At The Movies

STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING - Frank Langella stars as Leonard Schiller, a novelist who is in his last days and whose novels are out of print. Schiller meets Heather Wolfe, a young graduate student who decides to write her thesis on Schiller's writing and novels. As she interviews Schiller she discovers he is trying to finish his last novel before he dies. And in the course of their interviews about novels and writers the two form a "light" romance. Now the subplot to this film involves Schiller's daughter, Ariel...played by Lauren Ambrose. Ariel is a free spirit, and is close in age to the young graduate student. Schiller is constantly distracted by Ariel's constant wanderings in life, as she goes from one man to another in search of happiness and a family. The main storyline here between Schiller and the graduate student is first rate and top notch. There's a great balance of intellectualism and tenderness in their dialouges. However, the subplot involving the free spirit daughter becomes more and more distracting as the film goes on. Still though, as a whole this movie is really good...primarily because of Langella's first rate performance here. I really enjoyed this one.

PURPLE VIOLETS - I've written in previous entries how I'm a fan of Edward Burns movies. Let me clarify - the ones he writes and directs...and not his Hollywood roles. Here is his latest low-budget independent film..."Purple Violets." I've always thought Burns as a Woody Allen-type of storyteller with his films, and this one comes across as his most "Woody Allen" like. In "Violets" we have 4 old friends (2 couples) who become reacquainted with each other after a 10 year hiatus. This is one of those storylines where everyone's either a writer, a writer-wanna-be, or somekind of young New York intellectual/professional. Some of the performances here are interesting, such as Patrick Wilson's character as a successful novelist trying to change his style. But other performances here are not as convincing, such as Selma Blair's character as the talented writer-to-be. Overall this is one of Burns' better independent efforts.

HANCOCK - Will Smith stars as Hancock, a not-so-typical-super-hero in Los Angeles who wants no part of the public spotlight. He befriends Ray the publicist, played by Jason Bateman. Ray works with Hancock to change his image and become more "public-friendly." The first act has some mildly amusing moments, but somewhere in the second act the story takes a dark turn that never recovers. Eventually you're left with a movie that leaves a bad taste in your mouth, and one that should have been a lot more funny.

THE ROCKER - Rainn Wilson (THE OFFICE) plays Robert Fishman, a former 80's metal drummer who's never gotten over his missed opportunity on fame. Fishman teams up with his nephew's band and they become the hottest ticket in high school. I realized this might be a movie targeted more for teens than adults, but as a fan of THE OFFICE I thought there would be enough laughs here from Wilson to make it worthwhile. Uh...I was wrong. I think I laughed 3 or 4 times here. Definately not worth the time.

MAX PAYNE - Mark Wahlberg is Max Payne, a New York City cop who is bent on getting revenge towards those who murdered his family. The film didn't get great reviews from critics, but I have to admit I thought it was okay. The style and look of the film resembles something out of SIN CITY and CONSTANTINE, and is actually pretty cool. In fact, the stylized look does indeed help make up for an otherwise laughable script. I'm not going to say this is best picture of the year or anything. But I thought it was good enough as a rental.

QUIET CITY - Uh...I don't know how it happened...but I recently watched 3 movies all about young New Yorkers. This is the third. Here we have a guy and a girl who meet at a subway station. She is supposed to meet her friend but the friend is no where to be found. So she starts killing time with a guy she happens to meet. Then somehow in the course of 24 hours the two form a romantic bond. Uh...huh? This film is as indie as you can get really. Very little additional lighting, a stripped down script, hand held camerwork, etc. While I admire the effort, the result was so annoying to watch. I was so glad when this was over. In fact, I struggled here just to keep my attention focused on this one.

What Is Ben Up To?

Ben is one of the best big brothers I have ever seen. Right now he's trying to be more involved with Megan. Ever since she was born he has always loved playing with her...but now he's taking his love to the next level. Now he's getting into the actual "caring" for her, or as Jenny calls it "mothering." Ben always wants to help Megan get into her high chair at the kitchen table. Then he will put her bib on her and push her chair in. When she wakes up from a nap he wants to go with me to go get her. He also enjoys telling her to eat her food at the table, and tries to explain to her that she won't get any dessert if she doesn't eat all of her dinner. This of course cracks Jenny and I up. We tell Ben "people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw bricks." He of course looks at us like we're crazy. Anyway...you can really see the love and care Ben expresses toward Megan. It's cool to see sometimes.

What's Megan up to?

Megan is slowly making the turn from babyhood to toddlerhood. She's starting to talk more and more. Sometimes it's understandable, but she's definitely making the effort. In fact, she's (unfortunately) saying words like "NO!" and "WHY?" more and more now...and those seem to be her clearest sounding words. So she's already testing the boundaries as she gears up for the terrible 2's. But she's got a cute personality. She literally says hi to everyone she sees. Unlike Ben at this age she is very outgoing and a lot more social. She also loves playing with Ben. Ben and Mommy are her favorites without a doubt.

Easter Weekend

We had a nice Easter weekend. On Friday we did some shopping in the late morning, since Jenny had Good Friday off. Then in the afternoon Jenny and Ben decorated Easter eggs. On Saturday Ben and I went to the planetarium, and we took the kids to one of the neighborhood parks. On Sunday we let the kids play with their Easter baskets, and then after church we met our friends the Manchesters in town for an Easter brunch. There the kids got to get their picture taken with the Easter bunny. After that we came back home and the kids got to do an Easter egg hunt in the backyard. They really enjoyed that. So we had a nice 3 day weekend.

