Happy Valley

Talk about a depressing movie (documentary). It's about the drug issues in Happy Valley. I went into the show thinking it was going to talk about the meth problems around, but that wasn't really touched on. It was more about how teens and adults get hooked on pain pills (and how that leads to harder stuff like heroine). Quite a few of the people interviewed said how the religion and culture here hinders people from admitting that they have a problem, so they don't get help. I can see how that could be the case, although I think I was trying to fight that idea.

Most kids are taught that drugs are bad (ie. the DARE program in schools). Unfortunately some kids don't get the anti-drug idea reinforced at home (one of the stories in the documentary talked about a girl getting high with her mom). One drug officer in the show said he'd been at parties where many of the kids taking pills (like percocet) were LDS, and they didn't think they were breaking the Word of Wisdom because it was a pill. Wow!

It made me really scared for my kids. Some of the parents of kids who had died from drug ODs seemed like they had good relationships with the kids. How can you avoid/prevent your kids from getting involved with this junk? How can kids be taught about the dangers of drugs, and not get it? I'm so glad my friends were good, and weren't into these things.

The editing in this was a bit distracting at times, but I'm glad I watched it. It helps strengthen my resolve to build my relationship with my kids. I want them to feel like we're friends, and want to be at our house instead of always going to friends' houses.

Sherlock Holmes

This was a pretty good film, but it was freakier than I expected. The way it showed Sherlock figuring things out was cool (the slow mo and the details he noticed). It was definitely left open for a sequel.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

The title of this movie sounded familiar, so when I saw it at the library I thought I'd give it a try (it was free you know).

The basic storyline is about four close friends that will be going separate directions during their summer break (they're all 16 I think). They are out shopping before they leave and find a pair of jeans that (miraculously) fits all of them. They decide to rotate the jeans around during the summer, and the movie tells what happens to each girl during the break.

I liked their friendship, but I was TOTALLY bugged by the blonde girl (skank). Yes, she had some issues with her mom having past away and all, but going after a college guy who had to have been over 18 just made me mad. The age issue happened with the girl who went to Greece too.

So, I wouldn't recommend it. There are plenty of friendship movies out there that have legal relationships in them.

The King of Kong

This is a good one. It's a documentary about a competition between two guys trying to get the world record top score in Donkey Kong. One guy is the king of the dorks, the reigning champion of DK (he's pretty much like Dwight from the Office) who thinks he's all that, and the other is a humble, hard-working family man that has learned to play DK as well as the other guy.

There is an abundance of laugh-out-loud incredibly nerdy nerds in this film. It's like this secret world that you get a peek of. And you will get caught up in the rivalry for sure.

The one and only bad thing I can remember in this is actually one super gross thing. They show a photo of a guy (self)named "Mr. Awesome" posing in the buff with a lady covering his you-know-what with her own pose. So when they start elaborating on Mr. Awesome's background, just skip it.

Because the rest is sooo good!

Life is Beautiful

I know this came out years ago, but I got it again from Netflix because I remembered liking it. Well, it's still good! Many of you have probably seen this, but if you haven't, you've gotta.

Although this is about the Holocaust, I don't remember there being any disturbing images because it's about a father who keeps his son alive by telling him the whole thing is a game. It's super sweet, and every time they showed the mother I just started tearing up.

FYI, it's got subtitles.

The Princess and the Frog

When Wikipedia says that this movie is based loosely on ED Baker's book, they weren't kidding. The New Orleans setting was totally different from the book, although it was interesting. But, I HATED the voodoo. I didn't realize that was in there, and I don't think I would have taken the kids if I'd known.

Zoie liked it. Jonas didn't like it. Zoie asked me what my favorite part was, and I said "When it was over." That's due to the voodoo, which she didn't quite get. The book had a witch. She was a friendly witch, and the magic wasn't portrayed as Satanic. The Shadow Man in this movie was working with evil spirits. That was just a bit much for me in a kids' show.

