Weekend Movies

Saturday was crime drama movies.
We wanted something more intelligent.
They all had to do with computers/hackers.

Swordfish (2001) starring John Travolta
Convicted hacker played by Hugh Jackman
is recruited by Halle Berry to work for Travolta.
He has to do it because his daughter is being held.
In the end the federal authorities recognize that.
So he and his daughter are allowed to reunite.

Firewall (2006) starring Harrison Ford
Bank's security expert is forced to hack for crocks.
His family was held in their home while he was to continue
to go to work and find a way for them to hack into system.
His wife was played by Virginia Madsen
and his assistant was Mary Lynn Rajskub.

Johnny Mnemonic (1995) starring Keanu Reeves
This one had a sci fi element.
He was hired to carry in his brain data.
The problem is they overload him causing problems.
The challenge is to get the information out
preferably without him losing his life.

Sunday night Randy watched the Detroits Tigers.
So I decided to watch a few movies on my own.

Flirting with Disaster (1996)
A comedy starring so many good people.
The cast aside this was a pretty odd story.

Casanova's Big Night (1954)
A classic comedy starring Bob Hope.
I had seen this before; wanted to see it again.

Flint not Clint

Thursday movies in review -

I am not big into action movies.
I probably have not see much with Clint Eastwood ...
but I do like Derek Flint and found out so did Randy.
Derek Flint is played by James Coburn in
Our Man Flint (1966) and In Like Flint (1967).
These movies are a spoof of James Bond "007" movies.
The Flint character is very intelliegent on many subjects ...
"Flint is the worlds greatest secret agent, ...
an expert on electronics and Dolphin speech
and goes to Moscow for Ballet (To Teach!)"

We only had one of the Flint movies so had to rent the other.
At the rental place Randy also picked up a horror flick ...

Bug (2006) - suppose to be a dramatic horror thriller
I saw quite a bit before falling asleep and saw NO horror.
Randy said he also never saw bugs. (scratch head now)
Randy said it was moreso a physchological thriller.
It stars Ashley Judd which is usually pretty good.

Toni Collette movies

These were actually watched on Wednesday.
Randy was out and about all afternoon.
So the first two movies I watched alone.
Randy was not interested in seeing them (again).

Clockwatchers (1997) - imdb trailer
Its about the life of office temps. If you have ever worked in an office environment you will see that it is pretty true to life. The new girl gets embraced by three other temps. They socialize both at the office and after hours. They believe everyone is out to get them and keep them as temps especially when a new permanent is hired from outside their group. The movie reminded me of Working Girl and there was even a referrence to Tess. The "clockwatchers" aka temps are played by Toni Collette, Parker Posey, Lisa Kudrow and Alana Ubach.

I thought I was going to watch "gal pal" movies ...
but after watching this movie I was interested
to see what else Toni Collette had acted in.

About a Boy (2002) - imdb trailer
This is a romantic comedy based on a Nick Hornby's best-selling novel. Hugh Grant plays a young-ish man who decides to pick up single mothers by pretending to be a single parent himself when in reality he does not even work but lives off an inheritance of sorts. He ends up being involved in the life of the son of one of the ladies he dates friend. The boy who has a depressed mother in turns helps Hugh's character grow up and find purpose in his life. After starting to watch it realized I had seen it before. Toni Collette played the boy's mother.

Evening (2007) - imdb trailer
This is a romantic drama in which a dying mother, Anne, remembers her past and the "big mistake" and proclaims the love of her life is Harris - a name the two daughters, Nina and Constance, have never heard of before. The story goes back in forth between current day and fifty years past when Anne was maid of honor at her best friends high-society Newport wedding. Her best friend, Lila, has a brother that is interested in Anne while she is taken with wedding guest Harris. This back and forth element is reminiscent of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and the old love element is even more like The Notebook.

SO impressive is the cast of amazing woman actresses:
Claire Danes as young Anne and Vanessa Redgrave as dying Anne
Toni Collette as Nina and Natasha Richardson as Constance
Mamie Gummer as young Lila and Meryl Streep as older Lila
Glenn Close as Lila's mother and Eileen Atkins as night nurse

Natalie Portman movies

We decided to watch Natalie Portman movies.
She is a contemporary favorite of Randy's.
I like what I have seen of hers.

