Movie Jackpot

Daren and I love to go to the movies. We always have. It does pain me to dole out that much money to be entertained, but, as the french say, "c'est la vie." (That's life.)

This holiday season all my cinematic dreams came true. Between the movie gift certificates, gift cash, discount movie tickets from Kroger, and one of the best movie line-ups in a long time, all I had were matinees and Friday nights to get me there.

So, for anybody who hasn't already seen these movies and is maybe hesitating on laying down ten bucks to be entertained, listen up! This post is for you.

Bedtime Stories - good. It's typical Adam Sandler, only cleaned up a bit cause now his kids are going to be watching. This is why he made this movie. Keri Russell, who co-stars, said as much in an interview I caught on "The View" while running on the treadmill one day. The reviews gave this movie pretty dismal reviews, but I thought they wrong. We went. We laughed. We enjoyed it.

Valkyrie - Great. Oh my. I didn't know anything about this chapter in history that the movie is based upon so I went in with no prior information, knowledge or IDEA of what it was about. Just something about Hitler and to be honest, I wasn't too excited. But I figured if I took Daren to the movie first, then he'd go with me to see my movie choice next week. Yup, I'm a martyr with guilt and obligation my primary, yet effective tools of persuasion.
So, back to Valkyrie, Tom Cruise is excellent. Well, of course he's always excellent, but this time not because he's easy to look at. In Valkyrie, he makes you believe he is Staffenberg and is faced with the enormous challenge of holding to his moral convictions during an incredibly difficult time.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Awesome. I loved this movie for so many reasons. I am really struggling not to declare it my favorite movie of the two. They are both so different from each other it is too hard to compare. But, I think it is. And the bonus is, Daren liked it too. And he's a guy who loves action flicks and usually endures the sappy girl movies because, well, he's got no choice cause he saw his movie first. But he liked Benjamin Button!

Benjamin Button is such a sweet, tender story about love, forgiveness, and life. It's based in New Orleans in the early 1900's and features that Southr'n charm and hospitality I just love. The south is the last region on earth where people know their manners like no other place on earth. I was in heaven. There was enough yes, m'aam'in that I should be all stocked up for a while. If only living in the south meant good people, beautiful trees and charm and not so much heat, humidity and bugs.
But I digress . . .
The CG effects in Benjamin Button are incredible and unless you really focus, like I did to watch for the computerized parts before I finally stopped so I could enjoy the story, you don't really notice.

The movie is long. It's two and a half hours. And if you're like us with a bladder full of Coke products, that can make the last half hour of the movie pretty long. Luckily, the story is so tender and sweet, I didn't mind. It needed that much time to finish the story.

So, Girl's Night is this Tuesday - up next: Bride Wars. I don't think Daren is going to mind me going alone to this one.