Movie Monday 7/16

Wow, what a week!  It has been insanely busy here, mostly with nonstop medical appointments for my kids.  We're trying to fit everything in while school is out, plus meet deadlines for college and high school.  I spent all weekend filling out online health forms for my oldest son (one for college and one for his new primary care doctor).  This is not a simple process for us!

We did have time to relax and enjoy some movies this weekend and are exploring some new TV shows, too:

• Ken and I watched The Lucky Ones Friday night, and I highly recommend it.  It's the story of three soldiers coming home to the US from the Middle East - one is an older man who is finished with his tour of duty (played by Tim Robbins), and the other two are younger soldiers who have each been wounded and are coming home for a 30-day leave (played by Rachel McAdams and Michael Pena).  They arrive safely in NY but then their flights home are cancelled and they decide to rent a car and drive cross-country together.  They run into all sorts of unforeseen problems on the road, while each of them is struggling with his or her own emotional turmoil from what they've been through in the war.  I know that probably sounds a bit depressing, but it's not at all.  The movie is so well-made, well-written, and well-acted that you come to care for all three of the main characters, and despite its serious subject matter, there are plenty of good laughs to keep things from getting too dark.  Ultimately, it is a story about friendship and healing.  Ken and I both enjoyed it very much.
• Last night, we watched The Matrix with the boys.  Ken and I had seen it many years ago, but I'd forgotten much of it (and I don't think I understood much of it the first time anyway!).  The boys weren't too excited to watch an "old" movie, but they enjoyed it as I knew they would.  If you've somehow missed this sci fi classic all these years, it's about life on earth in a bleak future and has to do with virtual reality.  To say anymore would give away too many of the movie's surprises.  We all enjoyed it...and I understood it better this time!
• We are continuing our search for some good TV series we can all enjoy together.  We are still watching Alphas, Warehouse 13, and White Collar.  I brought some DVDs home from the library.  We tried a few episodes of Barney Miller (a classic Ken and I both loved), but the boys were not impressed!  We had more success with Castle, a current murder mystery series about a mystery writer working with a police officer to gather information for his books (and help to solve crimes).  We all like its suspense and sense of humor, and I loved when the real Michael Connelly guest-starred as himself!  And Ken and I have started on season 1 of The Good Wife, which I've been wanting to try ever since it started with such overwhelmingly good reviews.  It's very good so far - I've requested disk 2 from the library!

Have you seen any good movies or TV shows lately?

(If you are interested in what we are reading this week, check out the Monday post on my book blog.)