Bella: yeah it is I only tried it for laughs, not because I actually cared, but it was worse than I imagined

you know what was half decent, though is that movie called "Alice Upside Down". it wasn't the best movie in the world, but it was waaay better than I thought it would be. plus, it was based on the Alice books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor and I grew up reading her stuff

Was wondering if anyone's ever seen Defiance, with Daniel Craig.

It looks really fabulous, a WW II/Holocaust type of film, a true story, action, a bit of romance, and a James Bond in it, how cool is that? I was wondering if you liked it and if there was anything objectionable in it, I can do with violence and some swearing, but I didn't know if it got - bad.

Also, what about 500 Days of Summer?

I've seen some of you have talked about it before. I like Zooey Deschanel alot, haven't seen her much, just Bridge to Terebaitha and I saw Elf once and she was okay, good singer, became a big fan of She&Him , and this looks quirky and fun. But I think I saw it was rated PG-13, and I was wondering what made it so. And, also, just your general opinion is great too ...it says in the trailer it's not a romance, but it looks like it is, so what did you think of it?

Thank you!

Interesting timing, AslansChild, as my husband just picked up Defiance from the library a couple of weeks ago to watch. He found it utterly compelling and gripping. 'Twas hard to watch at times, given the war violence. If you want to find out specifics, look on IMDB, which gives a run-down of any potentially objectionable content under "Advisory" (past the Cast Overview and the Storyline sections).

In any case, he found the movie so fascinating that he said he would really like to read the book by Nechama Tec, which I then bought him for his birthday. He can hardly put it down!

As for (500) Days of Summer, I have never seen it (no desire to), but I have always thought it was classified as a romantic comedy.

Watched Defiance awhile back, and was impressed. Danial Craig plays the part quite well as someone trapped making hard choices in an impossible situation.
I would recommend not having smaller children watch it simply for the wartime violence, but I don't see any problem for teens. There is implied sexual situations, but I don't recall anything remotely graphic.

I just got around to watching the 1983 movie "WarGames" starring Ally Sheedy and Matthew Broderick
I have to say, I wasn't sure what to expect, but once it started, I was glued the acting was wonderful, the sets were great and the movie didn't have a dated feel. the only thing that reminded me that it was in the 80s was the costumes and the computers.
I was on the edge of my seat from beginning to end and the plot was well filled out the editing was amazing - there were no wasted scenes, no useless dialogue, and the characters were believable
it was a great movie

Before I get into what I've been watching, I wanted to respond to a few things on this page. Hope that's ok! So...

The Adventures of Food Boy
1) Yes, Ezra is played by Lucas Grabeel. (Better known to most as Ryan Evans of the HSM films) Some of the other roles he's known for are: Ethan Dalloway (from the 3rd and 4th Halloweentown films) and Toby Kennish (on ABC Family's Switched at Birth).
2) Food Boy is NOT a DCOM (disney channel original movie). If it was, I would have seen it by now. (I've seen about 96% of the DCOM's) I remember following the news about it before it came out, and thought it sounded interesting. I mean, come on... a superhero movie? That has Lucas (one of my fave actors of the 2000's-present) in it? Sadly, like I said before, I never got to see it.

Sorry you didn't like it, Libby! But like I told you on fb... I'll reserve my judgement on it til I get a chance to actually watch it for myself.

WarGames
Having just seen this a night or two ago on tv, I thought I'd say something...

Great movie! The concept was interesting, and was pulled off in a way that had me on the edge of my seat a lot of the time. (I also think I yelled at the tv a few times ) Great acting all 'round... and it was fun spotting actors I recognised from other things. (and might I say, Matthew Broderick looks so young in this one! That said, it was before Ferris Bueller. The odd thing? I think he was 21 when this one was released!)

Warning, though... like many 80's films, it has quite a bit of language (though not as much as some of them). Just thought I'd give a heads up, in case anyone was interested in seeing it. (the rating is still PG though. ohh, the 80's!)

...........
Ok, enough of that. On with the rest of my post!

Batman (1989)
I wish I had come in here right after I watched it... I forget what I wanted to say about it!

Batman and Robin (1997)
Liked it! Although some things irked me.

Annndd... now I forget if there were other movies, and if so... which ones! Oh, well... I'll be back!

WarGames is a fun movie. Ally Sheedy. *sigh!* Not great cinema or anything but highly enjoyable. There is some language, not 'quite a bit' and it's rather mild (again, the PG rating).

I dunno, the one thing I really remember about War Games was thinking the language in it was pretty awful. Par for the course on 80s movies sadly. But it's been a while since I've seen it so maybe it's not as bad as I remember. I liked the movie ok, but not enough to want to see it again any time soon.

My husband and I watched Wreck It Ralph over the weekend. I need to watch it a second time cause we were distracted by a chatty baby so I missed parts of it. I really enjoyed it, but only because of all the geeky video game references. If it hadn't been for those, the movie would have just been 'meh' imho.

