The Long, Long Trailer

Friday I had the day off.  I had a doctor's appointment in Indy, so Mom went along with me.  After the appointment, Mom and I decided to do a little shopping.  What does an AV/Reference Librarian go shopping for?  DVD's, CD's and Books.  What can I say,  I just can't get away from what I love best.  While we were at Barnes and Noble,  Mom picked up the DVD The Long, Long Trailer.  She remembered going to see it at the drive in.   Sunday I had to hang out at Mom's house waiting to go to choir practice (I didn't want to waste the gas driving across the county too many times) so we decided to watch it.

The Long, Long Trailer, which was released in 1953, stars Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.  I think Lucille Ball was one of the funniest ladies ever.  And an interesting side note, I was born on her birthday.  I just thought you would want to know that. :)  Anyway, this movie tells the story of Nick and Tacy.  They are getting married and instead of buying a house, they decide to buy a trailer.  Not just any trailer, but a long, long trailer.  After the wedding, they hitch it up to their car and off they go.  Needless to say, high jinks ensue.

This was a really cute movie.  I laughed out loud in several places.  One especially funny scene was when Tacy tries to cook dinner in the trailer while it's going down the road.  Mom was thrilled when she recognized that the woman who played Ma Kettle in the Ma and Pa Kettle movies, Majorie Main, was in this movie.  Mom loves the Ma and Pa Kettle movies.  I also enjoyed seeing Lucy and Desi together.  They were a good comic team.  You don't see that kind of chemistry anymore.

So if you are in the mood for a good old movie, I would recommend The Long, Long trailer.

X-Men Origins Wolverine

I am a huge fan of the X-Men movies (I own all 3 of them) and an even bigger fan of Hugh Jackman.  I was really excited when I heard they were making X-Men Origins Wolverine.   I didn't get around to seeing it in the theaters this summer.  I checked out the DVD and watched it this weekend with my Mom.  We actually had to watch the 3rd X-Men movie, X-Men The Last Stand as she hadn't seen that one yet. (good thing I own that one). 

X-Men Origins Wolverine bascially follows the story of how Wolverine became Wolverine.  He follows him from childhood until the time we see him in the first X-Men movie.  There are several characters that you will remember from the 1st 3 movies.  Those include Sabertooth, Cyclops, and Professor Xavier.  New characters to this movie include Gambit (who I will add is very cute), Deadpool, Bolt and Blob. 

I really liked this film.  It did a great job of telling Wolverine's story.  I was a bit concerned that certain things wouldn't be addressed in this movie that were in the 1st three.  But they were.  It tied in really nicely to the 1st 3 films.  Hugh Jackman is wonderful as always.  Liev Schreiber is also wonderfully evil as Victor Creed (ie Sabertooth).  The only thing I regret is not seeing this on the big screen.  The fight scenes would have been really cool to see there.

Mom liked the movie.  She had some reservations about the violence.  I told her it was a comic book movie and that was to be expected.  I don't know if she agreed with me.  But she liked it anyway.  

State of Play

State of Play is a political thriller starring Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck.  The story begins with a mysterious death of an aide to a Congressman (played by Affleck).  Crowe plays a journalist who also happens to be the Congressman's best friend.  I don't want to go too much into the plot because I am afraid I will give too much away.  I like surprises and this movie delivers.

I decided to watch this film by myself because my mom still blames Russell Crowe for the demise of Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid's marriage.  (Mom loves her Dennis Quaid).  I do enjoy Russell Crowe and he does a great job again in this film.  Ben Affleck also does a great job and is very believable as a Congressman (what the film and you will know what I mean).  Also giving notable performances are Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren and Robin Wright Penn. 

The plot was very intricate and I was pleased that everything tied together in the end.  I also didn't see the ending coming.  I like that in my movies.  I would definately recommend this film.

New in Theaters this week

This week's new releases include several promising flicks.  They include:

1.  Cloudy with a Chance of Meat Balls (Rated PG) - Based on the popular children's book by the same title, Cloudy tells the story of inventor Flint Lockwood.  His one desire is to create an invention that will make everyone's life easier.  So far he hasn't had any luck.  He one day invents something that will solve the world's hunger problem.  What Flint actually causes is food to fall from the sky.

I am really looking forward to seeing this one.  The advanced reviews for it have been very positive.  The animation looks fantastic.  And you know, I love my animated movies.

2.  The Informant (Rated R) - This is about an upper level executive in a company who is called on by the FBI to spy on them.  Based on a true story, this film looks hiliarious.  It stars Matt Damon, who I love.  It also stars Joel McHale who is the host of E!'s The Soup.  (side note:  If you don't watch The Soup, you should.  It's the funniest show on TV)  It's also directed by Stephen Soderbergh.  The combo of him and Matt Damon (who worked together in the Ocean's films)  should make for a very good flick.  I am looking forward to seeing this one.

3.  Jennifer's Body (Rated R) - Girl gets posessed and starts killing boys in her town.  Even though there has been times I have felt like doing this in real life, I don't really want to go see a movie about it.  Plus I am not that big of a Megan Fox fan.

