Movies

On Friday Joe & I decided to have a nice relaxing weekend and watch a bunch of movies. We've never really done that before, and the idea of it was intriguing. It was cold and snowy outside, but we'd be warm and cozy in our house, wearing our sweatpants and flannel pajama pants, watching movies. How decadent - I could hardly wait!

I had a list of 5 movies I wanted to rent. I knew that my local video store carried them because I'd looked them up on their website. However, I was prepared to be disappointed, since the entire DC area was hunkering down for a major snow storm. (See my previous post entitled "Snow".) To my surprise, I found 4 out of the 5 still had copies available to rent!

Of course, it could be because we are some of the few people left who still rent VHS movies. (Easy now, I heard that gasp...) We do own a DVD player, and we actually watched a few DVDs, but that was before the cable company made us get a cable box and before we switched out our TV. Ever since those two things we've not been able to get the DVD to work. I'm certain its just hooked up incorrectly, but we are both 'techno-challenged' so we'll need to depend on the kindness of our 'techno-enabled' friends to troubleshoot our spider's web of cords and cables.

Practically giddy from finding 4 out of my 5 choices, we decided to 'go for broke' and just keep picking up movies that interested us. For the first time ever, we rented 7 movies in a single visit to the video store. Here's a little synopsis of the movies, along with my personal thumbs up or thumbs down:

1. Touch of Pink - A delightful indy film about a gay Indian man and his struggles with family and coming out. Thank goodness he gets regular advice from his life-long imaginary friend Carey Grant!! I saw this film last Nov at the Rehoboth Beach Independant Film Festival and liked it so much I rented it so Joe & I could watch it together. Definite thumbs up.

2. Troy - This is the L - O - N - G story of the Greeks and the Trojans, including the kidnapping of Helen (of Troy) and the tricky Trojan horse. Brad Pitt plays Achilles unconvincingly, which is not a surprise, since Brad Pitt plays every role unconvincingly. Orlando Bloom does a good job as Hector, the Prince of Troy, and he's a real hottie. There are lots of men in short skirts, so if you're a leg man, you'll like it, but I really can't recommend this film since it is nearly 2 1/2 hours long. Normally I say 'the longer the better' (wink) but not this time.

3. Garden State - This is the story of a late-20s guy who returns to his hometown in NJ for his mother's funeral. He hasn't been back in 10 years. The story is almost interesting, but we found ourselves wanting more to happen. Unfortunately the movie ends just as it appears its about to get good. I really wouldn't feel right about recommeding this one either.

4. The Village - This is about a group of people who have chosen to live a simple life in an isolated area surrounded by a forest haunted by fearsome animals. They never enter the forest and the animals never enter their clearing. Only, life isn't quite as simple as it looks. This was a thriller that did not contain a lot of blood and gore, so I liked it. They gave me "thrill" without the "kill". Thumbs up.

5. Taking Lives - Angolina Jolie plays an FBI agent called in to investigate a suspected serial killer. After seemingly solving the case, she determines the real killer is still on the loose. Once again, a good thriller that doesn't have a lot of blood and gore. Thumbs up.

6. Napolean Dynamite - Okay, you have to be in the right (silly) mood to enjoy this film. Napolean Dynamite is a geeky, unpopular high school boy who lives with his 32 year old unemployed brother and Grandmother in Idaho, and are frequently visited by a hispanic man named Uncle Rico. There really isn't a lot of plot to this movie, but you basically go through a few days in Napolean's life and there are several things that will crack you up... if you're in the right mood. Thumbs up on this one... if you're in the right mood.

7. Open Water - This is based on a true story about a man and a woman accidentally left behind in the ocean by their scuba group. I didn't watch this film, but Joe did. I could tell from the preview I'd seen that this movie would just make me feel nervous the entire time. Who needs that when you're having a relaxing film festival at home in your pajamas?

During a break between films I decided to make home made chocolate chip pecan cookies. It is truly amazing how delicious flour, butter, sugar, chocolate and nuts can be! Since our next door neighbor boy kindly shoveled our sidewalks (we didn't ask him to) and his mother had fed our cat, Pouncer while we were in VT, we decided to share the cookies with them. That was the only time we left the house the entire weekend; to walk next door and give them the cookies.