Washington Photologue II

Today, for the first time in over a week, it was sunny and calm. I was in such a good mood due to the pleasant weather that I cooked turkey enchiladas for the family. I also did a 20 minute hilly route run, followed by a 3 mile hilly walk/climb with my aunt. I wanted to take advantage of the gorgeous sun, because who knows what the weather will be like tomorrow.

I forced myself to run in the windy cold yesterday. It wasn't raining, sleeting, nor snowing, but it wasn't pleasant weather at all. Steve ran with me along a scenic road that overlooks the valley at sunset. It was great to run downhill for the first leg of the run, but the uphill jaunt with a strong crosswind made the return trip very tough. Steve kept telling me to run each and every hill, but I took a couple of short walk breaks. This Florida girl isn't used to the steep hills. The locals call the mountains "hills" which is quite an understatement. But, I'll take the burning workout in stride as I prep for the race that will burn a lot more for a lot longer.

We watched The Nativity Story in the theater as a family . . . taking up more than a whole row. We enjoyed the movie: great acting from mostly little known actors, except for 2002 best actress nominee Keisha Castle-Hughes who played Mary. There was definitely some story-telling liberty that got thrown in the mix to flesh out some details, but overall, it was excellent and captivating with fantastic desert and Mediterranean footage. Finally, Hollywood got some things right and didn't make the angels female. The soundtrack features several Christmas hymns and carols set as background music. It's a beautiful movie for the holiday season. So, check it out!

And now, more fun photos from Christmas in Washington:

Family tradition is that whomever receives the gift with the nativity scene reads the story of Jesus' birth from Luke 2. I knew that Steve would be dubbed the gospel narrator this year, since he's the one in seminary. Bill got a couple of pairs of snowshoes . . . for all 4 feet. I got the warmest and cutest new bathrobe!
Abe & Lily zonked out waiting to unwrap gifts. Abe got a t-shirt that said "Dogfather" as a play on the Godfather movie poster. He is Italian, afterall.

Bill got Heather & Lily some appropriate signage.
Bill tortures Blazer with a reindeer costume. Keeping Lily snuggly warm.

Elizabethtown Review

Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown is a quirky mish-mash drama about Drew (Orlando Bloom) who discovers his father's roots in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Along the way, he befriends a flight attendant, Claire, (Kirstin Dunst) who has a very unique way of viewing life. What is this movie about? It's a patchwork quilt about coming of age, life, love, dealing with death, family roots, southern culture, and great music.

The road trip at the end of the film is awesome. It's a scrapbook, road trip score, and treasure hunt all rolled into one.

I expected a B-move romance drama, and this film included several smaller storylines that blended well together for a nice mix with an upbeat script. I enjoyed it, and it was definitely different and better than my initial expectations. So, give it a whirl . . . relax and enjoy being serenaded by Patty Griffin, Tom Petty, and Elton John (to name a few).

007 is back!

The highly anticipated 2006 version of Casino Royale, based on Ian Fleming's original novel, is back with a stunning revival of the 007 character. Daniel Craig does a fantastic job as the newest actor to portray James Bond in his first mission after attaining the double-"0" promotion. In fact, he's my favorite 007 actor since Sean Connery. He actually looks built enough to pull off the stunts that James Bond has to do to track down the bad guys. Previous actors just looked like middle-aged guys throwing very slow punches. Daniel Craig is one tough lookin' spy who can run, jump, and fight on screen with commanding force.

The typical James Bond one-liners aren't predictable and peppered throughout the film. Rather, the script remains fresh and clever. I love the first dialogue scene between Craig and Eva Green, who plays accountant Vesper Lynd, as they size one another up with sassy yet respectful quips. I love the camera angles on the panoramic shots of Europe. But the true genius lies in the varying and artful camera angles on the first chase/run/climb scene atop a crane. The cinematographer and editor deserve plush kudos for that scene. For once, James Bond is a person who reveals his weaknesses and opens up to other humans. The latter Bond films with Pierce Brosnan painted Bond as so much of an unfeeling robot character. I like that Craig's bond is fun to watch when he's in spy mode, but also endearing as a character that's relatable when he cares about other people.