Closer (2004) - (independent) romantic drama
Natalie's Alice starts and ends with Jude Law's Dan.
Julia Roberts' Anna starts/ends with Clive Owen's Larry.

Garden State (2004) - romantic comedy
A mother's death brings a troubled young man back home.
While there he falls in love with Natalie's character.

Mars Attacks! (1996) - comedy sci-fi fantasy thriller
It's a Tim Burton movie with Jack Nicholson as President.
Glenn Close is the first lady and Natalie the first daughter.
Other greats: Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito,
Martin Short, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Michael J. Fox.
Following is 1996 Theatrical Trailer for Mars Attack! (2:21)

Classic Comedy

Last night we watched The Trouble with Angels (1966).
Two young rambunctious girls attending catholic boarding school.
The lead troublemaker is played by a 20 year old Hayley Mills.
Mother Superior is wonderfully played by Rosalind Russell.
Also of note: Mary Wickes played one of the nuns.

This morning we watched another comedy from the sixties.
With Six You Get Eggroll (1968) has an intriguing title.
Its about two widowers that marry and try combining families.
The mother, Doris Day, has three sons (one is a teenager).
The father, Brian Keith, has just one teenage daughter.

I wholeheartedly recommend both movies above to anyone.
Sadly we followed those with Millions (2004).
Its an okay family drama but NOT a comedy.

Romance for the evening

After watching horror movies we switched
to romance with an element of fantasy.

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)
It stars Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison
It looked like a good movie but sadly the VHS had trouble.
So we will have to watch it all another time.

Bell Book and Candle (1958)
I had been waiting to have Randy see it.
It stars James Stewart and Kim Novak.
As well as Jack Lemmon and Elsa Lanchester.
Interesting to note that Rex Harrison played
the male lead in the Broadway production.

Comedy and AFI

I picked three comedies for the early part of they day.
I thought they would help since I was dealing with pain.
Later in the day the focus changed to the AFI theme ...
of "culture clash/cross cultural" based on imdb keywords.

Fun with Dick and Jane (2005) - only true comedy of the day
stars Jim Carrey and Tea Leoni married and in debt!

Cherish (2002) - includes music from the 80's
Jason Priestly makes a brief appearance

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002)
I definately do NOT buy Jodie Foster as a nun!

Local Hero (1983) - with Burt Lancaster
nice little inexpensive film takes place in Scotland

Broken Flowers (2005) - stars Bill Murray
not really comedic as would be expected with him

My Fair Lady (1964) - stars Audrey Hepburn
won 8 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actor

Neighbor visit and the nanny

Our upstairs neighbor came over for lunch.
And we visited all afternoon.
It was good getting to know her.
We heard stories about her children and family.

Do keep her in prayer ...
she is having back surgery Friday morning.
She'll be laid up about a month.
We offered her some of our videos.

In the evening Randy actually rented a couple.
We watched The Nanny Diaries (2007).
It stars Scarlett Johansson as the nanny ...
Actually an anthropology graduate trying to figure out life.

Daddy Deliver Us

We watched two movies that starred Gabrielle Union.

First there was Daddy's Little Girls (2007).
It was written and directed by Tyler Perry ...
but still it was a nice dramatic romance.
The three girls that played sisters really are sisters.
A number of the other actresses are from Girlfriends.

Then we watched Deliver Us from Eva (2003).
It's based on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew.
I did not initially notice that but looking back can see it.
Obviously updated and with a black cast ...
and a different family dynamic (no father image).

License for Sadness

For those confused already ...
I like to come up with interesting titles.
It's a combination of the movies watched.

License to Wed (2007) starring Robin Williams,
Mandy Moore and John Krasinski as the couple
It was an enjoyable enough romantic comedy.

The AFI movie was A Place in the Sun (1951) with
Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift and Shelley Winters.
I will let Randy talk about that more.

Bonjour tristesse (1958) aka Hello Sadness
It starred Jean Seberg, David Niven and Deborah Kerr.
The father-daughter relationship was a bit much.

