Angie Windheim

Two guys, Ewan McGregor (yes, the one in Star Wars) and Charely Boorman (English actor), get the crazy idea to jump on motorbikes and drive on two amazing journeys. They ride from London to New York via Europe, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Siberia and Canada In Long Way ‘Round, and from the northernmost tip of Scotland descending through Western Europe and Africa to Cape Town, South Africa. It’s all journalized in a DVD series that Brian and I have been borrowing from Netflix. We’ve had a blast watching it. Amazingly fun and funny. The guys are enormously entertaining to listen to and watch and the places they go are fantastic. Not your run-of-the-mill travel show for sure. The inevitable drama during the hardships and rough spots are interesting to see as well. The DVD series and books are entitled “Long Way Round” and “Long Way Down.” I recommend watching them in order…”Round” came about first.

Awesomely spooky. I loved Coraline. Of course, I kind of knew I would since it was based on a Neil Gaiman book.  Everything about this movie was great. The story of a girl ignored by her parents that discovers her “ideal” set of parents in an alternate (not imaginary) world is both surreal and moving. The other worldly animation is perfectly matched with the voice actors.  And, it’s in 3D!  I spent the extra dollars to see it in 3D at the Bridgeport Cinemas. I thought the effects were great, particularly the weaving sewing needly and the tunnel between worlds.  The boys actually weren’t that impressed. Go figure. I’m sure the movie loses very little if you see it in a regular theatre.

Warning: Coraline is scary, creepy, spooky.  Ben and Joe had no problem with that, but Sam (age 6) had to crawl into my lap for the second half of the movie.  And, he had a couple of nights of difficulty sleeping.  He’s usually pretty tough, but does give you the heebie jeebies. Let’s just say that what Faye Dunaway did for the term “Mommie Dearest” (aka Joan Crawford),  Teri Hatcher does for the term “Other  Mother.” I’ll know I’ve been truly insulted by my children if they ever use that one on me!

Go see Coraline!

Prince Caspian has been at the top of our Netflix list for months, and we finally got to watch it Saturday night. It was a thumbs up from the whole family. Prince Caspian is a long one, 2 1/2 hours, but it’s full of action, adventure and some seriously epic battle sequences.  I think the movie is generally well-acted, as was the first movie, though I’m still not a big fan of the actress that plays Lucy.  I’m guessing that’s just my cynical nature not getting the doe-eyed, innocent role she plays 🙂  I think the battle scenes are intense but “OK” for kids. I think it shows the reality of battle. People do die, but the movie leaves out the graphic details that would haunt dreams.  Sam (age 6) loved it and Joe (age 9) passed the sleep test. I know a movie is too much if he pops out of bed a bunch that night. He didn’t for this one. Rent it and enjoy a good family movie night.

First, I have to admit that my husband frequently teases me about the movies I order from Netflix. He claims that I deliberately find the obscure movies and justify it by lying that “It got good reviews.” And, to be honest, we’ve had a lot of movies just leave us both shaking our heads at the fact we just wasted 2 hours of our lives on a dud. Even knowing all of this, I chose Burn After Reading, another less-than-successful “dark comedy.”  Ha! We liked it. I’m sure it helps that it had a great cast: Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich and George Clooney. They all play crazy, extreme characters who’s lives tangle up over the misplaced memoir of a CIA analyst.  Get ready for lots of f-bombs and some pretty raw moments. It made me laugh, groan and jump out of my seat repeatedly. All the makings of a very entertaining flick.