Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Friday, August 17, 2012

Movie Review: The Odd Life of Timothy Green: Great Family Film

A for the cast
A for the filmography
A for the ending
B for the message and family friendly atmosphere
F for the cheesy scenes, squirmish-ness

This movie is about a husband and wife who are not able to have children and suddenly end up "adopting" a 10 year old boy.  Perhaps I am being too cynical?  But parts of this movie were way too cheesy for me.  That aside, it was a great family flick.  Leads me to ask - it is possible to make an awesome family movie that is not cheesy?  I would say yes but I really cannot think of one off the top of my head.

I will say that this movie was better than I thought it would be.  The whole idea of the underdog, being different, "Don't Worry Be Happy," be who you wanna be no matter what people think, overcoming challenges, don't need to keep up with the bragging Jones's - very appealing to me and I love it.  It's not always done in a concise, non cheesy fashion, but in this movie it mostly works out well.  I mean, I did get choked up in parts, and that means something.

I loved the cast.  It's nice to know that even if a movie has stupid parts, you can always fall back on the entertainment value of some of your favorite actors and actresses.  My favorite character was the ultra serious lady who played the Pencil Museum boss.

At least the ending did not stink.  Generally, if the movie is great but the ending is bad, I give it a 1 or 2 out of 10, possibly a 3.  Since this movie was so so and the ending was good, I give it a ...

gleenobly's rating 6/10

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Don't Sweat It!

I remember hearing a very nice story once.  I don't recall who told it, but here it is:

There was a large family eating dinner at the table.  They had a few guests over, one of them I'll call James.  A little boy, I'll call him Adam, spilled his milk – as you can imagine, it went all over the table and everything.  The dad, Bob, got so upset.  He yelled at Adam, talked down to him, demeaned him.  People were scared and did not know what to do or think.  It was awkward to sit there and eat and watch this unfold.  Then suddenly James stood up.  Stared Bob straight in the eye.  Took his own glass of milk and proceeded to spill it on purpose all over the table.  Then asked Bob if he was gonna yell at him too?  Bob eventually got the hint and I am sure that everything worked out well.

Wow, what a powerful message!  Motto: don't sweat the small stuff!  Don't sweat the big stuff either!  “Don't Worry, Be Happy” as the song goes :).

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Movie Review: Matchstick Men: Wait, Whoa, Wow!

A+ for plot structure.
A+ for the cast.
A+ for suspense.
A+ for quirky humor.

1, 2, 3 ... pygmies!  Enter Matchstick Men, a funny movie about 2 con men played by 2 of my favorite actors Nicolas Cage and Sam Rockwell.  By one of my favorite directors - Ridley Scott.  Based on the book Matchstick Men by Eric Garcia.  I won't write too much about this movie because nearly anything I say will spoil it and I don't do that.  I will just say that I loved it, hands down.  This is a plot that can be done so wrong -- well, they nailed it.  Tis a symphony orchestra, an intense chess game, a marvelous myriad of conflict, giggles, the ridiculous, and the right flavor of disappointment and happiness.  Kudos!

gleenobly's rating: 10/10

Unusual Town Names - 1st Place: Toad Suck, Arkansas