Tonight I watched a movie that people have been saying they loved for a long time and I just hadn’t gotten around to watching.

There was a reason I hadn’t watched it when it came out or when it would come on TV when I had cable, not sure what it was, but I just didn’t want to watch it. So, today, I sucked it up and decided to watch it.

It was rough going in the beginning, it moved really slowly. A lot of it reminded me of HouseSitter, a movie Steve Martin did with Goldie Hawn in 1992, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104452/, successful man, con artist woman who moved into his house and infiltrates his life and his family.

Same concept, just with Queen Latifah and during the course of the movie, while trying to hide her from everyone he knows, hilarity ensues. In addition, as he loosens up, starts to really enjoy life and looks at her in a new light, she starts to change and grow as a person and become, more refined in a way, without giving up who she really is on the inside.

In the end, they help each other, her mostly with his business and realize his dreams and becomes a success in every way and she finds out that she is worth more than she realized, they also find love, it may be with each other or with someone else, but someone who values them.

At the end, I realized that I had laughed and overall it was cute, there was a good message, but I don’t feel like I missed anything by not seeing it sooner.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0305669/?ref_=sr_1

Ok, I need to give you more than just “Go See It!”

We’re the Millers is about a pot dealer who hires a family to smuggle a huge shipment of weed from Mexico into the U.S. (not a spoiler, just the description).

The movie stars Jason Sudekis as David, the dealer, Jennifer Anniston as Rose, the stripper he hires to be his wife, she actually lives in his apartment building. Emma Roberts is Casey, the homeless girl who becomes the “daughter”, the last member of the family is Kenny, the teenager who lives in the same apartment building as Dave, played by Will Poulter. There is a great supporting cast to round out the movie.

David rents an RV to take across the boarder, a great cover…a family traveling across country in an RV on a family vacation.
I’m sure you’re thinking, what a great idea, nothing could go wrong and you’d be so right…wrong!.

There were some predictable laughs, how could there not be? some surprises, some OMGs! There were even lessons learned, personal growth and self discovery, imagine that!

For those of you with sensitive ears, there was a lot ‘o cussin’, at least one graphic image, just want to warn you, but if you can get past that, you’re golden.

One of the best parts..the bloopers right after the movie and before the credits, they were great!

All in all, the theater was packed, our assigned seats were in the very first row, a lot of laughter, a lot of cheering and a few “huh”!

Know where I live? Guess where the opening of the movie is based? C’mon, put 2 and 2 together…pot dealer, legal…yupper, Denver, how cool was that to be at a movie that starts in Denver watching it in a theater outside of Denver! Everyone in the theater was stoked by that tidbit!

Go see this movie, it was too funny!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1723121/

I don’t care what DCM says,,this is one of my all time favorite movies (he says I say that about almost every movie!).

What a cast! I can’t even imagine anyone else in those roles. Cher truly earned her Oscar for this role, wow. Do you remember what she was wearing when she won? Nicholas Cage was too much in this tortured role, the brother of Cher’s new fiancé, by new, I mean one day.

Victor Garber is her philandering father (I can’t be giving any spoilers, this movie came out in 1987!), Olympia Dukakis as her mother, and she deserved her statue for this performance. Danny Aiello was great as the bumbling fiancé.

At the heart of the movie, there is a love story, settling, opera, passion, evolving, la Luna, family, food, food and more food. And the one liners, oh my word! They’re stick with you that you might still be quoting them today. “You got a love bite on your neck!” “Your life’s going down the toilet!”

I still remember going to see this movie with my parents and…even though I have it on VHS! and DVD, when it comes on TV, I still feel compelled to watch. Don’t you?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093565/?ref_=sr_1

You know how there are certain movies that you can watch over and over again? For me and almost anyone I know that has seen Sliding Doors feels that this is one of those movies.

(I just finished watching it, if you guessed that’s why I’m writing this post)

Sliding Doors is a movie of “what ifs”, which is a game everyone has played with themselves at least once or a thousand times in their lives. “What if” I hadn’t gone to the club that night, “what if” I had taken a left turn instead of a right.

The movie takes “what if” to a whole new level; it plays the movie with both scenarios happening simultaneously. Helen, played quite brilliantly by Gwyneth Paltrow (I say brilliantly because it takes place in London and brilliant is a smashing word they use, which I love, which leads me to my next thought, with all the amazing or brilliant talent there is in the UK, why did they pick an American access for the lead? Not that she wasn’t, as I said, brilliant. There was one other American, Jeanne Tripplethorne, but she played an American, hmmm).

