This 1950 movie, starring Donald O'Connor as Roger, is about a young man from a wealthy milk delivery company who just wants a job. But because of a night disguised as a duck during the war, he starts quacking whenever he gets excited - literally. So his father has done everything to protect him and keep him rested.
But Roger is tired of long vacations and just sitting around doing nothing. With the help of an old milkman friend, Roger lands a job with the rival milk company. But he makes one mistake after another - falling into a petunia bed, trapping a women in a dumbwaiter, kissing girls - not the least of which is falling in love with the rival's daughter Chris and getting involved in the middle of a criminal operation.
But Roger's naivete gets him out of the problems it got him into, and with songs sung by him and Jimmy Durante as well as some dance numbers, the movie comes to a successful and amusing ending.
Because of the premise and Roger's personality and the silly problems that inevitably follow, this could be considered a ridiculous movie. Personally, I feel this movie is adequately balanced.
I give this movie 10/10 and it is rated A, although there is an attempted murder, so some may feel that it is not appropriate for all children. I encourage you to enjoy this film.
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barret is a cute children's picture book. Movies based on children's books are not always satisfactory however.
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs may be an exception. "Made by a lot of people", the movie is a PG rated comedy for the family. It's rated for brief mild language, which is not noticeable by most people unless they are looking for it.
Flint Lockwood is a misunderstood inventor with a fisherman father. His mother died, the only person he felt ever understood him, and now he's trying to make something that will improve life for Swallow Falls, a "small island hidden under the A in Atlantic", but no one supports him in his efforts. When his new invention destroys Sardine Land, the whole town is mad at him, including a visiting junior weather analyst called Sam Sparks.
But when the invention turns out to be better than even Flint imagined, the tables are turned. Food rains from the sky and turns the fortunes of the town upside down. Tourists from around the globe come to see the amazing town of Swallow Falls, unfortunately just in time for things to go wrong.
Flint, Sam, Flint's monkey Steve, Sam's cameraman, and Brent the x-town-celebrity have to follow Flint's last minute plan to shut down the machine and put things back the way they were, with a little help from Flint's pre-techno dad.
Some viewers might find some things a little uncomfortable so parental previewing is advisable for younger kids. Even so, I found the worst part of the movie was just watching Brent in a diaper and then as a chicken for much of the movie. This is rated D and receives 9/10. I highly recommend it for a family movie, but only those with the right sense of humor will get the most out of this film.
I read the following post about manners, and it reminded me of a time not to long ago when I saw 'Easter Parade' for the first time and I couldn't figure out what Fred Astaire was doing.
It didn't take me long to realize that he was waiting for the lady. This made me think about all the nice things that guys - and girls - used to do just on a regular basis. Now, when I approach the church door with a heavy guitar case in my hand, it's a rare occasion for someone to hold the door for me. Many have excuses and I don't blame them, but how wonderful would it be for someone to catch up with me to hold the door open, or to wait for me at the door so they could hold it open when I got there. I generally hold the door open for others, even if I am loaded with a guitar, because I've been doing that as long as I can remember. I also have a life-long obsession with impressing older people.
And what if the men stood back and waited for the women to go before them. My dad waits for the family to go before him - always has. What if you saw that more often? It's more common in older generations, but what about in the current coming-of-age generation?
What if men held the lady's chair for her? What if children didn't talk over their parents? What if they were taught they're not the center of everyone's universe? How glorious would it be if everyone had a kind of etiquette script to use for each occasion? I often find myself in a room with someone I don't know entirely well, and I wonder if it's polite to ask them something or if I should say something first. I don't know if I should go on talking about me or if I should switch the conversation over to them. Perhaps I'm overly self-conscious. That has long been one of my faults. Still, wouldn't it be nice to know that what you're doing pleases others? Wouldn't you like to do something that seems polite and know that you're not being over the top? Or under the bar?
There must be a least one scene from a movie in your head of a guy holding a door, or offering to help carry something, or standing when a lady enters the room. That would be a lovely little addition - for men to stand when ladies enter the room.
Oh, and how splendid it would be to have the pressure of introducing myself! Wouldn't it be lovely if someone you knew introduced you to the others and instead of taking on the task yourself?
We're in a new age, and some people seem to think that means that using old manners and techniques would be backtracking. Maybe you don't think you'd like to get all that "special attention". When I think of how little attention people get these days, I feel a little down. Each individual has value only from his own self. Manners are declining. It's each man for himself first, others second.
