Opening 11/25/09

Thanksgiving is upon us.  Most people have the weekend off.  I do.  How did I manage that?  Don't know.  But I will not complain.  If you plan on going to movies and seeing something that isn't New Moon, the following movies are starting this weekend:

1.  Fantastic Mr. Fox - (Rated PG)  This is based on the children's book by Roald Dahl.  It tells the story of a reformed chicken thief "Mr. Fox" who returns to his former life of crime.  This movie basically sounds like an animated version of Ocean's 11, which is not a bad thing as I loved the Ocean's movies.  If you are going to do an animated Ocean's 11 movie, who better to cast as the voice of Mr. Fox than George Clooney himself.  Meryl Streep voice's his wife.  I saw a preview for this in the theater and it looks really good.  I may have to catch this.

2.  Ninja Assassin (Rated R) - Not entirely sure what this one is about.  But since it's about Ninja's, I think I will pass.  (This from the person who likes vampire and werewolf movies).

3.  Old Dogs (Rated PG) - Robin Williams and John Travolta play bachelors who have to take care of twins.  This one sounds like 3 Men and a Baby.  The movie is directed by Walt Becker who also directed Wild Hogs.  I loved Wild Hogs.  This movie has some potential but I may wait until I buy it on DVD for the library.






That is what is opening this weekend.  I hope everybody has a wonderful Thanksgiving.

New Moon

Friday night was a wonderful night.  I got to see New Moon.  It's been a long time since I have seen a movie on opening night.  Being a huge Twilight fan myself, I should have expected what I encountered.  It was nuts.  My 2 best friends and I went to the 6:20 showing.  I knew in advance it was sold out so we decided to meet at the theater at 5:30.  It's a wonder we found each other due to all the cars that were in the parking lot.  We did and we entered in the theater and were promptly "hearded" into our holding area.  I have never felt so much like cattle in my life.  I was pleased that when we finally made our way into the theater that we got on the back row (which is my favorite part of the theater).  I was really scared that we were going to have to sit on the front row and I wasn't really wanting to experience werewolves quite that close.  I only do the front row for buffalo.  

After my friends went to get our cokes (I had them sign the bank loan required to pay for the cokes for me as I saved the seats) the movie started.   I wasn't sure what to expect.  I had seen the numerous trailors several hundred times and it did look very good.  But out of the 4 Twilight books, New Moon wasn't really my favorite.  New Moon picks up where Twilight left off.  Bella and Edward are together and we find Bella is approaching her 18th birthday.  Knowing her 17 year old vampire boyfriend isn't going age, Bella isn't too eager to age.  She would rather be a vampire and Edward doesn't want to destroy her soul.  The Cullens do have a birthday party for her and since I don't want to give away too much of the plot, let's just say it doesn't end well. 

Because of the ill fated birthday party, Edward decides to leave.  This sends Bella into a deep depression.  She discovers that she can "see" Edward if she does dangerous things.  She gets some motorcycles that need fixed up and takes them to her best friend Jacob who is a mechanic.   She starts hanging with him and discovers she starts to feel better.  But like everybody in the series, he has a secret too.  He is a werewolf.  I did learn a interesting fact.  Werewolves run around without their shirts on.  And they look REALLY good without them.  This fact was not lost on a majority of the audience as they applauded EVERY time a werewolf came on the screen (this included the person I was sitting beside as well).  

Bella eventually does something really stupid and it gets back to the Cullens that Bella kills herself.  Because he can't live in a world where Bella doesn't exist and he is kinda hard to kill, Edward goes to Italy to visit the Voulturi coven to get them to kill him.  The Voulturi are the "ruling" coven over all the vampires.   The Voultri are really creepy looking.  I am surprised I didn't have nightmares of Dakota Fanning.   She was especially creepy looking.  Alice and Bella rush to Italy to save him.    Bella and Edward are reunited, a big fight happens, and to avoid being killed by the Voulturi, Bella needs to be turned into a vampire.  That's pretty much the story.

