Murf at the Movies

Of the last 7 days, 5 of them have included going out to see a movie. Here's a quickie review and critique of the movies:

Twilight: Saturday, November 21 and again Monday, November 23

For people that still have a 15 year old girl alive and well inside of them (which I do), this is the movie for you. It's taken from the book of the same name that tells the story of Bella who moves to Forks, WA from Phoenix, AZ to live with her dad as a junior in high school. During her first week of school, she meets The Cullens, a gorgeous yet odd family that keeps to themselves. Why? Because they are vampires who have trained themselves to drink only animal blood but no one knows this but Bella eventually figures it out but still loves her bad boys so she's not afraid. Edward Cullen is quite attracted to Bella because she smells yummy and because her mind is the only mind that he can't read. Slowly they become friends, he saves her life, she's a klutz who tries not to fall and bleed in front of him or his family, they fall in love and I end up having to see the movie again because it's so darn sweet. I'm looking forward to the sequel but until then, I'm finishing up the 4th of who knows how many books in this saga.



Sunday, November 23

Set in Germany during WWII, it's about a family whose father is an SS man but no one seems to realize exactly what he does until he moves them to the countryside as the war ensues. His 8 year old son looks out of his window on day and notices a farm and wants to head over there in hopes of making new friends. He is forbidden to go because this isn't a farm but a concentration camp which they do not tell him. Out of boredom, he begins sneaking out of the enclosed yard and finds him just steps from the electrified, barbed wire fence where he sees another boy his own age on the other side, just sitting there, wearing what the boy thinks is pajamas. They become friends and the boy sneaks the Jewish boy food and plays games with him through the fence. During this time, his mother catches on to what is happening and is quite upset at the fact that her husband could do this to people. The movie had me up until the part the German boy failed to stand up to his Jewish friend so when I realized how the movie was going to end (which I won't share on the off chance you will be seeing this), I can't say I felt sorry for him or his parents. I was quite looking forward to this movie from the trailers I had seen of it but I came away a bit disappointed. Not that I believe the movie reviews but the one in the newspaper I did read about this said that anyone that knows anything about that time knows that children were killed before they even reached the concentration camp so the fact that this story involves one is a bit like a smack in the face. My only retort to observations like this is...it's a movie. I found it was different since it was done from the viewpoint of two 8 year old boys. Now why the mother never realized what kind of soldier her husband was is beyond me.



Tuesday, November 25

Set in Tiburon, South Carolina in 1964, this movie reflects the social changes that were going on while still exuding that warm south feel. It involves a white girl, Lily, who runs away from her abusive father with their black cook, Rosaleen. She heads to Tiburon because she found a picture of her late mother (who she accidentally killed years earlier) with the town's name on it. As she gets into town, she sees a store selling jars and jars of honey with Mary depicted as a black woman. Intrigued, Lily heads to the home of the beekeeper/honey maker and her two other sisters where she and Rosaleen are taken in and help around the house. Later, Lily discovers that the beekeeper was her mother's caretaker and ends up living there after the women gang up on her father who finally finds them. This also was a book that I read awhile ago. It seems to follow the storyline faithfully and it was wonderful to get lost in South Carolina with the accents, the warm summer, the honey...only to then walk out of the theater into 32 degrees and snow flurries.



Friday, November 28

Disclaimer: I'm not sure if this is the official movie poster but when I found it, I couldn't resist this shot of Hugh Jackman. This movie is set in England and Australia in September of 1939 and is yet another WWII-era film. Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) heads down under from England to see what her husband has been up to. When she gets there, she finds her husband dead and their cattle farm in disarray from a competing neighbor. She has to get rid of some of her high maintenance ways and work with the cattle/horse driver (Hugh's yummy character) to help move the cattle from the ranch and to the coast where they will be sold and loaded onto ships. Along the way, she learns the ways of the aboriginal people as well as cattle driving and falls in love with both the driver and a little aboriginal boy who is an outcast because he is mixed. During this time frame, kids in his situation where taken from their mother and sold to become slaves to white families (the government eventually apologized for doing this only this year). Whenever the police come near, Nullah hides and during one of these hideouts, his mother died so Sarah, being infertile, slowly comes to love him as her own. When I walked out of this movie, I told Big A that there is the next Oscar winner. It had beautiful shots of Australia while including a bit of a history lesson on the aboriginal people. Much like The Secret Life of Bees, I got lost in the story and the scenery....and Hugh Jackman's biceps and hips.