The first chase scene and the last crumbling building scene were a little over the top as far as believability goes. Bond chases a terrorist in a beginning scene; he moves through obstacles as if he was spiderman. Absolutely unrealistic, but it was the most fun I've had watching a man to man chase scene in the movies!

The casino scenes were sometimes a little too drawn out, especially for a movie that's 2 hours and 24 minutes in duration. And, the camera spent WAY too much time on Mads Mikkelsen's bad banker guy Le Chiffre, the scar eye with the cloudy blue contact weren't exactly fun to watch for so many scenes. Dame Judi Dench is back as "M"--the only woman who can keep James Bond in line and talk some sense into him. This 007 flick does not feature a "Q" or any other invention genius, for that matter.

Plot premise: Bond must prevent a banker/bad guy from wining a casino tournament and funding terrorism.

Overall film review: MUST SEE IT in the theater. I can't wait to see it again on DVD!

Weekend Mind Vegging

Aside from enjoying the Greek festival, we played frisbee in the soccer fields, I got in a good interval training run, and cleaned house. Steve & I also checked out some movies from the library, and viewed some more from Netflix. I love not having to study on the weekends! I'm really going to town on the movies, just because I CAN. But, after this weekend, I think I'm all movied out at least until Thanksgiving break. So here's the lowdown on a few that we viewed (we tried a couple others, but after 5 minutes, we hit the eject button).

Everything is Illuminated is Liev Schrieber's directorial debut in a film based on a book by the same title. An American Jew goes to the Ukraine to find out about a woman who saved his grandfather from death by the Nazis. It's a journey for 3 men from 2 cultures who end up having more in common than they originally thought. The story is rather strange from the beginning, and we weren't sure how much more we could take, but it did pick up and soon became more interesting. After we watched the deleted scenes, we agreed that we definitely would have hit the eject button early on if those scenes were kept in tact. It's not bad, and ends up better than you think it will after a very slow and odd start. I loved the cinematography of the lush countryside and the contrasting WWII reminiscing that was harsh and black and white . . . reminded me of Saving Private Ryan footage.

Yet again, Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd team up to do a movie together. High Crimes also stars Jim Caviezel as Tom Kubik, a marine accused for the murder of 9 innocent victims. Freeman plays a former Marine who is an offbeat but successful lawyer that's recruited to help the defense. Judd plays Claire Kubik, wife of Tom and his attorney for what turns out to be a government cover up with a scapegoat for the accused. But, the plot takes various twists and turns as the story plays out. Suspense thriller. The problem with this genre is that I hate it when women get attacked or threatened and they STILL don't take any precautions and so they get attacked and threatened . . . AGAIN. DUH! Leave a light on at home, CALL 911 from your cell phone, get a weapon or learn how to use your arms and legs as weapons, but don't end up as a victim repeatedly because you're too dumb to take precautions! I hate that Hollywood does this over and over again in movies. Overall, good flick. Uhm, well . . . Jack Black is hilarious, as always. And, if you're a fan of Jack Black, then Nacho Libre is passable. Otherwise, it is really strange and really lame. Definitely a disappointment if you're looking for something to be a good follow-up to the director Jared Hess's Napoleon Dynomite. Mexican orphanage chef & friar by day, tag team wrestler (luchador) by night. This movie sucked bean dip.

Sandra Bullock plays Gwen, an alcoholic party girl who makes a mess of her sister's (Elizabeth Perkins) wedding and gets charged in a D.U.I. Her sentence: 28 days of rehab or jail. Her rehab counselor is played by Steve Buscemi (atypical role for him, but he pulls it off). Heavy drama with a strong cast, but the annoying songs and rehab chanting really are over done, but that's part of the story line. Viggo Mortensen plays an Oklahoman baseball pro who befriends Gwen in rehab. Not a super thick storyline here, just how Gwen and a few others struggle in rehab. This is pretty much. . . meh. But you can see the NYC skyline pre September 11th with the Twin Towers still in tact.

