Category Archives: Opinion

Movies- December 2011

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We have continued our adventures in Kyle XY, but still have not finished it. We completed Season 2 and are halfway through season 3. It’s not as good as it used to be, since it has basically turned into a High School drama and less about the coolness that is Kyle XY. On to the movies!

Flyboys (2006)
Watched on: 14 Dec 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: James Franco, Jean Reno, Jennifer Decker
Reaction: Kelvin- I liked most of this movie, but the ending really killed it for me. The fighting was cool, the acting and cinematography was great but I wouldn’t watch it again and probably wouldn’t recommend anyone else watch it either.  If you’ve seen it, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.
Jilleun- This movie was really well done, and I love the characters, as well as the acting.. BUT it was based on a true story and because I didn’t get the ending I was hoping for, it wasn’t my favorite. In fact several hours after we had watched it I was still mad about and so was Kelvin. So here is your fair warning.
Rating: 3/5

Larry Crowne (2011)
Watched on: 23 Dec 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Reaction: Kelvin- We’ve seen this one (see July of this year), and it’s still a good movie. Her parents had not seen it, so we watched it with them.
Jilleun- Good movie again, I love Tom Hanks.
Rating: 4/5

Prep & Landing (2009)
Watched on: 24 Dec 2011
Rated: G
Three actors: Dave Foley, Sarah Chalke, Mason Vale Cotton
Reaction: Kelvin- This was an okay kids movie, again, we watched it with her parents. It was fairly short so it wasn’t hard to bust through it one time, plus it was Christmas-y so that made it a little more okay. Rating: 2/5
Jilleun- This was surprisingly good, it was clever, funny, and cute. I’m not the biggest fan of that Santa guy but I thought this was more like 4/5.

A Christmas Carol (1999)
Watched on: 24 Dec 2011
Rated: PG
Two actors: Patrick Stewart, Richard E. Grant
Reaction: Kelvin- With so many different versions of the Christmas Carol story, it’s hard to watch another. Not that this was a bad movie, it’s just that I’ve seen/heard the story so many times I am kinda tired of it. Unless there is something really unique (Muppets version, for example) about the version, I try to skip them.  This one didn’t have anything particularly distinctive about it, other than Patrick Stewart.
Jilleun- Ugh this story is over-told, depressing, long and kind of creepy.
Rating: 2/5

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
Watched on: 25 Dec 2011
Rated: G
Three actors: Jane Powell, Howard Keel, Jeff Richards
Reaction: Kelvin- Never seen this one before. I generally don’t venture into the land of old movies all that often, but this one wasn’t that bad.. especially for a musical.
Jilleun- This is definitely one of my favorite musicals, probably in my top three!
Rating: 3/5

Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Watched on: 26 Dec 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams
Reaction: Kelvin- We watched this just minutes before we left to head to the theater, on our way to see the second Sherlock Holmes. Doing that gave us a bit of juxtaposition between the two movies. I think the second movie was a little bit better, and slightly more entertaining. Still, this was a good film.
Jilleun- This isn’t my favorite type of movie, its well done for sure, but I just felt lost till the last 10 minutes of the movie.
Rating: 4/5

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)
Watched on: 26 Dec 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Jared Harris
Reaction: Kelvin- Pretty good movie, much more funny than the first one. I like Robert Downy Jr. as an actor, so that makes it much easier to watch. It kept me guessing the entire movie, and finished out in a pretty creative way.
Jilleun- I like this movie more than the first, I didn’t feel quite as lost. I think this one also had a little more humor too. But I didn’t like the girl the gypsy one (I don’t even remember her name) yeah could have done without her.
Rating: 4/5

The Adjustment Bureau (2011)
Watched on: 28 Dec 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Anthony Mackie
Reaction: Kelvin- Again, we watched this one already back in March.
Jilleun- One of my all-time favorite movies.
Rating: 5/5

Some stats
8 movies
PG-13- 5
PG- 1
G- 2

Favorite movie this month-
Kelvin- Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Jilleun- The Adjustment Bureau

At Our House

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We just put this up…

While listening to this…(the only Christmas music I even like)

Our home smells like this at the moment …

We think this is the best hot chocolate ever…

and nothing to do with Christmas but I started reading this to Kelvin, and he’s totally hooked…

Movies- November 2011

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Well first of all, we didn’t watch that much stuff this last month.. oh well! We did start watching Jericho (2006-2008) at the request of our friends. Turns out that we didn’t like it that much, even though they loved it. Didn’t care for the characters or the acting, which made it really hard to continue watching. We stopped after about 8 episodes, that gave us enough time to really get to know the people and where the plot was going, long enough to decide that we didn’t want to continue it. So, we started watching Kyle XY (2006-2009) instead, which we have gotten through the entire first season and a few episodes into the second season.

