Comments on recently viewed DVDs

I've gotten a little behind mentioning recent movies Carol and I have watched. Calling what I blog about a review would be disingenuous as writing my thoughts on movies can be a bit fragmented at best so I'll stick to a few comments and recommendations now and on future blogs. Also, we don't watch a lot of films, we're on the Netflix one at a time plan which is best for us as we like to plan on settling down with a movie on Saturday nights.

Three weeks ago we watched "The Holiday" with Cameron Diaz, Jack Black, Kate Winslet, and Jude Law. Both women, one that lives in a small town outside London and the other in LA/Hollywood have each are anxious to get away from bad relationships leading into the Christmas holiday season, meet through a vacation house swapping website and make the deal to swap houses for a couple of weeks. Of course this being a "romantic comedy" (not my usual genre of choice) the characters of Diaz and Winslet both manage to meet someone though the propose of the swap was to get away from relationships. There is much humor playing off the crossing of cultures and accommodations. Jude Law's character is that of a charming rouge which becomes an interesting twist later in the story. Eli Wallach also has a role, someone I haven't seen in a movie for a long time.

Both Carol and I enjoyed this movie immensely and give it two thumbs up.

The movie we watched last week was "The Prestige". The Netflix description: "At the dawn of the 20th century, rival magicians Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) are desperate to reveal each other's secrets. Obsessed by the escalating competition, the two illusionists begin to perform increasingly risky tricks -- which soon turn deadly. Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson and David Bowie also star in this taut psychological thriller from director Christopher Nolan." Not a bad description for Netflix, Carol and I often wonder if the person who wrote them actually watched the same movie as us. The only problem I had with this flick were the low tones used in many conversations which I found difficult to hear. Otherwise we were entirely engulfed in the story. The obsession that Angier and Borden had for undoing each other's performances was relentless and like any good movie the twists at the end keep us talking about it often on the Mt. Chocorua hike the next day. Late in movie there is an element to the story which added a science fiction angle to what was happening though I wouldn't say it's calls attention as that. Again, two thumbs up from us, check it out when you get a chance.

Tonight's movie, "Happy Feet".