Posted by barb on May 10, 2004 in
Movies 4/5 stars
A young, naive woman (we never learn her name) marries a widower in a whirlwind romance in Monte Carlo. When he brings her back to the house, the memory of the former Mrs. De Winter, Rebecca, haunts the young woman at every turn, from the off-limits west wing to the creepy head housekeeper.
As with most older movies, the pace is much slower than films made today. There is much build up over the first hour and a half, and almost too much happens in the last 20 minutes. But, overall I enjoyed the movie.
Posted by barb on May 8, 2004 in
Movies 4/5 stars
Morgan Spurlock decided to see what would happen if he ate only McDonald’s food for a month. He decided on a few simple rules: he could neither eat nor drink anything that was not sold at a McDonald’s, he had to eat three meals a day, he had to try everything on the menu at least once, and he would only supersize the meal if asked.
Interspersed with his culinary quest, he interviews various experts on fast food — including the lawyer behind some of the McDonald’s obesity law suits. He spirls into depression and poor health in just a couple weeks. His mood is elevated each time he eats, only to crash again once he finishes his meal — a clear sign of an addiction.
This was an entertaining documentary — on par with Bowling for Columbine. Definitely worth a watch.
Note: I’m vegetarian, and so have not actually eaten McDonald’s food for over a decade. I do, however, occasionally enjoy a veggie burger from Burger King, a vegetarian burrito from Chipotle (which, sigh, is owned by McDonald’s), or a veggie sub from Subway.
Posted by barb on Apr 23, 2004 in
Movies 3/5 stars
I’d never seen this “classic”, and thought it was about time so I’d know what people were talking about when they mentioned it. Not sure what to say about it — it’s good Woody Allen.
Posted by barb on Apr 17, 2004 in
Movies 2.5/5 stars
Stu Shepard answers the phone in a phone booth. That’s not his first mistake, but the caller on the other end thinks it might be his last. The caller, a sniper with a view of the phone booth, keeps Stu on the phone, threatening to kill if he hangs up.
I think the idea was more interesting than the movie itself. It wasn’t bad, but I wonder if it would have been better as a short story, or somehow better developed with more flashbacks to get to know the characters better, or something.
Posted by barb on Mar 30, 2004 in
Movies 2/5 stars
Standard action film, but with vampires instead of terrorists or random super-villain.
Posted by barb on Mar 28, 2004 in
Movies 4/5 stars
This movie was based on the life of Frank Hopkins, a Pony Express courier and long distance horse race legend. he and his horse, Hidalgo, travel to Saudi Arabia to participate in a race across the desert. Most participants laugh at his horse, a wild Mustang, from their purebred Arabian mounts. Hopkins finds himself not just fighting to win the race (and survive the race) but caught up in Arabian politics.
I quite enjoyed the movie. While I knew that Hopkins had to survive. I was still caught up in the action.
Funny comment from couple behind us: “They really used a lot of horses in this movie.” Duh. Really?
Posted by barb on Mar 28, 2004 in
Movies 3/5 stars
Campy, silly, and over-the top. But that’s on purpose, so it makes it all the better. It’s a fun 2 hours.
Posted by barb on Mar 14, 2004 in
Movies 4/5 stars
We’ve been meaning to see this one for a couple months now, so we found a theater still showing it, and headed out this afternoon.
It was quite good — definitely deserving of the Oscar nominations it received (unlike Lost in Translation, imho). At it’s simplest, it is a love story. Inman (Jude Law) is separated from his love (though they don’t really know it until they’ve separated), Ada, by the Civil War “draft”. We follow his wanderings, after being wounded and deserting the military hospital, to return to Cold Mountain, where Ada is coping with life without her father on a large farm.
Posted by barb on Mar 8, 2004 in
Movies 3/5 stars
Typical Terminator movie. Not much else to say.
Posted by barb on Mar 6, 2004 in
Movies 2/5 stars
Actually, this wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, but that might have been because I was sewing while watching the movie. I can imagine that if I had to actually sit and pay attention through the whole thing, I would have enjoyed it less.
Mitzi, a drag queen, discovers that his ex-wife needs his help. So he and two friends, Bernadette and Felicia, head across the desert to Alice Springs (Australia), to put on a show at her hotel. I was distracted, though, because Mitzi is played by Hugo Weaving, the same actor who played Agent Smith in the Matrix movies and Elrond in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I can imagine that the next time I watch The Matrix, I’ll be picturing Agent Smith in drag.