Sunday, October 07, 2007
Night at the Museum
A couple of nights ago, hubby and I sat down with Young Son #2 to watch "Night at the Museum." As a museum manager, I like to see how movies portray the museum experience. Plus, the previews made this look like a fun movie, in no small part thanks to Ben Stiller. It did not disappoint. The movie plays on the wishful thinking of museum staff and visitors in that everything in the exhibits comes to life at night. (I know I sure wish I could talk to the people I've read about who've passed into history.)
Ben Stiller plays Larry Daley, the new night watchman. He's replacing three older security guards played by Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, and Bill Cobbs, all of whom give stellar performances. There's a bit of predictability in the plot in that Larry is a dreamer who can't seem to get anything accomplished, but he must because he's the non-custodial parent in a divorce situation and has to provide security for his kid. The creators of the movie did a seamless job in bringing the museum exhibits to life, especially the T-Rex installation. Owen Wilson and Robin Williams are hilarious and lend to the credibility. The only thing that seemed weird is that certain exhibits caused all sorts of chaos, but others just seemed to wander around aimlessly in the background - like that giant jade Chinese dog. I wasn't keen on the museum director, who was a stuffy fuddy-duddy. That's not what most museum directors are like, but we still have to deal with the reputation because it keeps getting played that way in movies.
All-in-all, "Night at the Museum" was a good movie and plays well with kids.
As an aside, Dick Van Dyke has always reminded me of my dad, especially when he was younger. It's the jaw. My dad has the same strong jaw Dick Van Dyke has.
Ben Stiller plays Larry Daley, the new night watchman. He's replacing three older security guards played by Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, and Bill Cobbs, all of whom give stellar performances. There's a bit of predictability in the plot in that Larry is a dreamer who can't seem to get anything accomplished, but he must because he's the non-custodial parent in a divorce situation and has to provide security for his kid. The creators of the movie did a seamless job in bringing the museum exhibits to life, especially the T-Rex installation. Owen Wilson and Robin Williams are hilarious and lend to the credibility. The only thing that seemed weird is that certain exhibits caused all sorts of chaos, but others just seemed to wander around aimlessly in the background - like that giant jade Chinese dog. I wasn't keen on the museum director, who was a stuffy fuddy-duddy. That's not what most museum directors are like, but we still have to deal with the reputation because it keeps getting played that way in movies.
All-in-all, "Night at the Museum" was a good movie and plays well with kids.
As an aside, Dick Van Dyke has always reminded me of my dad, especially when he was younger. It's the jaw. My dad has the same strong jaw Dick Van Dyke has.
Labels: ben stiller, bill cobbs, dad, dick van dyke, husband, mickey rooney, movie, museum, owen wilson, robin williams, young son
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Down with Love
Sometimes it's easy to forget how great a movie is. My hubby and children bought me "Down with Love," both the movie and the soundtrack, a few years ago. I watched the movie a couple of times when I got it, but haven't since. It sat on a shelf gathering dust until last night. Over the weekend, while channel surfing, I caught part of the movie on cable and it reminded me how delightful and bedazzling it was. It's styled after the movies of the 1960s, all bright colors, snappy battle-of-the-sexes dialogue, montage time-passing scene, cartoon opening, split-screen double entendres, and overdone poses to show off the stunning outfits worn by the ladies. The music fits the era, too, with performances of standards by Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, and Michael Buble. (I know, Michael is not OF the era, but he performs several standards from the era on the soundtrack.)
"Down with Love" stars Renee Zellweger as Barbara Novak, an author who has written a book called "Down with Love" that teaches women how not to fall in love with men. Ewan McGregor is her male nemesis. He plays Catcher Block, posing as Zip Martin, in order to trick Novak into falling in love with him. David Hyde Pierce plays Peter MacMannus, Catcher's humorously neurotic boss. He is in love with Barbara's editor and friend, Vikki Hiller, played by Sarah Paulson. Vikki is a chain-smoking live-wire who packs a mean punch.