Did I like the movie?  Yes I did.  It followed the book pretty faithfully.  I thought the cinematography was beautiful.  It was much better than Twilight.  Everything in Twilight had a blue tint to it.  New Moon was much warmer, which probably had a lot to do with the werewolf theme (I'm just saying).  Chris Weitz did a great job directing.  I hope he comes back to direct Breaking Dawn.  I have read other reviews on the internet that said the middle part dragged (which really did in the book) but I didn't think this movie dragged at all.  I thought Kristen Stewart was wonderful as Bella.  She did Bella's depression very well.  I wasn't a big fan of Jacob, but I really liked him in the movie.  I am glad they didn't replace Taylor Lautner like they were talking about.  He was really good.  And I know this is a given, but I really thought Robert Pattinson did a good job.  I almost passed out at the scene where he quotes Shakespeare.  A lot of people were put off that he wasn't as much.  I was glad he wasn't because that would have deviated from the book and that would have bothered me. (I am a librarian you know).  And I thought the very ending of the movie was brilliant.  (I am not sure my friends thought so but oh well).  It definately makes you want to see Eclipse.

The only part I was disappointed with was I thought Bella and Edward's reunion was a bit rushed.  There was a lot of stuff in the book that they left out that would have been really good. 

Was New Moon predictable?  Yes  Will it win a Oscar?  Probably not.  Was I entertained?  Oh Yes.  When I go to the movies, that is what I am going for and I truly got it with this one.  I was so entertained that  I plan to go back tomorrow and see it with my Mom (a Team Jacob member).

My friends and I decided that we would not go see Eclipse on opening night.  We will give it a couple of days.

Duplicity

Today, I hung out at my Mom's house.  We started our afternoon watching Twilight.  My mom had recently purchased the DVD and we had to make sure the dvd was ok. (It was her 3rd viewing of the film, I have lost count on how many times I have seen it.  Let's just say, I can quote dialogue)  The DVD was fine and after we were done, we had some more time to kill before church so we decided to watch the movie Duplicity.

Duplicity stars Julia Roberts and Clive Owen.  I enjoy both of these actors.  In this movie, I think they were playing corporate spys.  I stress "I think" because it took me over half the movie to figure this out.  And even after seeing the entire film, I am not totally sure that was the case.  The plot was extremely hard to follow.  I am usually ok with complex plots if it all comes together in the end.  This didn't happen for me in this film.  I am not sure if it was the script or the editing that was the problem.  Either way, you really had to think to figure out what was going on.  When I watch a movie, I don't want to think that hard, I want to be entertained.  And entertained, I was not.   I guess I will have to wait patiently for New Moon to come out in the theaters.

Opening in Theaters 11/6/09

I am going on vacation next week and don't really have anything specific planned to do.  So I thought it would be a good time to get back to my "Opening in Theaters" posts to see what is coming out in theaters next week.

1.  The Box - (rated PG-13).  A couple (played by Cameron Diaz and James Marsden) received a "box" (thus the title) from a creepy old guy (played by Frank Langella).  If the couple pushes the button, they will receive 1 Million dollars.  In return somebody they don't know will die.  I have seen the previews for this film and it really looks creepy.  It may sound sick and twisted, but I would to see this film.  I don't know if I will see it at the theater.  Hopefully a certain AV Librarian will have enough money in her budget next year so she can buy it for the library and I won't have to pay to see it.  One can hope.

2. Disney's A Christmas Carol - (rated PG) - As I have said, I come from a family that loves Christmas movies.  My mother, brother and I all have extensive collections in our home.  One of our favorite tales is A Christmas Carol.  I was really excited when I heard about this remake coming out this week.  It stars Jim Carrey as Scrooge.  It's animated in the same style as The Polar Express (a movie that I don't get the appeal for.  Just my opinion).  It looks really cool.  I will definately see this on the big screen as all animated films should be viewed.

3. The Fourth Kind ( rated PG-13) - I honestly haven't heard anything about this film.  It stars Milla Jovovich and is about aliens.  Since I am not a big alien movie fan, I think I will pass.

4.  The Men Who Stare at Goats - (rated R) - This is a movie I really want to see.  It stars my beloved George Clooney.  It also stars Ewan McGregor and Jeff Bridges.  It's about a experimental US military unit that uses it's psychic powers to fight wars.  The previews look hiliarious.  An let's face it, with a title like "The Men Who Stare at Goat", the movie just has to be seen.

