Movie Monday 4/15

Another busy week here but kind of a strange weekend. My husband went to visit his father in Oklahoma, so we missed having him around this weekend (and missed being able to go with him). Normally, all four of us go out there for spring break, but our sons had different spring breaks this year, so a week-long trip was impossible.

We did watch a couple of movies, but we also did something extraordinary this week. Drumroll, please....

We saw a movie in the theater! (gasp!) Unfortunately, this has become a very rare experience for us - it's just easier to watch a DVD at home, lying on the couch, with a pause button nearby for bathroom and snack breaks. The last time we went to the theater was to see the last Harry Potter movie. We had a rainy Friday here, and since my husband would be gone for the rest of the weekend, I thought it would be fun to go out to the movies for a change.

We went to see Oz the Great and Powerful with our 15-year old son (we saw the regular one, not the 3-D version). It was very good, and we all enjoyed it - an excellent choice for viewing on the big screen. We also enjoyed the previews - every single one looked like something we'd like! The movie was a bit different than I expected. I knew it was based on L. Frank Baum's original books, not on the Hollywood movie, but I was pleased to see many visual homages to the original Wizard of Oz movie. So, this is something of a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, the story of how the wizard came to Oz from Kansas. James Franco plays the phony wizard who gets caught in a power struggle between three witch sisters. It was bright and vivid and exciting and lots of fun!

Saturday night, Craig was invited out to dinner with a friend's family, so I put all the dinner ingredients back in the fridge, got take-out fajitas, and watched a girl DVD by myself! Ah....blissful solitude! I watched I Don't Know How She Does It starring Sarah Jessica Parker as Kate Reddy, a working mom trying to juggle everything in her life, and it was better than I expected. I read the book many years ago and enjoyed it, but sometimes book adaptations are just so-so. I don't remember all the details about the book, but I do recall it having a snarky kind of humor that was missing in the movie (the novel and the humor was British but the film was set in the US). The movie had some funny moments, but with more of a heartfelt, genuine vibe. Greg Kinnear plays Kate's harried husband, and Pierce Brosnan plays a work colleague of Kate's. Overall, I liked it - a nice, enjoyable bit of escapism that reminds you of what is important in life. For me, it brought back lots of memories of my Previous Life as a harried working mom who constantly traveled, and I decided I am happy living life in the slow lane now, in spite of CFS.

Have you seen any good movies lately?