Bruce Willis plays . . . a cop. Wow, talk about typecast. This time, he's a bad cop, but then everyone in the flick is painted as a bad, corrupt cop. However, he wants to turn around and help a witness who's set to testify against a bunch of bad cops. So, for 16 blocks of NYC, it's cop & defendant (played by Def Mos) vs. many many cops. Do they make it to the trial in time to testify? Do they survive? Ahhh. . . gotta watch to find out. Worst part of the flick is listening to Def Mos drone on and on scene after scene in his annoying, nasally voice that was reminiscent of Fran Drescher from The Nanny. Steve and I were literally yelling at the screen and telling him to "shut up". Ugh, cast someone who isn't so annoying to listen to, or give him fewer lines . . . please! This movie was . . . okay, nothing special.

Cars Review

Cool animation and sound effects. The story was predictable and very so-so. The telling of the tale really dragged on in several areas, but it was fun overall. I enjoyed the soundtrack, especially John Mayer's version of "Route 66" and Sheryl Crow's "Real Gone". I still don't know what I think of the Rascal Flatt's cover of "Life is a Highway". I don't think that song was meant to be sung by a country band. . . it's just not the same.

Owen Wilson plays Lightning McQueen, the same smug playboy, daredevilish character that Wilson plays in every other movie where he's been typecast. But Larry the Cable Guy who plays Mater steals the show. Fun family movie, just be prepared to snooze through a few underedited scenes.

United 93 Review

Surprisingly good. I like the fairly realistic portrayal of ATC, the NEADS mission control floor, and the FAA crap hittin' the fan. Read Wikipedia's film production notes which describes how many of the actors were actually FAA, ATC, airline, or military personnel playing themselves in the roles. The production notes describe how the director separated the actors playing the hijackers from the rest of the cast until last minute for a more realistic portrayal. I also found an interesting United 93 Crash site that tests other theories.

When watching this film, you can't help but recount 9.11.01 and exactly what you were doing when you received the news about the WTC and the Pentagon. I was actually at home, taking a pro-day from work since I had flown TDY for a mission the entire week prior. Since we didn't have t.v., or radio (I was shut off from the outside world except for telephone), I received news from family via phone calls. Within a few days, I was pulling 12 hour shifts...the night shift, for 4-6 weeks. Steve was on day shift, so we hardly saw each other...and sleeping during the day was just brutal. But, our country was having a crisis, and we wanted to serve and right the wrongs of America's enemies--we wanted to prevent future attacks, and we wanted to make certain our families slept soundly at night. I remember that year that I flew missions and experienced Operation Deny Christmas, and celebrated New Year's in at least 2 times zones while flying through 2 weekdays--I'd forgotten what day it was by the time we landed. But, Homeland Security was launched, the FAA, NORAD, CONR, and a bunch of other acronyms got their acts together after facing an unprecedented blow to American soil. Soon enough, the night shifts required less manpower, the frequent flying missions reduced, and then we geared up to go to war in Iraq.

Movie Reviews

With our furious academic schedule, we sometimes take time out to escape from reality and enjoy a good story. We recently watched and enjoyed a couple of excellent films that fell under the radar when they were released.

The Island (2005), was a cool combination between Aldus Huxley's Brave New World, The 6th Day, and Gattaca. The storyline is fairly simple and predictable once enough information has been revealed. Yet, the story remains upbeat and comical at the appropriate moments, as well as revoltingly disturbing at times. It doesn't have an overall feeling of morbidity and frustration for the human race like similar movie plots tend to sway. The action scenes were fun, but a bit over the top (this is Hollywood, afterall). I thought to myself, "there is NO WAY a person would EVER survive that crash or fall". But, it's a good roller coaster, nontheless. There is one unique car chase scene that rivals a scene in the Matrix Reloaded in the amount of vehicles that were damaged. Scarlett Johansson and Ewan McGregor gave great performances. It was also fun to see supporting actors Steve Buscemi, Sean Bean, Michale Clarke Duncan, and Djimon Hounsou. So, give it a try...enjoy the incredible sets, beautiful cinematography and wardrobe. This is a flick worth checking out.

