Three Movies in Five Days

January 4, 2013January 3, 2013 / cksdays / 1 Comment

I had a week and a half off from work. A stay-cation. What did I do with all that time on my hands? I went to the movies. Three movies in five days to be exact. Probably a good idea I’m back at work. I need to earn money to pay for my movie-watching habit (if the ticket price doesn’t get you the snacks will. $6.50 for a small popcorn – that I polished off during the previews – and pop?!) But let me tell you about the movies I went to.

photo courtesy the web

Jack Reacher. The latest ego-boost vehicle for Tom Cruise. Haven’t heard of it? I only saw previews about a week before I went. Plus, there was a little bit of buzz because the opening was delayed after the Connecticut shooting. The first five minutes explains why. It was a little unnerving to watch the shooter’s perspective and see the victims’ in the crosshairs of a gun. Especially the children. I admit I got a little more teary than I normally would have when the lawyer interviewed the victims’ families.

But would I recommend the movie?

Sure. Why not? If you liked Cruise’s Knight and Day (2010) you’ll probably like this. Mainly because he’s almost redoing the same character. The movie contained a whole lot of action with some humor thrown in. Cruise is at his bravado best but doesn’t take himself as seriously as his Ethan Hunt role. Some cringe worthy scenes to beware of. The finger scene left an awkward feeling afterwards. If you’ve seen it, you know what I’m talking about. You probably had your fists clenched the whole time to protect your fingers. And the eye scene made my eye water. Out of the three movies, I’d give this a 2. As if in, the second movie I would go to.

photo courtesy the web

Les Miserables. There is a whole lot of singing in this movie. I mean a WHOLE LOTTA singing. I was warned. But I really like the book (although I recommend reading the abridged version). The nuts and bolts of the story are very moving. It’s a powerful tale of the redemptive power of love. It doesn’t get much better.

But would I recommend the movie?

Do you like musicals? Do you like it when even the dialogue is sung? Can you keep a straight face when actors act their hearts out – while singing? Do you have the maturity to sit through almost three hours of singing? If you answered yes, then yeah, go see it. Let me warn you though, you may answer yes – especially to that last question but this movie will test you. For example, Jean Valjean is hiding from Javert in the church courtyard. At first he whispers. That makes sense. And then he starts singing. The appropriate response is probably to appreciate his sacrifice to save Cosette. And to keep your mouth closed. The inappropriate response is to shush him for suddenly breaking into song while he’s supposed to be hiding. The people in the theater probably won’t appreciate it. Trust me. You will get shushed yourself.

Let me sum it up like this, if I were to have a bucket list (which I don’t) I would probably take off seeing an opera (which I would never put on there in the first place). Out of the three movies, I’d give this a 3. This is the last movie I would go to out of the three choices. In fact, I’d wait for it to come out on DVD so that I could watch it in the comfort in my home. Where I wouldn’t get shushed. And where I could do other things like write a blog while watching the movie.

photo courtesy the web

Parental Guidance. I was the most hesitant about this movie. But I wanted to get my dad out of the house for New Year’s Day. Plus, I needed to redeem myself a little bit for our last New Year’s Day movie. Who knew We Bought a Zoo (2011) was about a widower? Talk about bad timing. So, when dad mentioned Parental Guidance looked good I resolved to make sure he saw it. The movie is about that delicate parent-child-grandchild relationship. It had humor and truth to it. Billy Crystal’s face looked a little more relaxed and normal than when he hosted the Oscar’s. What? Surely I wasn’t the only one watching the broadcast this past year wondering what happened. Followed by, “That doesn’t look quite right.”

This movie has a hidden bonus. Well, it would be hidden if I wasn’t about to expose it right now. It happens in the restaurant scene. We are introduced to a character named Mr. Cheng. It took a moment. He looked familiar. I thought, “Is that…”

“It’s Long Duk Dong!” somebody behind me not so quietly whispered.

“Yeah,” I agreed in my head because I know how to keep quiet during a movie. I learned that skill while watching Les Mis the other day. “It’s Long Duk Dong. An old Long Duk Dong” (Sixteen Candles 1984).

I can’t tell you what was said during that scene because I spent the rest of the time thinking, “Long Duk Dong is soooo old! And balding.” It was a little more drawn out than that and yes, it took the rest of the scene for me to get my focus back.

But would I recommend the movie?

