Reluctantly, I saw Marley and Me in the movie theater yesterday.  It’s not that it was a bad movie, but I didn’t want to see it in the theater because I knew it would be a tear-jerker since I read the book by John Grogan.  Unfortunately, I don’t remember much about the book since I read it a long time ago, and I do all of my book reading while I’m dozing off just before bed, which sometimes makes it difficult to remember what I’ve read.  But I know I really enjoyed the novel and recommended it to my family and friends.  The story is about a family who gets a puppy named Marley, and the novel follows his journey through life as the ‘world’s worst dog’.  But eventually, Marley charms his way into the hearts of his family, even helping them through life changes and tragedies.

From what I remember, I think the movie stays pretty close to the book, although I don’t necessarily agree with the casting choices of Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson as Marley’s masters.  I was a big fan of the tv show Friends, but every movie I’ve seen Jennifer Aniston in since seems like she’s still Rachel, her character from Friends.  She’s just not a very diverse actor in my book, which I also think she has in common with Owen Wilson.  But characters in this heartwarming family film were not very deep, so in the end the poor casting did little to sink the movie.  And you’ll notice that I crossed out family film.  Another thing that disappointed me was the PG rating Marley and Me received.  There are about 3 too many adult-themed scenes that I wouldn’t want my kids to see, and I’m really glad I previewed this film before I let them see it, which I usually do anyway.  This movie should NOT have received a PG rating, and it will make me more careful about making sure I preview everything before the kids view it, regardless of rating.

But overall, cute movie.  If you’re an animal lover or have ever owned a dog, prepare to cry.  Sorry if you consider that a spoiler, but it’s been all over the media and has dominated water cooler talk everywhere about how sad the movie and book are.  I’m sure you can guess what happens and you think you can prepare yourself, but you can’t.  I was a total wreck in the theater and have had a bit of a cloud over me ever since.  But don’t let that scare you away from seeing Marley and Me.  I think it just struck a chord in me because we own a dog who was once ‘The World’s Worst Dog’ and is now an old lady who has been a huge part of our family for over 10 years.  I probably would not watch this movie again, but only for lack of wanting to ride the emotional rollercoaster it provokes in its viewers.  The big screen version of Marley and Me was entertaining, and it made me definitely want to read the book again…  if only I had time for that.

This morning, I caught the opening chat fest on Regis and Kelly.  If I see nothing else on the show (when I am able) this is it; many times the guests do not interest me.  However, I love the chemistry between the hosts.  Bantering, poking fun, reporting on the headlines, etc.  Also the trivia contest in which a caller selected at random attempts to answer a question about a previous show in order to win a fantastic trip.  Today’s question: “In which 2008 movie did Sir Ben Kingsley co-star with Mike Myers.”  It took me nearly the full 20 seconds to come up with the answer, unfortunately for Christine Neves from Cumberland, IN, she could not come up with the correct answer to win her stay in Gren-ah-da/Gren-A-da (however you pronounce it).

I won’t even go into the details of The Love Guru only by saying that I have heard many poor unfortunate souls who have seen it and have said that they wished that they could have gotten not only their money but also their time refunded.  I’m not sure but I think Mike Myers has gone the way of Eddie Murphy who has also added to his list of stinkers this year. Anyone remember Meet Dave?  That’s ok, I don’t either; I think it lasted a minute or two in theatres.  I’m not sure if even Austin Powers or Shrek can resurrect Myers’ movie career.

Ok, going in, I knew it would be a terrible movie.  When Christmas With The Kranks came out in the movie theater, it was met with terrible reviews from critics, and its imdb.com rating is a measley 4.7 with over 7,000 votes.  So why did I want to watch it?  Two reasons – I wanted to watch a Christmas movie on Christmas Eve, and I had read Surviving Christmas –  one of the rare John Grisham books that isn’t legal fiction, “Surviving Christmas” months ago – I always like to see books come to life on the screen.  Well, ok, not always…  because Christmas With The Kranks was simply awful – even worse than I thought.

The story is about a couple of empty-nesters who decide to skip Christmas since their daughter will be out of town.  They plan to take a tropical cruise and go about getting fake tans and whatnot to prepare for their unconventional holiday celebration.  Not such a big deal, you’d think.  Except that the Krank’s live on a street that is famous for their Christmas decorations.  Every house is expected to put a Frosty the Snowman decoration on their roof every year, and so when the Kranks are preparing to leave town without doing so, the neighborhood is abuzz.  That’s it.