That's what is coming out this week.  I don't know if I will get to any movies this coming week but if I do, I will be sure to blog about them.

Decorating my office

In my office in the temporary location, I have a lot of empty wall space.  2 walls to be exact.  So to make my office more "homey", I decided to decorate them.  One wall is dedicated to my Robert Pattinson obsession.  Since I am the AV Librarian, I decided to decorate the other wall with movie posters.  But I didn't want to use just any movie posters.  I wanted to pick movies that held some significance to me.  I haven't finished the project yet, but the following are the movies I have used so far.  I have included a description on why I chose them.  I hope you enjoy.

1.  Disney's Robin Hood - This movie first came out when I was in Kindergarten.  I really wanted to see it.  Mom was going to take me and my brother but we had really bad weather that year and since we lived in the country, we didn't get to see it.  Mom did buy me the soundtrack album so I thought that was kinda cool.  Luckily I am old enough that back then, Disney re-released their movies on the big screen (instead of DVD like they do now.  I wish they didn't do that.  But that is a whole other blog post. ) and I eventually did get to see it when I was in the 6th grade.

2.  Grease - I do remember seeing this in the theater and loving it.  But I decided to choose this movie poster because of the soundtrack album.  I played it non stop.  I probably drove my parents crazy with it but I didn't care.  It was and still is a great soundtrack.

3.  Rain Man - This is the first movie my BFF Edie and I went to see together.  It was the start of a life long friendship that I will cherish forever.  We have seen many, many movies together and can tell you many many stories related to them.   She is and will always be my favorite movie going partner.

4.  Dances with Wolves - As I have mentioned before, I had and still have a Kevin Costner fetish.  Dances with Wolves is my all time favorite Kevin movie.  I went to see it in the theater 3 times.  One time we set in the front row.  Let me tell you, that is not easy considering it's a 3 hour movie.  But it was worth it. 

5.  Fried Green Tomatoes - I think this is a wonderful movie, but it's not why I picked it for my wall.  When I went to see it the first time, I didn't realize the 2 main characters were gay.  What can I say, back then, I didn't get around much.  So I went to that movie 3 more time (we had the dollar theater back then).  Needless to say, I finally got it.

6.  Much Ado About Nothing - I love Shakespeare movies.  Luckily, so does Edie.  Out of all the Shakespeare movies I have seen, Much Ado About Nothing is my all time favorite.  Beatrice and Benedict are one of the most romantic couples on fim.  When Edie and I went to see this in the theater, there were maybe 6 of us total in the theater.  By the time it was over, I believe we were the only ones left in the theater as everybody else left (Edie, you can correct me if I am wrong).

7.  Ghost - Edie and I used to go to Peru a lot to see movies.  It was cheap and a change of scenery.  Any way, I swear for a 6 month period all that was showing in Peru was Ghost.

8.  Beauty and the Beast - As I have said before, Beauty and the Beast is my all time favorite Disney movie.  So it had to go on my wall.

9.  When Harry Met Sally - There are many reasons I love this movie.  The screenplay was written by Nora Ephron.  I love all things Nora.  It stars Billy Crystal (the all time greatest Oscar host ever) and Meg Ryan.   And most of all, it has songs done by my beloved Harry Connick Jr.  It was this soundtrack that I was introduced to Harry and his music and boy was I hooked.  I have seen him in concert 3 times and have all his CDs.  He is the best singer ever, in my humble opinion.

10.  Monsters Inc. - I love all the Pixar movies so I couldn't decide which one to put on my wall.  Since Billy Crystal is in this one, I chose Monsters Inc.

11.  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - I have read and loved all (but the last one) of the Harry Potter books.  I have also enjoyed the movies ( although I think the books are better.  What can I say,  I am a librarian).  So I went with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire because Robert Pattinson is in it. (do you see a trend?)

That is all I have so far.  I will update you on any additions to my wall.

I'm Baaack!!!

After 3 long weeks of moving the library into it's temporary location, we are finally ready to open tomorrow.  During those 3 weeks, I have been dead tired so I didn't get around to updating my blog.  So tonight, I decided to start back up again.  I did watch a view movies while I was away.  Here is a short synopsis/reviews of what I saw.

