Really liked it!

It was an interesting concept, the way they told the story of The Lone Ranger and Tonto, how they met, worked together, how the Lone Ranger became…The Lone Ranger.

There were plot twists and turns, laughter, family, honor, learning, trust, guns, bow & arrows, the mask, Silver and revenge. What more could you want?

Just to warn you, there are a few very violent scenes, with the main villain and between the Calvary and the Indians, some of it made me uncomfortable, a few tears were shed.

There were some funny moments, good one liners, Johnny Depp was great as Tonto, just like a lot of other roles, he nailed it, he was funny, serious, witty, confusing and respectful to the role.

Johnny Depp, lately, seems to think about the roles he takes and takes his time creating the character to make it and the movie meaningful, give real tribute to who he is portraying and I liked that.

Helena Bonham Carter was fun as Red, she was a tough old west broad who ran a pub and her girls, and took nothing from nobody! Armie Hammer was great as The Lone Ranger, steadfast, true, strong, goofy, sometimes tortured in choosing right from wrong. Tom Wilkinson was endearing and surprising and it took me until almost the end of the movie to recognize William Fitcher as the very bad bad guy!

Silver was great! I don’t know the real name of the horse, but s/he was great! Funny, intuitive, gentle, smart and steadfast, what more could you want. Oh, and very limber and had great balance!

As soon as I heard the music, I knew it was composed by Hans Zimmer, it had remnants of the music from Sherlock Holmes. We were waiting, waiting and finally heard it towards the end of the movie, the Lone Rangers theme! It was awesome, the William Tell Overture is such an iconic piece of music and movie history. (But…I kept hearing Anita Renfroe singing “The Mom Song”
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YYukEAmoMCQ). When you hear the drums and the da, duh, da, you know what’s coming and it was that iconic moment! And anyone who had grown up watching or listening to the Lone Ranger on TV or radio, got goose bumps and very excited! I was glad no one was sitting in front of me, because I was keeping time on the seat!

All in all, I think it was a good movie, told a good story and was a long time coming.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1210819/?ref_=hm_ad_t1

Go see it! Is that enough of a review?

Our cheeks and side hurt so much from laughing!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2404463/

Last night we saw Monsters University and all I can say is bravo!

We tried to go on Friday night but it was sold out, all the way through 10pm! We thought we might try again Saturday, the 9:30pm show was sold out so we leisurely walked to the movies and bought tickets for the 10pm show, only 2 seats left!

Several people posted on Facebook…who’s more excited, me or my kid? I know we were! You could tell you were at a kids movie, just by the previews.

The story takes you back to the beginning, when Mike was a little kid and dreamed of going to Monsters University and majoring in scaring. Then we’re at MU and we meet Sully, not such a nice monster..we find out why Randall dislikes them so much and just what Mike is made of.

The cast was great, props to Helen Mirren for playing Dean Hardscrabble, she was cool and really creepy all at the same time! John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Steve Buscemi, Julia Sweeny, Dave Foley, Nathan Fillion, Sean Hayes, John Ratzenberger (did you know that he is the only actor to be in every single Disney Pixar movie? Look it up!), Alfred Molina, Joel Murray, just to name a few…

The funny thing is, you have to remember, this movie goes back in time when they thought scaring was the only way to get the energy needed, remember at the end of Monsters Inc? So, we get to see where they all started.

While you’re watching, you can probably find a little bit of yourself somewhere in the movie. So many lessons to be learned, be nice and play well with others, yes, that’s a good one. Trust in others, but mostly..

you have to believe in yourself, be true to who you are and you can accomplish great things. Words to live by.

Tonight DCM and I saw Man of Steel.

There was good and less than good, not bad, just less than good. I’m a big kid in case you didn’t notice, as evident by my love of all the marvel movies, Muppet movies, animated movies and I love super hero movies. And when it comes to remakes, I’m very skeptical.

I didn’t see Superman Returns, 2006, didn’t want to, I’m a purist, I am a Christopher Reeves fan, even George Reeves, Superman on TV back in the 50’s.

Henry Cavill was pretty good as Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman, that’s a lot of pressure for one person! How is it that no one doesn’t know he’s Superman? He had a lot of chest hair, ick and how did he shave his face? Nothing can cut the man of steel! I liked the new costume, what a bright smile! but very disappointed in one serious thing…where was the Superman curl? That was one of the things that made him super and super cute!