Source Code (2011)
Watched on: 11 Nov 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga
Reaction: Jilleun- This movie was really interesting, I enjoyed it a lot. (sorry, my keyboard is broken and this temporary one is really hard to type on)
Kelvin- I don’t think I had much of an idea of what this movie was about before watching it. Let me tell you, the name has nothing to do with what the movie was about. At all. I don’t think it was a good choice for a title and actually kind of bothers me that they “wasted” the name on a movie like this. This film had a similar theme and feeling to FlashForward (the many-worlds theory). It’s a pretty interesting premise, which I won’t divulge, so that I won’t ruin the movie for the people who have not seen it. I won’t say that it is totally impossible, but the technology that they use is many many years out in the future. Pretty good acting, intriguing plot, solid and gratifying ending, overall a good movie..
Rating: 4/5

A-Team (2010)
Watched on: 17 Nov 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Sharlto Copley
Reaction: Jilleun- I’m glad I was warned that it was a bit ridiculous but it was still entertaining and amusing.
Kelvin- We watched this with some friends at their request. It wasn’t bad, it was just silly.. a few parts were totally unbelievable, but such is the genre. Funny movie, pretty entertaining, don’t know if I would watch it again, but I would at least recommend watching it one time.
Rating: 3/5

Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (2011)
Watched on: 19 Nov 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner
Reaction: Jilleun- Pretty lammmmmmmmmmmmmme.
Kelvin- Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, then it does. Wow, what a terrible movie.
Rating: 1/5

Some stats
3 movies
PG-13- 3

Favorite movie this month-
Jilleun- Source Code
Kelvin- Source Code

Movies- October 2011

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So this month we pounded through an entire TV Series! FlashForward.  An entire series is pretty admirable, you say? Well, when it gets cancelled after the end of the first season, it’s easy to watch the whole thing.  It was a little bit hard to get in to, I think the budget they had for computer animation was a little short, but they really hook you fast with the plot.  FlashForward explores a few physics(?) or math(?) concepts like: the many-worlds theory, and/or the chaos theory plus probably many others.

Basically: everyone in the world blacks out for a few minutes, and while they are blacked out they have visions of the future. It’s really interesting and both of us enjoyed it a lot.  We’re pretty sad they cancelled the show, they leave it a little bit on a cliffhanger… but nothing you can’t deal with. Recommended.

Battle Los Angeles (2011)
Watched on: 8 Oct 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Ramon Rodriguez
Reaction: Kelvin- I was actually really surprised at how bad this movie was. No character development, hardly a plot (and the miniscule plot that it DID have, was ripped off straight from War of the Worlds and/or Independence Day.) It was an action movie, and not even a good one.
Jilleun- I thought this movie was pretty lame. Who were these people?  I don’t know, therefore: I didn’t care if they got eaten by the aliens or not.
Rating: 1/5

Real Steel (2011)
Watched on: 15 Oct 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly, Dakota Goyo
Reaction: Kelvin- I really liked this movie. You could almost see the end from the beginning; entertaining anyway. I was also really surprised at how good of an actor the kid was (you know kids usually suck pretty hard at acting, so when you see one that’s half-decent, you notice). A little bit sad, but had a nice exit.
Jilleun-  Even though this is geared towards guys I really enjoyed it, it’s a good story and super entertaining.
Rating: 5/5

