2011 Movie Update

 I love to watch movies. When I first started this blog, I would post about each movie that I watched. Now if you look at my blog, you would think the only movies I watch are to fulfill Jane Austen challenges. Back in my single, dating, and newly married days, there was nothing I loved better than going out friends or Ben to the movie theatre. My movie watching has decreased with time and more kids, but I still watch movies. Ben and I don’t get to the movie theatre too much anymore. When you have three kids and the movie theatre is 30 to 45 minutes away, the babysitter fees are too much to get out that often. Most of the movies I watch are DVDs from the library, on Turner Classic Movies, or are on Starz (we get Starz “free” this year because of an increase in our monthly bill from Dish). I mostly watch movies in pieces during times I’m nursing Penelope . . . my movie time is going away now that she is getting weaned.

The following are movies I’ve watched this summer that I enjoyed. What movies have you watched and enjoyed lately? When do you watch movies?

Oscar Contenders:

The King’s Speech – Wow, sometimes I watch best picture contenders and I find myself wondering what the fuss is about and vowing to never watch that movie again (I’m looking at you No Country for Old Men and There Will be Blood). The King’s Speech was a positive movie that I loved and would enjoy watching again and again. Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush are spectacular as King “Bertie” George VI and Lionel Logue. I love how the movie is not only a tale of an unlikely friendship, but how a great tale of working to overcome a disability.

True Grit – I also loved True Grit. It was a great story also with brilliant performances. I have never seen the original or read the book so I can’t compare. Hailee Steinfield steals the show as Mattie Ross, a young teenage girl trying to avenge her father’s murder. She hires Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to help her track down the killer. They are joined by a Texas Ranger, LaBoeuf (Matt Damon), who is tracking the same guy. I thought the cinematography, music, script, and acting were all superb. I loved this movie. Ben only saw pieces of it, but he was stopped in his tracks each time and had a few laughs at some of the witty dialogue. I did the The King’s Speech better, but True Grit was a very close second best film of 2010 in my opinion.

Period Movies

Bright Star – I really enjoyed this tragic love story of the poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne. I didn’t know anything about this story at all and I enjoyed learning about the love affair. I also thought the cinematography was very beautiful and I loved the costumes. I also loved to hate poet Charles Brown, the arrogant friend of Keats that had a declared hatred for Fanny.

The Last Station – I always love learning something new about writers and historical figures. The Last Station gave me an education about Leo Tolstoy and his very unconventional end of life. The end of the movie had me want to burst through the TV and strangle Paul Giamatti as the sinister Chertkov. Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer gave powerhouse performances as Tolstoy and his wife Sofya. I also enjoyed James McAvoy as the young Bulgakov, but Mirren and Plummer really stole the show.

The Young Victoria – As you can tell from the books I read, I may be slightly obsessed with British royalty. I loved this movie starring Emily Blunt as the young Victoria before and shortly after becoming queen of England. The romance between Print Albert, Rupert Friend, and Victoria was beautiful.

Chick Flicks

Easy A – Another movie I absolutely adored. I love chick flicks, rom-coms, whatever you like to call them – but I’ve felt that recent fair the past few years has been not the greatest. I was pleasantly surprised to discover Easy A. Emma Stone has a fantastic performance in this movie, which is a modern take on The Scarlet Letter. It is an original take on a classic, in the same vein as Clueless was to Emma.

(500) Days of Summer – Another non-traditional rom-com that I really enjoyed. I loved that it was from a man’s point of view of the 500 days he spent falling in love, in relationship with, and trying to get over a perfect girl named Summer.

Classics

Letter to Three Wives – This was a rather saucy tale of a letter a “friend” sends on her way out of town to three wives saying she has run off with one of their husbands. All three wives flash back to how they got together with their husbands and current relationship problems that may be the cause of their husband leaving them. A great early performance of Kirk Douglas.

I know I watched other great movies this summer, but these are the ones that I really enjoyed and am still thinking about. I really like sci-fi and action movies, but didn’t really watch any this summer for whatever reason.

What have you been watching lately? Any great movies you would recommend?

