Riding with the window down…

Okay, so I am about a year into this “change of life” that culminated in my marriage and the addition of three amazing kids to my household - so what’s the verdict?  Duh - you KNOW I think it rocks.

A lot has changed in the last year.  Again - duh.  I am writing this post sitting in our new chocolate shop - Sweet Wimberley, located right off the square in Wimberley, Texas… who saw THAT coming?  Dawn, the kids, and I own five acres in the beautiful hill country that surrounds Wimberley.  I drive kids to school in the mornings, take them to scouts and Young Women’s at the church and barbecue in the backyard.  My long-time friends ask, “Who are you and what did you do with Chris?”  He just grew up is all.

I spend each day more thankful than the one before.  I am thankful that I was born in the United States, thankful that I grew up and live in Texas, thankful for my beautiful, intelligent wife, thankful for the blessings that are Kenzie, Logan and Dallin, thankful that I have the best Mom ever, thankful for life lessons taught by my father, thankful to have intelligent and fun siblings that wouldn’t hesitate to give me the shirt off their backs, thankful for the opportunities I have had to learn and to grow along the way, thankful to be surrounded by great friends, thankful for my health and thankful most of all that, despite a lifetime of stubbornness and pride, I have learned to stop and be grateful - to acknowledge just how lucky I am.

When something goes right for a person, you have heard them exclaim, “must be good living.”  I hope where I find myself now is a reward for trying to do the right thing, but even if it isn’t - I’ll take it.

It’s been quite some time since I did a movie review. As you can imagine, with a new wife, new kids, a new house, new company and yes - even a new dog, things have been a bit busy, (Yes, Lou is still with us as well.) Things are going amazing and during all these changes, I have actually managed to take in a movie or two.

Let’s start with Alice in Wonderland - the Tim Burton version. Long time readers will know that I am NOT a fan of Tim Burton. His art style is creepy and I find it distasteful. That said, I found AiW enjoyable. Sure, it was probably closer to the vision of Lewis Carroll that any of the previous incarnations. Sure, Burton’s style grows on you throughout the movie. Sure, the acting was good. Sure, the special effects were impressive… I don’t know, it’s probably just pure stubbornness that makes me want to not like the film.

What the heck, it was decent.

RATING 7 out of 10

Okay, now on to Sherlock Holmes. Okay, I know it should have been reviewed long ago - what kind of Holmesian scholar drags out his review this long? Did I say I have been busy? First and foremost, I LOVE the character of Holmes regardless of what any actor or director does to him. That said, while I was not at all “down” with the twisted hard-ass portrayed by Robert Downey Jr., there was enough of the original Holmes to keep me interested. I liked the liberties taken with Dr. Watson as he is a character that is not at all fleshed out in the literature.

I felt the storyline was a bit too over-the-top and while it could pass for paying homage to some of the more supernatural stories by Conan Doyle, it missed the mark a bit.

Was it entertaining? Yes. Was it fun? Yes. Was it exciting? At times. Was it Sherlock Homes? Barely.
RATING 7 out of 10

I was a fan of the very first Shrek, but thought the following two incarnations were just a cash-grab. They were clearly put together just to cash in on the franchise. Well, with two out of three sucking worse than any animated series ever - I felt sure that the title for this post would be Shrek: The Final Insult. In fact, when I checked into the theater to watch it with the kids via foursquare, I felt so certain that I posted that before the movie started.

Boy, was I wrong. Shrek Forever After was a throwback to the original. In fact, I have to watch that first one again to be sure, but this may have been the best one of all. Overall, the film is basically just one ogre’s attempt to deal with his mid-life crisis, but the magic was back. The comedy was back. The intelligence was back.

The CG animation is getting so flippin’ good that it is almost creepy - but in a cool way.

This one fits that all important role of being a film that works for the kids as well as the adults. It surprised me and it will surprise you too. Enjoy!

RATING 8 out of 10

The girls went to see “Letters to Juliet,” and rather than sit through the chick flick, the guys felt it was time to go do something involving sweat, simulated murder, and just general mayhem. Paintball was the obvious choice.

We had a blast from the moment we “woke up” our host for the afternoon. I forget the dude’s name, but he was very cool and really dug explaining things to the boys while telling all his tales of the world of paintball.

Once we went over all the safety information, we were ready to get going.

Outfitted with our “killin’ gear” we headed out to the combat arena.

We had an absolute blast despite the sweltering heat. In the first match, it was Logan and Dallin teamed up against me. Later we went “every man for himself.” We even did a couple matches where it was just Dallin vs Logan. Logan shot me in the head a couple times - I shot him in the head once and the chest another - Logan also shot Dallin during a time-out.

The dude that ran it was super friendly and gave us a ton more paint than we paid for. I think he was happy to see someone there and I helped him jump start his truck that was dead too. Overall, it was a fun outing and despite the fact that I think I would have liked Letters to Juliet, there is no doubt this was better!

Went to see How to Train Your Dragon the other night with the family and it was surprisingly good. The previews didn’t do a very good job of selling the film, but it ended up being a pretty decent flick. I have to say the CGI is getting better and better all the time and this time the story actually lived up to the development costs.

