Movie Monday 10/22

A major sick week here at our house last week.  Jamie, 18, was home from college for 4 days - a cold triggered a bad crash - and now all 4 of us have caught the virus!  So, lots of sniffling and coughing, but we have all been pretty wiped out, too - I still am today.  But the important thing is that Jamie is feeling somewhat better and is back at school.

Jamie spent his first two sick days at home catching up on all the TV shows he's missed while away!  Then he remembered how much he loves to read, and started catching up on all the books he's missed while at college.  By Thursday morning, he headed back to school...and I started to go downhill.

So, we did have some time (and lack of energy!) for a few movies this week:

Thursday night, Craig and I ate left-overs in the family room for dinner and watched This Means War, a cross between an action spy movie and a romantic comedy.  Reese Witherspoon stars as the romantic interest of two best friends who work as secret agents for the CIA, played by Chris Pine (who played the young Captain Kirk in the new Star Trek movie) and Tom Hardy.  So, there is a CIA spy plot, as well as the growing competition between the two men to woo Reese (who of course knows nothing about it).  It's kind of an odd mix of fighting, action sequences, car chases, and romance, but it was entertaining and fun.

While Ken was away on business last week, I watched Then She Found Me, a relationship movie with absolutely no action or fighting in it!  Helen Hunt stars (and directs it) as a 39-year old Jewish teacher whose husband of one year (played with boyish charm - and boyish immaturity- by Matthew Broderick) leaves her unexpectedly.  She is devastated, but a divorced father of one of her students, played by Colin Firth, provides some much-needed empathy and friendship.  The same week that her husband leaves, her adoptive mother dies, and she is contacted by her birth mother, played with wonderful joie de vivre by Bette Midler, who adds some much-needed joy and color to her quiet, dull life, but also plenty of confused feelings.  I enjoyed this slice of life movie with a gentle sense of humor and excellent acting.

Saturday night, Craig went to his homecoming dance, and Ken and I watched The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.  I loved this movie!  It's about a bunch of older, retired Brits who are drawn in by the brochures for a hotel in India and go there, for various reasons, for a holiday.  It turns out that the Marigold Hotel's attributes may have been slightly exaggerated by its overly optimistic owner, Sonny, played by Dev Patel (of Slumdog Millionaire fame).  Though each of the visitors left the UK feeling somewhat isolated and irrelevant, they each begin to find their place in this unlikely environment.  The cast is amazing, a Who's Who of great British actors and actresses, including Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, and more.  Sonny's sunny disposition is contagious, and the movie is uplifting and filled with humor - I had a smile on my face through the whole thing!  Highly recommended - one of the best movies I've seen all year.

Have you seen any good movies lately?