I tried LOTR

I had read The Hobbit about 30 years ago.
And believe I even watched The Hobbit (1977).

I told Randy I would watch Lord of the Rings.
Or at least I would try to watch the trilogy.
So yesterday afternoon I sat down and watched
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

It was okay but just not my cup of tea.
I am not into action and it was too slow paced.
Told Randy I would not be watching other.

In the evening we watched the comedy RV.
It starred Robin Williams which explains the rating ...
"Rated PG for crude humor, innuendo and language.".
I feel asleep part of the way thru it and that's okay by me.

Black and White Romantic Classics

The day started with the furnace getting cleaned.
Yeah - we've had heat all day - first time in 4 days.

The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss (1936)
Starring Cary Grant and Mary Brian.
It's a drama, comedy and romance.

Pot o' Gold (1941)
Starring James Stewart and Paulette Goddard.
It's a musical, comedy and romance.

Made for Each Other (1939)
Starring Carole Lmbard and James Stewart.
It's a drama, comedy and romance.

Saturday and Sunday

Saturday we decided to watch movies with "changes".
This was prompted by Leap Day (the day before).

In the morning we watched The Skeleton Key.
It's a horror flick which ended with a soul tranformation "change".
Seems we picked a lot of odd and weird movies lately.
Randy was sick most of the day and slept.

In the evening we watched A Saintly Switch.
It's a family movie about a husband and wife having problems.
Their children wish theier parents understood each other better.
And sure enough they switch bodies to walk in each other's shoes.

Sunday we watched movies with titles that had special meaning to us.
Most of the movies were pretty weird regardless of the cool titles.

It's All About Love stars Joaquin Phoenix, Claire Danes and Sean Penn.
The love story takes place in 2021 in a world on the brink of disaster:
In summer it snows in New York City and people are flying in Africa.
A weird part is the multiple versions of Claire's character.

Funny Valentine stars Anthony Michael Hall and Marlo Marron.
A truly nice guy has a hard time finding romance in the big city.
His friends place a personal ad for him and screen the respondents.
In the meantime he finally falls for and starts dating a single mom.

Happy Endings stars a lot of well known actors like Lisa Kudrow,
Jason Ritter, Tom Arnold, David Sutcliffe and Laura Dern.
A lot of weird relationships with weird pregnancies and births.

Yes stars Shirley Henderson as the cleaner.
I admit I fell asleep towards the beginning.
Even at that point I could tell it was weird.

Wednesday and Thursday

Randy was done with current data entry task.
So these movies we were able to watch together.

Wednesday: Religious mystery
The Da Vinci Code - it was pretty good
The Code Conspiracy - it was just okay
Wholly Moses! - needed some comedy!

Thursday: Time travel movies
Timequest - very cool -
What if JFK was not assasinated?
Sometimes hard to follow the time lines.
Time After Time - pretty cool -
HG Wells follows Jack the Ripper which used his
time machine to escape to the 20th century.
Primer - too much geek speak
Slow start and hard to follow what was going on.

School Days

Decided to mostly focus on movies associated with school.
Simply because it was a holiday which mean "no school".

The Perfect Score (2004) - comedy
An odd combination of high school students ...
decide to steal the answers to the SAT.
They each have their own reason as to why it is unfair.

Bewitched (2005) - romantic comedy
Not about school but loved this as a youngster.
It's a reinvention of the tv show with a great cast...
Nicole Kidman as "Samantha" and Will Ferrell as "Darrin".
Supported by Shirley MacLaine and Michael Caine.
It was co-written and directed by Nora Ephron.
She is known for great romantic comedies such as
Sleepless and Seattle, You've Got Mail, When Harry Met Sally.

Finding Forrester (2000) - drama
It stars Sean Connery as a reclusive author only publishing once.
An "afro-american teen writing prodigy" befriends him.
Randy was anxious for me to watch this. Overall it was okay.
It is slow moving building the characters but ended very well.

P.S. (2004) - romantic drama
This is one I thought would be cool to see.
The plot reminded me of Chance Are which I loved.
I enjoyed it but it still left a lot of unanswered questions.

Oldies but Goodies

I was surprised I had not seen either one of these oldies but goodies.

