Prince Caspian Movie: my thoughts

Well, I knew they’d have to modernize it, and pick up the pace and some loose-ends (I think many of my favorite books would never be published if they were written this century), but still I was disappointed.

Just a little, maybe, like when you take a bite out of something and find it’s hollow.  It doesn’t taste bad, it really is fine for what it is, but it’s less substantial than I’d expected.

Jay’s concise evaluation:

There were so many thumbs-up and thumbs-down it kind-of came out as neutral.

Only fair to say *Spoiler Warning* and break here, but I hope you come back when you’ve seen the movie and tell me what you thought.

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A New Reason to Love FireFox (and an endorsement of Bones)

So I’ve mentioned I got addicted to the show Bones on Hulu.

I didn’t mention they have a “limited commercial interruption” style of sponsorship. That basically means that the same commercial (or product) comes on at each normal commercial break.

*But* Firefox’s ad blocker blocks even those, and once we were watching together on my husband’s computer (which has AdBlock enabled) we watched nothing but show. Very cool.

DH (dear husband)’s gift to me arrived Saturday: Seasons one and two of Bones on DVD.

I’m still re-watching Season One with Jay (as we get the kids down early enough), but I’ve started watching Season Two ahead of him (since I’ve finished One already).

The direction is very different between seasons. I didn’t think I was the sort of person to notice that sort of thing, but everything from camera movement, costuming and scene-cuts has changed, so maybe it’s impossible to miss.

If you’re familiar with the Harry Potter movies it’s a little like the shift between (I think it was) movies 2 and 3, where the kids went from school-robes all the time to “normal” every-day sort of clothes.

Disclaimer: This show does require a high gross-out threshold. Glimpses of the dead are not gratuitous, but neither are they obscured or made “artistic” in any way (frankly I don’t know how that could happen, but I’ve hear some people try).

Other than the pilot the ladies are generally dressed as you’d expect self-respecting, emotionally-healthy professionals to be, and the namesake lead, while being emphatically her own woman, does not emphasize or accomplish that by being disrespectful toward men (a first in my viewing experience).

~ ~ ~

The primary selling point for this show is its characterization, and I really appreciate the way the writers have handled the someone’s-dying-every-episode element that plagues (or I think should) the conscience of every show like this.

Having established that the characters talk about significant things, the writers use them talking about the affect their work has on them and the value of every human life. Better (I imagine) than most body-a-week shows, Bones works to make each victim an individual and shows how the cases affect the lives of those working on them.

Movie Quotes (Quiz and Answers)

Finally getting around to this.

Most of my readers know memes are a very. low. priority for me, but I enjoy quotes so this was a natural fit and I knew I’d eventually do it.

Picked this up from Thoughts of a Wannabe whom I met through the Ultimate Blog Party.

The rules:
1. Pick 10 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. I’ll re-post this with all the answers in a week or so.
5. No Googling or IMDb-ing. That’s cheating, and that’s no fun!

*Answers are now listed at the bottom of the post if you need help.*

Mouse-over the space between quotes and highlight the line to see the answer.

These aren’t all from my top-10 movies, but the lines are all those that still cause a reaction, even when I’ve seen or thought of them a number of times.

  1. [to the baby in his arms] I was forced to recite that poem when I was a lad. I have no idea what it means, but why should I be the only one to suffer?
  2. Amazing Grace

  3. A: Then you kidnapped me!
    B: Why would I kidnap…?
    A: I have no idea. You’re the criminal mastermind, not me.
    B: What?!
    A: You’re right. That’s giving you way too much credit.
  4. The Emperor’s New Groove

  5. [Narration] The trial of Jerome Gribben was the social event of the season. The judge in the case was the venerable Judge Zadic. Judge Zadic was totally incompetent, but being a Judge nobody had noticed.
  6. Hallmark’s Arabian Nights (Not Kid-friendly. Think pushing the boundaries of PG-13)

  7. A: You think you’re smarter than we are.
    B: Oh, not much.
  8. Undercover Blues

  9. Over my dead body. (Life-or-death situation.)
  10. Enchanted (The line is so familiar I was surprised I couldn’t place it from any other movie.)

