What's Your Number? (Movie)

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

Inspired by author Karyn Bosnak's novel 20 Times a Lady, director Mark Mylod's freewheeling comedy tells the tale of one hopelessly single women who's convinced she's passed up the man of her dreams. Upon reading a magazine article that leaves her dejected about her future marriage prospects, Ally Darling (Anna Faris) begins to fear that one of her many ex-boyfriends may have been "the one that got away." Now, with a little help from her mischievous neighbor (Chris Evans), Ally is paying a visit to each of her exes in order to reel in the perfect catch. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

My thoughts:
I picked this movie out on a whim the other day and I really enjoyed it.  It was fun and light, but showed how women can get so caught up in a number.  That number can be their age, their weight, their salary, their partners, or their children but they get stuck on that number and how it compares to other women.  I don't think men worry about this quite so much.  So, since Ally reads that most women who have slept with more than 20 men never get married and, she counts her past partners and gets to 19, she decides that the next man she sleeps with has to be "the one".  When she drunkenly squanders the last chance she thinks she has she goes back to find out who from her past was the "one that got away".  Lots of silly situations ensue and it was fun and also a lesson not to get too caught up in how much or how many of any one thing each of us is "supposed" to have or be.  We are all different and the right number for anything is different for each of us.

The Help- Movie Review

My children know that I have a rule, if you are going to read a book that has been made into a movie, you need to do it before you see the movie, otherwise it will be too hard to imagine the characters your own way and not see them as the actors from the film.  We regularly listen to audio books and read chapter books together, not this one of course but others, and they know the drill.  I did not let myself go see or rent this movie until I was done reading the book.  I finished the book on Sunday, so Monday I stopped by Redbox and picked up the movie.  I actually had to go to two different machines to find it as there were no copies available at the first one.

I thought they did a good job with with movie adaptation.  I was sorry to see some things glossed over or skipped, and of course the changes jumped out at me more since I had just finished the book, but to fit it within the time constraints of a movie, they did a good job.  That said, at times it felt a bit slow.  Some scenes dragged, while others went by way too fast.  I thought something would be done to make Emma Stone seem taller, since one of the big things in the movie was how she was too tall and plain looking with wild curly hair.  Emma as Skeeter seemed to be the same height as Hilly.

I am glad that I watched it and that I waited until after reading the book.  I don't mind at all that I missed seeing it in the theater, I think it was just fine at home.  The movie did not elicit as much of an emotional response as the book, I don't know if it was because I already knew what was going to happen or if it was because I did not get as involved with the characters. While both the book and the movie were good, I liked the book more than the movie.

Overview

A 1960s-era Mississippi debutante sends her community into an uproar by conducting a series of probing interviews with the black servants behind some of her community's most prominent families. Skeeter Emma Stone has just graduated from college, and she's eager to launch her career as a writer. In a moment of inspiration, Skeeter decides to focus her attention on the black female servants who work in her community. Her first subject is Aibileen Viola Davis, the devoted housekeeper who has been employed by Skeeter's best friend's family for years. By speaking with Aibileen, Skeeter becomes an object of scorn to the wealthy locals, who view her actions as directly challenging to the established social order. Before long, even more servants are coming forward to tell their stories, and Skeeter discovers that friendship can blossom under the most unlikely of circumstances. Bryce Dallas Howard co-stars in a touching tale of race relations based on author Kathryn Stockett's best-selling novel of the same name. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Product Details

• Release Date: 12/6/2011
• UPC: 786936814309
• Original Release: 2011
• Rating:
• Source: Walt Disney Video

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Movie Review

One of our local movie theaters does a free movie program for kids in the summer.  For eight weeks on Tuesdays and Wednesdays they show an older kids movie.  Each summer we go to at least one, sometimes more depending on what our schedules are like.  This week the movie was The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  I saw this movie when it came out last year with my two older children.  It was the first 3D movie I paid to see with them, we saw Tangled with free passes prior to that.

Last year in the spring I listened to all seven of the Narnia books on audio with my children.  They were really excited to see the movie then since we had read the book.  It was fun to see it on the big screen again.  My biggest complaint about the movie is that Prince Caspian, now King Caspian, is still young and goes on the voyage with Lucy, Edmond and Eustice.  In the book Caspian is an old man.  My complaint is the break with the story not the actor, I enjoyed having Ben Barnes in the movie.

I think that the movie did a good job with the special effects and the characters.  Now that so much time has passed since I read the book any discrepancies have faded from my memory.  That actually allowed me to enjoy the story more.  It wasn't quite right for my younger two kids, but for elementary age children I think it is fine.  The voyage is done well as is the growth and change the characters undergo during the course of the movie.

