Waitress (J)

Oh, thank you so much, Annie for recommending this! I loved this movie from beginning to end. There is not a thing I didn't like, except for Earl, and I have a little crush on Nathan Fillion. I have always like him but after this movie... *sigh*.

So sad about Adrienne Shelly though. I would love to have been able to see what came next from her.

5 I-Love-This-Movie-and-Wish-I-Could-Bake-Like-That Pies out of 5

Juno (R)

Hopped on over to the theater on a school night last week, feeling so very young and carefree, purse full of home snacks to help me avoid the siren call of the theater popcorn. My neighbor friend and I saw Juno, a sweet little movie about teen pregnancy, adoption, and the usual angst of growing up.

I'd heard great things about Juno and had high hopes for it. The movie mostly delivered. A few of my dialogue expectations weren't met (I'd seen a clip or two and expected dialogue of Gilmore Girls proportions). And I thought Juno's character was a bit uneven in some places ... but maybe that's how she rolls (unevenly) when meeting the prospective adoptive parents of her unborn love-child.

Overall, though, I give it 4.8 ratty chairs out of 5. Definitely put it on your lists in spite of the fact that Jennifer Garner, who is my age exactly, seems super-super-super old next to three-year-old Juno. Ugh.

Halloween (the 2007 remake) --A

Rob Zombie dares to remake the greatest scary movie of all time? What was he thinking? Who cares, all that matters is that he did a great job! It differs in that he explains more of the Michael Meyers childhood and why he is, the way he is. I was prepared for it to be a suck fest because it had huge potential to be very hokey but again, not too over the top and demented enough to have it fit into the original.
SPOILER ALERT -------------------------I was hoping they would have explained in this one, which they did not in the original either, how Michael knew Laurie was his sister, but they didn't so I was sad about that.---------------------
The acting was fun, teen age horror film acting and there was PLENTY of gratuitous nudity to keep any straight man happy. Overall, 4 paper mache masks out of 5.

Mr. Brooks --A

Takes place in good Ole Portland OR. Kevin Costner, William Hurt, some guy I have seen before - comedian but in a serious role (not a good decision). Kevin is Al Brooks, successful business man with an alter ego (William Hurt) that happens to be a serial killer. Is it bad that I liked the serial killer alter ego more then the boring 'normal' guy? Oh, but I did! So someone witnesses one of his murders and confronts him. Don't want to give away the twist of a twist to the twist at the end. Trust me, you all know how it will end but you have to watch how it gets there. Was not sure I was going to like.....but I did. 3.5 missing BMWs out of 5

American Movie (J)

This is my second time renting this movie. I love it and hate it so much. This is a movie about a couple of dolts in the Midwest who have been "making movies" and drinking beer for years. The follows the making and release of the Indy "Coven" (pronounced with a big Midwestern O, because the filmmaker, Mark Borchardt, didn't want it to rhyme with the word "oven"). It is Napoleon Dynamite painful to watch but just as funny. Unfortunately, these are real people and their real lives that are making you shake your head. But the good news is that Mark is a little mini star now and can probably pay his Visa bill.

5 Shats in a cemetery bathroom out of 5

Paycheck (J)

Or what I like to call, "A movie about things that could never happen and even if they could, this could never happen." In order to talk about what this movie is about, I would give away what weak little twist there is. It is as if HG Wells and Brittany Spears got together and wrote a movie together. The movie wanted to be sci-fi but was distracted by drugs and shiny things. Ben Affleck is in it and is just alright. Paul Giomatti (sp?) is good in everything, even this dog. Uma Thurman is not aging well and no amount of pancaked make-up can hide that, although I would kill puppies to have her body. The good part about this movie is I finally had time to update my address book and Christmas card list so I'm ready for next year!

1 Oh Please! out of 5

The Simpsons Movie --A

Not sure I am qualified to review this. I can handle the half an hour show. Sometimes I even think it is really funny. About 30 min in a did pick up a magazine and start reading it, half listening to the movie. I did peek up a couple times and admit I laughed out loud a couple if times too. This movie is for BIG fans of the Simpsons (like my husband). 2 SpiderPigs out of 5 from a moderate fan of the Simpsons who watches it to humor her husband.

