The Blind Side

"The Blind Side" starring Sandra Bullock is a wonderful movie. She plays a very headstrong southern mother who helps a homeless boy overcome some terrible odds. This is a true story and just makes you feel good after watching the movie. I love football movies so this was right up my alley. My 17 year old daughter even liked it and she hates football. I have now become a Baltimore Ravens fan. Sorry Broncos. If you enjoy sports movies I would also recommend "Breaking Away", "Invincible", and "Seabiscuit". True, Seabiscuit is about a race horse but what an athlete.

A Christmas Carol

I went to see "A Christmas Carol" in 3D with my Aunt. She hadn't seen a 3D movie since the '50s and we both really enjoyed the movie. Got us in the mood for Christmas. Jim Carrey does a great job as Ebenezzer Scrooge and many other characters in the movie. I found myself trying to figure out who was playing each character in the movie and that was very distracting. Gary Oldman (who I just adore) plays Bob Cratchet and the character looked just like Oldman. Then I found myself trying to figure out who the other characters were. I think it would have been a better movie if the actors had just lent their voices to the parts they played and not to the drawings of the characters. That said it is still a good movie. I would also recommend the live action "A Christmas Carol" starring George C. Scott.

Cirque Du Freak

We saw Cirque today and it was pretty good. I don't even know if I spelled that correctly or not. It was kind of predictable but the ending left it open for another movie, which I wouldn't mind seeing. John C. Reilly does a great job as the vampire with a really cool deadly spider. Of course the main characters are best buddies in high school, one is the bad apple and the other is the straight arrow good kid. The bad apple studies Vampires and the good kid studies spiders. So of course the good kid ends up as the vampire because he tries to save his friend from the spider bite. There are some really interesting freaks in the circus and a cute romance develops between the good kid and the monkey girl. There is a great fight at the end between the good vampires and the bad vampires.

One note. We saw previews of "The Wolfman" which is coming out soon. It looks awesome, the wolfman looks just like Lon Chaney, Jr. looked in the original movie of the same name. Can't wait.

Fame (2009)

I broke down and went to see "Fame" with my daughter on Saturday. It was a pretty good movie. If you are a fan of the original movie or television series you will be disappointed with this rendition. The original movie had more of a plot and we got to see more of the families of the students attending the Performing Arts school. The new movie feels like it was made by the folks at VH1 or MTV. It was a bunch of music videos run to fill the two hours. It will cash in with the "High School Musical" crowd however. It was fun and the music was really good. If you want a movie with more substance see the original. If you want more like this movie, watch "Flashdance." If I had to give it stars I would give it two out of four. A pleasant movie that didn't make you think too much.

The Old Lady Recommends: Original "Fame" movie, "Showboat", any Andy Hardy movies.

Love Happens

My daughter, my Aunt and I went to see "Love Happens" on Friday night. It stars Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart. I enjoyed this movie and laughed a lot. I also cried a lot (those of you who know me won't be surprised by that statement). Could it have been better written or directed or could the stars have done a better job acting, sure. But I go to the movies to be entertained and this movie was entertaining. Eckhart is good looking. Aniston is cute, but I thought she was channeling Rachel from "Friends" a good part of the movie. But I love "Friends" so that didn't bother me much. The movie was funny and touching and you got so see some great shots of Seattle (much better than "Sleepless in Seattle" or "Grey's Anatomy"). The shot from atop the space needle is breath-taking and makes me want to go visit Seattle. It has a good supporting cast and the guy that plays the grieving dad in the movie did a terrific job. The scene at Home Depot is so surprising and touching that it made me want to go buy some power tools. I would recommend this film to all of those women out there who just want a good laugh or cry. I would not recommend this as a date movie or a movie to take your entire family too. Kids under 12 won't understand what is going on and husband's will be bored. It is just a fun movie to go to with your girlfriends on a girl's night out.

The Old Lady Recommends: "Love Happens", "When Harry Met Sally" and "Sleepless in Seattle"

Slumdog Millionaire

I finally watched "Slumdog Millionaire" and it was a great movie. I don't know that it deserved best picture at last year's Academy Awards but it was a very good movie. One thing it did do is stir a desire to watch other movies from "Bollywood". I have bee a fan of foreign movies before this but to say that out loud to other people makes one sound like a snob (which is what I am really).
Slumdog isn't for children under 12. I think a child needs to have a sense of how other children live in other parts of the world but I think this has enough violence in it to really scare a younger child. Being aware and being fearful should be kept far apart in a childs world.
I would like my daughter to see this movie, she is 16 and should be able to handle it. If I have to sit through "The Ugly Truth" then she can sit through "Slumdog".

An Old Lady Recommends:

Babette's Feast, Amelie, and A Beautiful Life.

Gamer

Let's see, another Gerard Butler movie. Do you sense a trend here? Yes I like Gerard Butler. I didn't like this movie. It was a cross between "The Running Man", "Tron", and "Death Race". Good guy is set up and becomes a pawn in an evil genius' plan to rule the world. The guy from "Dexter" is the evil genius and he does a great job. He really gives you the feeling that he takes his roles seriously. I think his name is Michael C. Hall? He was on "Six Feet Under" also. There is a cast of who's who in this movie. Kyra Sedgwick is okay but you don't ever get a feel for her character. The movie just couldn't make up its mind, violence and sex in every scene or a movie with a message. The message was, don't turn your life over to others, live it yourself. Yada, yada. I was very disappointed in this movie but anytime you can sit in the dark and watch Gerard Butler is a good thing.

The old lady recommends: "The Running Man" and "Death Race" the 2008 version.