Winter Break Movie Fun - Day Five - Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

DH went with Lady K and me to the movies today. The only movie he's been interested in seeing over the holidays has been Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, so we waited until he told us when he wanted to go. He said he had enough hours this week to come home early and we could make the 4:10 show. Yippee!
So very glad he could go with us, we don't get to see movies together very often. He's not a fan of getting up early like Lady K and I to make the first show of the day. Any later and the theater can get crowded.
We lucked out tonight and it was quite manageable and I had two passes from a previous trip to the show that led to a bunch of shuffling from one theater to another due to a scheduling mixup. Only had to pay for Lady K this time...bonus.

That luck only enhanced the enjoyment of the fab movie that is the sequel to the superb Sherlock Holmes of a couple of years ago.

From imdb.com
Storyline
Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey, Jr.) and his longtime trusted associate, Doctor Watson (Jude Law), take on their arch-nemesis, Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris), with the help of Holmes's older brother Mycroft Holmes (Stephen Fry) and a gypsy named Sim (Noomi Rapace).Written by ABID NAZIR

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The story is well told with superb action and humor. I'd love to go see it again tomorrow if we had the time. I can't do too much in reviewing without feeling like I'd be giving up some spoilers. The disguises and dialogue are perfection and I'll leave it at that.

Highly enjoyable and definitely recommendable. Go see it!

Winter Break Movie Fun - Day Three - Arthur Christmas

Day three brings us to 'Arthur Christmas', a very cute, rather funny holiday animated movie. It's a different take on the Santa Claus story where the Santa mantle is handed down father to son when the father retires. The current Santa, Malcolm, is on his 70th mission and everyone, especially his oldest son, Steve (as perfectly pompously voiced by Hugh Laurie), thinks this is the year Santa will retire and hand over the reigns of the sleigh. And not just any sleigh. This is the S-1, a HUGE sort of spaceship with plenty of elves on board to help deliver the presents in a timely, sort of military precision, fashion.

This year, the unthinkable happens. One child is missed and the only one who seems to be concerned about it is Steve, Santa's youngest son. Steve works in the mailroom, answering the letters to Santa. Steve has a big heart, but bigger feet. He's a bit clumsy and tends to get in the way, but he knows he needs to do something to get that last gift out to the little girl in England. She believes in Santa and Steve wants her to continue believing in the magic.

The rest of the movie is the mission to get the gift delivered and it's hilariously played out with three generations of Santa's and a whole lot of elves.

We can both definitely recommend this one to those with kids and those who are kids at heart.

Winter Break Movie Fun - Day Two - We Bought a Zoo

Day two of the Winter Break Movie Fun was my choice, "We Bought a Zoo". It is based on a true story and stars Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church and is directed by Cameron Crowe, so I went in knowing it would be good. And I was right (I like being right). It was highly enjoyable for both Lady K and myself.
Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) is coping the best he can as a single father of two after his wife succumbs to cancer. She's been gone for six months and the oldest child has become a surly teen and the youngest is the sweetest and doing her best to help her sad father. Benjamin has always been a self-admitted adventure junkee and newspaper writer. The newspaper biz is going under and his son has messed up one too many times and is expelled after his third strike.
Benjamin knows the family needs a change of scenery and goes in search of a new home. He finds the perfect house with eighteen acres attached. That eighteen acres is necessary since it's a zoo.
Benjamin sees an opportunity to begin a new life and have a new adventure. The zoo is on its last legs and is in danger of being closed with all of the animals being disposed of.
Benjamin thinks otherwise and buys the place against family's advice.

The movie is about family and doing the right thing even against all odds. A family movie with something for everyone. I liked that it wasn't just parents and kids at the movie when we went this morning. There were couples, young and old as well as extended families of grandparents bringing their kids and grandkids.

I'd go see this again and will definitely get it on DVD.

Winter Break Movie Fun - Day One - Alvin & The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked

Lady K and I are on day one of our turn at winter break. One of the nice things about winter break timeframe are the movies that get released....family movies especially. Lady K and I plan to see one movie a day at the show, doing out part to support AMC and popcorn growers.

Lady K has been wanting to see this third in the Alvin and the Chipmunks series of flicks for the longest time. The only reason I'd watch these is because of having an 8-year-old who loves the Chipmunks and Chippettes and tunes to dance to.

A reasonably decent storyline with cute catchphrases throughout. Even a mention of the honeybadger is in there, which made me grin.

The Chips and Dave are on a cruise ship destined for the International Music Awards. Alvin causes trouble resulting in the gang ending up on a desert island. Plenty of bits borrowed from other movies like 'Castaway' and 'Goonies'.

Then there are the tunes by Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, The Go-Go's done by the Chipmunks and Chippettes....catchy...

Tomorrow will be my choice, 'We Bought a Zoo'.

Movie review: Crazy Stupid Love

Went to see Crazy Stupid Love this morning. SUCH a sweet funny wee bit sad movie! I laughed so hard, had tears in my eyes, and smiled a lot. I can highly recommend this romantic comedy as a see it by yourself, with your buds or your date. My favorite scene. But it might have been this one.....