Monster House (2006)
Watched on: 16 Oct 2011
Rated: PG
Three actors: Mitchel Musso, Sam Lerner, Spencer Locke
Reaction: Kelvin- I don’t know why I think I’m going to like kids movies. Why do we watch them? They’re dumb. Reallllly dumb. This one was no exception. Stupid plot, terrible animation, and you have to let your imagination stretch pretty far (it’s even animated!) to let this movie fly. Bad, bad, bad.
Jilleun-  This is a kids movie but I still like it,  I think the characters are funny.  I also think it’s good to get away from and be different rather than just another Disney fluffy happy movie.
Rating: 3/5

True Grit (2010)
Watched on: 18 Oct 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfeld
Reaction: Kelvin- Not totally sure how this movie came up. We were trying to decide what to watch and the cursor had stopped on this movie, so we watched it. Didn’t have any idea what it was about beforehand. I liked it enough. Pretty good story, nice acting (especially by the girl), pretty believable environments/sets, overall well done. It just isn’t my type of movie, I guess.
Jilleun-  Hmmm I’m not totally sure how I feel about this movie. It was well done for sure, the actors did great, and the story was interesting. But I thought it was just OK for some reason.
Rating: 3/5

In Time (2011)
Watched on: 29 Oct 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy
Reaction: Kelvin- Watched the preview, which gave away more that I would have liked. I thought it was an interesting subject, so we saw it. The underlying concept of how it all works wasn’t very well explained, how it came about: the fact that time literally equals money, and when you run out of time you die.  There are a million directions that you could have gone with this concept, and this one wasn’t a bad one.  I felt it was somewhat political–it follows the same idea that the Occupy Wall Street movement is pushing–except this movie was being produced before the OWS started… obviously.  The movie was really well done, the plot might have had some holes–but it was good, the acting was excellent, the music was fitting, the cinematography was admirable, and the cars were cool. Pretty awesome.
Jilleun-  I thought this movie was awesome, I don’t know why it got such bad reviews.
Rating: 5/5

Some stats
5 movies
PG-13- 4
PG- 1
Favorite movie this month-
Kelvin- Real Steel
Jilleun- In Time

Movies- September 2011

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We have been watching Arrested Development, in fact the reason why this post was delayed a few days was because of Arrested Development. We watched the entire series in about a month. Both of us had never seen it, but everyone raves about how good and funny it was.. it was okay.

Basically everyone in the family drove me totally bonkers, which I gather is the point, but I still hated it. Buster was okay, and so was Michael, but everyone else was on the brink of absolute madness. Funny madness, but still madness.

On the other hand, I absolutely love Ron Howard and he does an remarkable job narrating. Will Arnett is out of this world funny, I love how dead serious he is with even the most fantastically thoughtless ideas of his.

I don’t know how much advance notice they had (the fact that the show got cancelled) but I’m glad that they wrapped up the story nicely. Totally unlike Dollhouse, I feel like that ending was thrown together too quickly.

I’d give it a 3/5. I’ll most likely watch the upcoming mini-series and accompanying movie; I am, by no stretch of the imagination, an obsessed fanatic. I liked Veronica Mars much better, and VM is way more obscure.

Well, on to the movies…

Matilda (1996)
Watched on: 2 Sep 2011
Rated: PG
Three actors: Mara Wilson, Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman
Reaction: Jilleun- I used to hate this movie because when I was little I was jealous of Matilda’s powers, plus the Principal is just nasty. It’s an “eh” kind of movie to me.
Kelvin- Doh! This is a dumb kid’s movie, what were we thinking watching those. I remember loving it as a kid, so I wanted to watch it again for nostalgia reasons.. dumb idea. I think I’m slowly learning that kid’s movies, especially ones from my past, are almost always going to be dumb.
Rating: 2/5

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Watched on: 3 Sep 2011
Rated: G
Three actors: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester
Reaction: Jilleun- Awful. I’m sure at the time it was good but I seriously wanted to scratch my eyes and ears out.
Kelvin- Quite possibly the worst movie ever made. No plot, hardly any character development, just a bunch of weird artistic stuff going on with no point. Like JR said, it might have been good… at one point… but definitely not today.
Rating: 1/5

