Riding with the window down…

Netflix, combined with a weird sleep schedule, has been useful in allowing me to watch more movies recently. The selections I have watched recently are a bit eclectic - that is what happens when you have a queue with nearly 500 films.

Being a longtime fan of Daniel Craig, I was interested when I saw the one trailer for Defiance. You would think that with him, Liev Schreiber, and a WWII setting, I would love this film. It’s weird that while I enjoyed all of it - I just never got into it. I have to place the blame on the story and/or direction. I just felt disconnected from the entire movie.

It’s a decent little film, but it brings nothing new to the table and doesn’t even deliver very high marks in doing the same old thing.

RATING 6 out of 10

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In keeping with the WWII Nazi theme, I watched Valkyrie recently as well. Although it didn’t seem to do very good in theaters, I actually liked this movie. I wonder if Tom Cruise is still suffering from the “Tom’s a crazy guy” backlash or if it was just a bad economy for downer films? Who knows?

I thought Cruise did a fine job as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and was surrounded a solid cast - Kenneth Branagh, Tom Wilkinson, and Terence Stamp are just a few of the excellent actors. This films tells the little-known story of Nazi insiders plotting to kill Hitler.

Bryan Singer does a great job of telling a very suspenseful tragedy and while it may not end the way you would like - it was a fine job of bringing you along for the ride.

RATING 7 out of 10

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You would think that somewhere I would have found something a little more manly to review, but when in Rome…

Dallin (far right) was in the class of third graders that created the guitars for the Bonas Brothers entry in the Wimberley Halloween decoration contest. We had to swing by and snap a pic of him with his handiwork.

Not quite as popular as the Jonas Brothers, this trio managed to take home first place among the storefronts of Wimberley. The entire town square was filled with decorations from the Headless Horseman to something weird that featured a spider web. From what I hear, there will be trick or treating going on Halloween night right there on the town square. Should be fun!

It seems that as things get settled into a more normal routine, I am remembering more and more films that I have seen and not reviewed. First off, let’s cover the most recent film I have seen first - Where the Wild Things Are.

I was struck by a few things with this film. First, I was intrigued by what a great job the filmmakers did with developing the characters of the actual monsters. Second, I was left wondering if I had forgotten a lot of the storyline from the book I had loved as a kid. I walked away a bit confused, but pleased with the experience. Had I rated it right then, it would have been several stars higher.

What happened since then was some conversation with others and the gradual realization that it wasn’t me forgetting the story, but Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers just creating an entirely new story out of whole cloth. I mean, I know it is hard to take a book that consists of only TEN SENTENCES and make it into a feature film, but while the film was good, it bugged me that they chose to turn one of my happy childhood memories into some dark and troubled story. Where was all the angst, sadness, and unhappiness in the book? It wasn’t there. The filmmakers could have take this and made it into something positive and fun for a whole new generation of kids, as well as their baby boomer/gen X parents - but instead, they turned it dark and sad.

That said, I love James Gandolfini as Carol, loved all the “wild things,” and Max Records did a great job of bringing the character Max to life.

RATING 7 out of 10

I have to say that it has been an amazing weekend in terms of weather - beautiful crisp, cool mornings, followed by spectacularly sunny afternoon skies and not an ounce of humidity to be found! Dawn and I went for a walk Saturday morning to kick things off and it was a great way to launch the weekend.

As Sunday winds to a close, the skies are still sunny and the coolness is still in the air - this IS the good stuff!! If you live in Texas and haven’t been able to get out and enjoy this great weather, I feel for you. If you have, then you know exactly what I’m talking about.

It makes you appreciate the important things in life. It also gets you fired up for another action-packed week!

Although my movie watching has dropped off dramatically since my transformation from bachelor to family man, I still manage to catch a few flicks. In fact, my blog posting frequency has dropped off much more than movie watching, so it is time to go through a few recent ones.

The Time Traveler’s Wife was an interesting flick. Both Dawn and I were left wondering if we liked it or hated it, but there was no doubt it was done well. We took in a showing at the Corral Theater in our new hometown of Wimberley, Texas, and it is a pretty decent venue. Sitting outside in lawn chairs on a cool evening is a pretty slick way to watch a first-run film.

The Time Traveler’s Wife scored right off the bat with the cast as I am a fan of both leads - Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams are both talented artists that always turn in a fine performance. The story was expertly told and their performances made up for holes in the “time travel paradox.”

Regardless of whether your suspension of belief is strong enough to not only believe in time travel, but assume it is okay if you meet and interact with another version of yourself - this is a well-constructed movie.

As far as whether or not I enjoyed the film? I guess I will know when I figure out if it was a happy ending or a tragedy. For now, I am going with happy ending.

RATING 8 out of 10

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Another film we saw recently was All About Steve. It was a cute film that I actually enjoyed. First, let me state that I am waaaay over Sandra Bullock and this whole spate of recent chick flicks has given me more than my share of her films.

I won’t go into a lot of detail on the thing because it wasn’t that exciting of a film - but let me say that since it was the first film we saw on our official “date night,” I did enjoy it.

Watch it for the quirky humor, watch it for Bradley Cooper, watch it for the positive message… heck, even watch it for Bullock if you want.

RATING 5 out of 10

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You would think that somewhere I would have found something a little more manly to review, but when in Rome…