The novel was alright; it was a fun little story, and although it wasn’t one of the best books, I did get all the way through it.  But I can’t say the same about the movie.  We turned it off in the middle and I can’t say I missed the rest.  My main problem with it was the casting of Tim Allen as Luther Krank.  While reading the book, I kept picturing Luther as a crabby senior citizen, but Tim Allen made Luther more angry than crabby.  In the novel, John Grisham does a nice job setting scene of a small, close-knit community, but all that is lost in the movie, especially with Tim Allen involved.  I was shocked to read on imdb.com that John Grisham has casting approval rights for movies based on his novels.  Maybe that was established because of Christmas With The Kranks.  Well anyway, that’s enough time wasted on this movie.  From what I hear, it’s not the best example of a John Grisham book, but worth a try, I suppose, if you have lots of spare time and like to read.  On the other hand, I wouldn’t recommend the movie to anyone.

While searching for the perfect DVD to view on the new Blu-Ray (yes DVDs are able to be played on the machine), I decided to give Star Trek VI – The Undiscovered Country a long overdue view.  Released in 1991 (I remember seeing the film in a GOOD theatre setting while taking a break from holiday shopping in the city), the sixth film was the final voyage of the USS Enterprise under the command of Captain James TIBERIUS Kirk.  I still say no one chews scenery better than William Shatner.  I was not disappointed in the experience as the space battles were given more punch and bang when viewed in high definition.

The tale begins when an important Klingon moon is destroyed forcing the empire to enter into peace talks with the Federation.  In short, the race has roughly 50 years of life remaining.  In a show of “arrogant presumption,” Spock volunteers Captain Kirk and crew to lead and escort the Klingon High Chancellor to peace talks.  In defense to Kirk’s bewilderment, the first officer offers an old Vulcan proverb: “Only Nixon could go to China.”

While the Enterprise leads the Klingon ship, the Chancellor is assassinated and Kirk and Dr. McCoy are found guilty of the crime and are sentenced to serve on the gulag Rura Penthe with no possibilty of parole.  Of course, the duo is eventually sprung from the penal asteroid and rejoins the starship to discover the truth behind the assassination and attempt to again begin the peace process

Several factors make this one of the finest Star Trek movies.  The plot parallels the climate in real world 1991: the end of the Cold War.  The veteran actors shine in their prospective roles and new characters are dynamically introduced.  Kim Catrall is introduced as Lt. Valeris who (as the first Vulcan to graduate at the top of her class at Starfleet Academy) is Spock’s personal choice to succeed him as science officer aboard the Enterprise.  Christopher Plummer is deliciosly hammy as the villainous Colonel Chang, a Klingon who is forever reciting Shakespeare either in English or the original Klingon.  Dr. McCoy becomes so annoyed with the outbursts that he would “pay real money if he would just shut up.”  Michael Dorn appears as Colonel Worf, attorney for Kirk and McCoy and grandfather of the security officer from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Captain’s Log, stardate 9529.1. This is the final cruise of the Starship Enterprise under my command. This ship and her history will shortly become the care of another crew. To them and their posterity will we commit our future. They will continue the voyages we have begun, and journey to all the undiscovered countries, boldly going where no man… where no *one* has gone before.

Going against the more traditional holiday movie fare (a big chunk of it takes place during the Christmas season so it counts), it has become tradition to celebrate with what has become the most underrated, overlooked Bond flick (which is a shame). On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is by far the most emotionally charged film in the cannon.  It leads the secret agent to abandon his “bachelor’s taste for freedom” for the daughter of the head of an underworld organization.  At first, Bond enters into a bargain with Draco, father of Countessa Teresa di Vicenzo.  In exchange for help in tracking down the evil Blofeld, 007 would “look after” the head-strong, resilient, resourceful woman.  Bond’s first encounter with Traci was almost tragic as the countessa was about to drown herself.

No Bond movie is complete with a love story alone.  James tracks Blofeld to his hidden Alpine chalet where he has been cultivating his crop of female lovelies in another of his plots for world domination.  The spy’s disguise as a genealogist is discovered and he is locked in one of the endless array of death traps from which he undoubtedly escapes.  With the bad guys in pursuit, James again meets up with Traci who saves his life.  However, she is captured and taken to Blofeld’s lair.  In the rescue mission led by Bond and Draco, Traci proves her resilience in hand-to-hand combat with several baddies.

