Sick and Bored

I was sick for about a week with a nasty cold. Anyway, I was fairly incapacitated and BORED out of my mind. So I played stupid games on the computer, and watched some really good (and really bad) movies. I was able to catch up on some movies I'd wanted to see for a while (like years) but haven't had a chance. Also, I watched some movies that I've never heard of. Here is a list of the movies I watched and my thumbs-up or thumbs-down and reasons for my like or dislike.

1. The Secret Life of Bees - thumbs up - I've read the book, but it was years ago and I have to admit I remembered little about the book. It was fun to see the movie to remind me why I loved the book so much. I thought the movie stayed true to the overall feeling of the book and I thought the casting was spot on for the most part.

2. Nights in Rodanthe - thumbs up and then down -Pretty good and then the guy dies in the end! I don't like death in movies where I'm not expecting it. I didn't know anything about the story and so I got attached to the characters and what happens??? He DIES!!! I know things are not always "happy ending" in this life but I was not expecting this. Until that part the movie was okay. The acting was a bit forced too and the story a bit hokey.

3. Henry Poole is Here - thumbs WAY up - I loved this movie. I had not even seen any trailers on this movie, so I was pleasantly surprised. It was a bit hard to watch given the fact that the main character, Henry Poole, knows he's dying. That hit a bit close to home because of Jenny, but hope being the central idea was very refreshing...you don't see that very often. Plus, I thought it was a bit edgy and had an almost dream-like quality but that added to its charm.

4. Reality Bites - thumbs whatever- I have been hearing this movie was good for over 10 years and all I have to say is, "hmmmm...really?" This was a bit lame on top of the fact that it was somewhat depressing, and just, well, boring. Winona Ryder was okay. I don't particularly love or hate her, but this movie didn't move me at all. Is it a 90's icon? No idea. It was definitely not the 90's I lived, but whatever.

5. Batman Begins - thumbs still wondering what to do - I hate it when I hear tons and tons of good things about movies and get my hopes all up and then have them dashed. This movie was like that for me. I just watched this movie for the first time (seriously) and I'm a few years behind, but anyway...I think the effects were great and I liked the story but it was full of annoying cliches and that drives me nuts. I guess that's how a lot of the comic movies are, I also hated "Iron Man" when I saw it...and that has nothing to do with the fact that Gwyneth was in it (although she is my biggest competition for Chris Martin--I think that ship's already sailed). FYI: I loved the older Batman movies with Val Kilmer, Michael Keaton and that other dude.

6. Fireproof - thumbs up - I really enjoyed this movie and was impressed by the amount of attention it got. It's a christian film and usually they don't really grab me too much but this one did as I thought it was incredibly relevant for lots of different reasons. Was it cheesy?? I guess a little bit but my cheesedar didn't go off much and I was glad for that. I think if people took the advice given from this movie to heart a lot of marriages could be saved, and there's nothing wrong with that. Sometimes I feel like movies are trying to do just the opposite and that gets to me, which is why I'm rather snobbish about what I will and won't see. I don't like to be encouraging and supporting that.

I watched some more movies that I truly could not get through the first 10 minutes. I feel like I'm losing my attention span as I get older, and that's probably not a good thing. These are the ones that jumped out at me, though and I wanted to post about that. So you're very welcome (bow).