The movie clips along and makes me laugh and clap with delight. There's only one scene where the movie's creators should have said "Cut!" half-way through -- a monologue by Barbara Novak. When you see it, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. When her monologue ends and the camera cuts to Catcher Block, he looks practically comatose. Other than this one minor flaw, "Down with Love" is worth watching over and over.
"Down with Love" stars Renee Zellweger as Barbara Novak, an author who has written a book called "Down with Love" that teaches women how not to fall in love with men. Ewan McGregor is her male nemesis. He plays Catcher Block, posing as Zip Martin, in order to trick Novak into falling in love with him. David Hyde Pierce plays Peter MacMannus, Catcher's humorously neurotic boss. He is in love with Barbara's editor and friend, Vikki Hiller, played by Sarah Paulson. Vikki is a chain-smoking live-wire who packs a mean punch.
The movie clips along and makes me laugh and clap with delight. There's only one scene where the movie's creators should have said "Cut!" half-way through -- a monologue by Barbara Novak. When you see it, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. When her monologue ends and the camera cuts to Catcher Block, he looks practically comatose. Other than this one minor flaw, "Down with Love" is worth watching over and over.
Labels: children, david hyde pierce, down with love, ewan mcgregor, frank sinatra, husband, judy garland, michael buble, movie, renee zellweger, sarah paulson
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Craptastic
Although it isn't legally summer yet, yesterday was one of those perfect summer days - good for motorcycling, sitting outside drawing, bonfiring and tenting. Sunny, warm (70-80 degrees Fahrenheit), some puffy clouds, which almost seemed to threaten rain in the morning, but decided against it.
While the kids were occupied with friends (sleepovers have been the thing to do now that school's out), Husband and I went for a motorcycle ride around a nearby lake. Gorgeous, although Husband took a bug to the ear at one point.
When we returned, Eldest Son and Husband sat down to watch a little TV. SciFi channel was playing the movie "Lake Placid II." Eldest said that it was craptastic movie day on SciFi. Isn't craptastic a great word? Eldest was referring to movies with plots so predictable that you know what's going to happen before the movie even starts. All you have to do is insert your favorite mutant animal and you've got the storyline. The Lake Placid movies are about giant, killer crocs. After "Lake Placid II," the movie "Ice Spiders" was in cue. It was so craptastic that the guys didn't even bother to watch it.
Meanwhile, I sat on the back step listening to music and doing some of the drawing exercises out of "Keys to Drawing with Imagination," the book I mentioned in yesterday's post. I filled about three pages in a drawing pad; some of the results are above. The first image is of the exercise "Take a Line on a Walk." In this exercise, you draw a quick doodle first, a line that hooks up to itself. Don't think about this too hard - it's a doodle. The next step, what Bert Dodson calls noodling, is to fill in the doodle using various techniques. The first one I did is the large shaded one at the top, followed by the one just below it with the spiralling lines.
The second image above is a portion of a page on which I continued more exercises from Dodson's book. I didn't care for how much of the page turned out, but I did like the rabbit, cat, and flowers I came up with. The cat is the outline of Rotten Spotty, who kept sneaking out and dashing off every time the back door opened yesterday. Little bugger.
The third image is from the "Building Blocks" exercise in the book. Drawing bricks or stones (or stubbling, dotting, or stippling), you're supposed to stack them up until you have another image. This is one of my favorite exercises because I've always loved mosaics. I've drawn these sorts of trees before, but I particularly like the stone one here.
As for the bonfiring and tenting I mentioned in my opening paragraph, last night Young Son Number Two had a friend over. We started a fire in the fire pit. It wasn't really a bonfire, although the kids like to call it that. It was a campfire. It took some doing to get going because we didn't have enough small kindling to keep the fire alight after the paper burned up. When we finally had a decent fire going, we had the requisite s'mores, although we prefer to eat them disassembled. Afterwards, Young Son and his friend slept out in the tent. Ahh, summer. It's anything but craptastic.
