I'm Reed Fish

This wasn't an engaging movie and not as funny as it thought it was. I wasn't able to follow the story very well because of the device they used (kind of a double story) and therefore didn't know exactly what the end was and who all was who until I read the plot summary at Wikipedia. Granted, I wasn't paying all that much attention during the movie because it wasn't very engrossing, so maybe if I had paid closer attention, I might not have needed to read someone else's plot summary to finally understand the whole thing. But even after knowing all the details, it still wasn't satisfying.

Ten On Tuesday--Least Favorite Celebrities

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1. O.J. Simpson. Have you found the 'real' killer yet, O.J.?
2. Jane Fonda. She'll always be Hanoi Jane to me.
3. Michael Jackson. I wouldn't let him anywhere near my kids.
4. Mike Tyson. Taste any good ears lately?
5. Tom Cruise. Quite possibly certifiably insane--that Scientology video of him was scaaaarrrry.
6. Rosie O'Donnell. How does she offend me? Let me count the ways.....
7. Julia Roberts. That awful laugh and helping herself to someone else's husband.
8. Brangelina (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie). Can't think of anything concise to say--there's just so much.
9. Alex Trebek. I'd know all the answers, too, if they were on the cards in my hand.
10. Pretty much any and all rappers. I refuse to call them 'singers' or 'artists'.

Canvas

This was just an okay movie. Could have been worse and maybe could have been better. It's about a boy growing up with a mentally ill mother and how all three of them cope with the situation. I wish they would have developed the nosey neighbor story line more--I think that would have helped make it better. I liked the way the boy used his own coping strategy to help his dad continue with his coping strategy. That was touching, and it also showed that deep down he accepted his mother, even though some of the things she did caused him pain.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Another great Harry Potter movie. I've enjoyed every single one. I love all the effects, the strange surroundings, the alternate world feel and look of it, and all the different characters.

A funny thing happened during this one, though. I had to be pretty exhausted to fall asleep during a movie I enjoy, but sure enough I did fall asleep for several minutes. I missed the part where the nasty woman first became ensconced at the school.

Our cat, Velvet, had been pregnant for what seemed like forever, every day getting bigger and bigger until she looked like a big round ball. I would check on her a lot to see if she was going into labor yet.

So, what woke me up during the movie were little mewing sounds, and I hopped up and started heading for the laundry room (where Velvet was being kept safe from harrassment by our new dog) while mumbling that Velvet must be having her babies.

My entire family started laughing at my not-quite-complete awakening and bumbling run to the laundry room and informed me that the mewing sounds were coming from the cat pictures in that nasty woman's room in the movie.

After looking at the TV screen briefly, I still went and checked on Velvet just in case, but still no kittens were being born yet. They did arrive about a week later, though, and they are the cutest little things.

I Am A Sex Addict

This movie was strange, and I mean strange beyond the obvious as indictated by the title. I appreciate that the guy was trying to honestly address the problem of sex addiction from his own experience, but the re-enactments were embarrassing and sad to witness.

A recurring thought I kept having throughout the movie was that it is probably better for men (and women, for that matter) to keep a lot of their thought processes to themselves if they are anything like this guy's.

I think we watched it to the end for two reasons--mainly because it was like a train wreck and hard to not watch from that kind of perspective and secondly because of the way it started off with a teaser about the end of the story and having enough curiosity to want to know the end of the story because of that teaser.

The TV Set

There was some funny stuff in this movie. It is about a writer whose series pilot is being developed, and his vision and the network execs' vision are different, so it shows what happens along the way from the initial vision of the writer to the final product that eventually shows up on the air. The struggle was kind of sad sometimes, too. The actors were all great with David Duchovny and Sigourney Weaver in leading roles. In watching it, it felt like it was probably pretty true to life. Especially if that's so, it was interesting to watch the process from the writer's idea to the TV screen.

Randomness--Summer Love

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1. Have you ever had a summer romance? What happened?
I had a summer romance when I visited my grandparents in another state when I was a teenager. My sister and I went to the nearby river to swim and sunbathe, and there were some guys there playing ball whose ball convieniently kept landing next to us so that they had to keep retrieving it and saying something like 'Hi' or 'nice day' to us every time. We later ran into the same guys when we went to the roller rink that night, and one of the guys stuck close to me and asked me to go out to the movies the next night. We ended up seeing each other every day while I was there, and he even asked me to marry him, so I revealed to him that I was only 13 (not 16 like I had told him originally) and too young to get married. We corresponded for a while after I went home, but after school started, I lost interest and stopped writing to him. He was too serious about wanting to get married (he was 20), and I was way too young to get that serious with anyone.

2. What's your favorite summer themed love story or movie? 'Grease' is the only one I can think of right now, and I loved that movie.

