books I read this year in no particular order than maybe in what sequence through the year I read them:

1. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. The haunting novel told the story of a doctor who delivers his own twin children in a snow storm and gives away one who is born mentally disabled. He tells his wife the disabled child died and his nurse runs off with the daughter and raises her on her own. While the doctor's life falls apart over the years, the nurse leads a tough life, but finds love in raising her daughter. It stuck with me because of the moral dilemas faced by the protagonists and the riveting story telling through the years of the main characters' lives.

2. Thunderstruck by Erik Larson. I read this for my Kewaunee book club and was surprised to discover that a famous murderer came from my home county in Michigan - not something they told me growing up. While I liked Larson's Devil in the White City more than this book, it was still a riveting piece of non-fiction that detailed the invention of the wireless telegraph set against the use of this device to capture a fleeing murderer. Larson writes non-fiction so well that it reads like fiction. I highly recommend this book.

3. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. This book was a fantastic book about the friendship between two girls of different circumstances in life from youth through adulthood in rural China of centuries past. Trials affect their friendship in terrible and gripping ways. It was interesting learning about the different culture in China, although the foot binding scense may have made me quesy!

4. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. This novel is ripped from the headlines and presents a very interesting moral dilemma - is it morally acceptable to have a child to use as a "donor" for another child? And when do the "donations" stop? Anna the donor child decides at 13 to sue her parents in order to stop the donations to her sister Kate who suffers from a rare form of leukemia. It presents tough questions and is interesting to think about and discuss. I'm actually going to pick this for our March book club pick for Mom's Club. The book also had fantastic secondary characters.

5. Death in a Prairie House: Frank Lloyd Wright and the Talesin Murders by William R. Drennan. This was another Kewaunee book club pick and I'm glad it was picked as I probably never would have found it on my own. This non-fiction book is riveting and provided me all sorts of detail about Frank Lloyd Wright that I didn't know. I know he designed beautiful houses, but didn't know he was not the nicest of men in real life to his family. The Talesin Murders were a tragedy that provided a turning point in his life. This book is also an interesting topic of conversation to have with people!

6. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I loved this novel and it's story of friendship between two Afghani women who happened to be married to the same not so nice man. It gives great detail on the terrible plight of women in Afghanistan and is a must read in my book!

7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling. The Harry Potter series are among some of the best books I've read in my entire life and Rowling does not disappoint with this spectacular series finale. I'm going to miss reading new adventures of Harry, but the books are sure to delight me for the rest of my life!

8. The Road by Cormac McCarthy. This post-apocolyptic novel has stayed with me all year. It's a book I think and ponder on. A book that I think about for a long time is a good book! It is a father/son road trip story at the end of the world. It's sparse, scary at times, but with a glimmer of hope. I really need to read more McCarthy as this was an excellent novel. I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it although it is not for the faint of heart!

9. One for the Money by Janet Evanovich. This is actually a nomination for the entire Stephanie Plum series although I've only read through number six so far. This books are the light hearted tales of Stephanie Plum, a bounty hunter in Trenton, New Jersey. They make me laugh out loud and are good escapism reading.

10. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. I just read this massive book last month and LOVED it. It is a historical fiction novel detailing the building of a cathedral in medieval England and the lives of the people who built it. It was a very interesting read and kept me riveted for the entire 900 plus pages. It's a book not to miss is you like historical fiction!

Did you read a book in 2007 that was great and you feel it's one that shouldn't be missed? Add a comment to my post and give me ideas for what to read in 2008!

New Indiana Jones Movie Article in Vanity Fair

I just read an interesting article about the upcoming Indiana Jones movie in Vanity Fair. It won't state whether Shia LeBeouf is playing Indy's son or not, but I highly suspect so with Karen Allen also returning as Marion Ravenwood - the best Indy love interest. I always thought it would be cooler if Indy had a fiesty daughter, but a fiesty son would work too. It did give a few spoilers that it will be set in the 1950's (knew that) with Russian cold war villians and a sci-fi object serving as the McGuffin. It's an interesting article - follow my link to it. I'm already silently weeping though that I will not get to see this movie in the theatre. The baby is due May 1st and Ben and I will not be able to go on any dates for quite awhile after that. Such is life!