The Maiden Heist

Matt picked this out recently. It's about three security guards that work in a museum. They've all worked there for years, and have become attached to certain pieces of art. They learn that the pieces they love are being sent to another museum, so they come up with a plan to "save" their pieces from being sent to Denmark.

It was sort of funny, but I didn't love it. William H. Macy is in the buff (toosh shots-ew) a few times.

Sons of Provo

A friend lent this to me recently. It is a mockumentary about a boy band in Provo, Utah. The songs were pretty funny (and well done-the three actors apparently have good voices).

I didn't love the show, but it did have some funny parts. Here's a YouTube video of one of the songs in the show.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun

One of my friends gave this movie to me for my birthday. It was fun to watch it again. If you were born in or around the 80's and haven't seen it, it's worth watching again for a laugh.

The New World

A friend lent this to me recently, and wondered if I'd like it. Her husband was a fan, but she wasn't.

Anyway, it's about Pocahontas and her life (although I don't recall the movie actually saying the name Pocahontas at all). I'll come right out and say that I prefer the Disney portrayal (although the Disney version obviously has it's inaccuracies). It was interesting, and I had forgotten that Pocahontas didn't end up with John Smith, but it was much too long and slow. Quite a bit of sadness too (I won't spell it all out and spoil the whole thing).

The Ultimate Gift

Matt brought this home for a family movie night a few weekends ago.

A very wealthy man dies, and his family gathers to hear what they all get. Most are disappointed. One grandson is left with tasks he must complete in order to get his gift. He's a grown man (young), but hasn't worked a day in his life. He fights the tasks, but his lifestyle is taken away so it's live on the streets or do the tasks. He learns many great life lessons as he completes the tasks.

It didn't hold Matt's interest, and it was a bit long and deep for the kids, but it was a good story with a good moral lesson.

Ice Princess

Zoie picked this out the other day. It's about a senior in high school that is a physics genius. She does a physics project to help with a scholarship for college, and it is on the physics behind ice skating. She decides to try her theories, and she is a natural.

The acting wasn't great, but Zoie (6) seemed to enjoy the show. Matt spent most of the movie time playing a game on his iPod.

Yes Man

I find movies with Jim Carrey to be risky, so I wasn't very excited when Matt brought this one home for us.

Jim Carrey's character is stuck in a dead end job, and his life is going no where. He learns about motivational seminar about saying Yes to everything. He follows the idea, and finds that his life improves, until it doesn't.

Interesting idea-I mean, if we always say no to things we won't move forward. Obviously we have to say no to some things, but we should take time to consider our options before shutting everything down.

But, I wouldn't recommend this show. A few things were . . . disturbing. Overall it was a Jim Carrey show to miss.

The Blind Side

This movie is awesome. It's based on a true story and is really heartwarming (but it didn't make me cry. Yay.)
Since I'm good at forgetting to put the actual plot in my reviews, here you have one copied from nexflix.com:
Oversized African American Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron), the teen from across the tracks and a broken home, has nowhere to sleep at age 16. Taken in by an affluent Memphis couple, Leigh Anne (Sandra Bullock) and Sean (Tim McGraw), Michael embarks on a remarkable rise to play for the NFL.

I love, love, LOVE Sandra Bullock's character in this movie. She is my hero. :) And I especially love what she tells Michael about what would happen if he got a girl pregnant while in college. My kinda woman. :)

Eragon

I recently read the novel Eragon, so when I saw this at the library, I decided to watch it. Unfortunately, it was quite different from the book. I completely understand the need to cut some things out and make some changes, but they really strayed. Urgals and Razac weren't depicted at all in the right way. Even the elf wasn't shown as an elf (the book went into a lot of detail about the pointed ears-would it have been so hard to give the girl pointed ears?).

I don't think I would have liked it, even if I hadn't read the book first.