3. Do you find the seashore romantic or played out? I think I will always find the seashore romantic. I haven't been there in a long time, and I miss it.

4. The boardwalk by the ocean, is it fun and entertaining, a great place to meet people?
Or is it too crowded and are you sick of it?
It's been at least as long since I've been to a boardwalk on the ocean, but I remember it being fun, though I never went there to meet people. Seems like I always went with friends, family or a date.

The Cradle

This was one of those movies where, even after what were apparently supposed to be explanatory review scenes, I still didn't completely get what had happened. I got the main thing, but the details were still not filled in, and a lot of questions remained unanswered.

Added to this are the usual stupid things people do in scary movies that people probably would not do in real life, which is always frustrating, but I suppose that is the lazy way of inducing suspense in such movies since it is so pervasively done.

The sad thing is that the first part of the movie was compelling and seemed to point to a good story. It's just that the features of the story did not come together properly. Even the twist would have been great if all of the blanks had been filled in in the end.

Mr. Bean's Holiday

Mr. Bean really grosses me out, but Husband finds him funny, thus we watched this movie. I actually did end up laughing during the final part of the movie when the Willem DeFoe character story line took center stage, but it wasn't worth watching everything else to get to that part.

A good movie where Rowan Atkinson plays a better character is Keeping Mum. He didn't gross me out at all, and I thought the movie was clever and funny.

The Lost City

This was certainly a cut above some of the movies we've seen recently. It was paced well with something always going on, and I was totally able to follow and understand everything that happened. The cast was good, and I even learned some things I didn't know before about the Cuban revolution and how Castro came into power. I'd put this one in the 'pretty good' category.

Mrs. Palfrey At The Claremont

Some parts of this movie were silly. Some parts were uncomfortable. But there were some funny parts and some tender touching parts. Overall I think it was more good than bad and okay for watching while you're multitasking since you don't have to pay a whole lot of attention to every single little thing.

It's about an elderly widow who still converses with her dead husband and lives in a boarding hotel. She meets a young man who comes to her aid after a fall, and they end up spending a lot of time together.

Ten On Tuesday--Favorite Movie Characters

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1. Doc Holliday in Tombstone (played by Val Kilmer).

"I'm your huckleberry."

2. Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With The Wind (played by Vivien Leigh).
"Fiddle-dee-dee."

3. Sir Alexander Dane/Dr. Lazarus of Tev'Meck in Galaxy Quest (played by Alan Rickman).

"By Grabthar's hammer, by the suns of Warvan, you shall be avenged!"

4. David Levinson in Independence Day (played by Jeff Goldblum). "Forget the fat lady! You're obsessed with the fat lady! Drive us out of here!"

5. William Bligh in The Bounty (played by Anthony Hopkins). "He was insubordinate, cowardly and insubordinate.....Are you frightened to go around the Horn, Mr. Christian? Are you a coward too, sir?"

6. Fletcher Christian in The Bounty (played by Mel Gibson).

"I am in hell, sir! I am in hell!"

7. Aurora Greenway in Terms Of Endearment (played by Shirley MacLaine).

"Why should I be happy about being a GRANDMOTHER?"

8. Hawkeye in The Last Of The Mohicans (played by Daniel Day-Lewis).

"No matter how long it takes, no matter how far, I will find you."

9. Han Solo in Star Wars (played by Harrison Ford).

"Look, Your Worshipfulness, let's get one thing straight. I take orders from just one person: me."

10. David Howard in Lost In America (played by Albert Brooks).

"Say it! Say it! Say 'I lost the nest-egg.' Go on, say it!"

A Little Trip To Heaven

This was one of those movies where I didn't completely understand everything that was going on. Part of the problem could just be me not following along well enough because of knitting or crocheting while I'm watching. I don't want to give away what happens, but for me, the ending didn't seem consistent with the rest of the movie--at least the main character's behavior at the end of the movie didn't make any sense to me in comparison with his behavior throughout the movie prior to that.

What I mostly got from the movie was that insurance companies will apparently work pretty hard to pay out as little as possible and some people will do anything to get a big insurance pay-off. The movie was about the intersection of these two things.

It was somewhat interesting and was okay for watching to pass the time, but nothing to write home about.

Hot Fuzz

We had high hopes for this movie because it was done by the same people who brought us Shaun of the Dead, but sadly it did not live up to its predecessor. It was still funny, and the plot was okay, but it just didn't have the same surprisingly funny and campy factors. I recommend giving it a try, but if you haven't yet seen Shaun of the Dead, I'd pick it over this one.