Leap Year (2010)
Watched on: 4 Sep 2011
Rated: PG
Three actors: Amy Adams, Matthew Goode, Adam Scott
Reaction: Jilleun- I was pretty disappointed with this movie. I heard it was a cute chick flick, and with Amy Adams I guess I had higher expectation. Something I noticed was the actual colors in the movie were really muddy and gray looking which drove me nuts, as well as I couldn’t understand the main guy because of his accent. I think chick flicks having been going down the drain lately, but thats just me.
Kelvin- Chick flicks are usually good enough to stand once every now and then. This was in no way “good enough to stand”. I really like Amy Adams; she should not have done this movie. Extremely predictable (and pretty dumb) plot, bad accents, not funny.. just all around stupid. Do not recommend.
Rating: 2/5

The Soloist (2009)
Watched on: 5 Sep 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Robert Downey Jr., Jamie Foxx, Catherine Keener
Reaction: Jilleun- I really like this story, it had a great message. Go watch it.
Kelvin- Hey! A good movie! After a string of crappy movies, this one stood out quite a bit. I don’t recall Jamie Foxx from a lot of movies (save Ray, which is also excellent) but he is a really talented actor, he gets into his characters so well that it’s hard to believe he’s not actually that person. I really liked this movie, it has an excellent message. I’d say it hit a home run, in my book.
Rating: 5/5

The Next Three Days (2010)
Watched on: 11 Sep 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Ty Simpkins
Reaction: Jilleun- This movie was intense. I’m not the biggest fan of intense movies but it was still ok. I don’t think I’ll be watching it again.
Kelvin- The 4/5 rating was, apparently, strictly my decision. It was a pretty intense movie, but I enjoyed it. It’s a remake of a french film titled Anything for Her. After I realized that it was basically a love story, it made the film so much better. And who can say no to Russell Crowe? I certainly can’t.
Rating: 4/5

The Invention of Lying (2009)
Watched on: 15 Sep 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Louis C.K.
Reaction: Jilleun- Hilarious and inappropriate.
Kelvin-  Hilarious. A highly creative plot. Great cast. Well executed. Other than it being somewhat inappropriate (especially at the very beginning, it really catches you off guard), I’d recommend you watch it.
Rating: 5/5

Moneyball (2011)
Watched on: 26 Sep 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Reaction: Jilleun- I really enjoyed this movie, it was well done, entertaining and it was based on a true story. It’s not a movie you NEED to see in the theater but I don’t regret that we did.
Kelvin- Yeah, seeing it in the theater was not a necessity, but I didn’t mind paying to see it there. This is a good example of a movie that tells a great true story and doesn’t suck while doing it, à la Rudy, Remember the Titans, The Blind Side. I really like ending the month with a good movie instead of a crappy one. It makes it seem like the whole month was a success.
Rating: 4/5

Some stats
7 movies
PG-13- 4
PG- 2
G- 1
Favorite movie this month-
Kelvin- The Invention of Lying
Jilleun- Moneyball

Movies- August 2011

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Morning Glory (2010)
Watched on: 5 Aug 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton
Reaction: Kelvin- I don’t know if I would call this a chick flick, but it was pretty close.  Funny, yes. Witty, yes. Watch again, maybe. I think Rachel McAdams is a fantastic actor, and she doesn’t disappoint in this movie. The charisma (or anti-charisma) between Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton was pretty hilarious. If Jilleun had not wanted to watch this movie, chances are I would have just skipped it.
Jilleun- I love Rachel McAdams, everyone did a fantastic job. It was almost kind of gloomy just because I felt like she never could catch a break and she worked so hard. I still really liked it thought, and it was funny.
Rating: 4/5

Accepted (2006)
Watched on: 6 Aug 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Justin Long, Jonah Hill, Maria Thayer
Reaction: Kelvin- We watched this with our friends Shaun and Kim almost out of desperation. You know the drill.. you’re all sitting around talking about the movie options, and not one person can agree with another person on which movie to eventually watch. This movie was extremely high in the alphabetical list, and that’s why I feel it got chosen, because it was in the first page of Shaun’s DVD holder. I don’t know how much I like Justin Long’s acting. It’s not that he’s a BAD actor, necessarily. I just don’t like his style.. kind of like Pauly Shore; I don’t think he’s a bad actor, just not my type. The movie was good enough to watch, but I don’t know if I’d watch it again. There are a lot of parts where you really have to let your imagination stretch in order to believe it could have actually happened in real life (but I guess most movies are like that?). Also, I didn’t know that Jonah Hill and Seth Rogen were two different people until I started writing this up.. my mind is blown.
Jilleun- I hated the girl in this, I thought she was awful. Pretty unbelievable, predicable, and cheesy. Funny in a couple parts but don’t need to watch again.
Rating: 3/5