The Blind Side (2009)

My family and I finally watched The Blind Side. Now that I have two kids with a third on the way, my husband and I are finding it more difficult to sit down and watch adult movies. I think we would have more luck if all movies were on our DVR. Luckily although this movie was rated PG-13, we watched it with my 4 and 2 year old sons. They were mostly interested in the football scenes and then went back to playing when non-action scenes were on the screen. There was a brief scene of violence and some foul language in the movie that was inappropriate for the boys, but they were not football related and unwatched.



We all enjoyed The Blind Side. It is so nice to watch a positive movie about how one family can make a big difference in another person’s life. It was an inspiring movie that I confess brought a few tears to my eye thinking about the sad life that Michael Oher had growing up and knowing there are many other kids out there like him. It is wonderful that Michael got the chance to have a loving family that would help him to make his dreams come true. The Touhy family was also a great family to take the time to care about someone and to ask the questions about the strange new kid in school. It is great that they are able to use their wealth to make the world a better place. So often these days it seems that people don’t take the time to care about their fellow human beings, especially if they are different in terms of color or economics.


I loved Sandra Bullock as Leigh Anne Touhy and can definitely see why she won the academy award. I think the secret scene stealer for me was M.J. (hopefully I have his name right!), the Touhy’s young son. He was a great kid who went out there and tried to befriend Michael from the start.


My favorite line in the movie was from Leigh Anne Touhy to some thugs from Michael’s old life, “"I'm in a Bible study with the D.A., and I'm a card-carrying member of the NRA and I’m always packing.” Or something along those lines. It really took courage for her to face up to them like that!


Overall, this was a great movie about family and caring for others. It was one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. At the end, 4-year old Kile wanted to watch it again and my husband also really liked it.


Movie Source: The Kewaunee Public Library

UP (2009)

My husband, two boys, and I watched Up together last night. We all enjoyed the movie, and it made me rather emotional. I had to fight back tears at several points, especially as my husband was watching to see if I was going to cry. Truthfully, I felt much more emotion in the first twenty minutes of this movie then I did during the entire film Avatar. The two go head to head for the best picture Oscar and at this point, I think Up should be the winner . . . but I also have eight more films to watch!

Up started off with young Carl Fredrickson watching a newsreel in the 1930’s about his hero Charles Muntz. Muntz was an explorer that flew around in a dirigible with his dogs. He discovered a place in South America called Paradise Falls, but was accused of fabricating the skeleton of a large bird that he found. In order to clear his name, Fredrickson set off again, and never returned.

Carl meets a young tomboy named Ellie and together they have a dream of one day going to Paradise Falls. There was a beautiful montage at the beginning of the movie showing them growing up, getting married, and their life together. One bad point was when it showed them excited about having a baby and I was like, “Kile – they are going to have a baby!” Then they showed them sad after obviously losing the baby. Kile – “Why are they sad? Where is the baby?” Me and Ben . . . not quite sure how to answer (especially as I wanted to cry instead of answer!) Another awkward moment came when Carl and Ellie grew old and Ellie passes away. Kile, “What happened?” Ben tried to avoid the question and I told him that Ellie died and went to live at Jesus’ house. Kile was concerned. Bottom line, the beginning montage was a beautiful story of the trials of life and not always getting to fulfill your dreams, but having a wonderful life anyway. It just may be hard for small children (Kile is four) to understand.

The rest of the movie is Carl’s new adventure. After an incident with a construction worker where Carl is ordered to move to an old folk’s home, he uses LOTS of balloons to make his house into his own dirigible of sorts. What he doesn’t know is that neighborhood kid, Russell is on the front porch along for the ride. As he floated into the sky, Kile thought he was on his way to heaven to find Ellie . . . which is a different way to think of it! Carl and Russell make their way to South America, but fall short of Paradise Falls. Carl attaches ropes to himself and Russell and decides to walk the rest of the way there. They encounter many adventures along the way, including a dog named Dug. I’ll stop my summary at this point!!

Overall, Ben, Daniel (almost 2), and I really enjoyed this movie. I liked the adventure, but I really loved the lesson that life isn’t over even when it’s near the end, you should life it to the fullest and care for other people. I also love that although life didn’t turn out for Ellie and Carl as they had planned, Ellie enjoyed it all. Kile (4) liked the movie, but was a bit confused at the adult themes at the beginning and was scared during various action sequences.