On A Clear Day

At first I didn't think I was going to like this movie. I didn't understand what was happening in the opening scene. Eventually I caught up with what was going on and was able to understand who everyone was in relation to each other and what was going on between them. One amusing thing was the way the wife of the main character got upset with her husband for not telling her what he was up to when she herself was up to something of her own behind his back.

The exploration of the family relationships and the friendships was well done, and overall it was a touching movie. There were also lots of funny parts. I think my favorite scene was the one involving a husband, his wife and a kilt. Watch the movie to see why I enjoyed it so much.

That's My Answer

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Shannon asked: What is your opinion of “once a cheater, always a cheater”?

I think it is generally true, but as with most generalizations, there are exceptions.

Take them or leave them: Fireworks?

I love them, but I rarely get to see them anymore unless it's on TV. I don't love them enough to drive a long distance to see them or to pay for watching them, though.

My husband cannot resist cheese. If there is cheese, he is consuming it. It’s like a drug. Seriously. Do you like cheese? What kind of cheese is your favorite?

I love cheese, too, but I don't think it's a serious addiction (not like chocolate, for instance). To date, I don't think I've tasted a cheese I didn't like. Cheddar is what I eat regularly.

Do you untie your shoelaces before taking off your shoes?

Always.

I’m allergic so shrimp, raspberries and Aleve. It turns out my daughter has seasonal allergies. What are you allergic to?

I am allergic to only one of my cats! Within minutes after getting her home as a kitten, as I was petting her, and she was snuggling and rubbing against me, I broke out all over, my eyes swelled shut, and I had continuous sneezing and difficulty breathing. Took three days to recover.

I've had cats all my life, and she is the only one to have such an effect on me, but it only happens with direct contact, so I make sure I wash my hands after petting her, and I don't let her rub against me.

If you were an advice columnist, what sort of advice would be tired of handing out?

Advising people to walk away from a boyfriend or girlfriend who's been displaying obvious red flags.

Do you live in the area where you were born?

Born and raised in Los Angeles. Now I'm in extremely rural, dirt-roads Arizona. Only one state away, but worlds away in lifestyle.

Are you watching The Mole? Who do you think is the mole? Do you think you could successfully be the mole?

Yes, we LOVE The Mole and are so happy it is back. It really got wrecked with Celebrity Mole. I do miss Anderson, though.

We initially thought Victoria was the mole, but then she got executed, so now we're suspecting Alex.

I don't think I could ever pull off successful mole behavior. Hard for me to be that duplicitous.

Do you take a multi-vitamin, or do you get your nutrients solely from the food you eat?

No, I don't take a multivitamin, but I probably should.

How far do you think you’d make it if you were in the Tour de France?

I wish I had that rolling on the floor laughing smilie to put here!

Probably just trying to put on the little stretchy suit would defeat me.

Charcoal grill or gas grill?

Like the TV remotes, this is strictly Husband's territory. We have a gas grill now, and I haven't noticed any appreciable difference in taste in foods grilled this way in comparison to charcoal.

How many movies have you watched this year?

We rarely go to a theater (most recently about a year ago), but we do watch a lot of movies on TV or DVD.

I started regularly reviewing the movies we watch on my blog with 24 reviews posted since May 28 and several I haven't posted yet, so from that I would estimate about about 150 movies watched since the beginning of 2008.

I Am Legend

For some reason, I like these kinds of movies. I suppose it's because I want to imagine man surviving no matter what happens. Will Smith was great in this. The visuals were really good. The suspense was suspenseful enough for me (sometimes almost too much for me!), and it was easy to care about Will Smith's character and what was happening. I would even watch it again to be sure I didn't miss anything the first time around.

Premonition

I liked this movie. I was able to follow what was happening and eventually put all the pieces together. Very interesting and intriguing premise. Even the main character (played by Sandra Bullock) eventually figures out what is happening and is better able to manage her confusion. I don't want to tell any more than that because following along and trying to figure out what's going on and what might happen next is what makes the movie interesting.

12 And Holding

I did not like the ending of this movie. I did like the storyline with the fat kid, and there were some funny parts, but overall it tended to be sad and dark. Even so, I didn't think the ending was consistent with the rest of the movie, which wasn't nearly as sad and dark as the ending. I suppose the whole thing could have been worse. It did pass the 30-minute test, but I can't give it much more praise than that.

Running With Scissors

I didn't read this book (a memoir), so I can't say how the movie compares with the book. I thought the movie was pretty good. It was certainly interesting and strange. There were some funny parts and some sad parts and some disgusting parts. As I looked into it after watching the movie, there is controversy about how true all of the events depicted are, and there was a lawsuit that got settled. I imagine the best thing to do is just to evaluate the movie as entertainment, and in doing that, I found that the story (whether 100% accurate or not) was compelling and well done as a movie.