Actually, yes. It may have everything to do with my low expectation rule (the lower the expectation the more I like the movie. Conversely the higher the expectation the more chance I’ll be disappointed). Out of the three movies, this would have been the number 1 movie I’d go see. Of course, if that were truly the case, I’d have higher expectations of it and would have been disappointed. This would have lowered the rating. Tricky system here, isn’t it?

What movies did you see over the holiday season? Did you see any of the three I mentioned? What did you think about them?

I’m No Ebert

February 20, 2012April 12, 2012 / cksdays / 7 Comments

I am not a movie reviewer. I like what I like and sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason (lookin at you Mummy 1 and 2). In fact, I usually don’t like to disclose my favorite movie list because I’m pretty easily swayed. What if I tell you one of my favorite movies and you tell me you hate it? Then you proceed to tell me why you don’t like it. It ruins my movie because now I see the same flaws. Yep, I’m that easily influenced on some things. So, I usually don’t like to discuss such things as movies, books, people in general, clothes, music, politics… You get the idea.

But I belong to Blockbuster.com and the darn queue keeps getting hungry. Greedy little thing keeps sending me notices in my email begging for contributions. I’d let it starve but I’m paying $9.53 a month to sustain it. Why do I pay it? Blockbuster automatically withdraws money from my account around the 9^th of each month. If I cancel any time before that, I basically lose money because I won’t get a refund for any unused portion. So, the trick is, I need to cancel on the 8^th so that I feel like I get my money’s worth. I usually remember I want to cancel on the 10^th. Doesn’t make sense? Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to make sense to you, only to me. And it does, so everything is fine.

Back to the story, I have this Blockbuster membership and a very greedy queue. Although, I don’t watch as many movies at home as I used to. When I was younger, I could literally watch movies all day. But I’m older and my attention span is now pea-sized. Plus, I enjoy actually going to the movies. Especially matinees. If I get to go to the theater in the middle of a weekday, that means I’m not at work. Yay for me!

Lately, I’ve seen few movies and I thought I’d give just a quick overview of what I liked and didn’t like. Keep in mind, some of the movies I had no intention of ever seeing. I just have to keep the queue satisfied.

Eh: I’ll start with today’s choice. Bubba, T, and I went to see Chronicle at the theater (a matinee no less – thank you very much Presidents!) I wanted to see this movie a couple of weeks ago but got out-voted. More about that in a second. As for the movie, I was disappointed. Probably because my oldest niece, MM, warned me right before I left that “It was disturbing” (told you, easily influenced). I think she meant boring. It was a long 90 minutes. I’m still waiting for the plot to take off…

Eh: Last night I watched Water for Elephants. I had to concentrate very hard to type the name right. For some reason, I want to call it Like Water for Elephants. Not sure where that came from. This was a queue filler. I played solitaire for the first half of the movie. Talked with MM for part of it. Looked at Facebook for a portion. And wondered why Robert Pattinson is considered cute (sorry Edward fans). He kind of has an odd look about him. Plus, I had to visit imdb.com to see how much older Reese Witherspoon is than him (10 years if you’re wondering). And while on that site, I had to see the actress’ name that played Barbara Jean on Reba (Melissa Peterman). That stemmed from a previous discussion that resurfaced during the movie. But the movie did have a happy ending.

Yay: The weekend before Valentine’s Day my friend asked me if I wanted to see a movie. I chose Chronicle. But it was her turn to pick and she wanted to see The Vow. I didn’t really want to go to a chick flick the weekend before V-Day (dumb holiday) with another chick. But I acquiesced. I’m glad I did. I enjoyed the movie and the fact that it was based on a true story, made it even better. Plus, Channing Tatum isn’t exactly hard to look at for two hours. Even if I do keep calling him Tatum Channing. The lesson I learned from this, the lower the expectation I have for a movie, the more I enjoy it.

Eh: Eat. Love. Pray. Another queue filler. I discovered within the first five minutes that I wasn’t going to like this movie. I wrote one of my blogs while it was on. Here’s my take of it: “Oh woest me, I’m unhappy. I must break my commitment I made and go find myself in a land far, far away.” Boo!

Eh: I don’t blame the movie since it was based on the boring section of the book. But Harry Potter 7A was a snoozer!

Yay: Harry Potter 7B, however, was based on the more exciting part of the book. Although the movie takes some liberties from the text that I have to adjust to. I don’t remember Harry hugging Voldemart and jumping off the ledge. And my favorite part of the book (the WAR scene) was omitted. No matter, it wrapped the series up nicely and, incidentally, was the last movie I watched with my mom.

