Posted by barb on Jul 30, 2005 in
Movies The Cinema Arts Theatre near our house continued its “Movies in the Morning” series this week, so we biked up this morning to watch Talk of the Town. Talk of the Town stars Cary Grant as political activist, Leopold Dilg, who has been accused of starting a fire that burned down a factory and killed the foreman. He escapes jail and moves himself into the attic of a rental owned by a girl he grew up with and rented for the summer by a prominent law professor. The film is a bit of a screwball comedy, and turned out to be a lot of fun.
Total miles biked: 9 miles
[ IMDB link for Talk of the Town]
Tags: reviews
Posted by barb on Jul 28, 2005 in
Movies 4/5 stars
Fun, fun, fun!
Usually I don’t really like re-makes — the first version of something that I experience is usually the one that I’m going to like best. However, this time around, it’s hard to say which version I like best. I love Johnny Depp, and his performance here is an par with the best of his work. The film adds in a bit more of the background of Willy Wonka that is present neither in the book or the Gene Wilder version of the film, and I haven’t decided if I liked it or not (leaning toward not), though it does set it apart.
[IMDB link to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory]
Tags: reviews
Posted by barb on Jul 27, 2005 in
Movies 3/5 stars
Standard thriller. Fun while it lasted, though, of course, completely unbelievable.
[IMDB link for National Treasure]
Tags: reviews
Posted by barb on Jul 26, 2005 in
Memes, Etc. Laurie tagged me for this one.
10 years ago: I had just finished up at the community college with a bunch of awards: winner of the short story part of the creative writing contest, top math student for the year, an award for top women and minorities in math and science, and some scholarship money from the AMAYTC tests. I was also recovering from my second eye surgery in June to correct my tearing retinas (on my left eye — my right eye had been corrected in March that year). I was also working at Hallmark for the summer, house-sitting for my physics instructor from Normandale Community College, and was preparing to move to New Mexico (from Minnesota) to finish out my undergraduate degrees.
5 years ago: < insert maniacal laugh here > I was studying for quals. My advisor for my research assistantship would not give me any new work over the summer so that I couldn’t be distracted away from studying. Andrew and I started dating that summer 5 years ago, too. Somehow he put up with my insane qual studying that summer — I think that’s when I knew he’d be with me for the long term.
1 year ago: Andrew and I were planning for our wedding. Pretty much everything was in place by this time last year, but my wedding dress was AWOL.
Yesterday: I was working. Nothing spectacular, though I went into the office even though I normally telecommute on Mondays. Went to lunch with Lorna and Sandy to combat the Monday-blues. Last night Andrew and I watched part of The Lost World – the mini series version from A&E.
Today: Telecommuting. I’m getting caught up with some of my thesis work, and delving into some of the background/physics of my data. This evening Andrew and I will have our weekly “journal night” where we go to Starbucks and I read journal articles and Andrew works on some of his writing.
Tomorrow: Working again. Nothing special. Andrew has his cello lesson in the evening, so I’ll probably watch my Netflix movie, National Treasure.
5 snacks I enjoy: Doritos, anything with chocolate (especially dark chocolate), chips and hummus, Phish food ice cream (from B&J), cheese
5 bands that I know the lyrics of MOST of their songs: Sting, Indigo Girls, Dido, The Monkees, Weird Al
5 things I would do with $100,000,000: Beyond the usual quitting work, buying a dream house and helping out our friends and family, I’d travel a bit (though I’d want to spend time at the dream house, too!), and set up scholarship funds at some of my alma maters.
5 bad habits I have: Cursing, procrastinating, not eating healthy-enough,
5 things I like doing: Biking, scrapbooking, snuggling Andrew (and no, that’s not necessarily a euphemism for anything), going to the movies, playing with our cats
5 things I would never wear: Bikini, tube tops, micro-skirts, thongs (can’t stand the butt-floss!), spike-heels
5 TV shows I like: Battlestar Galactica, Gilmore Girls, The Closer, Clean Sweep, 30 Days (I hope it comes back)
5 movies I like: Besides the Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Lord of the Rings movies, The Incredibles, Pirates of the Caribbean, Ever After, Real Genius, Never Been Kissed
5 famous people I’d like to meet: Einstein, Feynman, Harrison Ford, Fredrik Pohl, Sheri S. Tepper
5 biggest joys at the moment: Andrew, the cats, summer biking, having dinner made for me (best. husband. ever.), reconnecting with my thesis work
People I’ve tagged: Mushi & Sweetie,
Tags: dumb fun
Posted by barb on Jul 23, 2005 in
Biking,
Movies The Cinema Arts Theatre, up the road from our house, is doing a special series of films over the next several weeks — Movies in the Morning. They are playing classic movies following four themes (I can only remember Hepburn/Grant and courtroom off the top of my head). The movies all start between 10 and 10:30 AM, cost only $5, and there are $1 snacks available at the concession stand.
Andrew and I biked up this morning to catch 12 Angry Men. I had seen at least part of it a few years ago when it played on AMC or TMC, but it was a lot of fun to see it in the theater. There were a few technical problems with the film, and it shut down a couple times, but I wonder how many good copies are left in circulation.
We’ll certainly be back next weekend, though I’m not sure which movie we’ll see — there are a couple that look good to me.
Total biking miles: 6 miles
[ IMDB link to 12 Angry Men]
Tags: reviews
Posted by barb on Jul 21, 2005 in
Movies 3.5/5 stars
This movie was a lot of fun, but that’s about all it was. Pretty standard “superhero movie” fare, with the backstory of a group of superheros, a bit of tension over their new fates, and a fairly brief appearance of a super-villian. Fun while it lasted, but I won’t bring much from it away with me.
[ IMDB link to Fantastic Four]
Tags: reviews
Posted by barb on Jul 14, 2005 in
Movies 4/5 stars
I’ve always loved penguins. I’ve only seen them at a zoo once, but no matter — they’re cute nonetheless. This film is about the grueling mating ritual and subsequent egg/baby care that the emperor penguins go through every year. It was made somewhat more real because the scenes we watched are happening right now, as it is currently the Antarctic winter.
Overall this was an excellent film. My only complaint is that some of the scenes appear to be done with either time-lapse or sped-up film, and it’s not always clear when this is in use. For example, there was a scene where one of the penguin eggs fell on the ice and cracked, and we see the frost forming very quickly. It could certainly be real-time with the Antarctic temperatures, but we don’t know for sure.
[IMDB link for March of the Penguins]
Tags: reviews
Posted by barb on Jul 10, 2005 in
Movies 3/5 stars
The problem, of course, is that the War of the Worlds story is so well known, that any new movie versions have to rely heavily on the telling of the story rather than just the story itself. This time the story is wrapped around Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise), a not-too-great dad stuck with his two kids the weekend that the aliens attack. He struggles to keep his kids alive and get them back to their mom while trying to regain his kids’ trust and respect. Of course, the more interesting parts are the aliens and the effects. I liked it — it wasn’t great art or anything, but certainly not “horrible” as some people are saying.
[IMDB link to War of the Worlds]
Tags: reviews