Confessions of a Shopaholic

I like chick flicks.  Always have.  Why?  Well, the best answer I can come up with, I'm a chick.   Today I watched Confessions of a Shopaholic with the parental unit.  Confessions, based on the book by Sophie Kinsella, tells the story of Rebecca Bloomwood, a journalist in New York with a major problem.  She likes to shop. And she shops a lot.  She accumulates several thousand dollars in credit card debt and then the magazine she works for folds.  She then tries to get on at a fashion magazine but instead gets hired by a financial magazine.  Hijinx insues.

I really liked this movie.  It was funny.  Being a former avid shopper myself, I could relate to what Rebecca went through.  Isla Fisher, who plays Rebecca, is quite charming.  Hugh Dancy, who plays Rebecca's love interest, was quite dreamy.  And he's British.  Filmmakers need to take note.   One sure way to get me to like a movie, stick a dreamy guy with a British accent in it.  Works every time.  Joan Cusack plays Rebecca's mother.  I didn't think she looked old enough to play Rebecca's mom, but that's o k.  Joan Cusack cracks me up.

I haven't read the book that this film was based on yet.  I did pick a paperback copy up at a garage sale, so I am going to have to read it.

The parental unit, who is also a chick, liked this movie as well.  This is a good thing.  Occasionally, she isn't too thrilled with my movie selections.

Jumper

As I continue my quest to watch movies with the Twilight cast in them, I watched the movie Jumper this afternoon.  According to IMDB, Kristen Stewart has a role in it.

Jumper is about a guy named David, played by Hayden Christensen, who starts out the movie as your typical high school outcast.  His mother left him when he was 5 and his dad has never really gotten over that.  One day while being picked on, he finds he can teleport himself to another location.  Once he discovers this, he leaves home.  He uses his new found talent to rob banks.  As the years pass, he goes back home to see the girl he pined over in high school and the fun begins.  He runs into another Jumper named Griffin, played by Jamie Bell, who informs him that there are people called Paladins who are after "Jumpers".  Samuel L Jackson plays the leader of the paladins.  The rest of the film is basically the paladins chasing David and Griffin.

This film was directed by Doug Liman, who directed both the Bourne Identity and Mr. and Mrs. Smith.  I like both of those movies.  I could see characteristics of both of those movies in this one.  I thought this movie was good but not terrific.  I would have liked a little more background on just why the Paladins were after the jumpers.  I did get a kick out of how many times they "jumped" into the local public library.  When they did, they basically destroyed the place.  That really struck me funny.

One last thing, Kristen Stewart was in the movie.  But you better not blink, because if you do, you will miss her.

Into the Wild

I am an avid movie fan. When I like a movie a lot, I tend to want to watch everything else an actor has been in. My current obsession is Twilight. Thus, I am wanting to watch everything Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart have been in. So this led me to the movie, Into the Wild, which Kristen has a role in. It was also the movie that Robert had seen just before his audition for Twilight and inspired him to want to work on Twilight with Kristen. (I really know too much about Twilight don't I?)

I had been putting off seeing this movie prior to this as I am not a big Sean Penn fan , who wrote and directed this film. But after viewing it, I will say I was pleasantly surprised. Into the Wild is the real life story of Christopher McCandless, played by Emile Hirsch, who after graduating college in 1992, leaves everything behind (including family, money and a promising future) to make a trek to Alaska to live by himself. The movie follows the path he takes to get there. On the way, he encounters several quirky characters who were played by Catherine Keeener, Vince Vaughn, Hal Holbrook and of course Kristen Stewart. They all did wonderful jobs and I would have like to learn more about each of them. Of course, that would have made the film a lot longer 148 minutes, but I was interested enough, I would have watched.

Emile Hirsch also does a wonderful job portraying McCandless. There is a scene at the end where they show a picture of the real Christopher McCandless and the resemblance between him and Hirsch is uncanny. The cinematography was beautifully done. It made me want to go to Alaska. Also, the soundtrack by Eddie Vedder was awesome and really added to the feel of the movie. And I will be the first to admit, Sean Penn did a good job making this movie that reminds us all that happiness is meant to be shared.

Practice

I am trying to figure out the ins and outs of blogging. Today I have decided to tackle adding pictures to my blogs? How did I do?

This would also be considered one of my favorite things. :)

Few of my Favorite Things

I was having a discussion the other day with a dear friend of mine regarding showtunes. I love musicals. They make me happy. The discussion made me ponder my favorite musicals. Here they are in no particular order:



1. The Music Man (1962)- I would have to say this is my favorite musical movie ever. The music is catchy. Robert Preston is perfectly cast as the charismatic Harold Hill. And then you have the whole librarian finding the love of her life story line that, let's face, I can get on board with. I am holding out hope that I will find my Harold Hill. Don't bother watching the remake they did on TV several years ago with Matthew Broderick. It pales in comparison.

