Holiday break at Chez V and a few movie reviews

Ten-year- old E-Grrrl has been out of school since December 21 and hasn’t requested a single play date. She’s entertained herself steadily for more than two weeks, making art, reading book after book after book, playing her Nintendo DS, and doing jigsaw puzzles. She's been clamoring for all things domestic, and and asked me to teach her to crochet and let her have free rein in the kitchen.  She has a number of cookbooks, but her favorite is by Mollie Katzen and is called “Honest Pretzels.” Over break she’s made muffins, real pretzels, pizza with a homemade crust, macaroni and cheese( from scratch), pumpkin bread, pumpkin pies, chocolate chip cookies, omelets, and french toast.  She’s been able to manage all the cooking and baking without any supervision and is even beginning to clean up a bit afterwards. Woo hoo.

Her brother, twelve-year-old A, has had a constant stream of play dates and a tendency to park in front of anything electronic. Today he started melting my votive candles and sculpting with warm wax and I let him do it, just because it was an improvement over having him veg out on the sofa. He’s done some reading along the way, noodled around in the garage, and shot airsoft guns with his buddies. We took the kids swimming one afternoon and E also took them to see Enchanted.

While E spent most of his holiday break getting ready for our move, he also indulged in watching a string of the type of violent, historical movies that I never watch: 300, Apocalypto, We Were All Soldiers, Letters from Iwo Jima, the Passion of the Christ, and others.

I watched From Here to Eternity (old version), The Girl in the Café, and The Shipping News. All three were really good.

From Here to Eternity stars Robert Mitchum, Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra, Deborah Kerr, and Donna Reed. It follows the love affairs and careers of two soldiers in Hawaii during WWII. The story line was well developed, the acting was well done (except when the characters were drunk and it was oh-so-exaggerated), and the female leads played surprisingly strong and independent women.

The Girl in the Café was an HBO movie starring British actor Bill Nighy as an overworked high-level government administrator who is losing hope on ever being able to make a difference in the world through the political process. He’s buried his feelings and ambitions and turned into a bureaucratic drone—until he meets the girl in the café. The movie is a bit like Lost in Translation and is set during the G8 conference where world leaders are being challenged to address the effect of poverty in Africa.

The Shipping News is based on a critically acclaimed book that I haven’t read. It starred Kevin Spacey, Julianne Moore, Cate Blanchett, and Judi Dench. It tells the story of a man (Kevin Spacey) who has been drowning in nothingness his whole life, pushed down by his abusive father. He’s sucked into an even sadder situation by a mesmerizing woman named Petal, played with skill by Cate Blanchett. Judi Dench’s character appears on the scene after a family tragedy and reluctantly takes charge. She convinces the main character to move to Newfoundland and explore the family’s ancestral land while starting a new life. The past and present continually collide in ways that are disturbing and mystical, and yet ultimately, this is a hopeful movie about the pangs that come with rebirth.

Did you watch any good movies over break?

January 4, 2008

Comments

[plain jane]

No, but I loved Shipping News!

[christina]

Yes! His Dark Materials:The Golden Compass and Elizabeth:the Golden Years. Hmm, are we seeing a pattern here?

Do read The Shipping News book if you have a chance. It's 100 times better than the movie, although I enjoyed that too.

Happy New Year to you, V-Grrrl My kids go back to school on Monday.

[Lynn]

We saw Enchanted over Thanksgiving and thought that was a lot of fun. I rented Water, a movie from India that was recommended to me - amazing movie, but very difficult to watch. Shipping News was a pretty good movie, but a very well-written book. We've been renting Brady Bunch, Partridge Family, and Dick Van Dyke dvds from Blockbuster.com and having a lot of fun with that! The kids have really enjoyed them.

[Claudia]

1) Kingdom (Kinda rough around the edges)
2) Knocked Up (HILARIOUS no brainer)
3) Hot Rod (GREAT to watch with the kids)
4) Carolina Moon (Thriller)
5) A Mighty Heart (I had mixed feelings)

[Jodi]

I didn't see The Shipping News but read the book. The book was great, now I need to see the movie.

[Granola-grrrl]

The kids and I just watched Top Hat--we all get such a kick out of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. We also watched High School Musical, because it was in the library AND it's apparently a cultural phenomenon. Very cheesy Disney, but cute movie. The kids liked it. I saw Charlie Wilson's War, very good; saw Enchanted, without the kids, liked that too. Also saw Juno, well done. The Shipping News is a good movie, but I agree with everyone else that the book is better. I've also been watching Six Feet Under on DVD. I'm up to Season 4-- love it! Next on my list, maybe this weekend, is Sweeney Todd. I've heard mixed things about it. But it's JOHNNY DEPP!! I also want to see Atonement, but my mom instilled this thing in me, about having to read the book (if there is one) before I see the movie, so I'm working on that.

[Nance]

Didn't see any good movies but wanted to ring in with an enthusiastic thumbs up for The Girl in the Cafe. Loved Nighy's performance so much--didn't he get an Emmy for that?

[Amber]

We just watched "Juno". It was really good! And then last night we watched "Stardust", and we both really liked it a lot. And the other day we watched "Waitress". Also good! The only movie we tried to watch that sucked was one Kory picked, and i can't even remember what it was called! lol

:)

[Newfoundland dog owner]

As our beloved 120-lb Newfie Sam would say, It's actually Newfoundland, not New Foundland :)

[V-Grrrl]

Thank Sam for the tip. I was posting late and didn't check my spelling. : )

[Manictastic]

Oh, your husband has good taste in movies.
I watched Finding Nemo and Lemony Snickets. Both were great.
Tonight, on Nederland 3 -don't know if you have that in Brussels- they are airing Hotel Rwanda. It's a stunning movie, try to watch it V.

[furiousball]

Superbad... best movie ever.

well not the best, but funny. like bring oxygen funny

[Peter]

No, I did not watch any good movies during the holidays.

However, I starred in my own disaster scenario.

And trust me, it was quite an event ;-)

[Granola-grrrl]

furiousball-- haha! I totally agree. Superbad falls under the "movies I am ashamed to say I love" category. Like Super Troopers. Hee.

[Mignon]

Lars and the Real Girl was one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. I loved Once (as I posted many weeks ago), and Lars was just as good. I also saw The Year of the Dog on DVD. It was strange, with Molly Shannon playing the part of an obsessive/compulsive animal lover, but good. I also saw No Country for Old Men. Much like Requiem for a Dream, I think this movie was very well done, the acting exceptional, but not a movie I enjoyed. In fact, like Requiem, it will probably haunt me for many years to come.

And to be more specific about Shipping News, I think Kevin Spacey was miscast, although he was very good in the part. Based on the book character, it should have been Philip Seymour Hoffman. Other than that, the casting and movie were very good.

[Diane]

I'm from Newfoundland so The Shipping News was certainly a big hit for everyone here. I have also heard that the book is better than the movie, but it usually goes that way doesn't it?

I think I have to see Superbad now after all of the positive comments that it got here!

[V-Grrrl]

I've got to see Superbad too. I haven't seen a great comedy in a long time.

[J]

I have the Shipping News on my 'to be read' list, and I've heard the movie is great, though I knew NOTHING about it until now. That Judi Densch is in it is great news. Love her.

Over break...saw The Goldan Compass (liked), Juno (really liked), Miracle on 34th street (um, it was ok), and I am Legend (walked out because it was too scarey for my daughter).