The story is about a young man, Eragon, (age changed in the movie from the book BTW), who finds a blue "stone" in the forest while hunting. Turns out the stone is really a dragon egg, and it hatches for him. There is a wicked king that rules the land, who got rid of all the other dragons and riders. Since the egg hatches for Eragon, he's now a Dragon Rider, and the movie is about his journey as a Rider.

The Phantom of the Opera

My parents took me to see this musical when I was pretty young, and we had the music playing in our house quite frequently, but I couldn't really remember what it was all about. This film adaptation was well done, but I saw the stage version so many years ago I couldn't tell you if it was different.

There were a few places where the singing seemed a little off, but overall the acting/singing seemed pretty good. The story itself is a bit disturbing, but it kept my interest.

Bella

What, you've never heard of this? I'm shocked as the cover totes it as "The best movie of the year!" and #1 Rated Film. Just kidding. I never heard of it either, and came across it the other day.

Not a bad story, although a bit dragged out. The beard drove me a bit nuts though (if you watch it you'll understand).

If it was the best movie of 2006 I must have not watched any movies that year, but it was touching.

Star Trek

I'm not a Trekkie (I even had to google that to find the correct spelling), and was hesitant to even watch this movie, but it turned out to be better than I expected.

I didn't love young Captain Kirk-he was cocky and a jerk, and I was somewhat bothered that he had to be the one to save everyone.

But, other than that, it was an interesting story.

Avatar

We went to see this when we were up in Utah for Christmas. You have the choice of seeing it in 3-D or just regular. We went to the 3-D version, but honestly, I didn't see any way cool 3-D effects, and since the movie is so long (well over 2 hours) those glasses get really heavy and uncomfortable.

The movie was good, as long as you can ignore the shove-it-down-your-throat message. (All humans are evil, polluting creatures, who have already killed their mother earth and now have moved on to kill some other planet. One human "sees the light" and turns traitor to the human race, fighting against his own kind to save the life of the totally-in-tune-to-mother-earth creatures.) Think Fern Gully, only in 3-D.

But other than that message, it was a good movie. :)

Taken

This is a total guy movie. Full of action, one guy single-handedly kills all the bad guys, without help from anyone else, etc. Violent but not gory, so it was tolerable for me. Not a bad movie. Kind of like the movie "Transporter" only this one actually had a plot to it.

Guys will probably love it. Girls might like it. :)

500 Days of Summer

The best word to describe this show is interesting (said in a sort of confused tone).

I really don't know if I liked it or not. I liked parts, I didn't like other parts. You aren't missing anything if you haven't seen it, and so here's a breakdown (spoilers included).

It was done in a different style, jumping forward and back over the space of 500 days. Guy meets girl. Guy falls in love with girl. Girl likes guy (and totally leads him on), but doesn't return the love. Girl breaks things off. Guy is depressed and miserable. Girl marries someone else. Guy still depressed and miserable, and gives up on the idea of fate and one person being out there for you. Meets someone else and realizes that he was wrong to change his mind.

I can't decide if I like Zooey Deschanel's acting or not. She sort of reminds me of Keanu Reeves (the lack of emotion part).

Where the Wild Things Are

I took my two-year-old and six-year-old to see a movie at the dollar theater today. We missed the one I wanted to see (running late and had the wrong time anyway), so we went to Where the Wild Things Are instead.

Here's my review:

*Not a cartoon

*Nauseating camera work

*Siblings don't get along

*Mom swears at Max for being bad

*Max runs away and steals a boat

*Left after about 20 minutes-very glad it was a Monday special and we were only out $2.25

The feel of the movie just wasn't good. Shouldn't children's movies be upbeat? No upbeat feelings during the parts we saw.

New Moon

It goes without saying that New Moon was made much better than Twilight. The special effects were 100 times better. The acting was better. The makeup was better, although I was still disappointed in Edward's makeup. The person over his makeup clearly needs to have their eyes checked. The lipstick was gross. And, I'm not sure if the eye color would fall under makeup or what, but the new golden color was odd. Think cat eyes.