I wonder if they plan on making any of the other books into movies.  It seemed like the end of this one was setting it up for the possibility as Eustice's mother calls upstairs that Jill Pole is there to visit since they are the two that go together on the next adventure.

The Smurfs Movie

‎1hr 26min‎‎ - Rated PG‎‎ - Animation/Family/Scifi/Fantasy‎

Director: Raja Gosnell 

Cast: Hank Azaria, Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays, Sofia Vergara 

 

Overview:

The Smurfs make their first trip to the big screen in Columbia Pictures'/Sony Pictures Animation's hybrid live-action and animated family comedy, The Smurfs. When the evil wizard Gargamel chases the Smurfs out of their village, they're forced through a portal, out of their world and more into ours, landing in the middle of New York's Central Park. Just three apples high and stuck in the Big Apple, the Smurfs must find a way to get back to their village before Gargamel tracks them down.

 

My thoughts:

Last summer when I saw posters for this movie I was really skeptical about how it would be and then when the commercials for the movie and McDonald's started showing I was so sick of the theme song but I was actually pleasantly surprised by the movie.  They answer the questions of why Gargamel can't find the Smurfs even though they share the same forest and why Smurfette is the only female Smurf.  Smurfette being the only girl always bothered me a lot when I was younger and watched the cartoon on Saturday mornings.

 

The Smurfs learn about themselves and being self sufficient in NYC and they also manage to teach a couple a bit more about themselves.  Papa Smurf sees a vision before they are sucked by a vortex into NYC and he does his best to help the rest of the Smurfs navigate their way though an unfamiliar place.  There is plenty of action and plenty of laughs.  My children loved it and there were a lot of things that caused the whole theater to erupt in laughter.

 

While we watched the movie in 2D I can see how 3D with this one might have really added to it, especially in the scenes with the water and the vortex and the flying with birds in their hidden forest.  I went into this movie thinking it was going to be a slog for me and it really wasn't.  Now to try to collect all 16 Smurfs from McDonald's.  We have 6 so far!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 the Movie

My husband and I had a movie date this morning.  When you have kids sometimes you have to be flexible about times and I hate to be in packed movie theaters so this worked out great.  I love the low price of the morning movies at our local AMC theater too!

I remember when the first movie in the series came out.  I reread the book and went to see it the first week and felt let down.  So many things were changed and deleted from the movie that I as too distracted to really get into it and enjoy it.  Now I enjoy rewatching the movie and the changes don't bother me.  I have a feeling that this movie is going to be the same thing for me. 

I loved the story and it is evident that there was a lot of effort made in keeping it very close to the book, but there were still some changes that bothered me a bit.  I won't name them because I hate to spoil movies.  My biggest complaint was that the movie felt slow.  It was as if there were scenes that needed to happen so they made a checklist and just filmed each one then strung them together.  There wasn't a lot of continuity between one scene and the next.  There also wasn't a lot of suspense.  Yes I have read the books so I knew what was going to happen, but part 1 seemed more suspenseful and tense.  Even the scene with the dragon wasn't how I pictured it.

This is a movie that I may need to see again.  My older two children want to see it, but we wanted to see it first to make sure they would be okay and we feel they will.  One day I may take the two of them and try to relax more.  Maybe my expectations were too high.  All the other reviews I've read have been great, so it may just be me.  Perhaps it is residual sadness over knowing that the movies are over and the reminder that the book series is over as well.  I always thought Rowling would eventually write more, maybe about Teddy Lupin or Harry, Ron or Hermoine's children.  Maybe explore a new generation at Hogwarts.  Who knows, that may eventually happen.

The Dilemma- Movie Review

Editorial Reviews from Barnes and Noble.com:

A lifelong bachelor struggles over whether to tell his best friend that his wife is cheating on him with another man in this comedy from director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer. Inseparable since college, best friends Ronny (Vince Vaughn) and Nick (Kevin James) have recently gone into business together by starting their own engine design firm. Meanwhile, Ronny has begun dating Beth (Jennifer Connelly) and Nick is happily married to Geneva (Winona Ryder). The four friends couldn't be more happy together until the day that Ronny catches Geneva with another man (Channing Tatum), and tells her that he can't keep the news a secret from Nick. But when Geneva fires back that she will deny everything and shift the blame to Ronny, the decision over how to handle the sensitive situation becomes all the more difficult. Subsequently attempting to gather irrefutable evidence of the affair, Ronny uncovers a few secrets about his old pal Nick as well. And the timing couldn't be worse either, because in just a few days Ronny and Nick are scheduled to give the presentation that could make or break their company. With the weight of the truth bearing down on Ronny's conscience and no simple solution to his pressing dilemma, it all comes down to one crucial, defining moment that could make or break his friendship with Nick forever.