And while we're in the past, how would you like to see people dressed as nicely as they once were?
I think the vests and such are so attractive. People today use their dress as an expression of self, and use this excuse to dress the way they do. However, I charge you find an age when that has not been true. These people, such as the ones in the pictures, were respectable and respectful.
I have nothing against jeans. I'd be foolish and a hypocrite if I said I did. Jeans are my most often donned attire. Oh, but how I long to wear dresses like the left photo without seeming out of place! Why can't it all be clothes of today instead of things of today and things of yesterday?
So those are my thoughts on all of this. How I could fall in love with a man in a sweater and tie, with his hair combed neatly back. I've been attracted to men with long hair of course. The style in these photos aren't the only ones that are acceptable to my tastes. But they certainly are nice, aren't they?
(Edit: We got more than the inch I heard predicted - and more is on the way! This is rather unusual for October around here. Edit 2: October 28 - several inches of more snow and more on the way. This may be the first year we trick-or-treat in the snow! Edit 3: October 29 - almost two feet of heavy snow.)
I promised Victoria from Raindrops and Moonlight that I would post about mornings. I wanted to comment about them on her blog, but as I wrote, I realized I was writing a lot. So I decided to say something here instead.
I love to wake up at six - over an hour before anyone else in the house - and be prepared for the day before the hustle and bustle. If I get up when my alarm goes off, I usually have plenty of time to sit down and work on a story before people get up. It's perfectly pleasant to have the silence of the house to oneself for half a short hour.
This morning was very dark and rainy. My alarm went off at six and I shoved it under my pillow until I could shut it off to avoid waking my roommate. The air was chilly, and the sheets were warmed by my electric blanket. My poor head suffered from a great lack of sleep and it was heavy. I rolled back and forth, dozing, until seven. Then the heat turned on, and it's a funny thing, but it was like a signal. Something in my mind seemed to click on. I reluctantly threw back the covers and was met with a brisk chill as I remembered that I was still wearing the t-shirt and skirt and leggings I'd thrown on last evening after ballet.
My roommate was partially awake. It's not always easy to tell, but I was pretty sure this morning. I grabbed up my makeup bag and crept to the bathroom, hearing all the floorboards creek along the way. The stillness was thick enough to cut with a knife. On my way back to my room, things had not changed at all. Even my sister, who always got up at 7:15, showed no signs of stirring from her room.
The clock soon hit 7:40 and there wasn't a peep, except from me. I was alternately humming softly and signing under my breath. My roommate moaned from her bed and refused to get up. "Well, Rach, it doesn't look like anyone else is up either, so I guess you can stay in as long as you want."
I took my laundry through the house to the mudroom and loaded it into the wash. Then I took my Macbook into the kitchen and played Donald O'Connor vids while I emptied the dishwasher. The kitchen was dimly lit by the lights under the cabinets, and to add a sweet little touch, I lit the two candles on the table. I was so wonderful being the only one up, spending time with myself.
So that's my morning. And it reflects the way I generally feel about mornings, even when my brother refuses to get up until the very moment we have to go, and my sister is getting cranky because we're not leaving on time. If I have that little time to myself, a little happy time first thing in the morning, it makes all the difference.
A movie that creates incredulous excitement, Vertigo deserves mentioning. Another Hitchcock triumph, stranger than any I've yet seen.
It does not take long for a cautious and particular viewer to fall out of love for these characters - one is a killer, one is an accessory to murder, one is adulterous. James Stewart does not fail to impress, even if he does play one of these characters. (As a side note, Midge disappears from the picture quite quickly. It's interesting to note that she is given such a prominent roll to start.)
Hitchcock goes above and beyond the call of creepy with this film. Three deaths, two dead bodies, and one girl from Kansas. One detective, retired on account of his vertigo - detective turned lover. James Stewart becomes a passionate psychopath. And don't let old friends fool you.
This movie is hard to rate. It is crazy. It seems to end without an ending. It is passionately insane. The characters have no soul, living only on their instincts and adrenaline. It psychedelic. Vertigo is the kind of movie that I would have doubted under this description. Maybe I ought to have. So long as it is taken in its due season and not interpreted as theology, this is a great piece of film.
