Long Overdue Movie Post

Some brief impressions and in no particular order...

Night at the Museum was a LOT of fun - laugh-out-loud fun and I very much enjoyed watching it with the kiddos while recovering from the cold-thing I had this week and last (um, despite the awkward phraseology, we only watched it once - which is quite restrained for us). Ria and Gus were pointing out the plot-holes later that day, but enjoyed it anyway. It wasn't a movie you had to take that seriously and it was amazingly family-friendly.

Stranger than Fiction is one John and I saw quite a few weeks (or perhaps months) back. An unusual story with lots of interesting concepts floating around in the background and some very clever writing. Dustin Hoffman doing the literary interview with Will Ferrell was fantastic. Not a movie for the kiddos.

The Holiday was funny, quirky and full of surprises (not all of them good!). Overall we enjoyed it (particularly the couple in Hollywood). Again, not for the kiddos.

The new Yours, Mine and Ours was unexpectedly enjoyable. I didn't let the littler ones watch it because of the bad kid behavior, but I thought it was nevertheless an interesting example of how good can come from places we never intended. John didn't care for it.

Ikiru (thanks Ana!) was incredible. This is an old Japanese movie (Akira Kurosawa) with subtitles. If that makes you think of Godzilla, you're definitely on the wrong track. A man who has mindlessly slaved away in a government office for thirty years discovers that he has stomach cancer and perhaps six months to live. I don't want to share more of the plot than that, but wanted to mention that the faces, the expressions the camera angles and even the simplicity of the story are beautifully artistic - in a kind of primitive (as far as movies go) kind of way. A really wonderful movie - add it to your Netflix list!

Padre Pio was beautiful, but very intense. Italian with subtitles (and quite long). Ria and I watched it and both enjoyed it. It was really my first encounter with anything about Padre Pio. I knew hardly anything about him to begin with. We were tickled to find out that the actor who plays Padre Pio will be in the Prince Caspian movie.

Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing and Charm School was rather interesting, but mostly weird and never quite made sense to me. I wasn't sorry I watched it, but probably wouldn't see it again. John didn't bother.