My thoughts:
It is starting to feel like Vince Vaughn is always playing the same character.  I'm not sure if it is simply the way he delivers his lines and the timing of them, but I really think it is more than that.  His movies are fun and funny, but he always seems to be able the same.  he could still be the same character he played in The Break-Up or Four Christmases, there was nothing here in this performance to separate him from the others.

That said I did feel like Vaughn did a good job a Ronny, he made him seem like a believable character who was very conflicted about telling his friend about the affair the other man's wife was having, but the extremes he went to were only in the movies kind of things.  The spying and following I could buy, but he went a step beyond that and I really doubt that most people would.

I had trouble finding sympathy for Winona Ryder's character.  She feels she isn't connecting with her husband so she has an affair and does not seem to feel remorse about her lies.  If she was so unhappy in the marriage, why wouldn't she just leave it? 

While there were a lot of funny parts, I had a hard time watching some of the scenes, I was embarrassed for the characters and that is one of the things that puts me off of movies.  I love comedies and having a chance to laugh, but hate feeling like I am laughing totally at someone elses expense.

I am Number 4- Movie Review

I usually try to save seeing a movie until after I've read the book, and I mean to read this book, but I found it in Redbox last weekend and wanted to give it a try.  Hopefully by the time I get around to reading it a lot of the details will have faded from my memory a bit so that I can enjoy it.  I had thought going into the movie that this was a stand alone book, but the ending led me to believe there must be more since it was so open to a possible sequel.  I have no idea how long the series is supposed to go for, I'm sure the information is out there but I simply didn't take the time to find out.

I'm not overly picky when it comes to special effects, for years I was haunted by the idea of birds attacking after seeing Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.  Those effects weren't even all that great and they got to me, so you kind of get the idea that it doesn't take much for me.  That being said I thought the special effects in this movie were pretty good.  I found the aliens that were hunting for number four were really creepy looking.  Each time someone from either set of alien beings was killed they simply turned into dust and floated away, which made it very easy to hide what had happened.  At one point there is a fight at the high school and the destruction was huge, but no bodies were left.  That one was going to be a little more difficult to explain by the authorities, although with the other weird things that had been happening that night it might not have been quite as big an issue.

The actors each did a good job in their roles, I was able to buy them all as the character they were playing.  It helped that most of them were not too well known already.  Yes the lead is also in Beastly and the one female character is from Glee (which I do not watch so that didn't make any difference to me at all), but no one jumped out at me as someone I associated with just one role which can be distracting.  The one I knew most well was Timothy Olyphant and even him I haven't seen in too many roles.  Lately I haven't been watching a lot of movies or TV so this was a nice break.

Rio: A Movie Review

We had another family movie day.  This time we split into two groups since the kids wanted to see different things.  I had the chance to see Rio in 3D.  As an added touch the kids got a bag of Silly Bands with their tickets.

In Rio Blu is a Blue Macaw who was stolen from Brazil and lost in transit to a pet store in Minnesota.  A little girl named Linda finds him and they become best friends.  Fifteen years later, while running a bookstore she meets Tulio who has come from Rio to find the last known male Blue Macaw.  He wants Linda to bring Blu to Rio to keep the species going with his female Blue Macaw, Jewel.  The birds are stolen and getting away is complicated by Blu's inability to fly.  Many lively creatures, many of them colorful birds, make appearances.  Also included are scenes from Carnival.

The segments with the birds flying and air dancing to music are really impressive.  A lot of the animals are really funny and the fight scene between the  monkeys and the birds was fun for my children.  At times the ineptitude of Linda and Tulio was  a bit overdone and there was a part when it started to drag for me, but my seven year old seemed to enjoy it the whole time.  My younger children lost interest, but it kept their attention for the span that seems appropriate for their age.

While the scenes in the jungle with the birds flying to music and the hang gliding scenes were neat in 3D, a lot of the movie would have been just as fine without the special effects.  My younger children have a hard time keeping the glasses on and I often wish more movies were offered without 3D, not just for price but because young kids can't keep the glasses on.

We enjoyed our morning at the movies and I would recommend Rio to other families.  I found a trailer for it on the official web site that I posted below for anyone who hasn't already seen it advertised on TV or at the movies.




http://www.rio-themovie.com/

Hop: A Movie Review

Movie details:
‎1hr 30min‎‎ - Rated PG‎‎ - Action/Adventure/Comedy‎

Director: Tim Hill
Cast: Russell Brand, Kaley Cuoco, James Marsden, Elizabeth Perkins, Chelsea Handler


Blending state of the art animation with live action, Hop is a comedy about E.B., the teenage son of the Easter Bunny. On the eve of taking over the family business, E.B. leaves for Hollywood in pursuit of his dream of becoming a drummer. He encounters Fred, an out-of-work slacker with his own more lofty goals, who accidentally hits E.B. with his car. Feigning injury, E.B. manipulates Fred into providing him shelter, and Fred finds himself with the world's worst house guest.
 