Pleasantville (1998)
Watched on: 7 Aug 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Tobey Maguire, Reese Witherspoon, William H. Macy
Reaction: Kelvin- Cool movie! There were many more sexual innuendos than I remember being in there the last time I watched it. I don’t know if this movie was trying to be a vague reference to racism in the 50′s or not, but it had a little bit of that feeling, at least. Tobey Maguire did a supurb job, as usual, and the movie had a pretty good message surrounding it.
Jilleun- Um wow, I felt like this movie was all about sex, which is disappointing. The idea of it was really cool, and the movie was well done.
Rating: 4/5

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
Watched on: 12 Aug 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow
Reaction: Kelvin- The previews made this movie look extremely dumb. I don’t really know why we went to go see this in the theater. I do not know if people were clamoring to get more back-story into the Planet of the Apes franchise, but I thought this movie was a straight-up money grab. Turns out it was actually a pretty good movie with a decently good story. Plus, if you’re like me, Planet of the Apes wasn’t exactly part of my childhood so I call this an introduction to the movies (I never watched the 2001 version starring Mark Wahlberg). We’ll have to watch the others later, considering it’s one of the best 500 movies of all time.
Jilleun- Better than I was expecting, I had watching bits and pieces of the original Plant of the Apes because of my dad, but didn’t actually remember any story line. I thought it was pretty cool.
Rating: 4/5

The Switch (2010)
Watched on: 13 Aug 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Patrick Wilson
Reaction: Kelvin- I don’t even know how to react to this movie. There were enough stomach-churning moments that it made it hard to watch. Jason Bateman does almost exactly what any “guy in love” would do to win a girl over. I say almost exactly, because I don’t know too many guys that would do what he does (the main plot element). It was a romantic comedy for sure. I don’t like Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman together though.. They’d probably be better off as good friends.
Jilleun- A couple of people told me this was funny, it was just ok in my opinion. The concept is pretty stupid, what woman would really have a baby with no husband, or boyfriend?
Rating: 3/5

Waiting for ‘Superman’ (2010)
Watched on: 15 Aug 2011
Rated: PG
Reaction: Kelvin- I don’t always agree with the things documentaries say. I still watch them because they are mostly interesting. I’m sure that everything reported in the movie was true, but documentarists never give both sides of the story. I don’t like that, it’s manipulative. When I don’t see both sides coming from the same source, I always put up my wall which makes it a lot harder for “facts” to mean much; because that means they are only concerned with pushing their agenda down your throat. This was one of those movies, except they had the benefit of using both poor people and young kids to drive their point home. Considering the same guy made An Inconvenient Truth, you can tell what side of the fence he sits on. Informative, sometimes infuriating, one-sided, but I’d recommend watching it anyway.
Jilleun- I like documentaries but Kelvin is right, they tend to be very one sided. Although growing up in California I think I saw first hand the horrible education they were talking about, obviously not as bad as some of the ghettos in NYC or anything. It did make me want to go out and do something about it.
Rating: 4/5

17 Again (2009)
Watched on: 21 Aug 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Zac Efron, Leslie Mann, Thomas Lennon
Reaction: Kelvin- Why did we watch this, you ask? Well, Zac Efron is a hottie, of course. There wasn’t anything about this movie that wasn’t predictable. It was pretty funny anyway. I think that Jilleun and I are a little bit older than the target audience, so maybe that’s why I found it slightly stupid. “Uncle” Ned was hilarious, I loved eccentricly weird he was. If I hadn’t found Jilleun to calm me down, I’m sure I’d end up just like him in 5-10 years.. except wealthier, of course.
Jilleun- Predictable yes, but still pretty funny! Good story and message.
Rating: 3/5

