Mirkwood Reflections

A "G" rated movie! About girls ice skating! And academics! Sounded good. But then I had second thoughts. Disney. Feminism. Hmmm... But I decided to go see it anyway with my girls, ages 8 and 3. James, age 5, tagged along. (David, age 10, declined my offer. LOL) 20 minutes into the film, my three-year-old lost interest. She decided that ballet dancing in the aisle was far preferable to sitting watching the movie. The lovely ice skating (as well as the ballet classes the skaters take) motivated her to dance, dance, dance! So, I spent much of the movie standing in the hallway into the theatre (with a view of the screen). This is the same child that watched ALL of The Incredibles. This movie is much shorter. Go figure. My eight-year-old was utterly enthralled. Afterwards she said it was the best movie she had ever seen. The fickle opinions of a young girl! Michelle Trachtenburg glowed as the main character, a high school physics 'geek' who develops an in...

GQ has picked the 25 worst films ever made. Here's the list and my own comments. Movies I have seen are in bold. How many have YOU seen? #25 Smokey and the Bandit 1977 - I haven't seen this. #24 Purple Rain 1984 - I loved this movie!! Loved the music! Loved Prince!! #23 The Godfather: Part III 1990 - Haven't seen ANY of the Godfather movies. #22 Rocky III 1982 - If I have seen this, I don't remember. #21 Perfect 1985 - Another one I haven't seen. (Probably because I am definitely NOT a Travolta fan.) #20 Boxing Helena 1993 - Still another I haven't made time to see. #19 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 1966 - OK, this is getting repetitive. #18 Black and White 2000 - OK, THIS one I HAVE seen. Only because Elijah Wood was in it. He kisses Brooke Shields. And THAT I had to see. But it is a BAD BAD movie. Yep. Highly NOT recommended. #17 Point Break 1991 - [Looks indignant] I suppose I should be thankful that the previous 8 movies weren't Keanu...

Well, I am getting excited about a few movies coming out, and NO, Star Wars is not one of them! LOL I don't plan to see that. I don't go to the theatre for every movie; I save lots of them for DVD. There are a few that I will pay full price in the theatre for, however, and these are them: Charlie & the Chocolate Factory - July The Libertine - August in limited release A History of Violence - September The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - December A Scanner Darkly - March 2006 There could be others, but these stand out!

Kingdom of Heaven is a film I have been anticipating for a long time. It was released on Friday and I made it a priority to see on its release date. Maryann, Ann, Tracy, and Lynn went with me. Balian (Orlando Bloom) is a blacksmith who finds out that he is the illegitimate son of a knight who comes to recruit him for the Crusades. Balian ends up in Jerusalem, taking a stand to protect the people of the city. I often found myself making Lord of the Rings comparisons, not least because of Orlando Bloom's presence in both films. Unbeknownst to me until after viewing was that Marton Csokas was also in both films - playing the evil character Guy (husband of Sybilla) in KOH and Celeborn (husband of Galadriel) in LOTR. Many lines and scenes reminded me of LOTR as well. At one point, I thought Balian would shout, "What say you!" One reviewer pointed out that the viewer nearly expects ents and elves to come to the rescue! ( http://www.shadowsonthewall.co.uk/05/kingheav.htm ) Altho...