The Planetarium

Last Saturday I took Ben to our local planetarium over in Bay City. It's a small one of course, but it offers everything a big city planetarium offers. He didn't know quite what to expect, but I could tell he was excited to go. The show we saw was called "The Little Star That Could," and it was a kid-friendly story about stars and planets. Anything space related Ben seems to love, so naturally he loved it. After the show our tour group got to go on the roof where there's an observation deck.

Butterflies In Bloom

Today I took the kids up to Dow Gardens for our first visit of the year. We spend a lot of time there in the summer, but once in a while we make visits at other times of the year. Today was "Butterflies In Bloom," where they release butterflies in the greenhouse and you can go see them, and touch them. Ben loves interacting with bugs in the summer, so he was really into holding the butterflies. He was actually better at it than I was. I think that's interesting because I can remember a few years ago when I brought Ben to this event he was freaking out all the time whenever the butterflies got too close. As for Megan, she thought it was funny when the butterflies got too close to her, but she seemed to really enjoy it. Anyway, it was a nice way to spend part of Ben's spring break.

At The Movies

THE SOPRANOS: SEASON 6 - This is the final chapter in this great show. The final season is extended with 9 extra episodes, so the last season is divided into two parts. This was the only season that Jenny and I thought the overall story dipped a bit. But still though...a dip with this show is a zenith for others. The final episode left me scratching my head a little...but I won't spoil the end for anybody. You'll have to figure it out for yourself. Anyway...Jenny and I were a little sad to be done with this one. We got used to the characters and even a little attached to them. Great show...great series. Highly recommended to everyone.

NO END IN SIGHT - This is a documentary about the war in Iraq. It came out in 2007, so some of the information is a little dated. Still though this is a great documentary. Watching this you get a detailed account of what went wrong with the war, and who made what decisions and why. This film plays a lot like the great FRONTLINE show on PBS. Dry journalism with no cute packaging. Great documentary.

LAST KING OF SCOTLAND - This is the story of Idi Amin...the african dictator of Uganda back in the 70's. Forest Whitaker won best actor for his role as Amin...and rightfully so. While the story drags a bit in some areas, Whitaker's performance makes the film worth watching. Another strong performance here comes from James McAvoy as Amin's doctor-turned-advisor. Both actors play off of one another tremendously, and both make up for an otherwise average story. Good film.

DEADWOOD: SEASON 3 - Alas...the story of Deadwood comes to a close. This is the final season of this show (unless they decide to bring it back again someday) and the 3rd installment is probably the best of the three. In this final season saloon operators, lawmen, and town bullies all play a chessmatch for control of the town. Most of the season gives a sense that violence is just around the corner. But in the end the show stays true to its dramatic roots and stays clear of the expected gunplay and rampage. This show was never as good as THE SOPRANOS, but some of the characters here are just as memorable (most notably Ian McShane as Al Swearengen.)

RENDITION - Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep, and Jake Gyllenhaal all star in this film that explores controversial CIA tactics when it comes to suspected terrorists. Most of the story here is based on a case of mistaken identity...as Witherspoon's character discovers her Egyptian husband has been mistakenly detained overseas on a suspected terrorism charge. The story is mildly interesting enough to make it worth checking out, but the ending had Jenny and I laughing and scratching our heads. Overall...this is a disappointing movie with a lot of flaws.

THE WATCHMEN - Based on the popular graphic novel from the 80's, THE WATCHMEN is the story of a gang of super heroes in a society that doesn't necessarily want them around anymore. Set in an alternate universe in the United States in the late 80's, Nixon is still president and super heroes are to be gotten rid of. The film opens as one of the popular Watchmen is murdered in his apartment and the rest of the troop must find out who did it before they themselves are knocked off. This is a movie that the die-hards are going to praise, and the rest of society are going to scratch their heads at. I myself liked it a lot, but I would also add that I had a good idea of what it was going to be like going into it. Good movie...but definately not for everybody.

DEADWOOD: SEASON 2 - In season 2 of Deadwood I noticed a noticeable rise in quality from season 1. Whereas the Sopranos often delivers a steady stream of high quality drama, I thought season 1 of Deadwood was laborous to watch at times. However, season 2 is a strong improvement. The stories are more interesting, the characters all find their voices, and there's even a touch of humor that's absent in the first season. Overall...a great show worth checking out.

At The Movies - Ben Edition

SPACE BUDDIES - It's doggie astronauts in outer space. What more do you need to say? Being the space nut he is Ben loved this one.

DISNEY THREE MUSKETEERS - We watched this shortly after we returned from Disney. We thought Ben would be all over it, but he only liked it a little. This is simply a re-telling of the THREE MUSKETEERS, only with Disney characters. I think Jenny and i liked it more than he did. Anyway...good kids movie.

BOLT - We watched this one in 3D on the Disney cruise. We were only mildly interested in it, and Ben never really expressed an interest in seeing it. After having watched it I think we all thought it was just okay. The hamster is hilarious, but the other characters are just annoying. Ben wasn't too into this one and Jenny and I don't blame him.