Invictus (2009)
Watched on: 22 Aug 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon, Tony Kgoroge
Reaction: Kelvin- This was a lot more drama and a lot less Rugby, not at all what I was expecting. Considering it was based on real events, it was pretty eye-opening. I am somewhat oblivious to what’s going on the real world (in my defense, I was in the fifth grade when this all happened), so this was cool to see an inspiring story that took place in a land I know nothing about. If you’re going to watch it, be prepared, it’s not a sports movie. It’s a drama that uses sports as ruse.
Jilleun- Slow, interesting, good and well done. Kelvin and I think pretty similar on this one.
Rating: 5/5

Dumb and Dumber (1994)
Watched on: 25 Aug 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Lauren Holly
Reaction: Kelvin- I love this movie.
Jilleun- Just like the title, Dumb and Dumber.
Kelvin Rating: 5/5
Jilleun Rating:

Some stats
9 movies
PG-13- 8
PG- 1
Favorite movie this month-
Kelvin- Dumb and Dumber
Jilleun- Waiting for Superman

Movies- July 2011

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Last month was a good month! We were super busy doing a lot of things.. which will be revealed in a later blog entry. We tons of fun though.

Hitch (2005)
Watched on: 10 Jul 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Will Smith, Eva Mendes, Kevin James
Reaction: Jilleun- I love this movie, it’s definitely a “classic” to me. We mostly watched it so that we could see all the different places in New York we went to that was also in the movie.
Kelvin- This is a pretty good movie. I think Will Smith is in a number of excellent movies, and he does a great job in all of them. The movie has an upbeat message and is really pretty funny. I don’t know if I would call it a “chick flick” but if it is, it’s a good one.
Rating- 5/5

Larry Crowne (2011)
Watched on: 11 Jul 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Reaction: Jilleun- I really like this movie because it just seemed honest.  Real people go through the same thing every day. It wasn’t a movie that you needed to see in the theater and it was a bit slower, although I was delightfully entertained. It didn’t hurt that I thought all the actors were great, I LOVE Tom Hanks.
Kelvin- Good, honest movie. I don’t know if it did very well in the box office, but who cares. It told a pretty good story. I don’t know how much I liked the chemistry between Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, but it worked enough to be convincing. Get it from Netflix, I don’t know if it’s good enough to purchase, but everyone has their opinions.
Rating- 4/5

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
Watched on: 16 Jul 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint
Reaction: Jilleun- Awesome. That is all.
Kelvin- Good movie. Wraps up the story nicely. Part 1 was better, in my opinion, but that shouldn’t stop you from seeing it.
Rating- 5/5

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Watched on: 23 Jul 2011
Rated: PG
Three actors: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray
Reaction: Jilleun- This was quirkier and actually more funny than I expected. I usually can’t get into cartoons or more childlike movies, but this one I thought was great. I think everyone should see it at least once.
Kelvin- Weird… nothing was wrong with the (voice) acting really.. it was just kind of a strange story mixed with some really odd characters. I’m glad I didn’t see it in the theater, which would have been a waste. It was good enough to get from Netflix and see once. I doubt I’ll watch it again.
Rating- 3/5

Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)
Watched on: 29 July 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore
Reaction: Jilleun- Crazy, Stupid, Love is hilarious! It was a bit dirtier than I expected…but still it was sooo funny. It was a bit like Easy A or Date Night humor. Super entertaining, so fun to watch, loved the story, just hilarious.
Kelvin- This is not a chick flick at all. This is just a comedy. I’ll equate it somewhat to Date Night (with Steve Carrell) but much more funny. This is the first movie that I’ve cried in for a looooong time. I cried because I was laughing so hard, not because it was emotional. Oh, and it has Emma Stone aaaaaand she’s pretty cute.
Rating- 5/5

Life as We Know It (2010)
Watched on: 31 Jul 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Katherine Heigl, Josh Duhamel, Josh Lucas
Reaction: Jilleun- This was funny, and cute. It was a little predictable but overall enjoyable.
Kelvin- Pretty predictable, I hate that about some movies. It was a chick flick that I would have veto’d if I knew what I was getting myself in to. Plus, listening to a crying baby for an hour and a half isn’t exactly what I want to see in a movie.
Rating- 3/5

Some stats
6 movies
PG-13- 5
PG- 1
Favorite movie this month-
Kelvin- Crazy, Stupid, Love.
Jilleun- Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Movies- June 2011

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Well, this is a little embarrassing.

