A Weekend Alone and Movie Reviews

For the first time in probably years I spent the entire weekend in a house by myself. Jayson was gone to Colorado this weekend taking his big CFA exam and I was left by my lonesome. I guess I have been spoiled because in a year and a half of marriage we have never had to spend a single day apart. I have many friends who have gone weeks on end apart from their husbands so I know I don't really have room to complain about 2 1/2 days :) However, since it was my first time I was a bit worried about it, but the time went by fairly quickly and I survived. I am used to not seeing Jayson during the day anyway so the hardest part was when it was time for bed and I just went to bed by myself.

However, I took advantage of the alone time however to watch some movies that I knew Jayson would not be too sad to miss :) I watched Becoming Jane and Miss Potter and loved them both. I don't know how historically accurate they were, but regardless I thought it was fascinating to see the lives of these two remarkable women come to life. I would highly recommend both of these films, especially if you are having a girls night :)

So since I don't really have anything else exciting to blog about I will keep up with the movie reviews. Here are some of the movies that I have seen over the past few months (in no particular order) and briefly what I thought of them.

Transformers - I thought this movie was pretty good. It was well made and was entertaining to watch. I thought the "love interest" character was completely obnoxious and that they tried way to hard to make her the "tough girl". Other than that though it wasn't too bad. 3.5/5 stars

King of California - This was an extremely random Netflix rental by Jayson. I was a bit wary about it at first, especially when there was quite a bit a language at the beginning. The language did taper off as I remember and I actually really enjoyed the story line. It was kind of a bizarre movie, with a very independent feel to it, but I enjoyed the humor in it. 3/5 stars

Eragon - This movie was entertaining I guess, but I wasn't very blown away by it. I don't really know what it was, but I guess I came away with the feeling that they "tried to hard" to make an extremely memorable movie filled with powerful characters and in the end I just don't think they pulled it off. I never felt the strong connection to the characters that they were so obviously trying to create. I would give it 3/5 stars for just being average.

The Last Mimzy - Everyone else I have talked to thought this movie was completely bizarre and didn't care very much for it, but I loved it! I don't know what that says about me :) It was a bit different and maybe that is why I liked it. I loved how they tied the whole Alice in Wonderland theme into it. If you like science fiction/fantasy type movies I would recommend it. 4/5 stars

Hotel Rwanda - This movie is fabulous. It is a very powerful film about he true-life story of Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who housed over a thousand Tutsi refugees during their struggle against the Hutu militia in Rwanda. There is some war violence that can be disturbing, definitely not for younger audiences. I found it to be very inspiring. 4.5/5 stars

Amazing Grace - This was another inspiring movie. The plot: The idealist William Wilberforce maneuvers his way through Parliament in 19th century England, endeavoring to end the British transatlantic slave trade. The movie was a bit slow, but overall I thought it was a beautiful story. 4.5/5 stars

Enchanted - This was an entertaining movie and I really enjoyed watching it a lot. It was fun to see Disney making fun of themselves. While enjoyable I don't think it will go on my list of all time favorites and therefore give it a rating of just above average. 3.5/5 stars

Stardust - I loved this movie as well, and much to my surprise so did Jayson! It took the usual fairytale story and tweaked it just enough that it was new and fresh. It was kind of mix between "The Princess Bride" and the first Pirates of the Carribean. Lots of high adventure mixed with fantasy and romance. 4.5/5 stars

Pirates III - Blah, blah, blah! The only reason I even wanted to watch this movie is to get some sort of closure to the whole Pirates saga. My hopes for it were low going into it and not surprisingly they were met. They really should have just stopped with the first movie in my opinion. This third installment had a weak plot that was nearly impossible to even follow, I felt like they were just making it up as they went along (I don't know how an audience of children would even have any idea what was going on). And don't even get me started on the completely bizarre scene with Jack Sparrow in Davey Jones locker and the ship sailing on a sea of crabs, what in the world was that?! In the end I still didn't have the closure I was looking for (and yes, I realize that that is the whole point, to keep the audience curious so we will get suckered in to yet a 4th movie that will undoubtedly be even worse than the 3rd). 2/5 stars

Planet Earth and Blue Planet Series - These are some BBC documentaries that are absolutely phenomenal. If you want to learn about some of the amazing places and creatures of our planet, I would highly recommend these films. 5/5 stars

Penelope - This was pretty much your average "chick flick". I thought it was enjoyable, but wasn't awed or inspired by it. I thought the leading man was a bit scabby, to put it in British terms since he is British :) He was in despereate need of a hair cut. 3/5 stars

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - This is the first movie Jayson and I have seen in a theater for a long time. I think it only proper that that honor should have been reserved for the much anticipated Indiana movie. I didn't want to have very high hopes for this movie because I didn't want to be disappointed. Both Jayson and I enjoyed the movie. I think we mostly enjoyed it because of the nostaligia factor, come on it is Indiana Jones. I know some people have complained about the unbelievability of it, but again I say, come on it is Indiana Jones! Have we forgotten that Indi has survived a pit of venomous vipers, the wrath of the Arc, the evil spells of crazy witch doctors, a dangerous mine car race ending on the ledge of a cliff, falling off the edge of a cliff on a tank, being shot at by poisonous darts, the list goes on. He is invicible! Needless to say I was not bothered by Indi's feats of survival in his new movie because to me that is what the Indiana movies are all about. The ending was a bit bizarre for me and didn't quite fit into the feeling of an Indi movie (I won't give it away if you haven't seen it), but I was still pleased by the whole experience. 4/5 stars

The Five People You Meet in Heaven - This is the movie version of the book by Mitch Albom, the author of Tuesday's With Morrie. I thought it was a wonderful little film with a great message. 4.5/5 stars

James and the Giant Peach - This one isn't a new release but I just felt like watching it a while back for old times sake. It is the Disney version done with clay-mation. I love this movie, it takes me back to my childhood :) The characters are so memorable (especially the horrible Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker), the music is great, and the entire movie is just magical in my opinion. 5/5 stars