Inkheart

Yes, this is our second movie of the day. Friday night is always movie night at our house (though most of the time we watch movies that only a kid could like, so I don't bother blogging about them--honestly, I usually don't even watch them). I'd had netflix ship us Inkheart before I decided to go see the Percy Jackson movie, and I didn't want to hang onto Inkheart until next Friday, so I figured tonight we'd have a double feature of sorts.

I read this book several years ago and I loved it. (Unfortuntely, by the way, in my opinion the sequel came nowhere near to measuring up, so even though I bought the third book as soon as it came out, I still haven't read it.) It's been so long since I read Inkheart that I really can't tell you how faithful this movie was to the book, but from what I recall, it captures all the main points. The movie isn't bad, but I definitely remember being much more absorbed by the book. Not surprising; it almost always works that way.

Eliza Bennett (the girl who plays Meggie) looks surprisingly like a young Laura Dern. It's also kind of funny to see Horace Slughorn in this movie.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

I read this book a couple of weeks ago and have been considering since then whether I wanted to make a trip to the theater to see it. Well, I figured I'd give the kids a treat after school today and we all went to see it together.

It was scarier than I expected it to be! I think I was a little more sensitive to this because I had my three-year-old with me. It's not like I wet my pants or anything. Anyway, I think the movie actually improved on the book in some cases; for instance, I liked the pearl-hunt idea as opposed to the pearls just being handed to Percy. And for once, I can't remember anything that I was really, really hoping to see onscreen that they left out of the movie. But there were a LOT of differences between the book and the movie. Obviously those in charge of making this movie didn't feel the same sort of obligation that those making the Harry Potter movies feel in being faithful to the book.

It will be interesting to see what Logan Lerman (the boy who played Percy) does in the next few years. That is, if he doesn't get stuck in a Percy Jackson time warp, as has happened with Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame. The reason I wonder is because I think Lerman looks like a younger (and cuter!) Zac Efron. Or maybe it's just the hair.

The Time Traveler's Wife

I came to this movie intentionally planning to try to view it as its own separate entity, even though I have read the book (and it was one of my favorites of the last year, by the way). I wanted to determine whether the movie was a good one on its own merit, because I knew it wouldn't measure up to the book but I thought it might be decent anyway.

I didn't like the movie's hint that Henry's time traveling was the cause of his mother's death. Unless I'm totally forgetting that part of the book (it has been six months since I read it), the accident wasn't Henry's fault. He did time-travel just at the point of impact, but his fading away did not distract his mother in her driving. And speaking of the fading away, I don't remember it being so gradual in the book. There were, of course, other differences between the book and the movie (some of which I actually liked. I'm glad Henry didn't lose his feet, and I didn't mind not seeing Henry's 15-year-old-self with himself doing whatever it was they did to each other in their bedroom), but I'm not going to bother listing every difference. I feel like the movie had all the most important points, anyway. It didn't really capture the essence of the book, and turned it into a sappy chick flick, but it was a pretty good sappy chick flick. Better than I expected, anyway!

The Hangover

This movie is funny enough, although it's not a laugh riot, nor is it especially clever. I might have laughed harder if I had watched this at about 2 a.m. (which I think is one reason why I liked Raising Arizona so much the first time I saw it) or if I was still in college (which I think is the other reason why I liked Raising Arizona so much the first time I saw it). I kind of lost interest once the mystery of Doug's whereabouts was revealed by the formerly nude Asian man. I was also really disappointed in the soundtrack--not my kind of music.

I just wish they had explained why there was a chicken in their hotel room the next morning.

Dead Poets Society

I'm just like you--aghast at the inexcusable fact that I'd never seen this movie before. It came out while I was in high school, and I'm pretty certain that every other person in my graduating class saw it. I don't know how I missed it.

I kind of thought this might turn out a lot like the book A Separate Peace by John Knowles (which, incidentally, was one of the only two assigned reading books I recall really enjoying in high school. The other one was Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, in case you felt like you needed to know.) As I'm sure you know, though, there wasn't much similarity between the two, other than both stories being about a group of boarding school chums, one of whom dies.

I only wish there were more such inspired and inspiring teachers as Mr. Keating as portrayed by Robin Williams in this movie. Or if only every person could experience at least one such teacher during their education. I think I even learned from Mr. Keating. My favorite lesson of his was about how we should constantly remind ourselves to look at things in a different way. It is only my preference for crawling into bed that keeps me from climbing onto my desk right now.

Lust, Caution

Here's another movie I picked out for my netflix queue months (years?) ago, and I have no recollection why. These tend to be the sorts of movies that prompt Hud to say, "You sure can pick 'em." Dripping with sarcasm, of course.

I started watching this movie last week and made it through the first 20 minutes before I decided I had better things to do (like get a good night's sleep) and I've been putting off watching the rest of it ever since then. The first bit really didn't grab me, so I wasn't looking forward to the remaining 2+ hours; and as it's in Chinese with English subtitles, it's another one I couldn't watch while TCB.

After dragging my feet all week, I finally got around to watching tonight, and it's actually an intriguing story. I thought it was a pretty good flick. Hud, on the other hand, summed it up by saying, "That was a couple of hours of my life I won't get back."

By the way, this movie earned its NC-17 rating. At one point Hud mentioned he thought he'd seen pornos with less sex in them.

RocknRolla

My husband said this movie was a lot like Snatch or Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, but not as good. (Not a surprising comparison, as Guy Ritchie directed all three). Having now watched it, I agree that the movies were similar, but I thought this flick was pretty decent and doesn't necessarily suffer in comparison to the other two (except in one small area: Jason Statham is not in this one).

Be forewarned that you have to pay attention to this movie in order for it to make sense, as much for the British (and other) accents as for the relatively complicated story line. I had to actually sit down and watch this, just as much as I would have had to with a subtitled foreign film, and as a result my house is still a mess and I can't go to bed yet even though I want to. And speaking of subtitles: when certain characters speak in Russian, either the subtitles are really hard to read, or my new glasses aren't working as well as they should be.

I don't think I noticed it until this movie, but I have come to the opinion that Guy Ritchie is a British Quentin Tarantino wannabe. (When I say this I have only Pulp Fiction in mind, because that's Tarantino's best movie. Although Reservoir Dogs was pretty good too). This movie is nowhere near as clever as Pulp Fiction, although it is also less shocking (which is a good thing in my book).