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I thought the first Night at the Museum film was an overproduced, not very entertaining movie. So when I saw a link for the trailer for the upcoming Night at the Museum 2 I figured it would look just as stupid and overdone as the first one. And yes, there is some potential for this, but the trailer made me laugh.
I give Bill Hader credit. His General Custer catches my fancy.
This is what I get for not going to see Dark Knight at the theaters. I have to watch it on my TV. It looked okay, sounded loud, and any time a dog barks in the movie, my dog barks along with it.
Still, Heath Ledger did make a fascinating Joker. The entire cast was good. I just didn’t get into the film, but then again, I never gave it my full attention. It seemed all so grim. I was almost longing for the days of Adam West and lots of “Kerplows!” and “Kabooms!” — almost longing.
So, the lesson is that I really should see big-time action movies on the big screen. They all seem rather silly or unsatisfying on my TV. So what else is new?
It’s official. The holiday season is over. I’ve finished packing up all my Christmas decorations and hiding them under the bed until next year.
Tonight I’m watching The House Bunny, starring Anna Faris. It’s a very silly movie.
Now, being a silly movie is not a bad thing. Still, some movies are way too silly. The House Bunny skirts the line of being too silly, but it manages to be watchable. Too much showing off of pretty young women as it tries to preach the message of just being yourself and not trying too hard to be pretty. Scoff, scoff. At least Anna Faris is funny.
I wanted to enjoy this movie more than I did. The performances are wonderful, some scenes have great power, but it doesn’t make for a great movie.
Anyway, here’s my review.
It feels so good to make it home. I’ve put in a DVD of “Flight of the Conchords” and I’m sitting back and relaxing as I watch the show. Of course, it took some work when I made it home. There was tons of icy snow that I needed to shovel and scrape from my front stairs. That wasn’t too welcoming.
My Christmas holiday is over and I return to work tomorrow. I was off all last week — let’s just say that it’s going to be hard giving up my days off.
Anyway, I’m home and I’m relaxing. And yes, I’m loving it.
I’ve survived Christmas. Really, it’s easy to do when you don’t have children. I can play with my own toys and not have to worry about any kids fighting over theirs. See, easy, isn’t it?
The good post-Christmas news is that Mom won’t have to have another operation to put in a defibullator. She gets to come home on Monday. She’ll be staying at my sister’s place until next New Year’s Day, when I’ll come back down and care for her at her place. She’s able to get in and out of bed, walk with the aid of a walker, and do some things. She’ll need help at first, but it’s almost three weeks since her operation and she’s doing a lot more than her first week.
It’s hard to believe that 2008 is almost over. It’s been quite a year, hasn’t it?
I’m off to visit family for Christmas. We won’t have the usual Christmas Eve at my brother’s due to Mom being stuck in a health care facility (she’s getting over an infection before they install a defibillator on Monday). Still, some family are gathering tonight.
I also have a play to go to. There’s nothing like a church Christmas pageant with a niece and a nephew having lines. Even better, I’m bringing one of my great-nieces who came to Flagstaff. Catherine will drive down to Gilbert (Phoenix suburb) with me and have time to play with her cousin Jamie until we head to church.
It should be the normal stressful Christmas Eve day. My sister is co-director of the play, so she’ll be in a dither before the show. I’ll be rushing around to try and get a last minute gift, plus visit my mom. The kids will act in that day-before-Christmas way. Should be fun.
For the rest of you, may your stress be minimum, may your family be fun, and may all of you stay safe and healthy. Merry Christmas!
Four Christmases is just one of those tired Christmas movies that tries hard for laughs, but often ends up irritating. Here’s my review.
My niece, Lisa, and her family came over this afternoon for dinner. I roasted a chicken (see recipe here) and veggies, made a salad, and had little Allison help me fix an apple crisp for dessert while the rest of the family watched Wall-E on DVD. Lisa even got some work done — she needed to complete some grading for an online class she is teaching.
After Wall-E we watched the shorts that were on the DVD. “Burn-E” and “Presto” are cute and funny. After that, we put in the Wallace and Grommit shorts, “A Grand Day Out” and “The Wrong Trousers.” The kids had never seen the Wallace and Grommit shorts and found them interesting.
The real fun is watching them all react to the snow. From southern California, they learned that it is necessary to sometimes scrape snow and ice off your car before driving. Ha! Welcome to my world. At least they’re enjoying their Christmas vacation more than they ever expected.
Of all DVDs to review, I reviewed an old fave: Animal House. It’s a silly movie, but it had such an impact on us old-timers growing up in the 1970s. It was a funny, rude, and quite naughty movie, directed at the people who were also watching shows like “Saturday Night Live” (in the glory days of John Belushi, Gilda Radner, and Chevy Chase).
Animal House surprised the studios with its unexpected success. It also started all kinds of trends — toga parties anyone?
Here’s my review of the 30th anniversary edition (man, I’m getting old) DVD.
Aaah, the joy of puttering around the house on a vacation day. It doesn’t get any better than this. I’ve a cup of coffee and have done some minor chores, and really have nothing much to do than start on a some home-made bread I’m making for a family lunch.
The sledding yesterday was successful, plus we found a playground for five-year old Allison to play on. She’s never played on a swing or the monkey bars with a foot of snow on the ground before. Pretty cool…in so many ways.
Well, back to puttering. I don’t have to go to work and it’s a good day.
As I mentioned in my post about some of the good holiday freebies, I picked up lots of gifts in Second Life at Ohana Isle and at Solange. I really loved the holiday boots Solange handed out:
I found them especially cute with two poses I whipped up. I also got a freebie Christmas gift at Artilleri’s. It’s the black, short-sleeved shirt with the red stripe (the sash was something I already had — from Persona, I think):
I need to get back into Second Life and gather more goodies. There’s some nice stuff available to prance around in.
I just got back from dinner with my niece and her family. My two great-nieces find real snow on the ground most fascinating. They’re loving it. From southern California, they’re not used to snow.
Tomorrow we go sledding. The sun will be up and the two girls should find it all a blast (fingers crossed). I’m really looking forward to the outing myself.
Tonight I’m relaxing with by putting one of my annual Christmas films in the DVD player. Last night was About a Boy. Tonight it’s Die Hard. Hey, there are plenty of Christmas references in it.
My cold seems to be winding down. I have energy and enthusiasm about life again. My mom is still in the hospital due to an infection, but they have her walking, which is a very good thing.
My niece is about to hit town with her husband and two little girls. Yay! I get to play aunt at two different levels. Aunt to my niece who hopes to enjoy Flagstaff, and great-aunt to my great-nieces (great is the operative word here).
Lisa was hoping there might be some snow on this Christmas vacation and I kept pooh-poohing that hope. It never snows when you want it to. Yeah, right. I have over a foot of snow out there. There’s even more planned for Monday night! She and the kids will get their snow.
Tomorrow we’ll go sledding. I picked up a couple of cheapie plastic sleds. I just hope I can tour guide the sledding locations well enough. I’ve not really taken advantage of snow in that way. Silly really, as I’ve lived in Flagstaff over 15 years now. You think I’d go sledding sometime, wouldn’t you?
So, feeling good overall. You know, as it should be.