Labels: bert dodson, craptastic, doodling, drawing, fire, husband, minnesota, motorcycle, movie, music, rotten spotty, scifi, sons, summer, weather
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Family Language
Neil Gaiman totally started this, but he doesn't know it. I was reading his journal a few days ago and saw him pictured in his beekeeping outfit with a person he called "Birdchick." He's also got a Web Elf. I was thinking, how cute - being a writer, he's so creative that he renames everyone he knows with an imaginative nickname. My train of thought continued . . . . It dawned on me that we have loads of nicknames for our kids, along with all sorts of verbal oddities that the outside world would not get. In short, we have a family language, which has been created over the years we have shared rubbing shoulders in the same household. We have inside jokes based on our shared experiences, and movie scenes we regularly quote (i.e. "Let me fix you some eggs, Margie" from Fargo, or "Is that the machine that goes ping?" from The Meaning of Life). I pondered our family language for more examples:
The hubby loves to purposely mispronounce words. He says "red-eye" for "ready" when we are trying to leave the house. He says "cha (say the "ch" as you would in church)-mo (long "o")-mi (short "i")-lee" for chamomile. He does this with lots of other words, as well.
Some of the nicknames we have for our kids: Doodle, Dude, Daughter, Man About Town (or Boy About School), Young Son #1, Young Son #2, Bubby, and Buddy. Those are just the nicknames not based upon their names, but in the sake of privacy for them, I won't be revealing the name-based ones here. We each also have an opposite-sex name for the fun of it.
Young Son #2 calls me Mammy and his father Pappy. He does it with a twang, too. The daughter calls me Bob, which is how Mom comes out when she has a cold. (That's my opposite-sex name.)
The hubby calls me Lovin' Spouseful or wifey; to the latter I reply with husbandy. Of course, we're also full of the Honey, Baby, Sugarcakes, Sweetie names, too. Sometimes, hubby says, "Submit to me, woman!" in a joking manner and I give him a withering look and sometimes an "eff-you" with a smile. He says, "Okay."
When someones says, "Hey, I quacked!" we all know exactly what that means. This was something started in the extended family. Whenever someone has to get up from their chair and wants their seat saved for when they return, they say, "Quack, quack, seat back!" which has shortened to "Quack!"
We go really crazy over our kitties with the special family language. Rosalyn, the gray old kitty, is called Roz, Grumpy Old Lady, Cranky Old Lady, or simply Old Lady. Inky, who is white with black spots (and would have been called Rorscharch after the ink-blot tests if hubby had had his way) is called Rotten Spotty. It's a name my brother coined. Our white kitty was originally called Snowball, then Schmutz, and now goes primarily by Stinky. She is the sweetest cat ever, and we call her that often, too - "The Sweetest Cat Ever." Roz likes to meow at us in a grumpy way and I meow right back. Stinky says "brrrt, brrrt" to us and we "brrrt, brrrt" back. I like to call the kitties my puppies or babies. When we want the kitties to come running, we don't say, "Here, kitty kitty kitty." We make a pss, pss, pss noise. When the kitties start acting crazy and running all over the house (especially Stinky), we say they have brain worm.
Okay, you probably get the picture. Family language: it's worth a college thesis. If you're so inclined, feel free to share an example of your own.
The hubby loves to purposely mispronounce words. He says "red-eye" for "ready" when we are trying to leave the house. He says "cha (say the "ch" as you would in church)-mo (long "o")-mi (short "i")-lee" for chamomile. He does this with lots of other words, as well.
Some of the nicknames we have for our kids: Doodle, Dude, Daughter, Man About Town (or Boy About School), Young Son #1, Young Son #2, Bubby, and Buddy. Those are just the nicknames not based upon their names, but in the sake of privacy for them, I won't be revealing the name-based ones here. We each also have an opposite-sex name for the fun of it.
Young Son #2 calls me Mammy and his father Pappy. He does it with a twang, too. The daughter calls me Bob, which is how Mom comes out when she has a cold. (That's my opposite-sex name.)
The hubby calls me Lovin' Spouseful or wifey; to the latter I reply with husbandy. Of course, we're also full of the Honey, Baby, Sugarcakes, Sweetie names, too. Sometimes, hubby says, "Submit to me, woman!" in a joking manner and I give him a withering look and sometimes an "eff-you" with a smile. He says, "Okay."