Helen is sacked from her job (ok, slight spoiler alert) and her story or stories hinge(s) on whether or not she catches the train home, we see what happens when she does and when she doesn’t. This is also where the real story begins. It also leads to the thought or question, if something is meant to be, will it or should it?

We see the parallel lives which could very well happen, whether or not certain events occurred after the train. And we also wonder if the people we meet, would we still meet them if we had gone that way?

I like to think, for somethings…If it’s is meant to be, it will be.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120148/?ref_=sr_1

As promised, my review of The Wolverine that we went to see last night.

Tonight, DCM and I went to see The Wolverine, the next installment in the X-Men/Wolverine series.

The story line…Logan is summoned to Japan by someone from his past, (not a spoiler alert, it’s in the previews) who wants to thank him for saving his life, to say goodbye and who offers him the opportunity to become mortal.

We first find Logan living in a makeshift shelter in the mountains, when Yukio found him and takes him to Japan to meet the man he saved. There he meets Mariko, the master’s granddaughter, can you feel the sparks? And the doctor helping Master Yashida. Shortly after Logan gets there, Master Yashida dies and at the funeral is where all the action starts and I’m not really sure it ever stops.

The movie has it all; girl comes looking for boy, they fly to Japan. Boy cleans up, yum, and meets master, he says thank you and I can take all your worries away. Master dies and at the funeral, boy sees things that make him suspicious and saves other girls life. This goes on for most of the movie, Logan saving Mariko.

There are ninjas, a viper mutant, a clairvoyant, an Asian wanna be Hawkeye mobsters, dirty monks, corrupt politicians, swords and a samurai, a REALLY BIG samurai, could you want for anything else? Don’t forget the looks and great one liners, so Logan.

The movie has a lot of movement and action, may have lasted a skosh too long, but that’s ok, it was The Wolverine/ Hugh Jackman, it’s ok. It was hard to see Logan slow down and get injured, but that was in the script (and the previews), it’s also easy to wonder if he has stock in the white tank top business, but that’s Logan…jeans, white tank top, brown coat with fur trim.

As you’re watching, there are a few times you say to yourself, “really?”, and of course, one time I said that, DCM said, there is this, that, this, that in the movie and you’re bothered by that? but those are the things we love about movies. There are some great driving scenes, I said to DCM, “I want to drive that fast”, he said “You do”, “yes, but I don’t want to get caught!” ( by the way…July 20,2014 if I am a very good and careful driver and don’t get any tickets, all points will come off my driving record! Go me!)

The end of the movie, I questioned a little, but the very end, I really questioned, DCM and I looked at each other and said, huh? Really? It was like bam, bam, bam, flatline. I’ll let you tell me what you thought about the very end of the movie (before the credits).

Now, since its a Marvel movie, you know you have to stay through the credits, right? Be sure you stay.

Ok, now that I’ve told you about the movie, the biggest “What?” Stan Lee was not in the movie? Ok, kids, earmuffs… WTF? He was an executive producer on the film, but, in his past Marvel movies, he takes a page from Alfred Hitchcock’s playbook, he appears somewhere in the movie, didn’t happen in this one, I was left feeling bereft and adrift. Not to worry friends, I’m still going to add this movie to the collection!

Be on the lookout for a future post, I’m going to show you all the places that Stan Lee makes guest appearances. I’m looking forward to that one!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1430132/?ref_=sr_1q

Wee ooh wee ooh wee ooh (if you saw the movie, that will be really funny!)

I loved the original Despicable Me and I had a feeling that I would love this movie as well. The first movie had a happy ending, bottom line, family is everyone, this movie had a happy ending as well, go figure and to quote Dr. Nefario, “You can build a rocket, steal the moon, rob a bank, but you don’t mess with my family!”

In this movie, Gru was retired from the villain business, he was devoted to his girls, a dedicated dad, you see that right from the start. The girls want him to be happy, to “get out there” and date, not one of Gru’s strong points. It’s really cute how they go about trying to get him on a dating site.

Gru is recruited by the AVL, the Anti Violence League to help save the world, the girls are so excited! Along with that recruitment, comes a partner, Lucy, who is a great challenge to Gru, in that she matches him in a bit of deviousness and enthusiasm. Can you guess what happens?

There were a lot of laughs, hard not to, adventures, drama, no nail biting, jams and jellies, minions, teenage love, angst and heartache, daughters who dote on Gru heights, submarines, a cheesy music video by the minions, Agnes who wants to make toast, rockets with dynamite and a shark attached heading for a volcano, what could be better.