Avatar

My husband Ben and I went to see "Avatar" on Valentine’s Day. I think it was our first outing to a movie together since we went and saw "I am Legend" in December of 2007. Now that we have two young boys, our adventures out to the movie theatre are scarcer! My in-laws were in town for a visit and graciously watched the boys so we could have a date. Ben and I are both great fans of science fiction and have heard the 3-D experience of "Avatar" is not to be missed.

Overall, I was underwhelmed by "Avatar". I thought the special effects were spectacular and watching it in 3-D was awesome. The story was lackluster. I found myself thinking during the scene where the chief’s daughter took Jake Sully to camp to meet her hostile parents and people . . . isn’t this "Pocahontas"? I was waiting for the main female character to throw herself over Jake to protect him from a death sentence, but sadly that didn’t happen. At other moments I thought, didn’t I see this movie before, and it was "Dances with Wolves"? I never felt like I really knew the characters or cared enough about them to mourn their deaths. I may have even fallen asleep in the middle for a few minutes and woke up to think . . . wait a minute, is this alien sex?

I thought "Avatar" was an okay or good movie. It was an enjoyable movie going experience that fulfilled my sense of amazement at wonderful effects, but did not fulfill my mind with deep thoughts to become a great movie. (Especially as the scientist in me couldn’t get over the floating mountains.) I think "Avatar" should definitely win all of the special effects awards at the Oscars, but I don’t think it was best picture worthy.

What do you think about Avatar?

Sense and Sensibility (1995)

Sense and Sensibility is not only my favorite Austen movie, but it is one of my favorite movies of all time. It is a movie that I really enjoy watching. Whenever I’m sick, this movie is my “comfort” movie that I love to watch to help me feel better. That being said, I haven’t been able to watch this movie this year so I decided to should watch this movie for The Everything Austen Challenge. I thought this was especially relevant as I recently listened to the audiobook recording of Sense and Sensibility.

I love the actors in this movie. I think Kate Winslet as Marianne and Greg Wise as Willoughby are absolutely perfect and just as I would envision them from reading the book. I also love Emma Thompson’s performance, although she is a lot older than Elinor should be from the novel’s description.

I love the comedy that appears throughout the movie. Hugh Laurie as Mr. Palmer is perfect. I love his biting remarks, they give me a chuckle. I also love his character growth. When you see the nice caring man that he is when he helps out during Marianne’s illness, it brings the character an added depth. Mrs. Jennings the annoying matchmaker and gossip is also hilarious. Don’t we all know a Mrs. Jennings? Harriet Walter as Fanny Dashwood is also funny in her way to manipulate her husband. I love the opening scene when she is able to talk her husband down into giving his poor half-sisters nothing after the death of their father.

As this is a two-hour movie based off of an approximately 350 page novel, there are changes. The major change is that Colonel Brandon tells Elinor that Willoughby did indeed love Marianne, but this didn’t happen in the novel. In the novel Willoughby makes a visit when Marianne is sick and confesses all to Elinor. I’m not sure why this was changed. Also Marianne gets sick in the movie by standing in the rain looking at Mr. Willoughby’s country estate, which did not happen in the novel. I liked this change, it makes it more romantic. That is if catching your death of cold can be considered romantic. I like how the novel has more detail at the end on how everything works out, but there just wasn’t enough time for that in the movie.

My favorite scene in this movie is when Elinor breaks down at the end (also not in the book). She is able to keep control of her emotions for so long, it is nice to finally see her let go and be happy!

Overall, I love this movie. Great actors, music, wonderful cinematography and perfectly directed, it is a very entertaining movie. This was my thirteenth item in the Everything Austen Challenge.

Movie Source: I received this DVD for my birthday from my best friend Jenn replacing my old VHS tape.

The Dark Knight

I know . . . I am probably the last person in the world to watch The Dark Knight. This was the third time that the movie had arrived for me from the library. I gave up all hope of watching it with Ben and watched it in 1/2 hour increments whenever I had a moment without kids. This is probably not the best way to watch it, but it kept me in suspense as I had to wait until the next day to see what would happen next.

The Dark Knight is the sequel to Christopher Nolan's 2005 film Batman Begins. Truthfully I liked Batman Begins, but didn't think it was that fantastic (Ben liked it much better than me). I realize it was needed to set things up and allow The Dark Knight to be the excellent film that it was. I love Christopher Nolan's work, especially Memento. Memento ranks as one of my favorite movies. I also really enjoyed The Prestige. I can't wait to see what Nolan comes up with next.