Eh-Yay: I saw the first movie. I know I did. But I can’t really tell you much about it. When I went to see the second movie, I was kind of lost for the first half. Eventually, I liked it, more or less. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows had a lively action sequence and an ending that had me wondering for a second, (SPOILER) “Did they seriously just finish off this series with the second movie?” I only wondered for a second, though.

Eh: The ending of Captain America ruined the whole movie for me. I don’t care if the powers-that-be are making a movie and he’s needed in it. Boo for an ending that isn’t an ending so that another movie can be made about the beginning of a different tale.

Yay: I was iffy going into Thor. It turned out to be one of my better choices. I became acquainted with Chris Hemsworth’s fine, um, acting ability. This was another movie I went into with low expectations. The previews weren’t impressive. Thor looked like he was the product of a drunken make-up artist. But then I saw him in context and I have to agree with Jane, “It’s a good look.” Sure, it has another set-up ending but I saw this first. It wasn’t a predictable pattern yet so I can forgive this ending.

Those are just some of the movies I’ve seen the last few months. You probably don’t agree, but don’t tell me! You’ll ruin my yay movies.

How Many Times Can I Watch 2012 This Year?

January 20, 2012April 12, 2012 / cksdays / 1 Comment

Remember a long time ago, during the last year in the last millennium? The year was 1999 and there was some hoopla over something commonly referred to as Y2K. Life as we knew it was going to end – or at least drastically change – at the stroke of midnight January 1, 2000. The year even had its own anthem. The artist formally known as, or is currently again known as (I can never remember), Prince sung about the ultimate New Year’s Eve for our lifetime in the early eighties. When the year 1999 rolled around he was poised to receive some hefty royalties that should ensure a lofty retirement. Or to pay for some therapy to discover if he is in fact a Prince, a symbol, or just a creepy little man. The song was played ad nauseam that year. Genius little guy!

It’s 2012 and instead of an anthem, we have a very long movie. When the movie 2012 came out a few years ago, it was one of those blockbusters the critics panned. No surprise, isn’t that usually how it works? But the trailers sold me on the premise completely. I eagerly awaited its arrival in theaters. I can handle destruction and chaos – as long as it stays on a movie screen.

Sure, there have been comments about gaping plot holes in the movie. But it takes a lot to deter me from watching a movie. After all, I’ve sat through Hallmark Channel movies. It’s not as if it was mismarketed like other movies (looking at you any post Sixth Sense M. Night Shyamalan movie). The movie delivered pretty much what I wanted to see. Utter destruction of the world as we know it while I sit in the comfort and safety of a movie theater? Check.

It wasn’t the most memorable of movies. I forgot almost the whole storyline. Only certain keywords stuck out to me: 2012, modern day arks, and Yellowstone National Park (which oddly enough, this movie gave me the desire to revisit the park). This week it’s been on tv twice (and it’s only January). I’ve been able to catch a little bit of it and now I remember. I remember what I didn’t like about it.

First of all, it has a running time of 158 minutes. That’s 2.5 hours in the theatrical release. Now that commercials are being thrown in it probably takes a full evening. I have the attention span of a gnat. And really, after the first few buildings fall into the ocean, how much annihilation can I actually handle watching at once?

Second, I’m fine with California falling into the ocean. I’m okay with Yellowstone blowing up. I can handle the whole secretive ark building in China. Although, China? Really? I can accept the heads of nations hand picking the survivors. And I can even live with the fact the little hero family makes it all the way to China just in time to be saved. After all that, I’m willing to hang in there. And then – spoiler alert – Gordon dies. So, after sitting through a movie in which the entire world is destroyed and masses of people are killed, the with-it boyfriend dies and the slacker dad lives (he took his kids on a camping trip in a limo for crying out loud!). It gave the movie a forced happy ending to serve as a band aid for all the obliteration. A note to the movie writers: it’s kinda movie making 101 to make the boyfriend a heel before killing him off. I thought that was common knowledge. Guess not. Glad I can help.

It’s only January and I’ve already watched this movie more than I thought I would. It’s going to be a long year.

Did You Hear about this Movie?

October 28, 2011October 30, 2015 / cksdays / 1 Comment

Everyone needs a Bubba to watch movies with. My niece Bubba can’t hide her emotions. If she’s enjoying herself, you’ll know. On the flip side, if there’s an angry Bubba, you’ll know that also. Just pray you’re not the cause (ie waitress at the KOA Café at Devils Tower, my apologies). But when Bubba is having a good time, it can be infectious. Unless, of course, she’s having fun at your expense – but that’s a different story.

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