I have always liked Bond in wintery climates.  Breathtaking scenery, action on skis, bobsleds, and a demolition derby on ice are just some of the action sequences.  OHMSS is very slim on gadgetry.  It does feature two of the worst inventions created by Q.  Radioactive lint?  Plus a large, cumbersome safecracking device that takes forever to open a safe. Thank goodness James brought along some reading material while waiting… have your name prominently displayed in the comment box if you can tell me what that material is.

I think the reason for the underappreciation of the movie is the acting choice for Bond, himself.  Poor George Lazenby was an Australian model with no acting experience attempting to fill the shoes of a character who was so well established by Sean Connery.  Telly Savalas played the role of Blofeld with a devine sense of villainy.  And the gorgeous Diana Rigg used her talents from the television series The Avengers (skip the big-screen movie adaptation) very well as the ill-fated Traci.

Remember that CNN.com article I wrote about the unusual names?  The article spotlighted a little girl named Indiana Elizabeth Jones and her brother, Dow.  Well, this post is not going to be about them.

Rather, it’s an excuse to post a cute photo of my 4-year-old daughter wearing an Indiana Jones-like costume.  For the real buffs out there, I know it’s not exact, but it’s still cute…

Tonight while watching the first snow of the season continue to fall, I checked the tv listings and discovered two movies that piqued my interest: Santa Claus The Movie and the 1973 made-for-television version of Miracle on 34th Street.  Since I have seen Santa Claus (the rather disappointing movie made by Alexander Salkind, producer of the Christopher Reeve Superman films), I decided to check out one of at least 2 remakes of the 1947 classic.  It is a virtual who’s who of 1970s television stars. Sabastian Cabot (Mr. French from Family Affair), Tom Bosley (Mr. C from Happy Days), David Hartman (whom I remember as the co-host of Good Morning America back in the day… can’t say much for his acting ability), Jim Backus (Thurston Howell III and Mr. Magoo, himself), Roddy McDowell,  and David Doyle (Bosley from the Charlie’s Angels tv series) were just a few of the actors that made the whole thing seem like a bad Love Boat/Fantasy Island episode.  I think the best thing about watching remakes is the fun in which one can have discussing the merits of the different versions.  I must correct myself; there are actually a total of 4 remakes.  Three television versions (1955, 1959, and 1973) as well as the 1994 theatrical version.

One tidbit I learned from imdb.com, Mr. Cabot had to shave the trademark beard from his role on Family Affair and wear an “official” Kris Kringle beard.  Another tidbit… upon the release of the 1994 version, 20th Century Fox offered a complete refund for anyone who did not enjoy the film.  Over 1500 tickets were refunded.  Not sure how many were legitimate refunds or if they just had a bunch of Scrooges.  One thing is clear… one should not mess with an original.

Now if I could just locate a copy of that FINE classically bad classic Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.  I’ve seen bits of this what I am sure is a totally misunderstood gem but have never seen it in its entirety.

I shouldn’t have liked it.  It’s an 82 minute comedy farce co-starring Reese Witherspoon – what’s to like?  But I actually enjoyed the movie 4 Christmases more than I thought.

So why did I see if I thought I’d hate it?  For one, it was the only thing playing at the matinee price and for two, I had a sort of curiosity about the acting abilities of two country music super-stars:  Dwight Yoakam and Tim McGraw.  Actually, having seen Dwight Yoakam in Sling Blade, I’m well aware of his acting skills.  It was such a great performance in Sling Blade that I thought it was Oscar-worthy.  He’s not given much to work with in this movie however, and his role as one of those Leap of Faith-type preachers is not very well developed.  I don’t think it’s any fault of Yoakam, though, but more a testament to the lazy script.

Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon star as a freewheeling couple who don’t see the need to marry since they’re already happy, and they don’t want kids.  The first scenes of the movie really emphasize how perfect this couple’s lives are, and it’s almost sickeningly sweet how well they get along.  Enter their extended families, and they become miserable people.  It begins when their flight to Fiji is cancelled on Christmas and they are featured on the news.  The couple (their names were not memorable) is now busted in their annual lie about travelling to some exotic location for charity work.  They fib about this every year to their families so they can avoid seeing all 4 families (each set of parents is divorcd) for Christmas.  So now that they can’t go to Fiji, they have to visit 4 sets of crazy relatives on one day and yada, yada, anticipated baby jokes and predictable chaos ensues, you get the picture.