The story of The Dark Knight follows closely after Batman Begins. Batman has worked with Lt. James Gordon to rid Gotham of different mob factions. Gordon and Batman decide to include DA Harvey Dent (now the boyfriend of Batman's love Rachel Dawes) in their crime fighting club. A new criminal (The Joker) is in town and his love of chaos is unlike anything they've ever seen. Batman considers Dent the "white knight" that can save Gotham and take his place, but the Joker has other plans for him. Everyone seemed to talk about how this was the Joker's film, but I thought it was really the story of Harvey Dent.

I thought The Dark Knight was an excellent film. The eery score and cinematography were excellent. The action sequences were top notch and had were not overly CGI as too many films seem to do these days. The acting was also excellent, especially Heath Ledger as The Joker and Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent. I loved the story and was kept in suspense thoughout with several "I can't believe they just did that!" moments.

My only negative was Christian Bale's raspy Batman voice. It was just irritating.

My only question is - why was this film not nominated for an Academy Award. While Slumdog Millionaire was a good movie, this movie was excellent and a much better movie. I am getting a bit tired of Academy snobbery where comic book films, sci-fi, comedy, etc are never considered. Sigh.

I could rave on forever about this film, but I'd like to get this posted so I'll stop now.

Slumdog Millionaire

I finally watched the 2008 Oscar Best Picture winner Slumdog Millionaire last week. Let me get one thing straight . . .I heard so much through the media that this was a "light-hearted," "feel-good," and "happy" movie and how great it was winning against bleaker fair. So I was looking forward to an upbeat tale . . . only to watch Jamil Malik get tortured in the first five minutes of the film and then further violence and abuse throughout the rest of the movie. Light-hearted indeed!! This is not my idea of a feel-good movie.

Despite not quite meeting my expectations, Slumdog Millionaire was an excellent film. Jamil Malik is one question away from winning the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. The police are sure that Jamil is cheating and torture him to learn how he knows the answers. Jamil tells the story of his life and how each question related to an important episode in his life. Jamil grew up in the slums of Mumbai with his brother Salim. He meets and befriends a young girl named Latika, who becomes his life long love.

It was a great story of survival and will he get the girl? In fact, this entire movie seemed like a modern, Indian Charles Dickens novel. Sort of a Great Expectations crossed with Oliver Twist. The Cinematography was fantastic as was the music. I loved the music and dance scene over the credits. The story was disturbing to me that so much violence and poverty exists in our world.

This is an excellent film . . . as long as you realize that it is not a light-hearted happy film!!

Australia

I have been waiting to see Australia since I watched the fantastic previews last fall. I loved Baz Luhman's Moulin Rouge and Romeo & Juliet, and Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman are among my favorite modern actors.

Australia is the story of Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman). She has journeyed from England to Australia to try to get her husband to sell their ranch, Faraway Downs, and return to England. Lord Ashley has sent his trusted man, known as Drover (Hugh Jackman), to pick her up in Darwin and take her to Faraway Downs. When they return they discover that Lord Ashley has been murdered and that there is a plot to shut the ranch down by stealing the prime cattle. Lady Ashley, Drover, and others lead a thrilling cattle drive into Darwin to sell the cattle for the war effort. Lady Ashley learns to love a young boy, Nullah, as a mother. Nullah has an aboriginal mother and unknown white father. After the cattle drive there is much mayhem due to the Japanese attack on Darwin two years later and there is a thrilling rescue of Nullah.

Sadly, the movie did not live up to my expectations. It was a good, but not great movie. While I liked parts of it and loved Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman's performances, it was not as good as I thought it would be from the previews. I loved Baz Luhman's unique direction for Moulin Rouge and Romeo & Juliet, but it felt jarring on this big picture epic. Also not helping matters was the cliched storyline and the fact that the movie had the big climatic ending 1 hr and 20 minutes in . . . the halfway point!!!! As it moved on after that I thought . . . wasn't this movie already over? I did like the snippets of action and narrative to give the overall advancement of time and the plot and I loved Nullah and the aboriginal storyline.

The movie had moments of grandeur like the tying in of Wizard of Oz and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and the wonderful shots of Austrialian Outback. I also loved the music, especially when Nullah would "sing you to me." Digital scenes were used too often and were too obviously digital. Costumes were wonderful. Overall I think the movie disfunctioned as it didn't have a clear storyline (seemed like 2 or 3 movies in one).

