Nothing going on here. Just waiting for the midwife to come take my Blood Pressure and maybe do an exam.

We saw The Tale of Despereaux  yesterday. It was good to get out of the house and find a way to keep the girl (who was bouncing off the walls for some reason) entertained…but not a great movie. I enjoy kid’s movies, but I prefer ones that are bit more clever and funny:  Shrek,  Nemo and  Ice Age are favorites of mine. Despereaux  was just eh.  If you must see a kid’s movie, I’d recommend Bolt over Despereaux.

Today I am considering going shopping…just at our local mall.  Not sure what I need…maybe boots? Baby clothes…but until this little one comes, I don’t know what flavour.

I have been watching loads of  True Blood episodes, and am up to 7.  I am loving this very twisted Vampire love story…and Anna Paquin has grown up in a very good way!

Oh, did I tell you all about our new toy? We got this.

We don’t have a router yet, but we can still have 2 of us online at once, and it has been great for watching DVDs. We’ll get a router soon.  If only the man would finish the computer nook so we could get the old desktop (which we decided to keep since the girl likes using the computer now) out of the middle of our bedroom we’d be computer happy.

I guess I could go router shopping.

So I finally saw the movie, courtesy of the local Chinese DVD store. Not a great copy…but good enough to watch.

The movie was…eh. Compared to the book, it sucked.  So much was glossed over, most of the characters were nothing like I imagined them (Alice was the only exception…she was perfect!), and…well…like most movie version of good books, the movie just paled in comparison to the book so much it was annoying.

Also, Bella was paler than Edward in most of the movie? How does that make sense? She seriously looked more like a Vampire than he did…he looked more like a punk rocker with way to dark lipstick!!!

Kinda dumb, but Robbie showed up at the end and made it all worth it.

It is so wonderful how my Man takes me to see My Boyfriend on Date nights!

Saturday night we saw Tropic Thunder. Eh, it was stupid funny. Also, Robbie looked nothing like his lucious self for 90% of the movie:

The few moments he did reveal his true gorgeousness made it all worth it though:

This picture is not from the movie…but he is blond in the movie, and Robbie as a blond is so wrong it is right!

Penelope: A cute family movie that almost anyone will enjoy, with a sweet lesson. As an added bonus, it stars Christina Ricci, who I always find charming and who tops my “If I was into women” list. As another bonus, she has a super cute wardrobe in the movie…especially for a girl that never gets out!

Iron Man: Better than I expected. Not a cinematic masterpiece, but Robbie was his usually witty, sardonic, hot and distracting self, and the movie kept me awake until 11pm, which is a not insignificant accomplishment.

The Dark Knight: Kinda boring. I could not get into it. I also don’t get why everyone says Heath Ledger deserves an Oscar?  Is it because he is dead?  Well…he was good…but not Oscar worthy (ducks to avoid tomatoes and banana peels) IMO.

I actually really enjoyed it. It was not hard to follow at all even without having watched the series…and I was able to enjoy the movie just for the movie, without comparing it to the series. It was a fun chick flick. Not going to win an Oscars but…it made me laugh it made me cry! 

As for the characters, I always hear SATC lovers discussing who they are. Well, I don’t know who I am…but I liked Miranda’s style best and wish I could get my hair to look like hers. I also loved Samantha’s flower ring, though I’d like it a bit smaller (but the same shape). I was not so into Carrie’s mis-matching outfits…but her handbags and shoes were (mostly) fabulous! The dress was…perfect.

Is it weird that I am seeing Sex And The City tonight even though I never watched thew show?

I know…I know…I’d LOVE SATC, or so I’ve been told by many. We don’t have cable though…and by the time repeats came to a channel we got, the show was done and the repeats were on every night at 7pm or something silly like that. Since I knew there was no way I could commit to that viewing schedule, and everyone else had seen it ages ago, I just never bothered. I have caught snippets of episodes and found them amusing, but never even 1 whole episode. Oddly enough, the man informed me last night that he had watched much of the series. How he got that past me, I’ll never know! Maybe there were also repeats at 1am, when he is often still awake in front of the tube and I never am. He doesn’t even remember when he watched it, just that he did…and he proved it by telling me about each of the characters (Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and…and…shit I forget)!

