Movies! / Judy

We've been to several movies lately so I thought I'd give you my opinion on them. I'll go alphabetically:

1. The Big Year with Steve Martin, Owen Wilson, and Jack Black.

It's about competitive bird watching, if you can imagine such a thing. It's called "birding." These three men have decided to have a "big year," which means they are going try to see/identify the most number of species during a calendar year. If they see the most, they get written up in bird watching magazines and get bragging rights, but not much else.

I thought it was a very enjoyable little film. We saw it in the theater, but it didn't last long there so it will probably come out on video at some point. I'd highly recommend it. The reviews I read didn't like it because they were evidently expecting a broad comedy with big laughs, but it wasn't like that. It was more that you just had a smile on your face all through it (with the exception of one uncomfortable scene where one of the men blows it with his wife).

2. Footloose (the remake) with Julianne Hough, Kenny Wormald and Dennis Quaid as her father.

I liked this movie a lot! Maybe even better than the original with Kevin Bacon because I thought Julianne Hough was way better as Ariel. The story follows the original pretty close but now it takes place in the South. Of course the dancing is the best part and it was great. They did a couple numbers almost exactly the same, but there was new, more modern stuff too. The best part was probably when they were teaching Willard to dance--absolutely adorable scene. I think at the prom at the end, both Ren and Ariel are wearing the same clothes as in the original.

3. Hannah with Eric Bana, Cate Blanchett, and Saorsie Ronan

I think this one came out last summer or even longer ago than that. I thought I'd put it in to warn you. It was a thriller and I didn't like it at all. It was too depressing. Lloyd said it was as if it were made by and for Germans, to give you an idea. Roger Ebert said it well when he said, "It is a cross between a Grimm fairy tale and a high tech action movie." And he called it a "first rate thriller about the drawbacks of home schooling."

4. Midnight in Paris with Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams

This is the best Woody Allen film I've ever seen. If you don't see anything else on this list, see this one. It is still in theaters around here and has been for a couple months at least. It is funny and has a wonderful, imaginative story. An engaged couple are in Paris with her parents. One night he is able to travel back in time to the Paris of 1920 and he meets several of the literary giants of the time. Also his little adventures show the cracks in the couple's relationship. I loved the costumes of the 20's. Roger Ebert said, "this film is a sort of daydream for all of America's lit majors."


5.The Muppets with Jason Segal and Amy Adams and the Muppets.

Delightful movie! Very fun and innocent and I thought it really showed up movies like Shrek, which are all snarky, wink-wink. The Muppets show how to be entertaining with being snide. Also, I really enjoyed the musical aspect. It's just fun to watch singing and dancing and they included some of the good Muppet music along with some new stuff.

This is all for now since it's kind of a long blog. Next week I'll talk about four more recent movies.