Although I wasn't in love with the movie, I must say that Hugh Jackman was quite hot in it. When he poured water over himself - wow!!!! Jackman and Kidman's chemistry worked well in this movie.

I thought it was worth seeing once, but not a movie that I love and will watch multiple times.

Iron Man

I watched Iron Man the weekend of the 18th and enjoyed it. I think I'm getting old and jaded though - I thought ti was a good movie, but not excellent. It was interesting seeing the superhero tale set in the present day world full of terrorist intrigue.

The movie was the story of Tony Stark and his transformation from a playboy inventor and head of a weapons manufacturer to the Iron Man. Robert Downey Jr. did an excellent and believable job as Tony. The capture by terrorists was horrible. I liked how he used his intellegence to make his escape. I also liked how he used his inventiveness to become his own superhero. I loved the growth of his character throughout the movie and I loved his love interest - Pepper Potts. Pepper is always there for him, but he doesn't realize her true excellence at first.

I guess the few reasons I had for not thinking of the movie as excellent were that I figured out who the "surprise" bad guy was going to be at the very beginning of the movie when it was telling Tony's back story. It was too easy to figure out. Also I felt disconnected to the character whenever he was in the suit.

Otherwise this movie was great and I would recommend it.

Maternity Leave Movie Review

While I was on maternity leave, I didn't spend much time on the computer. Sorry for the lack of posts for awhile. I'm going to try to get updated here and actually keep up with it. I've had a lot of things I've wanted to discuss on my blog!

I didn't watch too many movies over the past two months. I haven't been to the theatre at all - with an infant and a 2-year old - it's hard to get away. I have watched a few movies on DVD though, and here is some quick reviews of what I thought.

August Rush. This movie was a romance married to Oliver Twist. It was the story of a young orphan boy music prodigy and his parents. It was okay. I didn't like it as well as I thought I would - mostly because of some silly plot twists.

There Will Be Blood. When I think of Daniel Day Lewis, I think of him as sexy Nathaniel running through the forest in The Last of the Mohicans. He was NOT sexy in this movie. While There Will Be Blood had beautiful and brillant cinematography, I found the story to be overly violent and confusing. When I got to the end, I thought, "what was the point?" and "best picture nominee - I think not!" Was anyone really truly moved by this tale? I would be interested in hearing your point of view.

P.S. I Love You. The story of a young widow and the husband who sends her letters throughout the year to help her move on with life. It was a good movie, but would have been more enjoyable if it wouldn't have started with a fight between the couple. In the next scene the husband was already dead. I would have like their love story more if I would have felt more drawn to the couple. Besides the first scene though, I loved the movie.

No Country for Old Men. I agree with the overall reviews for this movie, it was a good movie except for the ending. Was it all just a dream? It was a scary, action packed movie. I really wanted to see what had happened. If it were up to me, I would not have awarded this movie best picture because of the ending. I think Atonment and Juno were both much better pictures. I also think Eastern Promises and 3:10 to Yuma were better pictures and they weren't even nominated for best picture!

National Treasure: Book of Secrets. Another fluffy adventure movie in the same vein as the first movie. Don't go into it expecting a masterpiece and also don't think about it too much and you'll enjoy it.

27 Dresses. I thought this movie was an enjoyable chick flick. I really love James Marsden and was happy to see him in a movie where he actually does win the girl! This story of a woman who has been a bridesmaid 27 times seemed a bit far fetched at times, but it was a cute movie.

Juno

Ben and I watched Juno over the weekend and enjoyed it. There were some lines in it that made us both laugh out loud.

Juno is an off-beat indie film about a 16-year old Minnesotan girl named Juno MacGuff that finds herself accidently pregnant after basically a one-night experiment in sex with her best friend Paulie. At first Juno thinks she should get an abortion, but after going to the clinic, she decides to have the baby and give it up for adoption. It is a difficult decision, especially with everyone at school making fun of her, but a very admirable one. I like the fact that she knows she is not ready as a teenager to raise the baby on her own. She finds a rich couple in the local "Penny Saver" ads and meets with them with her father. She really connects with Mark, the prospective dad, who has a lot in common with her. Vanessa is more of a cold woman, but Juno appreciates how she wants a baby and is good with kids. Unfortunately, she finds out that Mark and Vanessa are not the perfect couple that they seem and she has some hard decisions to make. Along the way Juno also finds true love.