My thoughts:
This morning we went to see Hop at our local AMC which offers reduced prices for movies before noon on weekends and holidays.  I love going at that time.  Going to the movies seems so expensive now so I am glad that we have this option.
 
I was a little surprised that with the whole craze to make every movie 3D that this one wasn't, but that could have been a theater decision.  I know most films that are 3D are also released in a 2D format as well.  It surprised me to see a lot of people without children in the movie this morning.  I don't know that I would have been there to see this if I wasn't going with my children.  Also, since this was opening weekend for the movie it was very crowded.
 
Overall the movie was very entertaining.  There were parts that dragged a bit and my younger children lost interest here and there, but that was more a product of their age and attention span than the movie.  It had a lot of funny parts as well as some jokes that went over the heads of younger viewers.  At times I got a little tired of E.B.'s constantly getting Fred into trouble.  Going into the movie my children wanted to see the part where the bunny poops jelly beans, but coming out all they talked about was the chick dancing to the music and making the bunny machine fly like crazy.  There was a lot of fun music throughout the movie and a funny cameo with David Hasslehoff.  The animals were all really well done and had distinct personalities.

Gnomeo and Juliet, The Movie

A couple weeks ago I took my two older children to see Gnomeo and Juliet in 3D.  Our local AMC theater offers reduced rates on weekend mornings for shows before 12pm.  Because they only have eight screens our choices for kid friendly movies that day were either Gnomeo and Juliet or the Justin Bieber Never Say Never Movie.  My children don't seem to have much interest in Bieber, they know he sings but haven't expressed any interest in him, so we went with the first option.  I am not sold on the whole idea of 3D everything.  It wasn't a bad thing for this movie, but not a whole lot actually popped out at you.  This is the third thing we've seen in 3D, the first two were Tangled and Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  The 3D seemed more impressive in those two than in this one.

3D image aside, I enjoyed the movie and the retelling of Romeo and Juliet with garden gnomes.  There were some jokes that went over my children's heads.  At one point Gnomeo is talking to a statue of William Shakespeare in a park and my children didn't really understand who Shakespeare was.  The only thing I found to be slightly questionable about  the movie was the one male gnome who was wearing a bathing suit like the one used in Borat.  My son came home and told my husband that the gnome was "wearing a bathing suit you could see his butt in".  Other than that (and that gnome did have quite a few funny scenes and lines) it was family friendly and appropriate.  All three of us enjoyed watching it and had a good time being a part of the audience.

Going the Distance- Review

Synopsis from Barnes and Noble:
Drew Barrymore and Justin Long star in this romantic comedy about a long-distance romance that may be worth fighting for. Garrett (Long) is still nursing the wounds from a recent breakup when he meets Erin (Barrymore), an unflinchingly honest girl with a big talent for bar trivia. Hitting it off immediately, the pair spend a romantic summer together in New York City. It was supposed to be a summer fling, but as fall approaches and Erin returns to San Francisco, the spark is still there. Subsequently dividing his days between working and hitting the bars with best friends Box (Jason Sudeikis) and Dan (Charlie Day), Garrett drops everything whenever Erin calls. The more Garrett's phone rings, the more his pals begin to suspect that their drinking buddy is taking the relationship a little too seriously. And they're not the only ones; Erin's sister, Corrine (Christina Applegate), is keen to ensure that her smitten sibling doesn't repeat the mistakes of her past, and she makes no attempts to sugarcoat the fact that she disapproves of the coast-to-coast romance. But the heart wants what the heart wants, and as the texting becomes more intense, both Garrett and Erin start to suspect that their summer fling may just be the real thing.

My thoughts:
I think this is my current favorite movie. The first time I watched it was on a night my husband had to work so I watched it alone. After returning it to the store I couldn't stop telling people that I had enjoyed it so much that I rented it again to watch with my husband. I was really worried that he wouldn't like it and would wonder why I had talked about it so much, but I was relieved when he enjoyed it too. Not that it is necessarily his current favorite movie, but he laughed as much as I did.

I love Drew Barrymore and the way she portrayed this character had such vulnerability and openness really brought Erin to life. There were a lot of lines that make me laugh when we repeat them. Plus the music was fun (see below for more on the music)!



I have a thing about soundtracks. I love them! It is the mix of different bands and songs on the same CD. And yes, I still buy and listen to Cd's. The first time I listened to it I felt a little let down, but then after we watched the movie the second time and I could place the songs in the movie that made them more meaningful. I tend to listen to Cd's in the car and I have now caught my kids humming and singing some of the songs to themselves. I actually bought a CD from Boxer Rebellion, one of the bands in the movie and on the soundtrack.