This movie has been rated, officially, as PG-13. I agree. While there is no rough languages, James Stewart involves himself in messing with a married woman, pitching people off of high places, and, off the scenes, undressing an unconscious woman. The movie starts with Stewart's character's vertigo being the cause of a policeman's death. He then falls in love with a woman, a woman whose husband was his friend in college. He unwittingly plays his part in a murder. He then goes crazy himself, driving himself insane with guilt and confusion, all spiraling at the high speed of passionate love. When he gets out of the hospital, he sees her everywhere, even in a young woman from Kansas, whom he drags up the tower of the church....
It is said that this is the most infamous out of Hitchcock's films, but I believe that to be primarily for its raciness, if I may say so. Midge appears to be either an underwear designer or just an artist for underwear. A woman is, off the scenes, undressed by a man; passions are excited, forbidden love is entered into, and lovers drive themselves crazy for each other.
Walt Disney Studios came out with a great family film in 2007 called Meet the Robinsons. When analyzed, the viewer fill find that what it proposes is actually quite impossible and makes no sense whatsoever. But who cares?
The cast is interesting (including Sponge Bob/Dr. Two-Brains/and many other rolls you'd probably recognize) but it works. The characters include a grandpa who wears his clothes backward, an "intergalactic" pizza delivery guy, a flying painter, a guy obsessed with cannons, and a mom who teaches frogs to sing. This sounds crazy but it works.
Poor Lewis is an orphan who doesn't know his family name, anything about his history or family, and is fast approaching the teen years. He's an inventor without a single invention that's gone right, nor any of his adoption interviews. Discouraged, he's going to invent a way to retrieve memories so he can recall his mom's face, maybe even her name or something about her, but will this, too, go wrong?
Absolutely adorable, this film will have you laughing on the floor, crying into a pillow, and sitting on the edge of your seat. Fast paced but well-laid out, this movie gets 10/10 with 100% satisfaction, rated A (see sidebar). Highly recommended!
This movie was a huge flop. It came out in 2008 and did not do the book credit. Whether you are a fan of the book or not, you have to admit it let down the great, big, blue tome. The acting is often poor, the dramatic scenes are inadequate, and the music lacking.
Eragon the movie is about a farmer boy who loses all his nearest and dearest because of the cruelty of the king: his brother leaves home to find his life so he won't be forced into the king's army; his uncle is killed by the king's minion's minions; then his mentor is killed by the king's minion (because of Eragon's own stupidity).
The movie itself is acceptable if you ignore the fact that the staff and cast were evidently incompetent, inexperienced, or both. While lacking in comparison to 'The Lord of the Rings', or even 'Star Wars', the movie is an epic drama. Unfortunately, the quality of the the drama does not match the intense theme. Furthermore, whenever the camera focuses on Ed Speleers, it's hard to imagine him as a rebellious, foolish, and downright immature seventeen-year-old. The casting for Sapphira, Rachel Weisz, was also poor, not that there's anything wrong with Weisz herself, but the voice seemed too sharp and clear to be the thought-voice of a dragon. Sienna Guillory fit Arya well and Jeremy Irons was usually good at delivering his lines as Brom. (Don't you think it funny that Eragon's brother looks nothing like him but his cousin is nearly identical?)
I give it three points out of ten, not very complimentary sadly. I also rate it teen since it is violent, dark, and gross at instances.
~Meggy
Note: according to IMDb, there are well over fifty differences between the book and the movie, and many visual inconsistencies.
This adorable little film is a black and white movie from the fifties - and yes, I'm talking about the original. Spencer Tracy stars as the father and Elizabeth Taylor - recently deceased - plays the bride.
Katherine "Kay" Tracey is twenty years old and in love with "Buckley". Who's Buckley? Well, that's just what her father wondered - which of the young men hanging around was Buckley? Then Kay announces she's going to marry him, and a long process of engagement parties, wedding planning, emotional turmoil, and the actual wedding ensues. And all told from the point of view of - and with commentary from - the father. It's quite amusing to watch a father's reaction to his daughter's engagement, as well as heart warming - and even at times tear jerking. This movie gets 10/10 with 100% satisfaction. Rated A (see sidebar).
Father's Little Dividend
The second was made a year later - 'Father's Little Dividend'. Father is, of course, clueless when his daughter invites both sets of parents over for dinner, but the mothers know. When the big news is spilled, Father has a new problem to adjust to - grandfather-hood. And he's reluctant to get sucked into it, but Mother is out of her mind with excitement, and fears Buckley's parents will try to take over the baby.
