Tuesday, April 09, 2013

Movie Monday 4/8 (on Tuesday)

I really tried to get to this post yesterday, but severe allergies have me down this week. We went from snow 2 weeks ago and temperatures in the 20's one morning last week to highs in the 80's today! The pollen is going crazy and so are my allergies. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day.

We did enjoy a couple of movies last week:


Friday night, I chose a movie I thought Craig would like (poor boy is stuck at home alone with his parents now that his brother is off at college!), so we watched Skyfall, the latest James Bond movie starring Daniel Craig. In the first 5 minutes of the movie, there is a car chase, a motorcycle chase, a shoot-out, and a fist fight on top of a moving train...and that is before the opening credits. This one starts with a bang! My husband and son love all the action. I could take it or leave it, but the intriguing plot pulled me in pretty quickly. This time, it seems that some unknown villain is targeting MI6 itself, and Bond must work together with M to find out who it is and stop him. We all enjoyed the movie, and I especially liked that we got a bit of backstory from Bond's childhood in this one.

Saturday night, with Craig at a bonfire party, then sleeping at a friend's house, Ken and I had a rare night to ourselves! We had a lovely dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant where we ran into two sets of old friends, then came home to watch The Sessions, in which Helen Hunt plays a sex surrogate hired to help a 38-year old polio victim (and virgin) who lives much of his life in an iron lung. At first glance, you might think this movie is just a bit of tawdry fluff, but it is warm and heartfelt, as evidenced by its many awards at film festivals. The R-rating warns of, among other things, frank talk (I just found that funny), and there is plenty of that and nudity, too. But this is no cheap sex movie. Nor is it maudlin or depressing, despite the main character's dire circumstances. It is based on a true story and is full of emotional depth; it is funny and sweet and honest. It is a bit sad at times, too, but I found its tone mostly positive and hopeful, an encouraging perspective on what you can accomplish, no matter how severe your physical limitations.

Have you seen any good movies lately?

7 comments:

Sally Burch said...

+1 to "Skyfall" - I loved it. Haven't seen "The Sessions" but will look it out.

Another lovely film based on a true story is "The World's Fastest Indian" about a motor bike race. Now I'm not really into motorbikes, but this is a really lovely story starring Anthony Hopkins.

Unknown said...

Sorry to hear about your allergies Sue! I really enjoyed skyfall too, as you know :)
I've been watching a few films on netflix so I'll have a look for the sessions.

I've seen the world's fastest Indian too sally, it's a good one :)

Sue Jackson said...

Thanks for the suggestion, Sally. That sounds intriguing - I like Anthony Hopkins.

Sue

hkd said...

Sue...since you are always in "the know" ...did the CDC actually apologize and change the name of CFS? saw it on a few blogs but can't find good info on google...

hkd said...

nevermind...guess it was an april fool's joke...not really in the best taste...

Sue Jackson said...

The CDC has definitely NOT officially changed the name of CFS.

Lots of patient groups and advocates and CFS experts have been begging for a name change (though no one can agree on exactly what the change would be), but so far, the CDC stands firm on "CFS."

Sue

Sue Jackson said...

P.S. Many patients and CFS groups have chosen to use "ME/CFS" on their own while they wait for official change - this encourages use of ME, while still connecting it to the term CFS which has - for better or worse - become somewhat well-known.

On my own blog, I tend to go back and forth between CFS and ME/CFS, simply so that people searching for either term online can find my blog.

Sue