I did see the preview for the movie though, and thought it looked fun, so when some friends invited me, I said “yes”. Now I feel a little silly about that…but it does look like a cute movie and my girls’ night out opportunities are limited enough that I don’t like to turn them down.

So, is it weird?

No Country for Old Men: Creepy and violent but superb acting.

27 Dresses: Cute and Predictable but even the man laughed at this girl flick.

The Other Boleyn Girlby Phillipa Gregory has long been on my favorite book list. It was my introduction to Tudor historical fiction, of which I  now have a great love.  Here is a mini-review I wrote on Shelfari some time ago:

Everyone knows, somewhat, the story of Anne Boleyn, Queen of England and mother of Queen Elizabeth I. This book tells the story from the viewpoint of her sister Mary, herself a mistress of King Henry VIII before he married Anne, and mother to 2 of his children. I could barely put this book down, so enthralling is this story of family rivalry and betrayal…and the descriptions of the King’s lavish court are fascinating and thrilling…I couldn’t put it down.

A few weeks ago, the same night my phone took it’s swim, I broke my long honoured tradition of not seeing movie versions of books I have loved, and saw the film.

Eh.

The costumes, I will say, were beautiful.

As for the rest of the movie. Eh. The two leads, Scarlett Johansson (Mary) and Natalie Portman (Anne) looked good, and did well enough with what they were given. Henry (Eric Bana) was a looker as well. Beyond that,t he movie was just okay. I suppose if I had not read the book I may have liked it more. Maybe. But I did read the book, so I cannot review it without compare.

I found the characters in the movie very poorly developed and one dimensional. Mary was the good girl, Anne was the bad girl, Henry was a selfish child, end of story.  I think I would have felt this way book or not.

As for the plot, well, there was just so much missing. Mary’s years long affair with Henry was shown to have lasted mere weeks. Anne’s 6 year long seduction, months. Historical events of the era were glossed over.  If I had not read the book, I may not have known how much was missing, and may have enjoyed the plot much more. As it was, all I kept thinking was “that’s it?”.

This is not to say I did not enjoy the movie. As stated, the costumes were absolutely gorgeous and they alone were enough to keep my attention.

Beyond the costumes, the characters and plot, in spite of their shortfalls, were still enough to keep my interest. Of course, since I see a cinema  movie about twice a year, that does not take much.

I guess it was mostly a disappointment cause the book was such a rich epical story, and the movie was just…well…a beginning, middle and end. I think it would be much better suited to a mini-series, or at the least one of those 4 hour films everyone complains about.  2 hours simply could noto do the book justice.

In closing: If you have not read the book, read it. If you really don’t want to, try the movie, you may like it.

If you’ve read the book skip the movie and read The Boleyn Inheritance next.

Last night my brother took care of the girl, giving the man and I a much needed date nights. After being turned away from a Italian place we have been wanting to try, we ended up gorging ourselves on Chinese food before seeing Cloverfield.

Wow. What a movie. Anyone who liked Blair With Project will probably like Cloverfield as well. The basic premise is that a group of young New Yorkers are at a party when a monster the size of a skyscraper attacks the city, doing things like decapitating the statue of liberty. The movie is a video shot by one of the main characters, who was holding the camera to video tape the party when the mayhem began.

I have read that the shaky amateur style camera work make some headachy or nauseous, however it did not both me (and I am both headache and nausea prone) or my man.

The movie was great. Suspenseful, action packed, creepy, and scary as hell. The effects were awesome, and the actors were great…felt very real. It great date movie though I think the man may have come out of it a little pain from all my hand squeezing. At one point I was so startled I threw my arms around him and shrieked…he just laughed!

I do think this is a love it or hate it type of film…but if you are dark and twisty (and like LOST, same writer and producer) than I think you’ll appreciate it.

I leave you with this trailer:

In other movie news, they showed a preview for the new Robert Downey Jr. movie, Iron Man…Robby looks as edible as ever, but man I don’t think I can do it even for him:

P.S. has anyone been to a birthday party at My Gym? We walked by last night, and are considering it for the girl (turning 5 in March) . Thoughts?