When someones says, "Hey, I quacked!" we all know exactly what that means. This was something started in the extended family. Whenever someone has to get up from their chair and wants their seat saved for when they return, they say, "Quack, quack, seat back!" which has shortened to "Quack!"
We go really crazy over our kitties with the special family language. Rosalyn, the gray old kitty, is called Roz, Grumpy Old Lady, Cranky Old Lady, or simply Old Lady. Inky, who is white with black spots (and would have been called Rorscharch after the ink-blot tests if hubby had had his way) is called Rotten Spotty. It's a name my brother coined. Our white kitty was originally called Snowball, then Schmutz, and now goes primarily by Stinky. She is the sweetest cat ever, and we call her that often, too - "The Sweetest Cat Ever." Roz likes to meow at us in a grumpy way and I meow right back. Stinky says "brrrt, brrrt" to us and we "brrrt, brrrt" back. I like to call the kitties my puppies or babies. When we want the kitties to come running, we don't say, "Here, kitty kitty kitty." We make a pss, pss, pss noise. When the kitties start acting crazy and running all over the house (especially Stinky), we say they have brain worm.
Okay, you probably get the picture. Family language: it's worth a college thesis. If you're so inclined, feel free to share an example of your own.
Labels: cats, children, family language, husband, movie, neil gaiman, nicknames, quack, rorscharch, words
Friday, April 06, 2007
Who Killed the Electric Car?
We just finished watching Who Killed the Electric Car?. My thought: I hope GM goes bankrupt from its utter stupidity. If you've seen the movie and care anything about electric cars, you'll know what I mean.
Labels: electric car, gm, movie
Monday, March 26, 2007
FtTP - John Waters & Quentin Tarantino - NOT!
I've not posted a Frankensteining the Talent Pool suggestion in some time, and today I'm doing an anti-FtTP. I saw the movie director John Waters on a commercial last night. He's going to be hosting a TV show. Waters is best known for his movie Pink Flamingos, which has to be seen to be believed. It is definitely not for children, and frankly, it's not a movie for most adults, either. After the Waters commercial, I saw a movie trailer for Quentin Tarantino, who is known for bizarre, psychotic violence in his movies. Seeing the two in such close proximity, I wondered what a movie directed by the both of them would look like. And then I really thought about it and decided that the world probably doesn't need two crazy creepo creatives teaming up to unleash their twisted ideas upon each other or the rest of us. Makes me shudder to think about it.
Labels: creative, frankensteining the talent pool, FtTP, john waters, movie, quentin tarantino
Friday, March 23, 2007
The World's Fastest Indian
The hubby, Young Son Number Two and I just finished watching the movie The World's Fastest Indian. All I can say is that Anthony Hopkins is one of the best actors of all time. Dang! It was all I could do to keep from bawling. Fabulous.
Labels: acting, anthony hopkins, husband, indian, motorcycle, movie, son
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Kinky Boots
During the middle of the snowstorm last night, the hubby and I ventured out to the video store and rented the movie Kinky Boots. It's a Miramax film. The screen shots are stunning and gorgeous. The story is fabulous. Kinky Boots didn't get much press upon release, but it is well worth seeing. Do not let the title scare you. It's rated PG-13. The basic plot is about a man who inherits his family's shoe factory in England. He doesn't really want the thing and the men's shoes the factory makes are going out of style. Enter a drag queen, who is played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, and the plight of the factory shifts. Chiwetel has quite a list of professional credits, although this is the first movie I've seen him in. Judging by his performance, which was dead-on fantastic - especially his singing as Lola - he should reach a high level of fame. Here's hoping he does.
Labels: chiwetel ejiofor, drag queen, husband, kinky boots, movie, shoe, snow, story
Friday, January 19, 2007
Movie Recommendation
If you haven't already seen it, I recommend renting the movie Little Miss Sunshine, which hubby and daughter and I watched tonight. Fabulous, quirky story.
Labels: daughter, husband, little miss sunshine, movie, story
Sunday, November 19, 2006
American Gods
I'm rereading American Gods by Neil Gaiman. It's even better the second time around, and it was darned good the first. Some time after the first reading, my husband and I were in conversation and I said, "Do you remember that movie with the guy hanging from the tree?" He looked at me like I had two heads. That's when I realized I was talking about American Gods and that the writing had been so well done that I had envisioned it as a movie as I read it.