It was an entertaining movie, but sometimes I found the dialogue to be a bit jaring and weird at times. I liked the films realistic settings and teen angst though. It took on a difficult subject and showed the trials of Juno as she grows up. It was a good movie overall.

Gone Baby Gone

Ben and I watched Gone Baby Gone over the weekend and we both found it to be a riveting, really good movie. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I thought it was an excellent film. In fact, Ben and I were just going to watch half an hour of it, but found that we couldn't turn it off as we wanted to see what would happen and stayed up too late watching the entire movie through. I think that says something!

Gone Baby Gone is not a cheerful movie and it is definitely not a movie with a cut and dry ending. The overall story involves two detectives, Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and his girlfriend Angie that are hired to track down a missing girl by the girl's aunt and uncle. They discover that the girl's mother, Helene (Amy Ryan), is a crack-ho that had left the girl home alone while she went out to a bar to do drugs with her boyfriend. It also turns out that Helene and her boyfriend had double-crossed a drug dealer and had stolen some money. There is much, much more to this story, but you will have to watch to find out. Will they find the little girl?

I really liked this movie and thought it was the best movie I have seen in a long time. Why wasn't this movie nominated for the best picture oscar? Although I was skeptical going into watching this, I thought Ben Affleck did an excellent job at directing this movie and all of the actors were also excellent in their parts. I highly recommend this movie. There is a lot of swearing and violence though - so don't watch it with kids around!

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Ben and I watched the Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford over the weekend. Or rather we watched half of it and I finished it up on Tuesday while I was dusting. It seems by all of the reviews that I've read of the movie that most people love it, but others absolutely hated it. I found myself in between and consider it a mediocre movie that could have been great with better editing.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford tells the story of the end of Jesse James' life. From his introduction to Bob Ford, to his last train robbery, to his paranoia, it is a great portrait of Jesse James and Brad Pitt did a fantastic job. Casey Affleck also did a great job playing Robert Ford as a very young man who has hero worship for Jesse James, but yet fears for his own life through Jesse's paranoia.

The acting was fantastic, the cinematography was beautiful, and I loved the voice over story telling. What I didn't like was that the movie seemed to drag on endlessly. I found myself just wanting Jesse to be shot! The movie was 2.5 hours long and really should have been two hours or less. I think they really should have taken out a lot of the material from the first half of the movie. There were a lot of pointless scenes that didn't help much with character development or scenes that went too long.

If you only have time for one of the westerns that came out last fall, I recommend 3:10 to Yuma rather than this movie.

Stranger Than Fiction

Stranger Than Fiction is a movie that Ben has wanted to watch for a long time. It came once from the library previously, but we were too busy to watch it. We were busy again this weekend, but took it along to Minnesota to watch with the family.

Stranger Than Fiction tells the story of Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) and IRS employee that is obsessed with numbers, counting, and saving time. He has no family and is uterly alone in the world. One day he starts to hear a voice in his head (Emma Thompson) narrating his life and describing everything he is doing and thinking perfectly. Harold has to discover who this narrator is and have her stop, before it is too late. The narrator also helps him to change his life for the better.

It was an okay movie. It was different, and different is good. It was interesting to watch and got a few laughs out of me, but not as many laughs as I expected. It was good to watch one time, but I probably don't need to see it again.

Letters from Iwo Jima

Letters from Iwo Jima is the companion film to Flags of Our Fathers, both by Clint Eastwood. It was an excellent, although disturbing movie.

Letters from Iwo Jima tells the story of Iwo Jima from the Japanese prospective. Saigo is a baker that was drafted into the Japanese army. He misses his wife and has yet to see his baby daughter for the first time, but is stuck on Iwo Jima digging trenches. Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe) arrives to take command of the island. He decides that the beaches should not be the central defense point, and instead has the troops dig tunnels in the mountains. This choice alienates the other commanders.

The movie details the horrific circumstances that the Japanese lived in during the battle (and before with the air raids) knowing that they faced eminent death. They were willing to accept death for honor and to protect their homeland against what they thought were evil Americans for one more day.