Amy Adams was Lois Lane, she was kind of a bad a$$, the “epitome of the do or die female”
she said “I’m only at peace when I’m wearing a flak jacket”! I really liked her character, she knew when to back off and when she could help.

Russell Crowe played Jor-El, Kal-El’s father. He was strong, intelligent, doting and a fighter. You see him from time to time in the movie.

There were some great supporting cast members.
Diane Lane and Kevin Costner played Clark’s parents, both very good, kind, caring, understanding and supportive. Laurence Fishburn was the editor of The Daily Planet, Perry White, he was firm, understanding, tried to be tough. Christopher Melonie was Colonel Hardy, turned out to be a really good guy.

One of the cool things about the movie is that there was some a lot of back story which helped fill in some blanks, explain a few things. And the technology, wicked cool!

All I all, I enjoyed the movie, it was a little too long, there was a fight scene towards the end that probably didn’t need to be as long, but it didn’t detract too much from the movie. If you’re thinking about seeing it, I say go for it!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0770828/?ref_=sr_1

I watched “What’s Your Number?” And I liked it.

I missed the first 5 minutes or so, when the main character loses her job, not a spoiler alert. The story is about Ally Darling, isn’t that a great name? Her sister is Daisy Darling, too…those names are…yeah, darling.

Daisy is getting married and Ally is beginning to question her life, where it’s going, who is she going to meet and shouldn’t she be at that stage, settling down? She has found an article talking about the number of people you sleep with and what the average is.

During a drunken binge, with friends, she decides she is a) not going to sleep with anyone else, and when she does, that’s who she’s going to marry and b)she is going to track down the men that she dated, maybe one of them is the one, the one that got away. One of the inspirations is her sister, who is marrying the boy she dated in high school.

She has a neighbor, 6B, as she refers to him, Chris Evans to me (Captain America to you) agrees to help her track down the guys in return for letting him hide out in her apartment on occasion.

The movie is charming and fun and predictable at times, sad at times, but overall a good time.

I’ve told you about Chris Evans, charming, cute, sweet, a cad at times, but all around decent guy. Anna Feris is Ally and she is funny, sweet, goofy and just when you think she’s going to do something stupid or bad, sometimes an “I Love Lucy” moment, she pulls through. She is a great big sister and takes charge when she needs to. Normally, I find Anna Feris to be annoying, well most of the characters she plays. I loved her in The House Bunny! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0852713/?ref_=sr_1

Ari Graynor plays Daisy, Ally’s younger sister. I loved her in Whip It and she was such a different character in Nick & Nora’s Infinite Playlist. In this movie, I changed my opinion from the start, I thought she was going to be uptight, but she was a great sister, sweet, supportive and a little space, as she was getting married, but always there for her sister.

Blythe Danner played their mother, a woman who is very proper, very wealthy and although she loves her daughters and wants the best for them, she thinks marrying (wealthy,good social standing) well is what will make them happy.

Ed Begley Jr plays their dad, a small role, but an important one. The parents don’t get along, if one is going to be at the wedding, the other won’t go…fun, huh?

There were a few other actors that I knew in small supporting roles and it was fun to se them.

All in all, a fun and charming movie, I recommend it highly. Yes, it’s a chick flick and I’m a chick, so therefore, a good fit, but fun even for the guys out there, promise!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0770703/

Tonight we went to see Fast & Furious 6. I liked it!

I’ve only seen one Fast & Furious movie before this, number 5 (I almost typed, the last one!). I liked it, even though I was promised that Vin Diesel and The Rock would take off their shirts and fight, that did not happen.

There was action, adventure, gun play, shoot outs, things blowing up, choppers, airplanes, tanks, bad dialog, some bad acting, no intrigue, but as always, there was some beautiful cars and some damn fine driving! Wait, I think I sense a theme! The theme/message of the movie? The code they live by…Family.

So, I already told you about The Rock, beefy and fit as ever and ginormous, then there was Vin Diesel, calculated and in charge. Paul Walker was Brian, sweet and charming, but a serious badass when push came to shove or he was pushed or shoved! Ludicrous is the hacker and a brain,
Tyrese Gibson can drive, but is not the brightest bulb in the pack! Sung Kang makes me think of SDL and Michelle Rodriguez, I believe is typecast, as a strong, tough, smart mouth, take no crap type of woman, someone you would want in your corner for a fight.