Ratatouille --A

Not sure I spelled that right but you know what I am talking about. Another Disney movie. I just noticed the Disney connection, I should own stock in the dang company. LOVED this movie. Characters were lovable and fun. Story was great. Everything was great. GREAT GREAT GREAT. 5 soups out of 5

Pirates 3 ---A

Disney had to go and do it, by that I mean ruin a good thing. I hated the 3rd installment and let me list the reasons why.......too long, too many story plots, every male character falls for Keira Knightly's character, the pirate brigade is a mini version of It's a Small World, lots of mumbling. Keith Richards was most excellent and Johnny Depp is a hottie. Everything else was AHHHHH. I wasted what felt like 12 hours of my life on this movie. 1 funny monkey out of 5

Waitress --A

Was dying to see this since I first heard about it and saw the preview. The I Hate My Husband Pie roped me in from the get go! Keri Russell, small town waitress with abusive husband, planning to leave him, finds herself knocked up and now what to do? Good story, great supporting cast with the 2 waitresses she works with. Found out afterwards, one of the waitresses was actually the writer and director of the film and her toddler age daughter appears in it too, but she was murdered before the movie was released! You really are rooting for the main character to actually get it (you will understand once you watch). 4.5 Lulu's out of 5

Meet the Robinsons -- A

Disney+ Pixar = winning combo. Disney was not sneaking with the moral of the story on this one. Lewis is adopted and wants to see his birth mom. He is still living in the orphanage at this point so no hurt feelings of adoptive parents. He is an incredible inventor too so he creates a time machine. I had read somewhere that this was the worst of the Disney movies so maybe my expectations were low but I really enjoyed it! I mean it was no Incredibles but I thought it was cute and told a great story. 4 Wilburs out of 5

Eastern Promise(s?) (R)

The brit brought home this scary movie and I gave it a go even though Jon Cusack and I have sworn off the scary (and the puffy but that's a different post). It stars Viggo Mortenson with a convincing (most of the time) Russian accent and Naomi Watts (right when she was first pregnant in real life, I think; or maybe just a little bloated in some scenes).

It was okay, this movie. Gory, yes; a little one-noted, sure. But okay. Right up front I'll give it 3.8 strung-out hemorrhaging Russian fourteen-year-old pregnant prostitutes out of 5. Watts is a midwife in a London hospital. The aforementioned prostitute shows up to deliver her baby and die. Watts steals a diary from the corpse and sets out all Nancy Drew-like to solve the Mystery of the Strung-out Hemorrhaging Russian Fourteen-year-old Pregnant Prostitute (SOHRFYOPP), barging naively into a Russian crime family.

You can tell Viggo's a good dude, though. You can tell he's not really going to kill her uncle even though Uncle Stupid (I think that's how you spell it; it was a Russian name) spit in the scary Russian mobster dude's face. And even though Viggo cut off some frozen dudes fingers and killed two other non-frozen dudes with his bare hands and not a stitch of clothing (yes, folks; it was a full-frontal nude sauna fight scene).

Even though it didn't turn out well for the SOHRFYOPP, things did turn out surprisingly well for just about everyone else. Well, except for me. That night after I saw the movie I had the most violent, most disturbing, most memorable dream ever and I still can't get it out of my head. I think I'm going to have to eschew movies in which fingers are cut off, or fourteen-year-old prostitutes hemorrhage, or Jon Cusacks are puffy.

Speaking of which, did I ever review Alvin and The Chipmunks from Christmas Day??

Disturbia (J)

Same premise as Rear Window but updated for modern times. You can tell this was a thriller made for teens but it was still pretty good. Shia LaBeouf is a great son and then his dad dies. Shia is still a great son but has issues from the death of his dad. Well, those issue get him on house arrest. To busy himself, he becomes the neighborhood voyeur. Well, surprise! a new girl moves in next door and she is hot. They, of course, become a sexual tension item. Well, the neighbor seems to be a killer so there is a lot of spying on him. Creepy encounters with the neighbor and then a tension filled ending. Predictable but good enough to make Josh and me hold hands very tightly through most of the movie. I jumped a few times and enjoyed myself. I could have done without the uncomfortable "teen sex" moments, but I guess that just means I am old. The "romantic" scenes had nothing to do with the movie but teens need a little bump & grind to hold their attention through a movie, I guess, so it was excusable. I think if Shia can stay out of Walgreen's and trouble, he will have a long and successful career. He is quite a talent. I love Shia's house in this movie. I want to live there and have that beautiful neighborhood too. 4 Under-involved Moms out of 5

The Heartbreak Kid (2007) (R)

We watched this the night after Superbad and found it to be, well, super bad. And not in a cool way. Ben Stiller is 40-year-old bachelor with a friend and a father pushing him into marriage. He meets the perfect-seeming woman and rushes into marriage with her, only to have the honeymoon end just as the honeymoon is beginning. Then he meets the woman of his dreams while on his honeymoon and the predictable, annoying gags start from there.

There are a few funny gags and a lot of cringe-worthy ones. We stuck it out to the end only to find ourselves subjected to one final unfunny joke.

2 deviated septums out of 5