Movie Monday 9/6

Happy Labor Day!!  We have celebrated the holiday weekend by not doing much of anything!  Ken did some yard work (in between reading breaks), I cooked a bit and worked on setting up my new computer (still working on it!), but mostly we both read a lot and took it easy...and watched movies!  With school starting last week, we have less time for movies, but the long weekend helped us fit in quite a few:

• Craig and I were on our own Friday evening and both totally wiped out, so we ate dinner in the family room and watched Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.  It wasn't bad but definitely not as good as the first two (they never are, are they?).  Besides the obvious problem that dinosaurs did not exist during the ice age, it just wasn't quite as clever or funny as the original.  Entertaining enough for our purposes, though (we were pretty much zombies anyway).
• Ken and I watched Next, a sci fi thriller starring Nicholas Cage.  It didn't get spectacular reviews, but I like Cage and I liked the premise, so we gave it a try.  Cage plays a small-time Vegas magician who has a real magic-like ability: he can see into the future.  It's limited, though: he can only see what affects him and only about 2 minutes into the future.  Still, he has somehow attracted the attention of the FBI who are desperate to find some terrorists with a nuclear bomb before disaster strikes.  It was a good action movie, fast-paced and with an interesting twist.  Jamie missed this one, but I know he'd love it.
• Ken and I watched Julie & Julia.  I had originally borrowed this from the library while he was out of town and never had a chance to watch it, but I think he's glad I waited.  We both enjoyed it very much.  Interestingly, I actually liked the movie better than the book, which is unusual. (see my book review here).  The expanded scenes of Julia Child (depicted by Meryl Streep) were absolutely wonderful, and the movie version of Julie Powell, the author, sanded down all her rough, irritating edges and made her cute and perky (depicted by Amy Adams).
• Ken and I also watched Ghost Writer which was an excellent political thriller.  Ewan McGregor plays a UK writer hired to help an ex-British Prime Minister, played by Pierce Brosnan, write his memoir.  The hitch?  McGregor's predecessor died in a suspicious accident.  Just after the writer is whisked away to a secluded mansion in the US to work on the memoir with his subject, a news story breaks, accusing the ex-Prime Minister of war crimes.  As the writer delves into the half-finished book, he begins to discover that things may not be as they seem and his own life may be in danger.  Good suspenseful film with an intricate plot.

Have you seen any good movies lately? 

Enjoy the last bit of the holiday weekend - we're meeting some good friends for dinner (i.e. no cooking or dishes!).