While visiting friends this weekend we watched a movie called Sweet Land (2005). I'd not heard of it before; it's an independent studio smaller release that tells the story of a 1920s-era romance in rural Minnesota (much of it was filmed on location near Montevideo, in the western part of the state).

It's not a typical modern-day romance; rather the main characters come to love each other through experiences working together on the family farm. Many of the characters are recent immigrants but the accents are much more subdued than other movies (notably the Coen brothers' Fargo, which greatly exaggerated the Minnesota accent, doncha know?).

It had several familiar faces, such as Ned Beatty, John Heard (Home Alone), and Alan Cumming (Floop from Spy Kids), but the biggest surprise was Alex Kingston, playing quite a different role than that of River Song in Doctor Who.

It's not for everyone; one of the kids kept saying, "When's something going to happen?" ( ); it's more of a slow-paced period piece.

We went out last Sunday to a local theatre where we saw a production of Crimes of the heart. I understand this stage show was based on a novel of the same name, and a film was made of it as well. Has anyone seen this film by any chance?

Lately theatre plays seem to be a natural outcome of successful films. First it was Les Miserables, then Lion, Witch and Wardrobe. Now we are to see a theatre production based on last year's film, Warhorse.

And has anyone seen Life of Pi? This is the last movie I've seen recently. This was a truly beautiful movie, whose Oscar winners certainly earned it.

I am certainly interested in seeing Life of Pi, mostly for the artistic aspects of it. The fact that it was very concerned with Indian (or more specifically, South Indian) culture piqued my interest in it, too. I had read a bit of the book, and I'm familiar with the school of thought that the story's philosophy comes from, but I don't write it off because I might not wholly agree with it. I am guessing it has something good to appreciate, so I know I'll see what I agree with and what I don't. But yeah, I'm thinking about seeing that!

You should see The life of Pi, if you get a chance. It did South India proud, it really did. And Ang Lee did a marvellous job. I knew about the British in India - how could Australians not know all about that, since Australia was a half-way station to India and China originally? Fighting in India was one reason why our lovely Waler horses went to India, especially in WW1. We did learn about Goa and the Portuguese at school, but we never learned about a French presence there. Interesting that was.

It quite made up for Slumdog Millionaire, the film of which I found rather confusing, unlike the book, which showed how the hero of the film could answer all those questions, in the order in which they were asked.

Actually Slumdog Millionaire quite turned me off quiz shows.

Life of Pi was a terrific movie. Visually stunning. The story had me lacking a bit, until it came for the punch in the end. I saw what they were going for.
But I also loved Slumdog Millionaire, I thought it was nicely done.

I had the great pleasure very recently of watching an old film I enjoyed in my wee formative years in the late 70's and early 80's called The Wild Geese (1978).

In a nutshell, the film is the story of a group of aging mercenaries led by retired Col. Allen Faulkner (Richard Burton) whose job it is to break an African President-in-exile who is being held captive by an Idi Amin clone, a guy named Ndofo. A wealthy English businessman wants the deposed African leader, Julius Limbani, ,back in power so he can get cut rates on the copper that country produces, so he sets up a lucrative offer to Faulkner to go in and break him out and bring him to safety. Faulkner hires a select group of 50 ex-military professionals from all branches of the UK military, including pilot Sean Fynn (Roger Moore), master planner Rafer Janders (Richard Harris), and a South African ranger named Pieter (Hardy Kruger). The group of 50 bonds and becomes a tight knit unit and trains extensively together. They parachute behind enemy lines and manage to get Limbani out of his prison, but things go horribly awry when their English paymaster decides to change the deal and double crosses them, leaving them stranded in a very hostile country with no way out and surrounded by thousands of bad guys.

What a great movie! I loved this movie when I was a little kid, and I love it even more so now. The mercenaries are very proper Englishmen (with a few Scots and an Irishman thrown in for good measure) who are disciplined and obey orders to the letter, and oftentimes very funny since they're basically older men who find themselves in bad situations and have very witty English mannerisms to describe their lot. Also, while the mercenaries are obviously in the job for the money, they're also in it to fight for the Good Guys, and comport themselves quite honorably and heroically throughout the film. The movie has several A-list stars from the era, notably an older looking Burton, and then James Bond Roger Moore as Fynn. There's a great chemistry on set and anyone can see that this group of actors really got along quite well while making the movie. The dialogue is good, especially between Hardy Kruger's South African Boer/racist and deposed leader African Julius Limbani with big democratic ideas, as the two eventually come to understand one another and become friends. This would have been a major plotline all by itself since the film was partially funded by the South African govt' at a time when apartheid ruled the daily activities of that country.

Great movie with a great story, wonderful and interesting characters, and great action. I can heartily recommend this modern classic with 5 stars. You heard me...5 stars. It's on Netflix...go watch it already!

I remember that movie Shadowlander.
I agree that it was excellent. My only worry would be someone getting it into their heads to do a remake.

Just saw West Side Story on TCM tonight. now there is a classic. The Mrs. and I have a special place in our hearts for the "wedding" scene between Tony, and Maria. We included the song in our own wedding ceremony, and still can't help but get a little teary.