Movie Monday 7/9

Whew, when can I go back on vacation?  It's been so hectic and busy since we came back.  I miss those vacation days with no stress, no responsibilities, no obligations...ahhh.  I spent this morning running all over town, and the rest of this week (and next) look to be more of the same, trying to squeeze in all the kids' doctor appointments, dental appointments, haircuts, plus errands, etc.  What happened to the lazy days of summer?

Well, at least our evenings are quiet and laid-back - that's a nice change from the way things are during the school year, and we all enjoy it.  So, we did watch a couple of movies this week and discovered some new TV shows (new to us):

• When Ken spent an evening golfing this week, the kids and I hibernated with a good suspense movie, The Interpreter.  It's an older movie that I'd seen before, but I thought they'd enjoy it (and I didn't remember what happened anyway - brain fog is helpful that way!).  Nicole Kidman plays a UN interpreter who overhears of a plot to assassinate a visiting president from the war-torn African country she is from.  The Secret Service (including Sean Penn as one of the agents) is sent in to investigate the claim and provide protection.  The investigation turns against the interpreter, though, when it is discovered that she used to be a rebel before she moved to the U.S.  It's an intelligent political thriller, filled with twists and turns and plenty of action and suspense.  We all enjoyed it (again).
• Friday night, Craig (13) announced that he was picking the movie for a change and chose Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian.  He has seen it before (several times!) but he likes to re-watch favorite movies, and the rest of us hadn't seen it.  It's a fun family film, filled with action and comedy, both clever and slapstick.  Amy Adams was a great addition as Amelia Earhart, and it's great fun to see the Lincoln Memorial statue come to life.
• We have been searching for a new TV show that we can all enjoy together (a rather tall order!).  Our two past favorites are The Mentalist and Bones, but we've caught up with Bones and are waiting for the latest season on DVD of The Mentalist.  Complicating matters is the fact that Jamie spent much of this past year home sick, so he's watched just about everything worth watching On Demand.  But he discovered a new gem this week - the sci-fi show Alphas.  It's about a group of people with special abilities - sort of an X-Men type thing, only dialed down a bit  - who are searching for others like themselves, called Alphas.  And of course, there is a group of bad Alpha-type people out there, too, who want to use their special talents for evil and not good.  So, there is action and suspense and, most important of all for us, a great sense of humor.  The best character on the show is Gary, a savant with autism, played by one of our favorite actors from Bones (Ryan Cartwright who played Vincent Nigel-Murray) - he plays the role perfectly and with great humor.
• And I asked my friend Baffled from the blog Infinite Daze for some TV recommendations because I knew she enjoyed sci-fi shows.  She came up with a long list for us to explore this summer.  One that we tried last night was Warehouse 13, a show about a secret group of government agents searching out lost antiquities, with some steampunk elements.  We watched the first show of season 3 (unfortunately, previous seasons are not available On Demand or through our library) last night and enjoyed it very much - it's another show with a good sense of humor.

Have you seen any good movies lately?  Do you have any good TV series to recommend to us?