Longest Days of the Year

It struck me the other day, June 20th to be exact, that it was after 9pm and still light outside. I thought, hmm, it must be near the solstice. The solstice this year I believe was June 21st (but I could be wrong, I know its around there). Ellice just looked it up while I'm blogging and most of the time, including this year, it falls on the 21st. It struck me that we usually don't notice such changes that are so subtle until they are right upon us, and they are half over. Why this is important, I have no idea.

Since my last post, we have played two games in our softball tournament (won 1, lost 1, dble elimination), went to a picnic in Winchester, and of course....Movies!!!

Nancy Drew

A very charming, campy movie. I was a fan of the Hardy Boys books when I was little, (what preteen wasn't a fan of at least one or the other), and read a few Nancy Drews. So some fairly high expectations going in, but they pulled it off. I got what I expected from this movie, and perhaps was a little surprised. This one won't win any awards and probably won't be one I remember two years from now but entertaining; a welcome refresher in the middle of Blockbuster summer. **1/2

Evan Almighty

I expected another Bruce Almighty, and while I modestly enjoyed the first, this incarnation is far and away the better of the two. It was cleaner than the first and dare I say reverent? I know that some from the Church are concerned about this one and its treatment of God. While I won't get into the plot of the movie (spoilers are no fun), let's say that there is little if anything heretical about this movie. In fact, there is some provocative theology mixed in here. While its not quite Sunday School, this is a very positive movie and I recommend it for everyone. ***

Okay, I lied. We haven't seen Surf's Up yet, but we did see...

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

This one was, well, fantastic. Very cool. As is often the case with sequels, we didn't have to spend too much time on the origins for the uninitiated, which sometimes gives rise to a lack of plotting. But the plot of this one delivered. The first movie necessarily focused on the characterization of Ben Grim (The Thing) and how he dealt, or more appropriately didn't deal with his metamorphosis. In the sequel, everyone else gets some development while Ben has settled more or less into his role. We see Reed trying to carve out time and energy for his renewed relationship with Sue, Sue trying to get married despite disaster interrupting every attempt, and Johnny basically trying to overcome being a hot-headed screwup, and all of them dealing with celebrity. I love where Sue is watching E! and they are bashing her fashion sense.

The Surfer (voiced by Lawrence Fishburne) is visually very slick looking. The character is stuffy and reserved, which means they nailed the Surfer; it was amazing how they could get so much range out of a smooth cgi face. Finally, Julian McMahon returns as Victor von Doom, a great reprise of his villainous role. We'll buy this one the day it hits the shelf. ****

The last weeks have been a bit frenzied, but loads of fun. Between a trip to Tennessee, the Beach and camping this past weekend, I haven't had the time to do the other things I had hoped for, but this week I'm starting to get into the swing of things. The next trip we have planned is an open date to go the Ky Highland Ren Festival in Eminence, Ky, and a trip to Gatlinburg. We may got to Kentucky Kingdom once this year, but that is still just a possibility at this point. But definitely nothing this weekend besides movies, reading and writing.

Since the movie reviews seem to be a good point of conversation, we'll keep them going as a regular installment. It also keeps me blogging more, so that's a plus. (Out of 4 stars)

Ocean's 13- I was pleasantly surprised by it. The second (12th?) was a bit of a disappointment, but this one actually had a 'raison d'etre.' ('reason to be' for the French impaired :) ) The plot was better, they got through the complicated exposition as quickly as possible, and get on with the characterizations which drive this movie. The clever twists and 'ah-ah' moments that we anticipate with the Ocean movies deliver this time around. The addition of Garcia's character to Ocean's crew worked. Basically, as an audience we know that the point of these movies is for Clooney, Pitt and Damon (and friends) to goof off together for a couple of hours. Their chemistry is very good; they play off each other well. I can picture that they came up to Al Pacino and asked 'Wanna do the next Ocean movie? It'll be fun.' And he said, 'Yeah, cool.' **1/2

In the next installment, Surf's Up.

So much has happened the last few weeks, where to begin. Perhaps I should take this as an object lesson and blog more regularly. Here is the one paragraph summary:

School's out, helping highly stressed wife relax, got A's in my classes, started church softball league, went to Ellice's grandmother's in Tennessee with brother-in-law Evan in tow, went to Myrtle Beach in a week-long paradise-like vacation and I am going camping this weekend. Oh, and the Saga Edition of Star Wars Role-playing game came out, which I've really been looking forward to.

Okay two paragraphs. Movies we've seen and quick thoughts (Ratings out of 4 stars):
Next- Liked it a lot, Nick Cage on a good screen day. ***

Spiderman 3- Loved it, Don't know why so many people say it was "too long" or had too many bad guys. Hunh? Actually, I heard one person say there was too much action. Too much action?!?! ****

Shrek 3- Lotsa fun, probably not as good as the first, on par with the second. More of what we expect. Funny. ***

Pirates of the Caribbean 3- A little confusing at parts about who is backstabbing who, but very enjoyable. Better than the second film. Good acting, action, cinematography, etc. etc., very good movie. My wife says this is the best Orlando Bloom has looked. I can't speak to that, but Kiera Knightly did look great, so kudos to the makeup and costume people. Nice to Jack Sparrow's dad (Keith Richards). Very fun, a must own. Definitely will be a Pirates 4, so be on the lookout. ****

Knocked Up- Why in the world did we watch this movie? Horrible film. Truly awful. I have no idea why this got the reviews it did. Nothing like 40yr old virgin. All drug humor, and lame drug humor at that. The language was obnoxious and foul, and I'm not particularly sensitive to the f-word either. It was just bad. Only one character grew or changed at all. And they all needed to. I feel like less of a human being for watching this film. *