  11. Some feel that to court a woman in one’s employ is nothing more than a serpentine effort to transform a lady into a whore.
  12. Kate and Leopold

  13. The only way to find out what story you’re in is to determine what stories you’re not in. Odd as it may seem, I’ve just ruled out half of Greek literature, seven fairy tales, ten Chinese fables, and determined conclusively that you are not King Hamlet, Scout Finch, Miss Marple, Frankenstein’s Monster, or a golem. Hmm? Aren’t you relieved to know you’re not a golem?
  14. Stranger Than Fiction

  15. Man: And uh… hey, while I think about it, how bout, uh, marryin’ me?
    Woman: Gracious! What’d I want to marry you for?
    Man: Uh, well, I dunno, couldn’t you maybe think up some reason why you might?
  16. Oklahoma! (The London version is the one worth watching.)

  17. American: I’m sorry, I don’t speak English.
    African gunman: You are speaking English right now.
    American: No, I only know how to say, “I don’t speak English” in English.
  18. Sahara (The most-recognized answer– based on both on- and off-line guesses)

  19. Just a little bit louder, because this song is intended for humans, okay?
  20. Music and Lyrics

Titles Represented:

  • The Emperor’s New Groove
  • Stranger Than Fiction
  • Undercover Blues
  • Hallmark’s Arabian Nights
  • Enchanted
  • Amazing Grace
  • Oklahoma!
  • Music and Lyrics
  • Sahara
  • Kate and Leopold

T.V. When You Want It

My husband found this recently.

It’s an encyclopedia of sorts with the first season of a lot of shows, including several I’ve wanted to see more of, like Life, and The Pretender.

I like things that have both a satisfying conclusion each show and a continuing storyline with characters that grow and change (I’ve mentioned Monk and House M.D. before).

Main problem: They’re all shows I’ll only watch after the kids are in bed.

Which means if it was a really good show (tension, humor, clever dialogue, good mystery and resolution, all crammed into that approximately 43.2 minutes), it’s a bit hard to wind down.

A bit.

Hi. I’m still up writing. It was a good show. :)

Enchanted

I missed the movie while it was in the theater, so Jay and I had the DVD release on the calendar ;)

We watched it last night and I thought it was loads of fun.

The dragon took a lot of reassuring the first time through, but other than that, the ideas and interactions were great.

I loved the aborted divorce, and Giselle’s horror at the idea someone thought she’d *kissed* ( “or something like that”) another woman’s sweetheart.

And seeing in the prince elements of one of my characters was a hoot. I never would have had the guts to take him that far.

The beatific look on Prince Edward’s face after another man proved to be his bride-to-be’s “true love” was exactly the look Torb had when he saw that his brother—that he’d previously not even known existed, and who would most likely usurp his throne— was alive.

Just saw What a Girl Wants

And I really liked it.

Never saw it before. I’ll have to watch it again with Jay (he comes home tonight) and then I’ll know if I love it or if it was just a sweet diversion to share with my girls while waiting for Daddy to get home.

I think it’s poor arguing to define things by what they’re not, but I like that this movie had no bad behavior from the leads. It also avoided most bad language and portrayed relationships with parents as a valuable part of life.

I liked that much of the music was part of the story (rather than exclusively soundtrack-building), and the father-daughter dance theme was precious.

Some favorite lines:

Father: I’m not explaining this very well, am I?
Daughter (Daphne): No, not really. But I’m having fun watching you try.

Step-mother-to-be: Now Daphne, we don’t want to make a scene now, do we?
Mother: Take your hand off my daughter or you won’t get a scene, you’ll get a Broadway Musical!

The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything— Movie Review for Preschoolers

First off, this isn’t a VeggiTales video stretched to movie-length like Jonah (sorry, I wouldn’t see it twice of my own volition).

The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything is a fairly well thought out story designed for the medium it is presented in.

This is good news both for the longevity of the movie as a piece of entertainment and for the parents who will (inevitably) share quite a bit of “quantity time” with this and their kids.

The bad news about this is mostly for the parents of preschoolers, like me.

This is a know-your-kid movie, which, unfortunately, didn’t come out in the normal reviews I read.

My 5-year-old cried more than once, and both she and her (differently sensitive) sister hid their faces multiple times. It is intense at the modern feature-length cartoon level.

For my kids, that means I would have waited till the 6-8 range, rather than the 3-5 we are in right now.

Of course everything turns out alright in the end, but the “moments of peril” aren’t all that brief, and occur frequently.

This is fine storytelling, but (like I’ve said before) I think movies of this intensity are harder on little kids than books of equal intensity— due to the extra, visual, element. There’s no time to process and detox from the last moment of peril before being steamrolled by the next one.

This was especially true for our oldest. She was clingy and needy for the hour or so after the show ended. My good husband helped both girls “detox” by talking about his “favorite parts” of the movie.

At first Natasha said that nothing was her favorite, but then we began to recap some events and she began to participate, even though she never agreed to actually liking anything.

