Movie Monday 1/5

Last week, I wrote about all the scary movies my son and I watched while my husband was out of town. This past week was Thriller Week! My younger son was out of town, so my husband, our college son, and I binged on thrillers (their favorite kind of movie!). Although I am starting to yearn for some girly TV and movies, after having our college son home sick the past 6 weeks, these were all excellent thrillers:

On New Year's Eve, our college son (who's had mono on top of his ME/CFS and Lyme and now has bronchitis, too) dragged himself off the couch to go to his best friend's annual New Year's Eve party. Our high school son was at the beach with his girlfriend's family, so it was just my husband and I! We chose a free movie on Amazon Prime: Hours, a thriller set during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. We used to live in NOLA, so this was of great interest to us. Nolan brings his wife, Abigail, into the hospital just as the hurricane hits because she has gone into labor five weeks early. His wife dies in childbirth (no spoilers - this is in the first minutes of the movie), but their baby girl survives and is placed on a ventilator. Soon, the hurricane hits hard, and the hospital is evacuated, but no one seems to have the equipment to transport the baby with her ventilator. Eventually, Nolan is left all alone, with his newborn infant relying on the machine to survive. The power goes out, everyone leaves, looters take over...Nolan and the baby face unbelievable odds. It is a fast-paced, heart-thumping survival tale that is surprisingly riveting given that Nolan (played by Paul Taylor) is often the only person on the screen.

On New Year's Day, with all of us wiped out and recovering (it's really not fair that we can't drink but still feel horribly hung-over), the three of us decided to splurge and actually buy a movie on Amazon Prime. My son really wanted to see Taken, since we've been inundated with previews on TV lately for Taken 3. Liam Neeson stars as Bryan, an ex-CIA operative who is trying to rebuild his relationship with his 16-year old daughter, Kim (played by Maggie Grace or as we call her, Shannon, after her character on Lost). Against his wishes, she takes off to Europe for the summer, though he has insisted she take an international phone and call him to check in. During her first check-in call, his worst fears are realized as she and her friend are kidnapped. Friends of his in law enforcement guess that she has been taken by white slave traders from Albania and that he has only 72 hours to find her before she disappears forever. Bryan sets off on his own, using all of his questionable "skills" to try to track her and the men who have taken her. It's a nonstop action thriller, with lots of car chases through the streets of Paris, guns, and fights. And it's every parent's worst nightmare. The moment it ended, our son said, "We have to see Taken 2!"

So, the next day I went to the library and borrowed Taken 2 which we watched last night. It's the same kind of high-action thriller with the same characters. The Albanian mafia wants revenge against Bryan for shooting their sons, brothers, etc. They kidnap he and his ex-wife while they're on a trip to Turkey, and Kim has to pitch in, with her father's instructions, to help rescue her parents. Again, lots of action, car chases (this time through the narrow streets of Instanbul), shooting, and fighting. As with Taken, the actors all do a great job and the heart-thumping action is nonstop. Both are excellent thrillers. Now, we'll have to see Taken 3 when it comes out!

On TV, we've been making our way through the boys' DVD Christmas gifts - season 6 of The Mentalist and season 6 of Castle, two family favorites.

Have you seen any good movies lately?