I watched the DVD of Monsters Vs. Aliens that I checked out of the library.  It could be classified as "I am glad I didn't spend money at the theaters to watch this".  It had a few clever moments but nothing memorable.

A much better animated film is Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.  Mom and I went to see this at the theaters last Sunday.  It was absolutely adorable.  The main character, would be inventor Flint Lockwood, reminded me of my nephew Aden.  The movie also had a monkey named Steve as a sidekick.  He was definately a highlight for me.  You can't beat a movie with a monkey named Steve. 

I bought the DVD  The Haunted Airman.  It stars Robert Pattinson which was the reason I bought the DVD.  (I wanted to do something to help his career along.)    It is set in WWII in England.  Robert is an airman that is paralyzed and taken to a hospital to recuperate.  Instead, he starts to go crazy.  I actually liked this film.  It was nice to see Robert in something other than Twilight.  It was done by the BBC, so if you like British stuff, you will probably like this.  If not, you probably won't.

Well that is all I watched.  Now I plan to be back on track with my reviews.

Favorite Movie Scenes/My Youtube obsession

After a long week moving the library to it's temporary location, (ok, it's wasn't that long for me as I took a day and a half of vacation time) I am back to my blog.  I have missed it so.

For those who don't know me (or for that matter, those that do) I have an obsession with Youtube.  I find myself watching it all the time.  If my mother knew about this, she would claim it's the reason my house looks like it does.  Any way, one of the things I love to do on Youtube (besides watching various clips of Robert Pattinson)  is view various scenes from my favorite movies.  I am now going to share some of them with you.  I hope you enjoy.

FAVORITE BEGINNING TO A MOVIE -  Beauty and the Beast Prologue

Beauty and the Beast, the only animated movie to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar,  is my all time favorite Disney movie.  I have the DVD, soundtrack CD and various related Beauty and the Beast paraphernalia around my house.  For a time, I even had a Beauty and the Beast shower curtain.  So you can tell I am a fan.  One of the things I love about this movie is it's prologue.  At one time, I even had it memorized.   Even today, it still gives me chills.



BEST KISS - Some Kind of Wonderful (Keith and Watts Kiss) - Some Kind of Wonderful is one of my all time favorite John Hughes movies (may he rest in peace).  It's the story of the unpopular Keith who gets tricked into taking out the most popular girl in school.  His best friend, tomboy Watts, has a thing for Keith herself but agrees to help Keith out on his date.  In this scene, she helps him with kissing.  I love it.



BEST MOTIVATIONAL SPEECH - Meatballs - This movie, starring the wonderful Bill Murray, is the story a summer camp that is in a competition with a rival summer camp.  They really don't have much hope of winning, but Bill's speech spurs them on.  Again, this is one of my favorite films.  It may be a little dated and cliche, but it's funny.  And someday I for see myself running through the hallowed halls of KHCPL chanting this speech.



SCENE FROM A KEVIN COSTNER MOVIE THAT STILL GIVES ME CHILLS - The Untouchables  The Chicago Way Scene - Before my Robert Pattinson fetish, there was my Kevin Costner fetish.  I have seen the majority of his films multiple times.  I even watched Dances with Wolves on the front row of a theater. (It's a 3 hour movie and let me tell you, that wasn't easy).  I find Kevin dreamy and probably always will.   There are many wonderful scenes I could list hear but the one that gives me chills every time is from The Untouchables.  It's a scene where Sean Connery's Jim Malone character give Kevin's Elliot Ness character a lesson on how to bring down Al Capone. 



FUNNIEST WEDDING SCENE - Four Weddings and a Funeral - This scene is from the second wedding in Four Weddings and a Funeral.  Rowan Atkinson (who I love) plays a vicar who is doing his first wedding.  Being extremely nervous, he blunders through the ceremony.  I remember watching this in the theater and laughing so hard I had tears running down my face.





These are just a few of my favorite scenes from movies.  I will continue to post ones that I come across.  And I want all of you that are concerned about my obsession with all things Twilight to note, none of the scenes I posted were from that movie.  I won't guarantee that will always be the case.