It was a lot of fun to go with my sisters-in-law. This movie didn't have as much to laugh at. There were funny parts, but we were cracking up over Twilight (how could you not laugh at the escalator ascent up the trees and the sweaty looking sparkly effect?). In New Moon I think we pretty much just laughed at the parts that were supposed to be funny. Oh . . . well, we probably laughed at the part when Jake took off his shirt to wipe the blood off Bella's face, and for sure in Alice's vision of Bella and Edward.

When I read New Moon I didn't like it for the lack of Edward. But, as time has gone on I've decided I like Jacob's character more and more. It may be that I think Taylor Lautner made Jacob seem like a good guy. Someone who would be way better for Bella than Edward. I liked him in the movie, and felt really bad for him when Bella ran off to Italy. Yes, I knew it was coming, but I wouldn't mind at all if they made these movies with alternate endings.

The movie followed the book fairly well. No major things come to mind that were changed.

I would see it again, and I will most likely buy it when it is released on video.

If you've seen it, what did you think?

The Accidental Husband

Another RedBox email find, and I am happy to report that this was much better than My Life in Ruins. It wasn't the best show in history, but it was a cute story worth the dollar we spent to watch it.

A bride to be calls off her wedding after calling into a radio show and getting advice about her relationship and fears. The fiance heard the call and is devastated. He gets back at the radio personality by allowing his friend hack the state's marriage records, "marrying" him to Dr. Emma Lloyd. She tracks him down to try to clear up the error with annulment papers. And the story goes from there.

My Life In Ruins

Redbox sends me an email each week to let me know what new releases it has. About a month ago I saw that a show called My Life In Ruins was out. I'd never heard of it, so I googled the trailer. It looked pretty cute, and I've been trying to get it since then at Redbox. I think they hadn't really stocked the RBs here with it until the other day.

Anyway, yesterday I saw that it was available, so Matt and I watched it after the kids went to bed. It was pretty disappointing. It was rated PG-13 for sexual content, and that was definitely present in the show. The cute parts were overshadowed by the innuendos. Could have been done better if the writer had a cleaner mind.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Nate and I went and saw this movie for a date night. He was a little skeptical about seeing it, being a cartoon and all. It was so good! I want to take Joey to see it, I think he'll love it. Lots and lots of funny parts.

G.I. Joe

I LOVED this movie. It was awesome. I didn't really know what to expect, I just remember loving the cartoon when I was a kid. I was not disappointed. Lots and lots of action, cool special effects, and the acting and story line were good. There was very little swearing, a huge plus in my book and very little blood, another huge plus. There was your typically cheesy action-flick romance sequence where in the middle of all the fighting, the hero has to make out with the girl. (Insert eye-roll icon here) But it was a really enjoyable movie. I would probably own this one.

Igor

Another ehhh movie. It was OK in parts, but seemed to be pretty dark for being aimed towards kids. The part I really, really disliked about it was the swearing. Mild by today's standards but I firmly believe that there should be ZERO swearing in kid's movies, especially cartoons. I wouldn't recommend this movie, mainly for the two reasons I just listed.

Labor Pains

Eh. That is my review of this show.

Apparently it was initially made to be shown in movie theaters, but instead was shown on ABC Family in July, and then went out on DVD in August.

I'm not a huge Lindsay Lohan fan, and I'm actually surprised that this would have been shown on a family channel. It did teach that you should be honest, but on top of Lohan's character lying about being pregnant so she wouldn't get fired, she was also drinking and smoking, stealing, sleeping with her boyfriend, etc.

State of Play

What an interesting story with a very recognizable cast.

Crow and McAdams are reporters. Affleck is a Congressman working on a case against a private defense contractor. The spotlight is thrown on Affleck when the lead researcher on his staff dies, and it comes to light that he'd had a relationship with her. Crowe was Affleck's college roommate (although, that seemed a bit odd to me since they don't look anywhere near the same age). He is involved in a story the seems intertwined with Affleck's story, and tries to get to the bottom of the situation.

Very interesting with a bit of a twist.