Movie Overload

We're cheap. Well, not exactly, it's more like we're poor. Well, not exactly, it's more like we have to find creative ways to make the money we have go farther.

As a result, we hardly ever pay for movies.

My husband puts us on the list for all sorts of new releases at our public library. It's a great system. The only flaw is that each movie has it's own list of people waiting for it. Sometimes you might be 25 on the list, at other times, you might be 179. It just depends on the movie.

Every once in a while, the planets align and a deluge of movies comes cascading home in waves of rectangular, plastic, DVD boxes--all at the same time.

Our recent viewings:

Eragon-- I was the one who actually wanted to see this. My husband was not so enthusiastic and reminded me of a horribly slow, boring movie that I had picked for us to watch when we were newly married...A Fairy Story. Every time I pick something that brims with the possibility of being terrible, he groans and says " Gee....I wonder if it will be as good as A Fairy Story?" What can I say? It was a really awful movie that sucked two hours of our lives away. Such low expectations made Eragon seem pretty good to him. Actually the movie was good, but I definitely could tell that were all sorts of significant things in the movie that would have had more meaning to someone who had actually read the books. The film's ending is poised for a sequel, but I am unsure if it had enough box office success to warrant it.

Children Of Men--Being a Sci-Fi nerd, I was really looking forward to this futuristic movie. Unfortunately, it was a case of the trailer being more appealing than the actual movie. The film itself is a rather bleak, violent take on the future. I kept wanting to like it, but I couldn't overcome the stark, disjointed style of the film. It didn't draw me into actually caring about the characters. Very disappointed.

My Super Ex-Girlfriend--Warning! Do not...I repeat do not kill any remaining brain cells with this movie. It was dumb and overly sexual. We should have just turned it off, but we kept hoping it would get better. Apparently, the writers couldn't think of anything funnier than super-hero sex. I think this was my husband's, A Fairy Story....yep...definitely bad.

The Devil Wears Prada--This was actually quite a cute film. Oscar-worthy? Probably not. But it was amusing and enjoyable.

Happy Feet--We watched this with the kids. It was fun and had great animation. I wondered how much of the story the kids really got. I had to interpret a few things here and there for them, but they really liked it. Definitely worth a viewing.

Blood Diamond-- A very violent, compelling movie made even more compelling by the sheer fact that it represents true events, as far as diamond mining in Africa goes. Leonardo Di-Caprio really pulled off this performance. He was bad, but not too bad...that is for someone who kills about 20 people in the course of the film.

Ugh. I think I am set on my movie rations for a while.