2. Mamma Mia (2008)- This is a story of a girl trying to figure out who her father is. Set in the Greek isles to the tunes of Abba, this rousing story makes me happy. The majority of the cast, including Meryl Streep, does a wonderful job of singing, except Pierce Brosnan. The man can't sing to save his life, but is pretty enough, you don't really care.

3. Chicago (2002) - Set in 1920's Chicago, it's the story of women in prison who have killed their husbands. I must admit, I didn't know the story line prior to going to see it and went with a friend who was having marital trouble at the time. I was praying through the whole movie that it wouldn't give her any ideas. It didn't. The cast includes, Catherine Zeta Jones, Renee Zellweger, and Richard Gere (who I would watch read a phone book) who all do a terrific job.

4. Sound of Music ( 1965) - I know I am sounding like a broken record, but I love the songs in this movie. I could probably nearly all of them word for word. To me, if you can remember the songs after the movie is over, it's a great musical.

5. Beauty and the Beast (1991) I know this isn't technically a movie musical but I had to stick it on here anyway. I love the songs of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. They are the best. The songs in the Disney movies have gone down hill since them. It also has my all-time favorite musical number which is "Be Our Guest". (and yes, I can sing that one word for word too).

6. Hairspray (2007) - I checked this little gem out a couple of years ago from the library (some astute librarian thought to order it :) ) I was a fan of the original that the musical was based on. The music, again, is catchy. And the girl that isn't so perfect gets the guy of her dreams. (Can you see a trend here?)

7. South Pacific (1958) - I will admit, I like this movie. I love Rogers and Hammerstein's music. I find Nellie Forbush spunky, which was quite something for the time period this movie was made. Here again, pass on the TV remake they did of this a few years ago. The only good thing about it was Harry was in it. I likes my Harry.

I know have probably forgot some, but this is my list. I am dearly hoping they will make a movie out of Wicked (loved it). I also hope if they are going to remake a movie musical that they remake Hello Dolly. I am just not a big Streisand fan.

"Scary Movies"

I have to confess, I like scary movies. Not the Freddy or Jason type movies. Those are unrealistic to me. What scares me are movies that could actually happen. And, the more suspenseful these movies are, the better I like them. I had this conversation with a co-worker of mine a couple of months ago. Since he knew I liked that type of movie, he suggested I watch the movie "Taken" starring Liam Neeson. So this afternoon, I watched it.

"Taken" is the story of a former spy (Neeson) who has an estranged 17 year old daughter. She talks him into letting her go to Paris by herself with her 19 year friend. He reluctantly agrees. Once the daughter and her friend get to Paris, they are immediately kidnapped and sold into a "sex slave" ring. Dad, of course, goes to Paris to find his daughter and bring her back.

Liam Neeson, as always, is wonderful. He was believable as both a former spy and a dad on a mission. I thought it was a good story. It made want to know how it would end. Did I find it "scary" like my co-worker said it was? Well, not so much. Even though it was a good movie, I found it a tad predictable. Had it had a few more twists, I might have found it scary. I did find it a little creepy with the "sex slave" angle.

Would I recommend "Taken"? Sure I would. Just don't expect to be scared.

I am going to become a superhero

The last couple of weeks at work have been really tough. Lots of changes, some I am ok with, others I am not too crazy about. Friday was definitely a low point. So I thought I would check out a DVD to take my mind off of things. I didn't want a tear-jerker or something funny. I wanted to watch something where things blow up. (Kinda clues you in to my state of mind) So I checked out the dvd Watchmen. I thought that it would be also be cool because it could be the first official review on my blog. Well, I watched it (or at least the majority of it, I kept falling asleep at the end) and it was ok. It wasn't really wasn't that great but it wasn't bad either. What it didn't do was inspire me to write a review. What it did do was get me thinking about superheroes.

I think if I ever change jobs, I am going to become a superhero. I have got a lot going for me already. The transition shouldn't be that hard.

The first thing most superheroes have is an alter ego. Superman was Clark Kent. Batman was Bruce Wayne. I am a librarian. Who on this earth would expect me to be a superhero. I have that part nailed.

Secondly, most superheroes have cool sidekicks. God has blessed me with several real life side kicks so I am sure they would be glad to help me in my superhero endeavors.

Superheroes have really cool bases of operation. Batman had the Batcave. Superman had the Fortress of Solitude. I have the Pink Palace. (If you have been in my house, you know of what I speak.)

Thanks to Weight Watchers, I have the body to really rock a cool costume. I am not sure how excited any of my potiental sidekicks would be to do the same.

I have an over obsessive need to answer people's questions. Perhaps that could be my super power.

I love to take a stand for good against evil. I am known for getting on my "soapbox" so this part shouldn't be hard for me either.

So as I deal with the craziness I call work, I can always hold onto the fact that I have another career choice available to me.