I'm used to hearing about the greatness of the Japanese Army and how wonderful it is organized. I was surprised to see solders disobeying their commander when he wanted them to retreat to better defend their main outpost because this would be "dishonorable." The suicide "honor" deaths were also horrific and hard to understand from our cultural viewpoint. The honor suicides actually made it harder for the commander to have a great defense and probably lost the battle sooner because of this.

I liked how the two movies were linked in several key points including the beating and killing of "Iggie."

Overall I liked the movie even though watching such scenes of violence is hard to take sometimes. I think it's important to understand our history and especially to see it from other points of view besides the victors. I think more Americans should watch such movies and think about history and how going to war should not be our first priority. I'll get off my soap box now. The movie had fantasic cinematogrophy and an engrossing storyline. I'd recommend watching Flags of Our Fathers with this movie.

Blood Diamond

Ben and I watched Blood Diamond last night. We both agreed that it was an excellent film - I highly recommend it! I didn't know much about the movie going into it, but the storyline was exciting, interesting, and very tragic. The perfomances were riveting, and the backdrop scenary of Africa was beautiful.

The story is set in the Sierre Leone War in 1999. Didn't know there was a war? Join the club. I liked how in one scene it shows Bill Clinton on the news with the Monica Lewinsky scandal and talks about America's preoccupation with fake news rather than real world events.

This story tells the tale of two very different men. Solomon Vandy (Djimon Housou) is a husband and father of three children. One day while bringing his young son home from school, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) attacks his village, kidnapping Solomon to work in the diamond fields. At a later date, Solomon's son, Dia, is also kidnapped and forced to be a child soldier. While working in the fields, Solomon finds a large, rare pink diamond and manages to hide it as the camp is attacked by government forces, but not before Captain Poison sees him with the diamond.

While in jail after the attack, Solomon meets Danny Archer (Leonardio DiCaprio) a white mercernary from Rhodesia. Danny overhears Captain Poison shouting about Solomon's diamond find, and immediately takes an interest. Danny has no family and is in all sorts of shady deals to make himself a buck. After both are released from jail, they make an agreement. Danny will help Solomon find his family and in return, Solomon will lead Danny to the diamond.

It is an adventure of epic proportions, with many scary twists and turns including a heart pounding chase scene. The movie had great character growth as well as action. It was also eye opening as I had no idea about the problems with "blood diamonds" or diamonds that come from conflict zones. It's hard to believe that people live in such fear and poverty. It makes me realize how lucky I am to be an American.

The actors were great in this movie. After Titanic, I thought Leonardo DiCaprio was a boy faced man that ladies swooned after. The last few years of great roles have shown me that he is actually a great actor - and can even be a manly adventure actor at that.

I highy recommend this movie, except for those who can't take scense of graphic violence. It's not gratituous, but does illustrate the horrors that were going on at the time.

Dreamgirls

I finally watched Dreamgirls this week in bits and pieces. It was a good movie. I love musicals any way, but the acting and singing in this musical were wonderful. No actresses with voices not quite up to par (sorry Renee, but your voice was pretty weak in Chicago!).

Dreamgirls tells the story of a Motown girls' trio of singers (The Dreamettes), Deena (Beyonce Knowles), Lorell (Anika Noni Rose) , and Effie (Jennifer Hudson), and their rise to power. They find a manager, Curtis (Jamie Foxx), who helps the trio become back-up singers to Jimmy Early (Eddie Murphy). Eventually to make them "mainstream," Curtis makes them their own act called the Dreams and has Deena become the lead singer although Effie is the better singer. Deena is skinny and more beautiful and Curtis wants to use that to make the group big. Curtis also curtails Jimmy's "crazy" act and has him sing soul music. He manages the singers down to the fine details and does not let them have the artistic expression they would like to have. Worst of all, he was dating Effie and two timing her with Deena. He throws Effie out of the trio eventually because she is late to rehearsals and not feeling well.

At this point Effie sings "And I'm Telling You, I'm not Going." I had been listening to the soundtrack for months before I saw the movie, and I must tell you - it was riveting watching Jennifer Hudson sing this on screen and so much better than just hearing it. You could see the pain in her face and understand her loss. It made me sad, but also made me appreciate how wonderful a singer and actress Jennifer Hudson is!

I'm confused on why this movie was shut-out from a best movie and director oscar nomination. It was much better than Chicago (as was Moulin Rouge). Things that make you wonder!!!