We went to NYC, moved to Orem, and then Jilleun went to California–all within two weeks. We have been very busy lately. So we are just now getting settled into our new place and getting down to the movie reviews of last month. Jilleun has declined to participate. Even though we watched a fair number of movies, it all happened quite a while ago and I don’t remember all the details of the movies we watched, so please forgive my brevity.

We gave up on Prison Break after we watched the first few episodes of Season 3.  We didn’t like the way that the show was going, additionally we talked to a few friends that all said Season 3 and 4 were not worth watching. Plus they told us how it all went down, so they kind of spoiled the plot anyway.

X-Men: First Class (2011)
Watched on: 7 Jun 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon
Reaction: Kelvin- Meh. Another reboot. Graphics were just okay. Anything Magneto did was especially gross in the special effects department. Predictable plot. Good acting, I can’t complain about anything in that department. I would rather have another X-Men Origins than this First Class nonsense.
Rating- 3/5

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
Watched on: 8 Jun 2011
Rated: PG-13
Reaction: Kelvin- We started watching this … after it had been going for about 10 minutes we realized the movie was in French. We had no subtitles. I’ve heard many-a-great things about this movie, but alas.. we were foiled.  So we just did something else.

Click (2006)
Watched on: 9 Jun 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Adam Sandler, Kate Beckinsale, Christopher Walken
Reaction: Kelvin- Typical Adam Sandler movie. I had never seen this one before and I was quite surprised at how much better it was (in terms of plot and character development) than his other films. I didn’t cry, FYI. Funny enough to keep you smiling, but I wasn’t rolling on the ground; I don’t know if I would recommend this movie to anyone my age.  I think they were trying to hit a slightly younger–and more immature–demographic.
Rating- 3/5

A Mighty Wind (2003)
Watched on: 10 Jun 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Too many- It’s a Christopher Guest movie
Reaction: Kelvin- Really very good. I enjoy Christopher Guest movies a lot. He does such a great job with his ensemble cast. The movies are always very funny (in their own dry way) and always entertain. This was no exception to that rule. Funny, creative, VERY good songs, and fantastic acting. If we didn’t watch Marley & Me in the month of June, this would have been my top pick.
Rating- 5/5

Super 8 (2011)
Watched on: 11 Jun 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Joel Courtney, Kyle Chandler, Riley Griffiths
Reaction: Kelvin- Hooray for a suspenseful and good movie that isn’t just a reboot, or another obscure Marvel/DC comic! I partially went to go see this because it was written/directed by J.J. Abrams–co-creator of LOST–of which I am a very very big fan, and partially because I heard it was actually a good movie. Not too scary, not annoyingly suspenseful. It tells you the story in a very enthralling fashion which keeps you interested all the way through.
Rating- 5/5

Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010)
Watched on: 22 Jun 2011
Rated: PG
Three actors: Zachary Gordon, Robert Capron, Devon Bostick
Reaction: Kelvin- Bleh. What a dumb kiddy movie. Sorry to anyone who actually liked it. This was such a waste of my time.
Rating- 2/5

Marley & Me (2008)
Watched on: 29 Jun 2011
Rated: PG
Three actors: Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, Eric Dane
Reaction: Kelvin- If you have not seen this, go rent or buy it right now. It came out Christmas day, but that doesn’t mean it is a Christmas movie.  It tells the touching story of John Grogan and his family + dog (Marley).  It is really no different than watching someone grow up, but on screen and it didn’t take nearly as long. Superb acting, excellent chemistry between Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston. Really good story with an exceptional ending.
Rating- 5/5

Some stats
7 movies
PG-13- 5
PG- 2
Favorite movie this month-
Jilleun- Marley & Me
Kelvin- Marley & Me

Movies- May 2011

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I know we are letting our greatest fans down right now… This is going to be mighty short.