The second time through, I'm catching subtle things I didn't at first. I'm more keenly aware of the language. Gaiman's good with the metaphors and other literary devices. His tales are mythic, but with that sense that myth is a part of everyday life. I like that. I wonder if he believes in the supernatural. If he doesn't, he's doing a good job of faking it.
Back to this idea of American Gods as a movie: It'd be interesting if the Coen brothers would direct & produce it because they have a great sense of the quirky. I've been mentally trying to cast the piece, but the only character I can place an actor with is Mr. Nancy. I'd like to see him played by the guy who used to do the 7up commercials - the guy with the island accent, and the shiny white teeth that stood out against his dark skin and matched his white, white suit.
I can't figure out who should play Shadow, the main character. The best I can come up with is that he should be played by an unknown, because anyone else would be too recognizable to be a shadow.
The second time through, I'm catching subtle things I didn't at first. I'm more keenly aware of the language. Gaiman's good with the metaphors and other literary devices. His tales are mythic, but with that sense that myth is a part of everyday life. I like that. I wonder if he believes in the supernatural. If he doesn't, he's doing a good job of faking it.
Back to this idea of American Gods as a movie: It'd be interesting if the Coen brothers would direct & produce it because they have a great sense of the quirky. I've been mentally trying to cast the piece, but the only character I can place an actor with is Mr. Nancy. I'd like to see him played by the guy who used to do the 7up commercials - the guy with the island accent, and the shiny white teeth that stood out against his dark skin and matched his white, white suit.
I can't figure out who should play Shadow, the main character. The best I can come up with is that he should be played by an unknown, because anyone else would be too recognizable to be a shadow.
Labels: american gods, coen brothers, husband, movie, myth, neil gaiman, shadow, supernatural, writing
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Tricky Dick
What would happen if Deep Throat, the Watergate informant, was actually two fifteen-year-old girls? The movie Dick deals with just that premise. I've caught it a couple of times on Comedy Central. It's brilliant. The teenage girls, Betsy and Arlene, are played by Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams. They spend gobs of time squealing and their wardrobe is to die for. Deborah Everton, the costume designer for the movie, should've won an award.
Betsy and Arlene unwittingly find themselves at the center of Richard Nixon's Watergate scandal. They manage to become the President's dog walkers and get themselves in deeper. Arlene eventually falls for Dick, plastering her bedroom walls with his photos as though he's a rock star. Supremely cute.
The movie was released in 1999, but I don't remember seeing any previews for it. It pays to revisit our culture's past creative products. We can't catch them all the first time around.
By the way, according to the Washington Post, the real Deep Throat wasn't two teenage girls. It was W. Mark Felt, the number 2 man in the FBI. I bet he never walked the President's dog.
Betsy and Arlene unwittingly find themselves at the center of Richard Nixon's Watergate scandal. They manage to become the President's dog walkers and get themselves in deeper. Arlene eventually falls for Dick, plastering her bedroom walls with his photos as though he's a rock star. Supremely cute.
The movie was released in 1999, but I don't remember seeing any previews for it. It pays to revisit our culture's past creative products. We can't catch them all the first time around.
By the way, according to the Washington Post, the real Deep Throat wasn't two teenage girls. It was W. Mark Felt, the number 2 man in the FBI. I bet he never walked the President's dog.
Labels: creative, dick, movie, nixon, watergate
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Bitey of Brackenwood
My youngest son (with some help from my oldest son) just clued me into this astoundingly good animated series. It's called the Bitey Castle series, created by Adam Phillips. The scenery is luminous. The music is reminiscent of the Celts. The characters are humorous. Bitey, a satyr, is the main character and he's always causing trouble, usually by picking on someone smaller than he, like the baby Sasquatch (cute!), the Prowlies, the Yuyus, and the witch - Lemonee Wee. Bitey always gets his come-uppance, though. This really should be a full-length feature. It's enchanting.
Labels: bitey, movie, music, son
