Movie Monday 11/12

Ah, sorry for the long stretch of silence last week!  I drove to Connecticut and spent the week taking care of my mom who had hip surgery recently.  It was tiring, as you can imagine, but we had a wonderful time.  We rarely get any time alone together!  I enjoyed cooking for mom, since we like the same wide variety of flavors.  Besides eating yummy food, we spent lots of time talking and watched some movies, too:

We started with a light romantic comedy, When in Rome.  It was just OK, based on a pretty silly premise about coins in a fountain in Rome that make people fall in love with you.  It had a few funny moments but was mostly just light, predictable fluff.  However, if you have seen the movie Napoleon Dynamite, then this scene with its star, John Heder, and the surprise twist at the end is actually hilarious.  I shared it with my sons when I got home, who have seen Napoleon Dynamite roughly 100 times.

We decided that had been just a little too light for us, so next we watched The Stone Angel, starring Ellen Burstyn as an old woman looking back on her long life.  Her oldest son wants to move her to an assisted living facility, and she doesn't want to go.  The scenes of the present are interspersed with her memories of the past.  She lived a difficult life with many heartbreaks (and also some happiness!), so it was a somewhat sad movie but also very warm and touching.  My husband would have hated it - he doesn't like to watch anything sad - so it was perfect to watch with my mom.  She and I both loved it; it's about real life, with all its ups and downs.

Back home this weekend, Ken and I watched To Kill a Mockingbird, with Gregory Peck.  I know it's an old one, but I'd never seen it, and it's based on one of my all-time favorite books.  Peck didn't look quite how I pictured Atticus (though he played the part well), but I thought the rest of the casting was perfect.  As with all movie adaptations, there were some omissions from the book that I missed, but overall, it is a wonderful movie with all the warmth, humor, and drama of the book.  I just adore Scout, especially when she goes to school...and that ham costume is hilarious! 


Have you seen any good movies lately?

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