She seemed very interested in what my favorite moments were, and as I was juggling tense girls most of the time I wasn’t particularly aware of my feelings past the opening sword fight. Which was fine, so I said I liked that and something else I couldn’t remember.

Natasha asked two or three more times what my other moment was, so I eventually thought of something else. This is one of the first times she’s really wanted to know what others think.

For future reference I think I will be going even to G shows before I take my kids– no matter what the reviews say.

(And, no, they will not be coming with us to Narnia in May. This I know already.)

Explaining Things

The girls have developed an attachment to The Sound of Music and we were watching it this morning.

How would you explain Maria’s leaving after her dance with the Captain?  To a 3- and 4-year-old?  I did okay, I guess, but I’ve not had an answer before today (and they have asked).

Today I said Maria thought she couldn’t serve God if she got married, and she felt she loved the Captain and wanted to leave before he wanted to get married.

Natasha seemed to understand me, and I added “That’s a little silly, isn’t it?  We know lots of people who are married and serve God.  Don’t we?”  She grinned.

“You!” she said.

I liked that.

For my own amusement…

If I haven’t mentioned it before, my husband and I have sort of gotten hooked on the new NBC show “Chuck.”

It’s got some great lines, and I’ve been collecting some, and finally making “my” list. Naturally this will be very inside-jokey.

Which is to say, if you’ve seen the episode, you *will* be laughing, and if you haven’t you just… might be laughing. Or scratching your head.

~ Chuck ~
Okay, well that– now that’s just a picture of a turtle.
Why are these people sleeping?
I’m going to go fix some hard drives. Good luck with the spy stuff!
[To high-ranking Chinese spy holding him at gunpoint:] Or you could– you could… defect!
Are you two crazy? I’m not gonna have a guy rubbed out just because he upsets our lunch routine!

Crossbow? What, aren’t slingshots good enough?
“Are you coming to the toga party?”

Ellie! You’re alright. Thank God you’re alright! I mean, of course you’re alright. Why wouldn’t you be…

[Under the influence of a truth-serum/poison:]
(to Sarah) You are so pretty!!!
(to Casey) Your jaw could have been chiseled by Michelangelo himself. (Casey, solemnly, “Thank you.”)
Okay, I’ll take this antidote, and pretend to drink it, then I’m going to run like mad and give it to my sister instead. Why did I just say that out loud?

I am not running away. I don’t know what you think this is, but I am having a rare moment of courage here.

Pretty… pretty… Ho! Not pretty! Not pretty! Ugly!
One girlish scream from me and the cavalry arrives.
“Pineapple.”
Some kid could’ve found that! [Casey just opened a gun cache in the store’s home theater room]

Can someone else be the human shield for a while?
One question? Shoot– Not you!
No one ever says how much those things hurt.

~ Major Casey ~
If you run I’m going to point my gun at you and threaten to shoot you in the head.

Chuck: Are you actually going to do it?
Casey [in his *duh* voice]: No.
Chuck: Great. [Runs]

I’m feeling a little pasty.
Don’t puke on the C4.
Now thats what I call moving appliances.
[impressed] Smart. Do that again, and I’ll kill you.
[Shooting out a lock after Sarah expertly picked one]: We all have our skill sets.

~Chuck n Casey ~
Chuck: Soooo, in this plan, I basically do nothing?
Casey: Yep
Chuck: Let’s do this.

Casey: You did really good last night, Chuck.
Chuck: Oh, come on Casey, enough with the sarcasm, okay?
Casey: No, I’m serious. You did good. [Chuck begins to smile] And that tux looks good on you.
Chuck [big goofy grin by now]: Well, thanks, Casey!
Casey: That was sarcasm.

Chuck: Anna didn’t pay you to rub out Tang, did she?
Casey: No. Do you want me to?
Chuck: No! No!

Casey: Stay in the car.
Chuck: My four favorite words.
:Scene cut:
Morgan: I’m going home now
Ellie: My four favorite words.

Ellie (succumbing to being drugged): Words… taste… like… peaches.

~ Cheesy but cute ~
Chuck: Phone Trouble again ?
Sarah: Yeah, I’m not sure I’m able to receive calls….cause I never got one from you….

Sarah: Well, the good news is that we’re alive. The bad news… is this is a very awkward moment now.
Chuck: Not so much for me. Kinda nice, actually.

~ Other~
Tang (control-freak store manager): Now it is mine. The one remote to rule them all. The master remote.

Bryce: You should go for the head next time.

Deli man: He had me at ‘pastrami’.