I will say this, there was a chick fight and it was good, an honest to goodness fight, not a “girl fight”. There were some stunts that you’re thinking, “really? They went there? They did that?” I wondered who some of this dialog was written for, DCM said a 16 year old boy, good point!

I will say, if you drink a one liter bottle of water, just when the action gets heavy, you’re going to have to go, and there was a lot left to the movie. There were a few deaths of the good guys, very sad, just so you know, they don’t happen until close to the end.

All in all, a good action flick, don’t expect Oscar winning material, but if you want car chases, cool cars, fights and action, this is a good choice.

Not a spoiler alert, but… You must stay after the final scene, before the credits, very important!

The were some great previews we saw!
Red 2, looks fantastic! Bruce Willis, John Malcovich, Helen Mirren, Mary Louise Parker all return, there are some new players: Sir Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta Jones. There is a hit out on Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren is one of the ones contracted to kill him and they used to be on the same team, frivolity ensues! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1821694/?ref_=sr_1

Did you see Red? (Retired, Extremely Dangerous) I highly recommend it!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1245526/

Mary Louise Parker is in another movie, R.I.P.D. Rest In Peace Department. Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges play detectives that have passed on and come back to earth to collect the departed who are trying to stay above ground,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0790736/

The World’s End stars Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine, Roseamund Pike, so many other great British actors come together. Five friends reunite after 20 years to reenact their loved pub crawl and it turns out they may be human kinds last hope! Did you see Shawn of the Dead? Hot Fuzz? You’ll recognize some of the face and Simon Pegg is one of the writers. Cannot wait!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1213663/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4

The Wolverine. Hugh Jackman as Wolverine..need I say more? I don’t think I have to!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1430132/?ref_=sr_1

Riddick. Another new movie from Vin Diesel, looks good, action packed, maybe a little scary. Did you see Pitch Black? I didn’t, looked a little too creepy, but I did see The Chronicles of Riddick? That I liked, he was an action star, quick wit, sarcastic, smart and funny, what more could you want? And his eyes look cool!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1411250/?ref_=sr_1

White House Down with Jamie Foxx as the president and Tatum Channing as a cop who helps protect and save the president when the White House is under attack. What I would like to know…does Hollywood have something against the White House? There seem to be an awful lot of movies with the White House under attack. Jamie Foxx is serious and funny and Tatum Channing, well, need I say more?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2334879/?ref_=sr_1

We saw another preview, I don’t remember, so it must not have sparked an interest in me, sorry.

When I was younger, in college and majoring in Communication Media, one of my dreams was to make previews/trailers for movies, something that showed what the movie was about, but didn’t give it all away like a lot of previews do. I still do sometimes and I still get jazzed when I watch previews, it’s one of our favorite things about going to the movies. The best part…right after the preview and before the movie starts, DCM turns to me and tells me what we’re about to watch, sometimes I actually remember, but nine times out of ten (especially when there are a lot of previews) I can’t remember!

O to the M to the G!

I just saw Star Trek into Darkness and I loved it! If I start telling you anything, I might slip up and tell you everything, so I won’t tell you anything about the movie, but I will tell you about the characters.

Chris Pine is a great Captain Kirk, strong willed, head strong, thinks in his feet, responsible and loyal to his crew and installs loyalty in them. He’s willing to give his life for them and in turn, they feel the same.

Zachary Quinto is the quintessential Spock, I don’t think they could have made a better choice. He has the attitude, the posture, the speech pattern, the look.

Have you seen the commercial with old and new Spock? Awesome!
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WPkByAkAdZs

Zoe Saldana as Uhura is great, although, I just want to give her a sandwich! I do like the interaction between Uhura and Spock is great, still unsettling because I’m a purist and Spock and Uhura? She does have a great attitude and is fierce in her commitment and she can kick some arse!

Karl Urban is fantastic as Bones! I don’t think they could have found anyone else who embodies the role of Dr McCoy. He has the sarcastic attitude, the verbal sparring, questioning everything, the southern analogies (I know that’s not the right word, but it’s after 2 am and I can’t think of the word).

