"The Green Lantern" and "Escanaba in da Moonlight"

Some people were panning The Green Lantern starring Ryan Reynolds, but I enjoyed it. I liked the special effects and all the actors. Peter Sarsgaard was really good as a bad guy. I didn't even recognize Mark Strong as Sinestro or Blake Lively with dark hair... my mad skills are failing me . Anyway - I liked it. It was a nice blend of action, special effects, humor, and heart. I'm easy to please, I think we all know this by now :)

So, I'll just say, if you thought you wanted to see it - do.

Now, I was directed to a movie by a friend because it depicted life in the U.P. and he used to live there. What's the U.P.? It's the Upper Peninsula of the state of Michigan. Seriously - I didn't even know that part of the state was there... go figure. Apparently they talk with an accent that's a cross between the MacKenzie brother's Canadian and Fargo's Minnesota-speak. It was co-written by, directed by and starred in by Jeff Daniels. I truly laughed out loud. If you like dumb humor - this is so for you. Just trust me.

"Killers" and fun in movies

I want to see the new X-Men movie, but I haven't yet. :(
My nephew, when he saw it, said if I wasn't committed to the comics then I'd think it was pretty good. Maybe even on par with the first movie. Then a friend, L, saw it and he said it was heavy on story and emotion but lacking in fun. And the X-Men are supposed to be all about the fun. So, he didn't care for it so much. I still want to see it, but I agree - the X-Men are supposed to be fun. Any thoughts on this? I'll share mine once I've seen it.

Then, L and I watched Killers with Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl. It also has Tom Selleck and Catherine O'Hara. I didn't mean to wait so long to see this and it's been waiting for me to watch it for several weeks. But, so worth the wait. This was a fun movie with lots of great lines that just made me laugh. It had a nice story that I enjoyed, cool action scenes, and lots of eye candy for girls and boys alike. Seriously, Ashton is looking good, really good. And Katherine, very pretty. The parents, (hers) played by Selleck and O'Hara are brilliant and the family dynamics the source of many a chuckle.

After hearing L talk about the lack of fun in the new X-Men movie, it brought home even more how much fun Killers was to watch. If you haven't seen it yet and aren't afraid of a good Romantic-Comedy, check it out.

"Something Borrowed" and " Water for Elephants"

What do these two movies have in common, besides they are both out at the theaters right now? First, I saw them back to back, cuz that's the movie lovin' fan I am. Second, they both kept me guessing as to how they were going to turn out (not an easy thing to do being the movie lovin' fan I am). Three, both were a lot more dramatic and heartfelt than I had expected (well I sort of expected it from Water for Elephants but not as much as it was).

I'm going to do this in the opposite order I saw the movies - I don't know why... stop asking. Water for Elephants was wonderful and heartbreaking and tough to watch and so good. A friend, V, told me he wasn't a fan of Reese Witherspoon which sort of surprised me and now I can't remember if he liked the movie or not. I thought she was good. I did go because of her, Robert Pattinson and Christoph Waltz. Casting directors have my ticket punched.

Do you remember when Christoph Waltz won an Oscar for playing the bad guy in Inglorious Basterds? That same night he was on Jimmy Kimmel Live and he did the funniest, most ridiculous sketch "Christoph Waltz on his part in Der Humpink" and yet both movies I've now seen him in, he's a bad guy. I want to see him play a good guy. He's awesome! Ok - he does a good bad guy, but still. V said he plays good guys in his German films - I may have to check them out.

It really is a very good movie - and I'm not going to tell you how it ends, but there are some tough moments - be prepared.

As for Something Borrowed. It's a Rom-Com. (V, stop making that face!) But I am seeing a trend where more Rom-Coms are starting to have some real substance to them on the emotional level - it's not just all fluff these days. I like fluff, so that's all good too, but I'm also liking this new depth. This one had me guessing who our heroine was going to end up with. It bounced around a couple times and I wasn't really sure. I was surprised I can assure you - surprised that I wasn't sure, not at who she ends up with. There are three options and two of them are good ones. This stars Ginnifer Goodwin, Kate Hudson, John Krasinski (so funny!), Steve Howey (total horn-dog and too cute), and this complete hottie (uber-doobie hottie) Colin Egglesfield as the main love interest. Awesome cast and a really good movie. I did nail some of the plot points though (cuz I'm just that movie-lovin'-fan-tastic). It's worth the watch.