We picked out In America from the limited weekend selection available at the Library. This one was surprisingly good. Another flick with Djimon Hounsou who lends a strong supporting role as Mateo. Paddy Considine & Samantha Morton played an Irish immigrant couple trying to make a new life for their family in America. Two sisters steal the show in this incredible drama: dynamic Emma Bolger "Ariel" and solemn Sarah Bolger "Christy". They reflect the pains of poverty and peer pressure in America as well as how their parents relationship affects them; and they directly aid in helping their parents recover from grief. They also win over the suffering hermit, Mateo. Strong performances all around, in this winning drama. It's a must see. It will touch your heart.

Movie Junkies

Whenever we want an escape from reality (which is at least twice a day), we'll delve into our latest Netflix shipment. But sometimes, we actually get to go to the theater to see 'em on the silver screen--our preference. We heard nothing but good things about Lady in the Water. We both enjoyed it, although we thought some of the side-line characters could have had a little more development. All in all, Shyamalan is a great storyteller and he turns out yet another favorite.

We also enjoyed the action-packed revolutionary graphic novel turned film, "V for Vendetta". It was definitely a combo of Matrix, 1984, Phantom of hte Opera, and Equilibrium. I liked the splashes of red throughout various scenes that draws the eye around the screen. If I were to watch it again, I think I would count how many times the letter "V" appeared visually on the screen. If one were to count how many times it appeared in the script, I think it would be the majority of the script, including the names of key characters. Natalie Portman did a fantastic job, espcially in the hyperventilation scene when she discovers the truth of an elaborate plot. And, even though Hugo Weaving had to overdramatize a silly (Green Goblin-esque) masque for the entire film, he still did a great job with the voice . One of the more interesting scenes was when the voice of London sees the tape of his earlier broadcast in surround-vision screens as well as the reflection of them through the glass. It reminded me of a scene of Nicole Kidman in To Die For, looking at herself through a camera and t.v. image projected infinitely. The fascist regime's symbol was appropriately a "double-cross". And, the nod to the British Comedy "The Benny Hill Show" which makes a farce of the fascist dictator. I want to see this one again!Finally, Steve insisted on watching Kill Bill, after our friends let us borrow their DVDs of Vol 1 & 2. I liked the sword fight scene between Uma Thurman & Lucy Liu in the snow covered gardens. But otherwise, in true Quentin Tarentino style, it's a bit over-the-top and not even funny or cool in the blood-splattering dramatic death cut scenes. It's disappointing, rather. I think I'd much rather watch an old Bruce Lee film. I know old martial arts films are over-the-top on special effects, but I enjoy the art of the choreography. This one is trying to be artful with revenge-driven, blood-spraying melodrama. Pity. . . this had so much potential.

X-Men 3

X-Men 3 was awesome and also unexpected. There were some incredible special effects regarding water scenes and Magneto's tasking of moving the Golden Gate bridge. But, I was surprised about what happened to so many of the main characters--and I'm not going to spoil it for you. I think that they really don't plan on making another movie in the series, which is unfortunate. I expected a little more fighting action from key players like Cyclops, Rogue, and Tin Man, but that just wasn't the case. Kelsey Grammer did a fantastic job as the intelligent, diplomatic, and butt-kicking Beast. Hugh Jackman was moody, tough, and sentimental as Wolverine. Halle Berry's Storm improved a lot from the previous 2 films. It was tough to tell whether Famke Janssen's Jean Grey / Phoenix was decent acting or really good special effects, but her character seemed to be mostly stoic and flat. I'd definitely see it again, but I'll wait until it hits Netflix. I do recommend it!!

