Twilight

I really enjoyed the Twilight novel, and the movie was pretty good. My friend and I wondered if we'd like the movie if we hadn't read the book, and I don't think I would have. Having read it, we could understand certain things that weren't said in the show. Many details were left out, but I couldn't think of anything major that wasn't there. I would see it again.

Many of the special effects were lacking, and the effect of sunlight on a vampire just made said vampire look sweaty. One may have thought the movie was a comedy with all the laughing that was going on (in the theater). There wasn't much character development. I think Jacob had three or four lines, and Jasper had one (well, maybe two) and several funny facial expressions. Oh, the scene where Edward saves Bella from the guys in Port Angeles was pretty good, at least how the car was driven. Not sure that I loved Robert Pattinson as Edward. He seemed like he was going to cry through most of the show, and the way he was talking (at least in the beginning) made him sound slow. The makeup was a little distracting too--not so much the white faces, but the red lips. Edward's were darker than Bella's, and it was very obvious that it was lipstick.

I'm really not trying to rag on it though. Condensing the long book to a two hour movie would be a challenge, and overall they did a pretty good job with the story.

I'd love to hear what anyone else thought about it.

Ray

This was an interesting movie about the life of Ray Charles. I didn't know much of anything about him, aside from the fact that he was blind and sang "I Just Called to Say I Love You.) -I think he sang that. Did he?-
Anyway, halfway through the movie, Nate and I looked at each other and said "Boy, I'm not really liking Ray right now." He was a junkie and a womanizer, cheating on his wife and cheating on his mistress (although, if you're the mistress, how could you actually think he wouldn't cheat on you when he's already cheated on someone else to be with you?) Sorry. Tangent.
The part about his brother just broke my heart.
I was surprised at how many songs of his I recognized. I had no idea he sang "Hit the Road, Jack."
It was interesting to see all that he did with his music, and that he never let his blindness hold him back.
All-in-all, a good movie.

Top Gear

This isn't your typical movie post, but my husband got a few seasons of a show called Top Gear from a co-worker. I'd never heard of it, but we've been enjoying watching episodes together. It is a car show, and a lot of the time the three presenters are talking about or driving super cars (I think that means expensive and fast). That's not really my thing. But, they also have these crazy challenges, and they are hilarious. One challenge was making amphibious vehicles. One of the guys used a Toyota pickup, one used some type of van, and the other made a sailboat out of a convertible. It was so funny, especially watching the one with the huge sails trying to get to the lake. The van ended up sinking, and the truck ended up on it's roof. Another challenge was buying cars in Miami for under $1,000 and driving across two or three states. They had several challenges along the way. One challenge was in Africa. One was racing motor-homes--that was pretty funny. Oh, the one making stretch limos out of regular cars was pretty entertaining too.

Anyway, I don't think I'm doing it justice, but I think it'd be worth a few minutes to see some of the challenges on YouTube. I have no idea what seasons we've been watching, and I'll admit that some of the things said by the British are quite shocking. But, if you are bored, check it out.

The Aviator

Interesting movie. The first half of it Nate and I kept looking at each other like "What is going on? Is there a plot to this movie at all?" The second half got better, but I was really close to just leaving the room.
This movie is about the life of Howard Hughes (not to be mistaken for Hugh Hefner, which I always seem to do for some reason.)
Howard is a very interesting character. Very smart. From what I understood through the movie, he had a whole lot to do with the airline business as we know it today (OK, as we knew it before they all went bankrupt...) He was also mentally ill.
Would I recommend the movie? Eh...probably not. It was very long - like about 3 hours long - and like I said earlier, the first half of the movie was just weird. Plus, there was an overabundance of swearing. Not cool.

Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader

I couldn't find an image for this one. We were in a bit of a shock when the show started though. A new Red Box opened up not too far from our house (it's on the way home from work for Matt), and we heard it had Prince Caspian. We thought it was one of the new versions. Turns out it was a BBC version (from the 80's I think). The costumes were hilarious, and I laughed for quite awhile watching Aslan walk (you know, with the two guys wearing his costume).

Good reminder to make sure you have the version you want.

Be Kind Rewind

We found this on iTunes last week, and thought we'd give it a try even though we'd never heard of it (mostly because it has Jack Black). It was pretty dumb. A couple of friends find themselves in trouble when the one erases all of the VHS tapes in the video store the other is in charge of while the boss is away. Jack Black is the trouble maker. He became magnetically charged after a failed attempt to destroy a power plant (or some such place). They made their own versions of the movies to cover themselves, and these "sweded" versions became very popular and the store was doing much better business.

It was a pretty lame show. Just not much to it, and the ending was one of those where it ended and I though, that was it?