Much to my brother's displeasure and myself and sisters' delight the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries has three new mystery movies premiering this month. The first two movies were Garage Sale Mystery: Guilty Until Proven Innocence and Murder She Baked: A Peach Cobbler Mystery. My favorite was A Peach Cobbler Mystery, pretty sure Murder She Baked is the best original mystery series on HM&M.

The third movie premieres this Sunday and is the start of a new series: Flower Shop Mystery: Mum's The Word. It looks interesting.

SnowAngel

Also, finished the Harry Potter movies for the first time. I had never read the books, and just started reading them after I finished DH part II. It's been interesting to see what's the same and what was changed or added for the movie as it wasn't always what I expected. Also I have high, high praise for the soundtrack.

I wonder if you have heard the news that Alan Rickman, who played Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies, amid other movie characters, died yesterday from cancer. He was only 69, and, like the recent death of David Bowie, his death has been quite a shock.

As a matter of interest it was Benedict Clarke who played the young Snape in the Harry Potter films. I wondered if it was the same actor who played the character Kylo Ren in the most recent Star Wars Movie was him, but I don't think it was.

Has anyone seen a 1983 movie called Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, which starred David Bowie? It isn't one of your nice child-friendly Christmas movies though, as it is about a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in the South East Asia region of the world.

The Mrs. has been reading the books that the "murder She Baked" movies are based on. She refuses to watch them for fear that they will ruin the original story. She has watched Hallmark do this to some of her other favorites she is quite doubtful of any such projects.
Kind of on that. Has anyone seen "Revenant"? I truly enjoyed it, though it was not totally historically accurate to Hugh Glass's ordeal. Warning to the squeamish. There is some graphic violence in the film.

Has anyone seen "Revenant"? I truly enjoyed it, though it was not totally historically accurate to Hugh Glass's ordeal. Warning to the squeamish. There is some graphic violence in the film.

I didn't see it but my dad and he really liked it. He was a history major and then he taught it for years so he was a little bugged by the inaccuracies as well. I was interested in seeing how Will Poulter did but not interested enough to see the movie. My dad thought he was really good in it. Any thoughts on that?

Will did quite well from what I saw. He played the young, still learning, mountain-man Jim Bridger. A real life historical figure, so I am eager to learn more of this individual. I am currently reading "Lord Grizzly", by Fredrick Manfred. Though admittedly a historical novel, it is said to be the best researched account of Glass's ordeal.
Being involved in historical Rendezvous, I was looking for accuracy to how these men lived out in the "wild". From what I saw, and have read from men more informed than I, it is probably the most accurate of the " Mountain Man" movies since "Jeremiah Johnson" with Robert Redford.
At least where it came to gear, and outfit.

Has anyone else heard about the new "Ben-Hur" movie that is coming out this summer? I know a lot of people think the 1959 version can't be beat, but as a fan of the book, I feel that this movie has great potential.

Has anyone else heard about the new "Ben-Hur" movie that is coming out this summer?

I have heard of it! I honestly don't love the '59 version so I'm torn between not wanting to even see this one and hoping that I like it more. My dad LOVES the '59 one so I'm really interested to see if he ends up liking this one at all...

I've been gobbling up all the info I can find on it, and most of it looks promising. The cast and costuming look good. I could have wished for a younger Judah, but I'm going to assume they are shrinking the time line of events so his age will work in the end. Jack Huston said in an interview that they were not doing a remake of the '59 version but making a new adaptation of the book.

A few links if anyone is interested.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/ar ... n-Hur.html

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1257251

That does look interesting, Anfinwen! (Though I read the DailyMail article and side-eyed all the 'appropriately attired' star pics, because in my humble opinion he looks like he's wearing jeans with that tunic and it looks like she's wearing ballet flats. Everything else looks as expected, which I guess is good from a costuming point of view--and maybe it makes more sense in context.)

I went to see The Finest Hours recently with friends. It's based on the real-life Coast Guard rescue of an oil tanker crew after their ship split in two off the coast of Massachusetts in a 1952 Nor'easter.

We enjoyed it, though weren't certain how much was 'real' and how much was added via poetic license. I've read online complaints that this movie is "old fashioned to a fault," but I can't help thinking that means they did a fair job of capturing the time period portrayed.

I went to see The Finest Hours recently with friends.

I went to see that with my family! I was very impressed and would absolutely go again! I really enjoyed it! My older sister is at college so she couldn't come with us. We'll have to go a second time so she can come along!

How did I miss The Finest Hours in the theatre? I would have liked to have seen that on the big screen. It sounds like a fascinating (and very intense) true tale. Hope you can get to see it again with your sister, Valiant Pevensie!

We've only seen a few select movies in the theatre in the past couple of years:

*Still Alice: an emotional and powerful story, especially since my own mother has Alzheimer's.

*the final installment of The Hobbit: not impressed. 'Nuff said.

*Everest: the true story of the fated 1996 Everest expedition that was overcome by a severe storm. Well done!

*The Peanuts Movie: good grief; good stuff. So Schulz in so many ways. Lots of nostalgia in there. The only thing I missed were the original voices.

*Risen: well worth seeing this historical fiction film. While the foundation throughout is from the Bible, the main story-line is fiction (a what could have been type-thing), but there is nothing we recall that could be said to be in opposition/contradiction to all that we know from the true Scriptural account. 'Though it was rather odd to see 'Malfoy'/Tom Felton as a Roman Centurion.

I liked Risen. It did a good job of taking a 'what-if' and making you think about the story from a slightly different angle.

One of my biggest gripes about Risen was the fact that the angels were not shown (though I understand why they were not). I was looking forward to them asking the disciples, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the air?"

(My other gripe is

And my favorite part was

I'm gladd that people like The Peanuts Movie and Risen - they both looked interesting, but I'm very pessimistic about movies these days. My family might see Risen sometime this upcoming month, and I have a feeling we're definitely going to see The Peanuts Movie eventually - though we never got quite around to seeing it in theaters, despite talking about it more than once.

I haven't seen much else in theaters lately though, I'm afraid. We pretty much only go to the theater if it's a movie that really catches our attention - and since we're a family of geeks, that tends to mean superhero and sci-fi movies. The last movie I saw in theaters was The Force Awakens, and the next movie I'll probably see is Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. I really, really want to like that movie - I love both Batman and Superman and a movie with them both should be amazing - but I wasn't the world's biggest fan of Man of Steel and I'm not sure the creators have learned their lesson. Still, some of the most recent trailers look promising, and my brother will probably force me to go see it anyways. I'm really looking forward to Captain America: Civil War - Captain America is my favorite superhero (though Batman is a close second), and I think that movie looks like it's going to be very good. I'm a little concerned about the large cast, but it's the same creative team that made The Winter Soldier, which is by far my favorite of the Marvel movies, so....

I watched Risen with The Mrs. this weekend, and while we enjoyed it, I share Meltintalle's "gripes".
I am also looking forward to Batman vs. superman: Dawn of Justice, as well of several other "superhero" movies this year, including "Civil War". Though I must admit I have no intent to see "Deadpool" ( Heroes should at least try to be heroic in my book ).