Chatbug Karen

I tend to worry when I send hubby to the video store by himself. He usually comes home with a gory, bloody, action packed movie that encourages me to venture into another room and drop Entrecards. Tonight he surprised me when he brought home Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. We usually only watch animated movies when our kids are visiting and drag us to the theater. I enjoyed this movie and even found myself laughing out loud more than once!

Excerpt from Amazon:
Manny (voiced by Ray Romano) and his mate Ellie (Queen Latifah) are expecting a baby mammoth. Unfortunately, this makes Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo) and Diego the saber-toothed tiger (Denis Leary) feel left out. Diego, who worries he’s losing his edge, decides to head out on his own, while Sid adopts three suspiciously large eggs that he’s found through a crack in the ice. Up to this point, the movie is perilously sappy–does anyone, particularly a kid, want to watch a kid’s movie about parenthood and impending middle age? Fortunately, the eggs turn out to be dinosaur eggs from a pre-mammalian underworld, and when the mama T-Rex comes to rescue her rambunctious little ones, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs transforms into a delightful comic adventure.

I highly recommend this movie, especially if you are down in the dumps or not feeling up to par.

My son and his fiance recently saw the movie UP and said it was great! If you haven’t seen it yet, they highly recommend it, especially if you can see it in 3D. The film is about a little boy (who, in Greg’s opinion, needs the best diet pills he can find when he gets older) and an old man who go flying around the world in the old man’s house, which gets lifted up by balloons. The beginning of the film has a beautiful montage sequence that shows the old man’s heartwarming background. Everything was very tastefully done, and there are a lot of situations where parents can discuss the movie with their kids later and use the film as a learning tool. Even older kids will enjoy the film.

Tonight, my husband, son and I are watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. This is such an interesting movie. Have you ever thought of what opportunities you would be afforded if you could live your life backwards?

On the day that Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans, elderly Daisy Williams (nee Fuller) is on her deathbed in a New Orleans hospital. At her side is her adult daughter, Caroline. Daisy asks Caroline to read to her aloud the diary of Daisy’s lifelong friend, Benjamin Button. Benjamin’s diary recounts his entire extraordinary life, the primary unusual aspect of which was his aging backwards, being diagnosed with several aging diseases at birth and thus given little chance of survival, but who does survive and gets younger with time.

The photography is awesome. Some filming was conducted in the Garden District of New Orleans. I have enjoyed the details of the movie like no other. A cockroach running along the hotel counter, the reference to how important birds are in how they parallel our lives, so many interesting details that made the movie so intriguing that I dare not look away. Have your snacks ready before you begin this movie.

Fantastic movie. I recommend it highly.

Our son is home from college while he is on spring break. I may have told you before that when our kids are home it usually means we got to the movies. My husband and I prefer to rent DVD’s and sit in our own living room to watch a movie. You have to love that remote that has a little stop button for when you need to use the bathroom or get a snack.

I surprised my husband and son by suggesting we go to the movie tonight! LOL It might have helped that I had a $20 Fandango gift certificate waiting to be used. Thanks Laura at Buy Better and Have a Better Life! I won the gift certificate through an online giveaway she had.

Greg and I wanted to see Slumdog Millionaire but my husband didn’t really want to see it. That meant going to see my second choice, Confessions of a Shopaholic. (I just used spell check and shopaholic is in there! That cracks me up!) I didn’t give my husband a chance to back out as we headed out to the movie theater.

We all loved the movie. Amy Adams has been in so many movies lately! She is able to pull off just about any type of character. She has been in Enchanted, Doubt and Night at the Museum, just to name a few. Before I knew who she was she was in The Wedding Date with Debra Messing! I didn’t know that was her since she was all blonde and everything. If you get a chance, go see Confessions of a Shopaholic. It is a great movie and teenage friendly.

My daughter warned me. She said, “Mom, do not eat while watching that movie.” Now, what kind of movie would be so disgustingly bloody that you would not want to be eating a freshly baked Christmas cookie?

Last night, we watched Sweeney Todd. We had to! I love Johnny Depp and love his movies. I had heard that this one was all about revenge and that it had a lot of blood spurting here and there. I only saw a little of that. I had my eyes closed most of the time.

The story was about a man who had been undeservingly sent away because a man with power wanted to be rid of him. The man with the power was smitten by a women. Depp’s character had the woman and so he had to be sent away so the other man could have her. Sounds like a typical story doesn’t it?

