Movie Tuesday 1/18

Huh?  What?  It's Tuesday already?  Really?  Oops...just one of those weeks!  The kids had Monday off, then had a 2-hour delay this morning because of a snow/freezing rain mix (lovely), so even though it's almost mid-week, I'm still not feeling as if I've even started my week yet!  Morning's my only real productive time, so knocking two hours off this morning really kind of blew the whole day (not that I didn't appreciate the extra sleep!)

We had a wonderful time yesterday.  Some friends came to spend the day - two older teen brothers who both have severe ME/CFS and their mom - and we celebrated two birthdays.  The kids all had a great time together playing games, and their Mom and I had a chance to just relax and talk...and she totally understood that I needed to take a nap after lunch.  Now that's an easy guest!

So, I'm finally getting around to my weekly movie round-up...and we watched quite a few this weekend, as the boys needed lots of downtime after the party:

• Earlier in the week, we all watched Hook, the 1991 return to Neverland film, starring Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook and Robin Williams as a grown-up Peter Pan who must recapture his childhood in order to save his children.  It's a great movie with a talented cast, and the kids loved it.
• Friday night, in preparation for the big events of the weekend, we stayed in and snuggled up with another good movie, Ironman, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jeff Bridges, which Jamie had given Craig for his birthday.  The movie was much better than I expected, better than the typical superhero flick, in my opinion, with a unique backstory and plot, with Downey as a spoiled rich guy who owns a hugely profitable weapons manufacturing company that is intricately involved in the Afghanistan war. It had some interesting twists and turns, and we all really enjoyed it.
• Ken and I didn't have time for any movies in this packed-full weekend, but we did squeeze in a couple of episodes of the final season of Saving Grace, one of our favorite TV shows.  It's not only an excellent cop show with a unique supernatural twist, but it's also set in Oklahoma City, where my husband is from.  We missed most of the last season this past summer and had been waiting for the library's DVDs to become available.  Only problem is that now we have 17 episodes to watch, and Ken is out of town this week!  Guess what we'll be doing next weekend?
• After Crag's sleepover, both boys were pretty wiped out, not good for anything but lying on the couch and watching movies, so I picked out a couple of old favorites from the library for them.  They watched The Hunt for Red October while I napped on Sunday.  They knew Sean Connery from the Bond movies, and Jamie had enjoyed another movie based on a Tom Clancy novel, so they enjoyed this one, too.  Well, Jamie enjoyed it; Craig fell asleep in the chair halfway through!
• Sunday night, the three of us ate dinner in front of the TV and watched another Robin Williams' classic, Mrs. Doubtfire.  The boys absolutely loved this funny and touching movie about a divorced Dad who is so desperate to see his kids that he pretends to be an old British nanny.  Definitely a good one.
• After our guests left on Monday, we did the same thing again - chilled out with dinner and a movie in the family room!  We watched The Last Airbender, directed by M. Night Shyamalan.  The boys both really enjoyed the TV show, Avatar, that this movie was based on, so it was fun to see a favorite cartoon brought to life on screen in live action.  It was very well-done, with excellent special effects, and would appeal to anyone who enjoys fantasy, even if you're not familiar with the TV show.

Lots of movies this week, in between bouts of extreme activity!  Have you seen any good movies lately?