Know what I learned from it? Yes - it has a little message tucked in there... I learned that you should not let people or shyness or your own insecurities keep you from trying for what you want. This secondary character (played perfectly by Ashley Williams) even says it - "Well, at least I tried." If you try, you won't have regrets. Regrets are a terrible thing, my friends.

So, I think I'll leave you with that thought... if you try for whatever or whomever, the worst that can happen is you get a no, but the best that can happen is you get that yes. And either way, you have no regrets. Win-win if you look at it right :)

Chance to win a Kindle or Nook....e-Readers are cool

For you hold outs who don't already have an e-reader, you're going to have to cave at some time. Welcome to the future, troops. As reluctant as we are to change, I promise - it's not as painful as you think. E-readers are fun, easy to use and inevitable. You know you want one...

A friend's novella is free for Kindle on Amazon right now - go get it - quick - it won't last long. Here's the link. You can get Kindle for PC on your computer in case you're really obstinate. We won't tease. We might laugh a little, but only behind your back :)

Kidding - I started that way :)

And to celebrate his many downloads - this friend, Moses Siregar III - is having a stellar contest where you might win a Kindle or Nook. Check it out here.

Good luck!!!

TV shows and my DVR - a romance

Can I just say how much I could not live without my DVR? With TV seasons doing strange things like running all four seasons of the year and occasionally taking weeks off between new shows, I would be a basket case if I had to try and follow this stuff on my own.

I am old enough to remember when we had a small finite number of channels and the seasons all began and ended at the same time. Maybe you remember this distant time. The shows you watched were on without fail from roughly September to May. Simple. The summers were for reruns and that's it. I might have had six or seven shows I followed faithfully and I had to stay home to watch them. I knew what channel and night they were on and you can bet my schedule worked around them because if I missed it - I MISSED IT.

Now, we have an almost endless supply of channels and shows and they start and stop willy nilly throughout the year. My DVR will track 50 series for me and I have it maxed out. I almost need a second one to accommodate my voracious appetite. It's sad - really - I know this, but the thought really does cross my mind.

Now, life is different. I frequently don't know what channel or night anything comes on. I know that my DVR will grab and hold onto it for me. I LOVE THIS. If I do somehow miss a show - odds are I can soon watch it online as well. I don't have to worry about whether my show skipped a few weeks, or whether the new season has started, or whether I was out that night - it's all programmed safe and sound in my most beloved DVR.

Truly, this is the great love of my life - much better than men (most of the time). :)

"Atlas Shrugged"

The opening weekend, now two weeks past (I'm a slacker), I went and saw Atlas Shrugged Pt 1. Anyone who knows me, knows Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand is my favorite book of all time. You may also remember earlier posts where this is the book that allowed my best friend, H, to guilt me into reading that other book I hated because she's just like that .

Anyways, it's apparently a three part movie, which makes sense since the book is almost 1300 pages long. On the plus side, I think they cast it well (no real big name stars) and the acting was great. This is not an easy book to convert to a movie, but they managed to capture the essence of the book better than I expected. Trust me, while we fans have waited what seems like eons for this movie to be made, we were also worried about the story being corrupted. It wasn't.
On the down side, now I have to wait what will seem like an eternity to see part 2 & 3.

When I saw it, I was with a couple of friends, He is a fan of the book and She has never read it. She thought is was just as terrific as He and I did, so you needn't be a fan or have even read the book to find this a film worth seeing. She is now reading the book, because she wants to know what happens. I couldn't be happier. And as a side note, for anyone who knows - the bracelet (yes - the Reardon steel bracelet) is available for us Rand-geeks to own and yes, I do want it. :)

"A Single Man"

This was an interesting movie starring Colin Firth. The supporting cast of Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode and Nicholas Hoult all do a great job. The story - It's about a man, George (Firth), who has lost his partner of sixteen years, Jim (Goode), to a car crash. The movie is one day in his life a year after that accident. A day George plans to be his last. Because George plans it to be his last day, he sees everything more vividly, more appreciatively. He lives more fully. And I think that is the beauty of this movie. We all need to live everyday as though it were our last, live it with clarity and with purpose. It is also a love story. And the moments captured between these two men, in flashback, are what any couple could hope for - simple joy in each other. Colin Firth's performance is brilliant as he can express love and grief without saying a word. Well worth the time to view, my friends.