For some reason, a lot of Hollywood stars agreed to be in this movie.  And just as I expected, Vince Vaughn was the same in this movie as the characters he always plays.  He can be funny, but he’s not very versatile.  I was surprised that Reese Witherspoon did not get under my skin because for some reason, she annoys the heck out of me, and it’s distracting when watching her in movies.  As far as the country music super-stars are concerned, I consider this movie a waste of Dwight Yoakam’s acting talent, and Tim McGraw was barely in the movie at all.  I read somewhere that he beefed up for the role, and he was hard to recognize, although I don’t really know why he bothered gaining all the weight for a part that hardly has him on camera and with barely any lines.  Other big name actors making cameos were Mary Steenburgen, Jon Voight, Robert Duvall, and Sissy Spacek – maybe it’s just me, but even though she’s almost 60, I still look at her and see Carrie the fire-starting teen from the famous Stephen King horror movie of the ’70’s.

Overall, there was only one scene where I couldn’t even watch because of its ludicrousness, so instead I turned to my husband and whispered, “This is unbelievably dumb”.  Other than that, I was entertained, and mostly because it was a holiday movie, it was fun to sit, watch, and eat popcorn.  I wonder how Christmas With The Kranks will compare.  I’ve heard that one is just awful, yet I want to see it since I read the John Grisham novel upon which it was based.

This evening, I went with my family to watch the Santa parade here in town.  One of the nieces was somehow scared to death of Santa until grandpa took her up.  Then you could not get her away.  While we waited for the free photos to develop we watched the junior high band play carols in the fire hall (my oldest niece is now in the 7th GRADE).

Following the festivities, we went back to the house and learned that The Polar Express was playing on network television.  Once again, if you want to watch a good movie watch it on video with out the butchering and commercials.  The movie is fast becoming a holiday classic and a tradition as has the book by Chris Van Allsburg.  It tells the story of a doubting boy who boards a magical train on Christmas Eve and travels to the North Pole and Santa’s home.  On the train, the boy meets a trio of other children each of whom have a specific reason for being on the journey.  On the trip, the quartet have a series of adventures inside, outside, and on top of the train.  I loved the idea behind the personalized tickets… each passenger is given a ticket which eventually reveals something meaningful.

My favorite character is the lonely young boy who in his own words claims that “Christmas just doesn’t work out for me.”  The hero boy, hero girl, and lonely boy sing a beautiful number entitled “When Christmas Comes to Town.”

Plus, the coolest actor ever has at least 5 roles in the movie.  When you watch it, pay close attention and see how many roles you can hear Tom Hanks give voice to.  It is just a beautiful film to watch every year while you prepare to celebrate the most joyous time of the year and believe in what can and, more importantly, what you can’t see… that which is in your heart.  After all… The thing about trains… It doesn’t matter where they’re going.  What matters is deciding to get on.

The Polar Express (Selections from the Motion Picture) Music by Alan Silvestri, Glen Ballard. Songbook for voice, piano and guitar (chords only). 72 pages. Published by Alfred Publishing. (AP.PFM0428) See more info…

Once again I caught a movie that I definitely should have seen on the big screen (darn Speed Racer, anyway). Iron Man positively ranks up there with my all-time favorite superhero movies (need I say which is number one… and it is NOT Howard the Duck).  I knew absolutely nothing about billionaire industrialist Tony Stark and his alter ego going in which made the movie even better.

I really appreciated the fact that Mr. Stark (played brilliantly by Robert Downey, Jr.) was a man who had conflicts.  He is in the beginning the swinging, drinking, womanizing heir to a fortune which he inherited from his father.  Tony acted as if he could care less about the company which provides state of the art weapons to U.S. forces.  However after a life and death struggle at the hands of Afghan forces, his view begins to change.  While being held captive, the brilliant spoiled rich kid develops the prototype to a new weapon that allows one person to become a nearly indestructible fighting force and uses it to escape his captors.

After returning to society, the industrialist vows to use his technology to fight evil.  However, there are sinister forces that will stand in his way.  Once again, a film in which no one can be trusted.  The supporting cast was also well developed.  Jeff Bridges is memorable in his role as is Gwyneth Paltrow as Stark’s executive secretary, Pepper Potts.

Following the movie, I saw that my favorite superhero movie and its first sequel were playing on TVLand.  However, I decided to break out my DVD collection instead.  I do not like to watch great movies interrupted by commercials.   Now it is time for the sequel.  Have a Super night.  And is it just me, or is Stan Lee quickly becoming the Alfred Hitchcock of this generation by appearing in most of the movies based upon his comic book creations?