Sunday I watched the musical Hit the Deck (1955).
There were so many great folks in it ...
The ladies - Jane Powell, Debbie Reynolds and Ann Miller
The gents - Walter Pidgeon, Vic Damone and Richard Anderson
Randy was surprised to see a young Russ Tamblyn, Amber's dad.
Richard Anderson we knew better (in the 70's) as Oscar Goldman.

Today I watched the romantic comedy with music Honolulu (1939).
Eleanor Powell was the female lead and did many tap numbers.
Robert Young was the male lead playing multiple roles.
Husband and wife, George Burns and Gracie Allen were in it.
I believe this is the first movie I've seen Gracie in - she's funny.
Young George I did not easily recognize until I heard him talk.

Week ending 02-09-08

At the beginning of the week we purchased our first HDTV.
We spent the week watching Alien Nation the series from 1989.
Among those 22 episodes we also did watch some other movies ...

White Noise (2005) and Good Luck Chuck (2007).
I was not impressed with White Noise at all.
Good Luck Chuck was an okay romantic comedy.

The Country Girl (1954) and Blue Skies (1946).
I also was not impressed with The Country Girl.
Blue Skies' story got lost in the 32 Irving Berlin hits.

Friday night's AFI selection was Pulp Fiction. I did not watch it.
There simply was too much foul language for my liking.
Instead I watched an episode of CSI: Las Vegas.

Week ending 02-02-08

I did not blog last week but wanted to mention some things that we did do partly for our own benefit so we remember what we did when. I tried a few new recipes. The first new recipe was Macaroon Cookie Cake, a chocolate cake with coconut topping made with pre-melted chocolate. It was from an OLD cookbook my mother had given me from the sixties, a Pillsbury Cook Off compilation. I asked my mom if that ingredient still existed today and found that it did. Me thinks I will use it again; it beats melting chocolate squares. The second new recipe, Potato Bacon Casserole, was my first use of our crockpot. It went well enough. The original recipe called for hash browns but I replaced it with potatoes thinly sliced. Only slight problem was that even after cooking for 6 hours the potatoes were somewhat hard. We both did like it so will be doing it again with precooked potatoes. I will be backdating the recipes a little later and adding links in this post.

If you know us you know we love movies. I was still a little out of it health wise so spent even more time than usual watching movies. I'll list by genre things we or just I watched. Later I may backdate entries to expand on some of these so look for last weeks entries a little later. The sci-fi picks included Taken (mini series), Lost Room (mini series), Alien Nation (original movie), and Stargate (original movie). Musicals watched Babes on Broadway, Broadway Melody of 1936, Broadway Melody of 1940, Ziegfield Follies and Words and Music. Comedies including romantic comedies included My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Repli-Kate, Just Like Heaven, My First Mister, Music and Lyrics and The List. The latter is the best romantic comedy I have seen in a long time.

During the last week we also found imdb's My Movies feature. It's your personal subset of their database. We each created an account over there. Randy is inputting all our movies and tv shows. Right now he is doing the DVDs and later the VHS. I am keeping track of what movies we actually watch. I have it set up by genre according to us (not imdb). Some of these will be linked on our website. Needless to say we are keeping busy.

Yours Mine and Ours

Today I watched both the old and new version.
It was my first viewing of the newer Dennis Quaid 2005 version.
I was not impressed especially since I love the older version.
The original 1968 version starred Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball.

They had changed so much in the newer version even the reason why the movie had "ours" in it. In the original the newly married couple gets pregnant with their 19th child. So many elements of the original were missing in the updated version. I can watch the Lucille Ball version repeatedly. So many great one liners! When I watched it with Randy I laughed in anticipation of the humor coming. But even beyond the humor there was great commentary about living and loving.

Unaccompanied Scrooge

Four Christmas movies this time ...
Unaccompanied Minors (2006) - I was pleasantly surprised at this one. Thumbs UP!!!
Chasing Christmas (2005 tv) - I was NOT impressed at all. The daughter is the only good thing.
The Night They Saved Christmas (1984 tv) - On the unbelievable side with some family charm.
Scrooged (1988) - Bill Murray plays the scrooge character which is a cynically selfish tv executive. This one I like. I have seen it before.