It was an awesome movie with twists and turns at every corner. I had to listen intently to understand what was being said. I am not sure if that was due to my ability to hear or because they were speaking with English accents. Oh! I forgot to mention that Johnny Depp can sing! Who knew?

If you want to enjoy this movie, as I did, check out the sale prices of dvds at Buy.com. They have the movie as well as the soundtrack to Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Just don’t eat spaghetti while watching this movie.

This has been the year of breaking the glass ceiling in America. From a woman running for president and a black man winning the election, it is good to see minorities making their way to the top. Originally from Mumbai, India, Lavrenti Lopes is another person who represents change and diversity in America and particularly in Hollywood. Check out Lopes’s Official Site at www.lavrentilopes dot com and you will recognize many of the works he has completed including modeling gigs and commercials. This handsome man finds himself as one of the leads in a Hollywood film, SubHysteria slated for April 2009 release. We will be seeing more of Lavrenti Lopes!

I have been seeing so many blog posts about the new movie Twilight that I had to find out what this movie is about. I felt left behind so I did a little research. I found out that this movie is based on the New York Times Best-Selling series written by Stephenie Meyer. The books are about a love affair between a teenage girl and a vampire. What?!!

Isabelle Swan moves from Phoenix to Washington where her father lives because of her mother’s remarriage to another man. Edward Cullen is a vampire who lives in a small town with his family. The family lives peacefully in that town without exposing their underlying truths and characteristics.

In her new school Isabella meets Edward. She soon finds out that he is a vampire but knows she is already drawn to him and could never leave him. After a while the enemies of the Cullen’s Family attacks Edwards on his weak point, Sarah.

This powerful story actually has a cult like following. There are over 350 fan sites devoted to this movie. The Twilight soundtrack became only the 6th movie soundtrack EVER to debut at #1 on the Billboard album charts before the movie itself debuted. You will find the best prices on the soundtrack at Buy.com. In fact, the sale price is half of what I priced it at the mall on Saturday.

The promoters of this movie were smart to put this movie out right at the holiday season. It will be fun to go as a family.

Just when I was getting ready to take a nap to try and get rid of this pesky headache, hubby tells me that a great movie is on. He thinks I should watch the 1968 movie, The Thomas Crown Affair. I am watching and after only a few minutes, I am hooked. It is fun to watch this movie because they are using phones with rotary dials and wearing styles of the sixties. Fun!

He was young, handsome, a millionaire – and he’d just pulled off the perfect crime! She was young, beautiful, a super sleuth – sent to investigate it! That’s what IMDB has to say.

This movie stars Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway. Four men pull off a daring daytime robbery at a bank, dump the money in a trash can and go their separate ways. Thomas Crown, a successful, wealthy businessman pulls up in his Rolls and collects it. Vickie Anderson, an independent insurance investigator is called in to recover the huge haul. She begins to examine the people who knew enough about the bank to have pulled the robbery and discovers Crown. She begins a tight watch on his every move and begins seeing him socially. How does the planner of the perfect crime react to pressure?

Thanks IMDB and hubby! No nap for me.

I know I should be happy that hubby is not surfing with the tv remote. I should be happy that he has landed on something and is watching quietly. He is watching Today Will Never Die or Die Another Day or something like that. It is the James Bond movie with Pierce Brosnan portraying Bond. It must be Bond week on the movie channel. We have watched a Bond movie three times this week. Sigh

I love Meryl Streep. She can take on just about any role and make it hers. By that I mean, she becomes the person she is portraying.

Her latest movie, Mamma Mia, is getting rave reviews. I cannot wait to see it. It looks to be an uplifting and fun movie. I might not wait for it to come out on DVD. I usually hate to sit in a movie theater but this movie looks worth my ability to sit still. LOL The movie is about a mom, Donna, with a wild past. She sings ABBA songs and dances her way across a Greek Island on the eve of her daughter’s wedding. She never quite knew which man, of which she had a few, was the father of her daughter. Her daughter goes on a quest to figure out the puzzle. The results are hilarious. At least, that is what I have heard. Darn it! When is this movie coming to our area?

Meryl Streep was recently honored at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York City. She is 59 and has been married to her husband, Don Gummer, for 30 years. She has three daughters, Louisa, Grace and Mamie.