Rango

Lady K and I just back from seeing the best movie! We both went in knowing Rango would be good, but it was better than good. It was AWESOME! Perfect voices for each character, Johnny Depp is Rango, Timothy Olyphant is Spirit of the West, Bill Nighy is Rattlesnake Jake, there's Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Alfred Molina....
The story is classic Western with the great edge of critters telling the story. And Rango has his own mariachi band of owls.
I'd go back to see it tomorrow, but will wait til Spring Break since I have to go to work...dadgum work..... Definite addition to the collection when it comes out on DVD.

Gnomeo and Juliet review

What's not to enjoy with a combination of tunes by Elton John, a story based on Bill Shakespeare, and garden gnomes? Lady K and I saw it this morning in non-3D and don't feel like we missed a thing by seeing it in 2D.
Highly enjoyable and can't wait til it comes out on DVD to add to the collection.

How To Train Your Dragon

Lady K and I decided to forego the cha-ching of seeing How To Train Your Dragon in 3D or 3D IMAX and went to see it in good, old-fashioned 2D this morning at the first showing of the day at 0900. We had to drive to the theater where we used to go, the Promenade 24, where we had the choice of the three types. Got in and able to see it in a HEWGAH theater with about 30 other people. I love having Lady K as my movie going buddy. She's willing to get up and go at the crack of dawn if needs be, especially if popcorn and a good movie are in the offing.
Anyway, back to the movie...this was so much fun! Yes, it's Vikings with Scottish and American accents versus multi-hued dragons. I loved it and Lady K was ethralled. Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel) is the son of the island's Viking king, Stoick (voiced by dreamy Gerard Butler, enough of a reason to see this movie). Hiccup is a bit of a disappointment to his father, he's not very big or strong like a good Viking.
Two things happen after the latest dragon attack, Hiccup gets chosen to join dragon hunter training and finds the dragon he brought down via one of his inventions.
The story goes from there and I can't go into more without spoiling it should you decide to go. And both Lady K and I say you should. It's a good story, made us both laugh and cheer, the animation is wonderful.
One of my other favorite characters is the dragon hunter trainer and Hiccup's mentor, Gobber, voiced by Craig Ferguson who I adore. America Ferrera voices the main female characters, Astrid. She's the trainee vying for the position of dragon hunter opposite Hiccup and it's fun watching the two of them together.
Can't wait for this to come out in DVD so DH can see it too. And Lady K and I can watch it over and over.

The Princess and the Frog

Lady K and I went to see this WONDERFUL movie this morning! I highly recommend this movie. It has a great score, fun dialogue and a superb message to deliver. The voices for the characters were wonderfully chosen and Randy Newman's music is the best I've heard in a long while. I usually cringe at musical movies, but this one is dance in your chair fun. I could easily see this one at the show again and we will definitely get this on DVD when it comes out.

Ponyo

Lady K and I saw this today. It is a wonderful movie! A great story, wonderful animation, and fab voices for the characters (Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett, Lily Tomlin...)

My only iffy bit was the movie theater that has 24 theaters to host a flick, chose the smallest one for this newly released children's movie on a Friday the week before school starts.....the place was puh-hacked! Thankfully it was all sweet mommies, grandmothers and their assorted younguns, so we all got along and sat together, made room for each other and we all enjoyed ourselves.

Lady K and I both give this one high marks..say...five teddybears!

WALL - E , the Movie

Lady K and I saw this beautifully done movie this morning. We've been anxiously waiting to see it for a very long time and were rewarded for the wait. WALL-E stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifters -- Earth Class and he is basically the last of his kind on Earth. Only other inhabitants are cockroaches, go figure. Humans have left Earth on a hewgah 'Loveboat' style space ship (Lido deck and all) with the promise that they will come back to recolonize. These are made by the CEO of Buy & Large (love this!) who also appears to be a President type leader, too. Robots have taken over everything to do with anything, leaving humans to be slothlike riding in these moving recliners with vid screens in front of their faces at all times.

WALL-E takes his job on Earth seriously, while collecting souvenirs for his hut. He meets another robot, EVE, a very sleek search robot, when she is dropped off by a ship to complete her directive, looking for life forms (preferably green). She gets retrieved after finding said directive and WALL-E follows.

WALL-E goes about inadvertantly changing lives and opening eyes for both the humans and the robots......and, one hopes, the audience. It's a 'green' message without being preachy.

Lady K and I both give WALL-E five beans!!!

Must See: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

You must absolutely go see this super addition to the Indiana Jones series. Raiders of the Lost Ark will remain my favorite, but this one is a very close second. I think I am going back on my own to watch it and catch the parts I missed due to my bathroom breaks, Lady K's bathroom breaks when she swore she didn't have to go when she went with me and the inevitable popcorn fetchin'. A lot of fab adventure, good choices in actors matching the characters, superb bad guys, wonderful good guys, yummy male co-leads. And if I said any more, then you wouldn't have to go see the movie. SO GO SEE THE MOVIE!!!