Sunday, February 22, 2009

Movie Fun




In honor of the Oscars, I've decided to do movie reviews this week. To be clear these movies will never see the inside of an Oscar ballot, but that doesn't mean they aren't great fun.

This year all the Oscar movies seem so...bleak. I have been steadfastly avoiding them. Instead I've been spending my money seeing light hearted, sometimes groaningly awful movies that are pure fun.

I'll begin with INKHEART. I am a fan of Brandon Frasier and went to see this movie just so I could post his picture on my blog. I was a little nervous after seeing JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH in three D (Sad movie) but went anyway for an afternoon of popcorn and Brandon. Now in all fairness I have to say I never read the book. I didn't even know there was a book series-my apologies to the author. Inkheart is a cunning tale about human beings with the ability to bring book characters to life when reading out loud. Very cool idea for a writer. The movie is a kid's fantasy with great characters played by fantastic actors. I was surprised to have a wonderful time and would purchase the DVD. As a warning to parents- the Ash Monster is quite scary. I wouldn't let children under the age of 9 view the movie.




The next movie is HE'S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU. Again, I didn't read the book, although I knew of this one. From what I understand the movie doesn't follow the book very closely. It, too, had some wonderful actors- Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connley, Drew Barrymore, etc. Unfortunately the female characters stumble through disastrous personal relationships looking for men who will agree to
stay with them and build the lives they think they want. Meanwhile the men are merely looking for "hot" females to hook up with. Kind of makes human relationships look sad. Not a good date movie. See it with friends.




The final movie-CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC. Again, a book series I didn't read. (I am a sad, sad excuse for a book person, aren't I? Perhaps I should visit a bookstore-or the library. Sigh. I'm too busy writing them to read them.) This series popped up after Bridget Jones. Sadly this movie is about two years, too late. It no longer seems relevant. The heroine is not bright, and addicted to spending money she doesn't have-but according to the premise-as long as you're well dressed and vivacious you can stun the world, get the rich guy and succeed at the highest level. Read- wear Prada and the world will be at your feet. Ugh! It's supposed to be funny- in a Lucille Ball sort of way, but in today's economy where it takes upwards of two years for well qualified people to find work, and credit is nonexistent it reads wrong. I have no sympathy for the heroine and hated to see her succeed thinking someone, somewhere, will think this farce could actually happen. Such a waste of good talent.

Those are my movie reviews for this month. I'm off to the bookstore since I'm clearly in need of a good book. cheers!

11 comments:

Morgan Mandel said...

Moral of the stories - don't believe what you see. Just go to have a good time and dream that such things can happen, but know better.

Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com

L. Diane Wolfe said...

I confess I've not seen any of those yet, although I do want to see Inkheart.
And I thought Journey to the Center of the Earth was good compared to the third mummy movie!

L. Diane Wolfe
www.circleoffriendsbooks.blogspot.com
www.spunkonastick.net
www.thecircleoffriends.net

Nancy J. Parra said...

Oh, now I liked the third mummy movie- not as well as the first-but I did like it.

Did you see it with 3D glasses? I wonder if that makes a difference.

Pamala Knight said...

Thanks for the movie reviews, Nancy.

The Cornelia Funke series (Inkheart, Inkdeath, Inkspell and The Thief Lord) are excellent books geared towards the YA crowd but have something for everyone, I think. I'm glad to hear your review of the movie and that you enjoyed it.

I'm with you on the other two--probably will wait for them to come to cable television.

Martin Powell said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Martin Powell said...

Got to admit, I liked both JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH and the new MUMMY movie, as well.

Nancy, it's a shame you didn't see the film in 3D. It was very effective, even genuinely dazzling at times, with that added dimension. When Brenden spat into the sink it was uncannily gross from my perspective...!

Not great film-making, to be sure, but it isn't pretending to be. Often, I'd much rather watch something "fun" than a brilliantly artful drama that's going to depress me for a week.

(And I do think the Oscars are snobbish. I haven't watched them for years, and really don't care who wins...except for Heath Leger, of course).

Nancy J. Parra said...

Pamela, go see Inkheart if you can. But I would wait for cable on the others.

Martin, I LOVED Heath as the joker- Best Joker EVER!!! EVER!! Far better than Jack Nickelson.
Yeah, I'm a Batman fan. He deserved an Oscar-as far as I'm concerned it is not a pity Oscar. He earned it. Crazy!

Martin Powell said...

Nancy, I agree completely regarding Heath's portrayal of the Joker. I might even go so far as to say it's probably the best "monster" performance since Boris Karloff in BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN.

I recently had my first BATMAN story published and, although I wrote it before the release of THE DARK KNIGHT, I can't read my own Joker dialog without hearing Heath's voice in my head.

I hope he wins tonight. Wherever he is.

Jessica Nelson said...

Well, thanks for the review on Inkheart. I kind of wanted to see that too. And thanks for sharing about Journey to Center of Earth. I did want to see that, until I knew it was sad. LOL
No sad movies for me.

Nancy J. Parra said...

Hi Jessica,

I'm sorry, I didn't mean sad as in tearful...but sad as in cheesy, expected.

Hope that helps!

Bowman said...

I'll probably watch Inkheart. It isn't because the story amazes me. I just like Brendan Fraser.