The Queen

I watched The Queen this past weekend with Ben, my Dad, and Carol. I liked the movie a lot, Carol seemed mildly interested (but fell asleep), Dad seemed to be interested, but Ben seemed not like it.

The Queen is the story of Queen Elizabeth II during the aftermath of the death of Princess Diana in 1997. The monarchy faced a crisis as the public expected a response or some sort of grief from the Queen concerning Diana's death. When the response did not appear, the nation began to get frustrated with the monarchy as a whole and questioned it's existence. Queen Elizabeth was faced with having to make a public show of grief for a woman that she probably in reality did not have the fondest feelings for to save the monarchy. The Queen had many exchanges with Tony Blair during the crisis. Tony Blair starts off the movie not liking the monarchy and their rigid rules, but ends having respect for the Queen. At the end Queen Elizabeth says prophetically to Tony Blair something along the lines of "The people will turn on you someday too, just as quickly."

I liked this movie a lot. It was interesting to watch a piece of "modern" history unfold that I had actually witnessed (well I wasn't there, but I grieved via TV!). I thought the individual performances by the actors were fantastic, especially Helen Mirren's portrayel of Queen Elizabeth. I also learned about how the monarchy and prime minister work together in England. The whole concept rather baffled me. By the end of the movie, Ben thought the monarchy should be thrown out of England, but I rather liked them:-)

This movie does not have super special affects and lots of action, but it kept me rivited and was a great piece of cinema.

The Pursuit of Happyness

I watched this movie in bits and pieces last week. I must admit - I was annoyed at the title before I even started the movie. What is up with Happyness spelled INCORRECTLY? It drove me up the wall! Luckily the movie not only explained the overall title (from the Declaration of Independence no less) - but it also explained the misspelling. It was the way it was spelled incorrectly on Chris Jr's daycare wall. I was satisfied that it had a good explanation and wasn't just a ploy to make the title look different.

I enjoyed this movie and yes, I shed a tear at the end. It was a heartwarming story of a man, Chris Gardner played by Will Smith, and his struggle to do everything he could to take care of his son and pursue his dream. Gardner wants to move up in life and become a stock brocker. He wins a coveted internship at a high level firm, but the internship is unpaid. At this time, his girlfriend Linda decides to leave him. Garnder is trying to take care of his son as a single parent and has no paying job. He has to do a lot of difficult things (sleeping in a subway station bathroom) to make it, but he does.

The movie to me showed the American dream at it's finest and it was a wonderful story of a father's love for his son. I highly recommend it.

Children of Men

Ben, Jenn, and I watched Children of Men on Saturday night. I had read a lot of great reviews about this movie, plus it was listed as number 14 of the Top 25 Sci-Fi list of the last 25 years in this week's Entertainment Weekly.

Children of Men is set in the not so-distant future of 2027. It begins with the death of "Baby Diego" the youngest person on earth who was killed at age 18. In 2009, all of the women on earth became infertile for reasons unknown. Without any hope for the future, the world has disintigrated into chaos except for Britian. In order to keep control, the British export illigal immigrants. Britian still has it share of problems with bombings, riots, etc.

This story centers on Theo (Clive Owen), an ex-activist who comes to the aid of his ex-wife Julian (Julianne Moore). Together they try to help a pregnant fugitive named Kee to escape Britian to sea where the "Human Project" awaits her. They will help study her to cure humanity's infertility problems. The escape out of Britain is harrowing. I was suprised by many things, but other deaths I forsaw along the way, which was kind of disappointing.

My favorite parts of the file were when Theo visited his friend, Jasper, (or father, I was never quite clear) played by Michael Caine. Jasper is a long haired hippy that lives out in the woods and grows pot. Theo visits him to escape from everything. Caine played a great character and was pretty funny.

The movie made me think, but it didn't quite live up to my grand expectations. Maybe I need to read the book or watch it again. Maybe my opinion will change over time. It was an interesting movie to watch, but I wouldn't add it to my "favorite movie" list. I did really like both Michael Caine and Clive Owen's performances.

Sidenote: Ben and I had a further discussion, would we rather live in the depressing Children of Men future of the post-apocolyptic "The Road" future. We both voted for Children of Men future as at least there are living animals and vegetation left on earth and people aren't eating each other!!