Simon Pegg, where do I start? I la la la love Simon Pegg, I think he was the perfect choice for Scotty. I will say that in this movie, he was a bit more serious, and his hair looked odd, but he was still terrific in the role, he was…Scotty! All I wanted to hear is dilithium crystals!

John Cho is great as Mr Sulu, I have liked him since I saw him on Charmed, I have blocked out the one Harold and Kumar movie I saw, thankfully! He had a great scene where he took charge and Bones says, “Mr Sulu, remind me to never piss you off!”

Benedict Cumberbatch was awesome as Kahn! He was a BAD A**!!! He did right by the memory of the original Kahn! Let’s just say, as bad guys, he brought up memories of Hans Gruber from Die Hard! He is a great actor and I have enjoyed everything I have seem him in.

Peter Weller is good as Admiral Marcus. Hard to picture him as anyone besides Buckaroo Bonsai for me and RoboCop for most people.

All in all, I really enjoyed the movie and hope you will too!

Thanks to my brother in law, AS, for going to the movies with me, it was a lot of fun, we only get to go to the movies once a year in the Bahamas. I miss going to opening nights with DCM, we have to hurry up and get me to Colorado, there are so many openings coming up!

Tonight, had a very fun evening.

In Atlanta, we have some dinner and a movie theaters, I know they have them around the country, in Atlanta we have three, well, three that I know about. One of them is the Studio Movie Grill and they opened one not too far from me, which is nice, the closest one before was about 40/45 minutes away, right around the corner from TS, which was great to go see a movie, even better for her, but I now have one about 25 minutes from me!

One of the things they do is “girls night” or special movie screenings, like classic flicks for $1, tonight was “Put on your running shoes and get ready for girls night with Runaway Bride”… For one dollar!

(Iron Man 3 was playing in one of the adjoining theaters, the sound travels so much and the acoustics are something else, that during the movie, you could feel the theater next to us. To make it up to us, we all got a free movie pass for anytime before 12.31.14, I think we can handle that!)

CKM and I met for dinner before,yes, I know we could have eaten there, we just decided on something else, On The Border. We sat outside,the weather finally becoming beautiful and it was nice, except for the guy who was smoking, on and off, you’d think you couldn’t do that, even though its outside seating because it wafts…

We got to the theater just in time to get our tickets and rush to the bathroom and get to our seats.

It’s fun to see an older movie on the big screen, I’m going to have that at my house one day, when my house grows up. Can I call a movie a classic it it only came out in 1999! What? Doesn’t seem that long ago!

What a fun movie, a second pairing for Richard Gere, Julia Roberts with supporting cast Hector Elizondo, all three having been in Pretty Woman, of course, Gary Marshall had a small cameo, just like in the other films he directs.

For those of you not in the know, Runaway Bride is about Maggie Carpenter, the Runaway Bride, who has walked down the isle three times, never quite making it to the “I Do’s” is about to try it again for the fourth time, with her fiancé played by Chris Melonie, of Law & Order.:SVU fame. Ike Graham is the reporter who exposes her, her story dirty minds! And after getting fired by his ex-wife/editor, played by Rita Wilson, he goes to Hale, MD to uncover the truth about Maggie. As her dad, played by Paul Dooley jokes, “Maggie may not be Hale’s longest running joke, she certainly the fastest!

The cast is rounded out by Joan Cusack, Maggie’s best friend, Peggy Flemming, not the figure skater, Laurie Metcalf is Mrs Trout, local baker.

It’s fun to watch the movie and realize how much things have changed. Remember cell phones that were clunky and had the antennae that you had to pull up? Using post its for notes instead of setting up a message on your smart phone? Personal camcorders were bigger than your hand, VCRs, cassette tapes were still pretty predominant.

This movie is touching, sweet, sad, funny, uncomfortable, will have you rooting for the underdog. You realize that Richard Gere really does have a great head of hair and a Julia Roberts does have a million mega watt smile. Joan Cusack is such an amazing, underestimated, comic talent, Chris Meloni was great, a happy go lucky guy, such a far way from Det. Stabler on L&O:SVU, it was fun.

There were some great one liners, laughter, emotions up, emotions down. The point? You have to enjoy yourself,me happy and don’t let people pressure you into anything you’re not ready to do!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0163187/?ref_=sr_4