Cinderella Man & Left Behind

Steve & I curled up on the couch to finally watch Ron Howard's Cinderella Man starring Russell Crowe & Renee Zellweger. We really enjoyed it. The punches toward the camera were pretty cool. I liked the dingy, almost flat colors of the wardrobe and sets depicting the harshness of the Great Depression. What we liked most about the story line was the hero's (boxer James J. Braddock) uncompromising character and values. It seems that in so many modern movies, it is the hero's character that changes in order to overcome the enemy or difficult circumstances. Typically, Hollywood portrays the modern hero as someone who finally grows a backbone enough to slaughter people who've caused injustice. Or, the hero's character changes so that (s)he becomes an absolute jerk toward the enemy. Revenge is a common theme in the typical Hollywood film of late. I grow weary of such overused character development which Hollywood seems to think "humanizes" the character. James Braddock's character develops through several hardships of trying to earn a living enough so that his family can remain together under the same roof and survive. Times grow hard enough that he must humble himself in order to ask for a handout from the government, and eventually the big bosses and managers of the boxing circle. Yet, he never wants his family to be separated, even if that means his children have better provision. He will not tolerate his son stealing salami from the butcher and goes with him to return it. Braddock tells his son, "we never steal. . . no matter how tough things get, we never steal." Then, the reason why his son stole in the first place is revealed in a very touching scene. Multiple characters grow and develop in this underdog triumphs film. . . and most of them do so with increasing dignity, love, and strength. How refreshing to see such an encouraging story of a hero on film.

The only thing negative I have to say about this movie is that there are a few digital scenes that depict internal anatomical effects of certain boxing blows, such as broken ribs. Those scenes looked like my primal software for anatomy lab instead of movie-making. Oh well, we got the point. . . the punch broke Braddock's ribs.

I pulled another stupid yesterday. I had a meeting at my place following the seminar where Dr. Stitzel and the scoliosis mentoring program officers would plan the future of the program. The treasurer, Karson, didn't know where I lived, and so he said he'd follow my vehicle. Well, in all the hustling about and getting everyone loaded in my car, I pulled out of the parking lot, and drove a good 400 feet before I suddenly realized I'd left Karson back at Palmer. I was so embarrased. I turned around and headed back. He gave me hell for it, but at least I remembered him.

Christmas Season Movies

I've read nothing but negative reviews of Jackson's remake of King Kong, but I loved every minute of it. In fact, I haven't enjoyed a movie as much since Lord of the Rings. On the 26th, TCM showed the original King Kong and it was amazing to see how many of the scenes Jackson truly adhered to in the remake...of course he added tons more special effects and more realistic sound effects to Kong and the dinosaurs (so that not everything sounded like a roaring lion or screaming cheetah). Movieland has come a long way since stop-motion animation. I thought all the scenes with Naomi Watts and Kong were amazing. Her version of Ann was far more resilient and capable than Fay Wray's damsel in distress. I really loved the scene with Ann and Kong in Central Park, so memorable. It was a winner, and I'd see it twice more in the theater. . . course that's devoting 6 more hours of my life to escapism!

On the other hand, Narnia didn't quite meet our expectations. Probably because we finished reading Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe the day before we watched the film. Too many details were changed for the story, characters added, scenes non-sequential, or scenes added that weren't in the original story. Sometimes you can change a book and make the movie better, as in the case of The Two Towers, but I think the changes in Narnia just detracted from overall character and plot building. Ultimately, I think it is Peter's character that is the most different from book to film. And so many narrative points are removed leaving a less rich story in the film version. It wasn't terrible, but it just didn't hit the mark of greatness. I probably won't see it again, but I am curious enough to see the other films Disney will produce with the Chronicles.

The World's Most Perfect Sandwich

Thursday night, Steve and I rented the movie Spanglish with Adam Sandler and Tea Leoni. We loved it: funny, dramatic, great story line . . . perfect way to wind down a tough week. The coolest part of the DVD was a cooking demo that described how to make the world's most perfect late night sandwich which played a great prop role in the film. Steve was inspired to recreate this fancy B.L.T. sandwich for dinner this weekend. So, we went out in search of ingredients on Saturday and had a fun time in the kitchen building sandwiches. It was delicious!


The world's most perfect sandwich