4.  Love Happens (Rated PG-13) - This sounds like your typical chick flick about a self help author that needs some help himself.  This looks pretty good.  I like most movies that star Jennifer Aniston.  And Aaron Eckhart is a hottie.  I am looking forward seeing this as well.






Well, there you have it.  I hope I have been of some assitance to your viewing pleasure.

Never Back Down

I figure I have 2 ways to summarize this film.  The short way would be cute teenage guys beat the tar out of each other.  A longer summary is Jake Tyler (played by Sean Faris), a teen with a reputation for fighting, moves to Miami with his mother and brother.  They recently lost their father to a drunk driving accident that Jake feels responsible for.  After a video on the Internet is leaked of  him fighting at his previous school, Jake is sucked into the world of ultimate fighting.  The local champ (played by Cam Gigandet) goads him into fighting in the local fighting championships. 

I am not a real fan for violence in movies, but I will have to say I actually liked this movie.  I could feel for Jake and loved the relationship that developed between him and Jean Roqua (played by Djimon Hounsou, who is wonderful as always) the mixed martial arts master Jake trains with.  Cam Gigandet was great as the villian of the piece (as he was when he played James in Twilight.  I know, I know, I am obsessed.  At least it wasn't another Kristen Stewart movie).   I would definately recommend this movie.

Random thoughts on the VMA's

I have a confession. I am an award show junkie. I watch them all. Oscars, Grammys, Emmys, Golden Globes, it doesn't matter. If they had an award show for the street department, I would probably watch it. I even tried to watch an award show in Spanish once. Unfortunately, my 3 years of high school spanish and 1 year in college wasn't enough. Well, last night, the MTV VMA's were on, and I needed a fix, so I watched it. Here are some random thoughts on the event.


1. Even though I thought he was weird, the Michael Jackson tribute at the beginning of the show was really impressive. Those were the songs I liked. It was also good to see Janet perform.

2. Kanye West is a jerk. Interrupting cute little Taylor Swift's acceptance speech was just uncalled for. So you thought Beyonce should have won. Get over it. I have watched many an award show and the person I thought should have won didn't. If I could get away with it, I would withdraw all his CDs from the library's collection. I can't so I won't but I just may not replace them. Also, I am now officially a Taylor Swift fan.

3. Lady Gaga is just plain weird. I like her music. I even have one of her songs as my ringtone on my cell phone. After her performance last night, I just might consider changing it. Also, her date for the evening was Kermit the Frog. I am not kidding. I am really surprised Jim Henson's company would want to be associated with that.

4. Pink's performance was actually kinda cool. She did some acrobatic thing while singing. And from what I could tell, she was actually singing and not lip-synching. That was impressive.

5. Russell Brand, the host for the evening, just wasn't funny. You would have thought MTV would have gotten the hint last year when he hosted, but I guess they didn't. Hopefully they will pick another host next year.

And now for the best part of the evening, and really the only reason I was really watching this fiasco. The unveiling of the extended New Moon trailer. This movie looks soooo good. And I got to see Robert Pattinson for about 30 seconds. But what a 30 seconds it was.


After this was on, I lost interest and started doing something else. I did see the end when Beyonce won Best Video and called Taylor Swift back out on stage to make her speech again. That was a very classy move on Beyonce's part.

I got to remembering VMA's of the past. And it brought to mind one of my favorite VMA performances. This is the way you put on a performance. Please note: If you are easily offended or have little kids, I wouldn't watch this. Just warning you. It's not bad by Madonna's standards.
I think it's pretty cool though.




Alert the media, I posted a Madonna video. Garry will be proud.

In Theaters This Weekend

Guess who forgot about doing this part of her blog?  Yep me.  So since it's Friday, I thought I would go ahead and do it.  Plus it will keep me busy as I work the AV Desk. 

Here we go:

1.  9 - From what I can tell, this animated feature deals with machines taking over the world and killing all the people.  I know I have said in previous posts I like animated features, but just by the description, I think I will pass.

2,  Sorority Row -This remake appears to be your typical slasher flick.  Sorority prank goes awry and girl gets killed.  Other girls try to cover it up and low and behold, they get stalked by a serial killer.  Sound a tad too predictable to me.  I will pass on this one too.

3.  Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself - This is another of Tyler Perry's movies that have the character "Madea" in it.  All those movies have been exceedingly popular here at the library.  This one will probably be popular as well.  I personally have never seen a Tyler Perry movie.  I probably won't go see this one in the theater.  If I decide to, I will catch it on DVD.

4. White Out - This movie stars Kate Beckinsale as a US marshall stationed in Anarctica.  She is called on to solve Anarctica's first murder.  She only has 3 days to solve it as winter is coming.  This looks kinda interesting, but I don't think I will spend the money to see it in the theater.  This is a catch on DVD flick for me.








Well there you have it.  Luckily I have killed enough time to make my time on the AV desk go a little quicker.