Saw "Hairspray" last night. I didn't think I'd enjoy it (Why? I don't know. I usually like musicals).

It was really, really cute. You know how sometimes you just smile while you're watching something? Yeah, I did that quite a few times. It's got some really good messages, I think.

(Incidentally...iz, if you have questions or want any expanded knowledge about the ethnic/religous groups in Afghanistan/Pakistan, shoot me a PM.)

i love monk.

So far this year I have seen Enchanted and a movie called Children of Heaven.
Enchanted was very cute. If you need a good chick flick or a movie to see with a 6-13 year old girl, this is the movie. Disney does a good job at making fun of the princess trope that it has created.

Children of Heaven was fabulous. It is subtitled. It's about a brother and sister. The brother loses his sister's only pair of shoes and the family can't afford another pair so he and his sister share his shoes so that they can both go to school. I would highly recommend it.

In the TV world, Psych and Monk are both back with new episodes for now. Both worth watching.

Thanks for the review, Iz! And, FWIW, the same can be said about the book in terms of the boyhood part being richer and more involving than the adult part, at least IMHO.

ok, rented High Fidelity with John Cusak--loved it. one of his older movies & he shines thru like the amazing actor he is. i had just seen him in Martian Child and loved him, and this DVD just reminded me how much.

saw Kite Runner yesterday. I loved it. the 2 hours flew by. the boyhood portion was better than the later one though. the characters were richer in that portion. the father of the main character was breathtakingly poignant--the performance was outstanding. little disappointed with the man who played the main character as an adult--i felt was rather flat and becuase of that, did not feel they developed his character as well. in fact, the acting was so flat at times, it made portions feel like a Lifetime movie (not to knock Lifetime channel movies, i love them) but i expected richer performances on the big screen.

i never read the book. i don't know that much about the different minority groups in Afghanistan and that region. i had read a book written by Karena Gore about the Taliban-- years ago-- so i was in touch by the extremism of that group. but even without this knowledge, the film does a decent job of demonstrating the prejudices within the country.

there is a small scene where a young boy is sodomized--don't bring young children to this film. this is a shame because otherwise, it is a rich colorful movie about making moral choices that would have stimulated children appropriately.

do you remember the movie with sally field "not without my daughter"? same intense impact, but this movie impacts in a slightly different rhythm. if the main actor had the "oomph" of sally field, i would have been pulled deeper into his personal psyche. that said, go for it sheri!

don't worry--i am keeping my day job. movie reviewer--i am NOT

i agree. i loved 3:10 to yuma also. has its share of twists and turns.

Watched "3:10 to Yuma" last night. Aside from the Russell Crowe/Christian Bale eye candy, the movie was really enjoyable. It was a "Western," in the sense that it was set in the American West in the 1800s, but it was much more of a psychological thriller than I expected it to be. Top-notch, and while there were numerous shootings and killings, I'd say that each had an impact...as in, you were more than a little shocked, and people DIED, not "oh, look, a plane blew up" with no thought to the 300 people on board kind of thing.

Definitely recommend.

Hockey, Hockey, Hockey!!

We gave mother a DVD player for her bedroom TV for Christmas. Her TV is not connected to the cable. She wasn't sure she would use it but has discoverd she likes to watch movies in bed. We have a lot already but I told her she can get them at the library. She was amazed.

She claims she can't sleep at night & always goes downstairs and plays computer games all night. My thought was that if she was in the bed (watching a movie) instead of sitting at the computer downstairs, she might "accidently" fall asleep .

We've been watching DVDs through the holidays. This past weekend we watched one called Diggers. It starred Paul Rudd, Maura Tierney, Ron Eldred, and Sarah Paulson. Basically it's a "The Big Chill" type relationship movie. We really enjoyed it, however…

There is a lot of language and verbal abuse in a young family situation which caused me to ask dh, "Would you allow your young child to act in a movie with these scenes?" How are those young actors going to deal with this?

I watched two The Who rock operas the past few days - Tommy and Quadrophenia. I love Tommy and have since it first came out. I'd never seen Quadrophenia before.

We've also been watching Wierd Al Yankovic DVDs. DS is enthralled.

I've hit the DVD jackpot from the library. Not only do I have probably 15 movies sitting on top of the TV right now, the library has changed its policy. Movies can now be renewed as long as no one has a reserve. Good thing I start out the day with walking; although, I really do find it difficult to schedule viewing time.

Linda

i will give a review sheri! i have been reading the movie reviews in the paper and they are all glowing. never read the book but the trailer caught my eye.

quote:

Originally posted by iz:
i am planning to see kite runner this weekend.

Please please post after you've seen it and let us know how it is! After reading the book, I couldn't quite imagine this being a movie. I anticipate it will be quite an impactful film.

i am planning to see kite runner this weekend.

We just saw Stardust. I had never even heard of it but dd got it from Netflix and it was very good.
Before that we had Harvey . I just love that movie!
Next on the list is Candleshoe (staring a VERY young Jodie Foster). It should be here by Friday. It is one of our favorites from dd's childhood.

we saw Juno yesterday. it is glorious. the characters are rich and meaningful. loved it. highly recommend it.

watched Walk Hard today. It was funny and entertaining if you like corny humor.

i also spent some time this morning watching Dancing with the Stars on YouTube--love Joey Fatone!

The last two nights, the History Channel had a two hour show on Charlie Wilson. DH and I watched the entire thing - complete with commercials and reiterating the story so far after each commercial. It was interesting but probably could have been told in about 1 hour.

I'm looking forward to seeing the movie. Thanks for the review, D.

DH and I watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix yesterday. He hasn't read the book. I have. It was very good - even though much has to be left out to keep the viewing time to about 2 hours.

Linda

We saw "Charlie Wilson's War" yesterday. I LOVED the book, and the movie was enjoyable. The book is FULL of information, so I wasn't expecting to get everything from the book into the movie, but they hit some of the best highlights from the book. TJ enjoyed the movie, too, and never read the book.

Wouldn't recommend taking anyone who isn't either interested in politics or the world in general to it, and there's some nudity at the beginning (to be fair, it's pretty critical to the story and to understanding Charlie Wilson).

But it was really, really enjoyable. And a true story.

I know most of you are still busy doing holiday things and this is a little late, but…

I really, really enjoyed The Clash of the Choirs this week on NBC. I thought from the opening song on Monday by Nick Lachey's choir from Cincinnati that this would be a whole lot better than I thought.

I did think Patti LaBelle's choir was going to walk away with the honors despite the completely splendiferous job Lachey's choir did with an accapella Flight of the Bumble Bee.

My Ohio buttons are bursting with pride.

That said, I have two Barry Manilow DVDs and the latest Harry Potter to get us (yeah, right - like dh will watch Manilow) through the holiday. Come to think of it, when we were dating we went to a Manilow concert together. Hmmmm!

Linda

Watched Michael Moore's newest Sicko over the weekend. I really enjoyed it, but then just say "Michael Moore" to me and I'm there.

Also watched Spider-man 3 between Sunday and Monday. What a mess! It meandered all over the place. Watching Toby Maguire play a hipster was hilarious.

Linda