Ok, what’s with the shark? Is that like the three sea shells in Demolition Man?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1690953/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Last night we went to see Red 2 and we loved it.

My dad was right, it’s even funnier if you’ve seen the first one, but you didn’t need to see it to enjoy this one. I know, you’re shocked, I went to a movie and didn’t blog about it the same night! I promised to tell you about the Firefly 5k yesterday and I did that and here we are.

DCM and I were very excited about Red 2, we’ve been waiting for it, almost as soon as the first one ended, so excited when we found out it was in the works!

The cast was incredible, Bruce Willis, John Malcovich, Mary Louise Parker, Helen Mirren and Brian Cox were all back la la la LOVE Helen Mirren in this role! Missed Morgan Freeman. There were some new additions that made the movie: Catherine Zeta Jones, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Byung-hun Lee, (As soon as i saw him, I immediately said I need to call SDL!) and David Thewlis, to name a few.

There were car chases, intrigue, theft, escape, firepower, things blowing up, guns, planes, bombs, shootings, fighting, knives, bad one liners, good dialog, bad dialog with a little love and romance thrown in, could you ask for more?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1821694/?ref_=sr_1

Today was a double wonderful whammy!

I got to see family and a great movie! It worked out perfectly that my meetings go moved to Wednesday-Thursday and I changed flights to Friday so I had an extra night in Atlanta and LK and two of the girls were available!

We were trying to figure out where to go dinner and then…lightbulb! Dinner and a movie! So, we met at Studio Movie Grill to go see Turbo! For those of you not in the know…Studio Movie Grill is a great place you can have dinner and watch a movie, what a novel concept!

Turbo was great! I don’t care who you are, how old or young you are, go see this! I loved it! It’s a little “Little Engine that Could”…if you believe it and you believe in yourself and that it is in you and you can do it, you can do it! Do not give up on your dreams, no matter what anyone else says or how they try to discourage you. When you believe in yourself, it’s catching, others will see in you even something that you don’t and will follow you, help you rise and realize your dream!

There will also be people who try to stop you, tell you your dreams are not good, stupid even, why don’t you just stay where it’s safe, don’t listen to them! Eventually, they will see how you shine and believe in yourself and don’t give up and then at that moment when it seems all hope is lost, there they are to lift you up!

Turbo is about a snail who dreams of more than the life/existence he has, he wants to be fast! He loves to watch car racing on TV! And one day, gets that dream! (Not a spoiler alert) he ends up in a street racing car and gets hit with some Nitro! Guess what happens!

His brother, Chet, doesn’t want anything to do with any of this, the crazy talk, the dreams, none of it. He wants his brother to come home and be an ordinary garden snail.

They end up in a run down shopping center and meet Tito and his older bother, Angelo. Interestingly enough, Angelo just wants Tito to give up his crazy dreams and work with him making tacos. See any correlations?

In the end, Turbo has a shot at the Indy 500, but not without the help of his friends…and eventually…. you guessed it, his brother.

There were some happy times, sad times, scary times, nail biting times, intense times and exciting times! The movie was animated, but you know it was written for adults.

Bottom line? Believe in yourself and don’t give up on your dreams, your friends and family with either support you or not, but you only have to believe in yourself and the rest will fall into place.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1860353/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

I finally watched Pitch Perfect and I really liked it!

I have been wanting to see it and it came on Xfinity On Demand, so I checked it out tonight. If you’ve seen it, you’ll understand the irony of me eating dinner as the movie started, specifically I was eating tomato bisque!

I don’t know if I liked it because I liked to watch Glee for a while and the concept was similar or I liked the cast or I liked the music or maybe a combination of all three.

It was the time old story of a bunch of misfits coming together; freshman new at college, the senior members of the group having been disgraced at last years competition, needing almost all new members for the group set in their old ways thinking that’s the best. In comes new talent, fresh ideas, meeting resistance and finally coming together realizing they need each other.

In addition, there is competition at the school with the all boy acapella group, they have lost count of how many times they have won the national competition, so they’re a bit, lets say, full of themselves.

Through all of that, you have the not so distant themes: There is a love story, parent/child turmoil, standing up and standing out, it’s ok to get nervous, speak your mind and be yourself, awe…

I really liked the music, what they were signing and what was part of the soundtrack, this I liked better than Glee, probably because I knew more of the music in the movie than Glee, that helped.

All in all, I enjoyed it and can see watching it again.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1981677/?ref_=sr_1