The storyline is much better than typical animated fare. That combined with very entertaining voice acting by Gerald Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrara and others, works well with the world of Vikings bent on the destruction of their mortal enemies - the dragons.

Not only is this a great family film that will delight the kids, it works for the parents as well. It had moments went it looked like it was going to the stereotypical paths of most animated, feel-good, send a good message, films - but continually kept away by keeping it fresh.

It is witty, fun and only my second 9 rating in the last 12 months (last one was The Blind Side.)

RATING 9 out of 10

“My life’s a fantasy, you’re not smart enough to even dream”

– Pink (Alecia Moore)

I don’t think I even reviewed the first Iron Man film, but let me say that I dug it. A lot of you know that Iron Man and the Hulk are my two favorite comic book characters and that I was overjoyed that they were among the first to transition to the big screen. While the first Iron Man took some liberties with the storyline, I didn’t mind because they simply modernized the tale a bit. I was also taken aback when they originally cast Robert Downey Jr. as “Ol Shell Head,” but that too passed as his version of the billionaire playboy was spot on and entertaining.

Okay, now that I am totally bought into this incarnation of Tony Stark, I was able to just relax and enjoy Iron Man 2 - what a show it was! The entrance that Iron Man made to the Stark Expo was seriously cool - it made Steve Jobs look like an amateur.

Yes, it still bugs me that the characters spend so much time in the armor with their faceplates down, but I get it - Downey and Cheadle are “stars” and need their face time, it just takes me out of the story each time I see it and they cease to be the characters they are playing and seem like spoiled actors - very weak juju.

Sure, there are still some flaws - Rhodes (War Machine) was too cardboard and a bit too simplified and Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff was totally unneeded and distracting. You can’t argue with Mickey Rourke as the bad guy, Ivan Vanko - serious creep factor. The unexpected surprise of Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer was a blast as well.

If you are a fan of Iron Man -you will love it. If you are a fan of Robert Downey Jr. - you will love it. If you a fan of action flicks - you will love it. Heck, you will love it anyway! Fun stuff!

RATING 8 out of 10

Okay, so I was not listed in the credits of any of these films, but I was in them. That said, I wanted to take a few seconds and list my Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. I am sure there are more, but I thought this would be a fun start.

In a movie that had the working title, “On the Rocks” and later became called, “Paradise, Texas” I was shooting with Timothy Bottoms and Merideth Baxter.

I was also in Friday Night Lights with Billy Bob Thornton and Tim McGraw.
_____
3 Steps
Chris Doelle
Paradise, Texas (2005)
Merideth Baxter
All the President’s Men (1976)
Dustin Hoffman
Sleepers (1996)
Kevin Bacon
_____
Chris Doelle
Paradise, Texas (2005)
Timothy Bottoms
The Prince and the Surfer (1999)
Linda Cardellini
Super (2010)
Kevin Bacon
_____
Chris Doelle
Friday Night Lights (2004)
Billy Bob Thornton
The Informers (2008)
Mickey Rourke
Diner (1982)
Kevin Bacon
_____
Chris Doelle
Friday Night Lights (2004)
Tim McGraw
The Blind Side (2009)
Ray McKinnon
Apollo 13 (1995)
Kevin Bacon

Not sure I can get any closer connection that three jumps, but that is pretty cool.

I am actually embarrassed to admit that I sat down to watch Dance Flick. I never got into any of the silly teen dance films, so what made me think that I would like one of those ridiculous parodies about the same subject?

Unlike Scary Movie and a couple of the other parodies that were actually funny, Dance Flick totally blew. Not just “lame movie” blew, but a whole new level of blowage (I think I just made up a word.) I literally made it six minutes into this film before I had to turn it off and walk away. It was that bad. It earns my first ever rating of 0 stars - that’s right… not just a 1 star - this was just that bad.

RATING 0 out of 10
—
————————————

I felt a bit better after rushing to put Dance Flick back in the Netflix envelope and starting the next DVD - The Assassination of High School President. In a word, this film was smart. I totally got into this quirky little story - a story that actually forced you to pay attention and think.

Nick Blaemire, who played the lead character Byron Funke, turned in a very good performance in this - his only film appearance. I was also pleasantly surprised to see Bruce Willis show up as the very intense school principal.

It’s hard to describe the film without giving plot elements away, but rest assured, it is a good film. It will probably go over the heads of many viewers more interested in teen hi jinx than a high school film noir mystery, but if you can get past that, it is worth watching.

RATING 8 out of 10

I went with the boys to Camp Ben McCullough today so for a scouting activity. The setup was that each boy had the opportunity to earn five belt loops by participating in various activities. Logan and Dallin both earned the same five belt loops Soccer, Kickball, Hiking, Marbles and Baseball. There were several other options like Geology, Art, Maps etc.

It was a blast and I got to take pics throughout each of the events except for soccer (because I was running that event.) We snapped this picture while on the hike.

Click on the photo to check out all the shots from the event.

Good times!