The King’s Speech (2010)
Watched on: 10 May 2011
Rated: PG-13, honest!
Three actors: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter
Reaction: Kelvin- A little FYI about this movie first.. after it had been out for a while a new “version” of the movie was released that was PG-13 which cut out some “F” words. We watched the PG-13 version at a “Family Friendly” theater. This was an excellently frustrating movie with a good plot. It was frustrating because I wanted to ring his neck about half the time thinking: Just get the words out! Out with it already! Otherwise, the characters were developed well enough that you really cared about his well-being, and his future, at the climax. It’s a pretty serious movie overall, but the theater was totally and absolutely silent most all of the movie; even though the house lights came on about 30 minutes before the film ended, and never turned off.  No one got up to tell the employees about the problem because they were so hooked to the screen.  I would whole-heartedly tell anyone of almost any (reasonable) age to see this movie, British curse words and all!
Jilleun- I loved this movie, I thought they did an excellent job on it. It was slow but it was a good pace for the story, I especially loved the music. It is annoying that it was originally rated R, hopefully they will release a PG-13 DVD too.
Rating- 5/5

Thor (2011)
Watched on: 14 May 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Natalie Portman
Reaction: Kelvin- Good action movie with an better-than-okay story.  I don’t like that so many movies end with a lead-in to a sequel, which makes me feel like the sole reason for making the movie is to milk us out of more money. This was one of those. This happening with something like Harry Potter or Twilight is okay, because it was a series to begin with and we know that. There is a set number of stories and then it’s over.
Jilleun- This was a good super hero movie and that’s pretty much it. I think my hopes were a little too high, everyone I talked to/everyone on facebook said “it was such an amazing movie”. While it was entertain and good, I think I liked spiderman more!
Rating: 4/5

Easy A (2010)
Watched on: 28 May 2011
Rated: PG-13
Three actors: Emma Stone, Amanda Bynes, Alyson Michalka
Reaction: Kelvin- Extremely funny. Jilleun has seen this a few times and tried to get me to watch it with her every time. I always refused.  So, after she got the DVD from Netflix we watched the first 7 minutes while on my lunch break from work.  When I came home from work we watched the rest of it. It kind of reminds me of Mean Girls (which I already like a lot) since it’s a “teen” movie, after all, the whole thing takes place in a High School.  It had way more sexually-related jokes than I anticipated, it totally deserves the PG-13 rating.
Jilleun- This movie is hilarious. Although I do have to admit it is a bit over the top with sexual jokes, and the story in general. One of my favorite lines from the movie when the teacher Mr. Griffith is talking to Olive;  I don’t know what your generation’s fascination is with documenting your every thought… but I can assure you, they’re not all diamonds. “Roman is having an OK day, and bought a Coke Zero at the gas station. Raise the roof.” Who gives a rats?
Rating:  4/5

Some stats
3 movies- sheesh!
PG-13- all 3!
Favorite movies this month-
Kelvin- The King’s Speech
Jilleun- The King’s Speech

As a side note, we have been watching Prison Break.  A little bit more violent than we are used to for a TV show, but overall it’s been pretty good. We are finishing Season 2 tonight. Thank you Netflix.

Little letters 05.25.11

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Dear New Computer, you are so fancy and big! Also- the hand me downs of my Husband, but that’s ok.

Dear Landlords, you kind of are… the worst. Please come fix our 10 million problems. The biggest one being the flood in our bedroom. I would more than appreciate it!

Dear Self, I’m so glad you’re feeling like creating again, let’s get started. Painting, beading, sewing, so many options! Now if I could just feel the same way about cooking we’d be on fire…

Dear Pinterest, you are my new favorite thing, and any free time I have… I spend looking through your beautiful pictures.

Dear Blender (courtesy of Shaun and Kim), thank you for all your hard work of making our smoothies delicious. I’ve been enjoying them so much.

Dear June, July, and August, every year I get more excited to see the three of you. This year even more than ever! I can’t wait for family visiting, traveling, hot weather, one year anniversary of marriage (whooooo!), staying up late, food, and anything else awesome that comes with summer!

Dear future puppy, I really am working on trying to get you here faster!

Dear Utah weather, thank you kindly for stopping the rain after almost a week solid. I love me some sunshine.

Dear Husband, I love you. And especially our adventures together.

(and just because, here’s a photo I took in my first ever photography class)