While Kay is pregnant, more emotional turmoil ensues - resulting in lots of laughter for the audience. Then there's tension while they wait for the baby. Then the baby doesn't like Father - Grandfather.
There is a great amount of fun waiting in this one, although the visual quality is lacking. This also gets 10/10, even if slightly less well done than the first. This film is still amusing and worth your time. Rated A (again see sidebar).
Bee Movie came out in 2007 with a plot not completely original but still unusual. DreamWorks weaved a story about a bee not content with the life laid out for him. On a lucky break, he was able to leave the hive to see the world, and once he got some her couldn't get enough. By the time the movie is over, he has broken just about every bee law in the book.
Shocked to find that honey is being sold to humans, Barry vows to rectify the situation and ensure that bees are given proper treatment and credit for their hard work. But what will this entail? And can he do it?
In the end, as in any story, it all turns out right, but is it what you expected?
A cute little movie meant mostly for amusement only, Bee Movie has a few rough edges that could possibly use some smoothing out, but is overall satisfactory.
Mrs. Rabbit's Musings: Fall Back: "Summer's waning; things are no longer as they were. The cover of darkness comes earlier each day. There is a crispness in the air calling t..."
If you'd like to read more of this inspiring post, click on the link.
'It Happened One Night', starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, is a sweet little film directed by Frank Capra from the 1930s about a spoiled rich girl who, she says, never gets her own way, but she insists on getting her own way on her marriage to aviator King Westley. But being completely ignorant of the way the world works outside her father's "kingdom" gets her into trouble. She loses her bag, her bus, her ticket....
Fortunately, there's a slightly intoxicated man in great need of a story for the newspaper who's willing to put up with her if he can come along for a day-to-day account of the missing heiress. Along the way, he gives lectures about dunking doughnuts, piggyback rides, and thumbing for a ride. He sells his things for supplies. His thoughts are obvious from the start, and her tendency of feeling is completely predictable. A misunderstanding leaves them in danger of losing each other forever. But I won't tell you how it ends.
This movie is rated A for all (see sidebar) and earned 9/10 points with 100% satisfaction. A very amusing, light, and fun film, I highly recommend this film for chick-flick fans, but I think everyone will enjoy this.
This recipe has never, ever, evereverever failed me and I've often had to sort of squeeze by on ingredients. The measurements are easy to remember too!
1/2 cup of butter (usually a stick) 1/2 cup of peanut butter 1/2 cup of sugar 1/2 of brown sugar 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract one egg 1 1/4 cups of flour
(optional: you can add nuts, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch ships, or other filler. My brother even used ham once......... (I do not claim responsibility for the results if you use ham.) Just put in as much as looks right!) After you mix all the above in the above order in one bowl (one at a time), the dough shouldn't be too dry and crumbly but it also shouldn't be to oily or smooth. It should be lumpy and stick to itself, but also crumble a bit. This is ultimate peanut butter cookie material. But don't worry, whatever you have, if you added the ingredients correctly, it should turn out fine. If it's too wet, however, add some flour. If it's too dry, add vanilla or milk or even just a bit of water. Add small amounts at a time!
I have a nifty little gadget that looks like an ice cream scoop but far smaller for cookie dough and it works like a charm. If you don't have one of these, however, you can use regular table spoons. As they say in cookie recipes everywhere, "drop by rounded tablespoon onto cookie tray two inches apart." I recommend this for your first batch. After you know how much they'll flatten and spread out, you can just cram your cookie sheets as tight as they'll go. Usually, though, these cookies don't spread whilst baking in the oven.
Okay, so you've got your cookies on the cookie sheet. The signature of peanut butter cookies is to flatten them with a fork. Feel free! Another way, especially if you added "chips", is to leave them in a ball. Often times, if you don't over cook them, the ball form results in only partially cooked cookies, leaving the inside sweet, mushy, and with full flavor. Of course, this is a problem if you're worried about "egg poisoning", but just find eggs that are guaranteed not to have salmonella and it's super tasty. (Although you won't be able to flatten them completely with the chips in, flatten them best you can and the oven will take care of the rest. If, while you're flattening, you find the fork sticking in the cookies, unwilling to come out, console it by dipping it in sugar every few cookies. This not only acts like flour with bread dough, it leaves a nice, but thin, sugar blanket on top of the cookies. You could also do this with cinnamon.)
Whether you flatten them with a fork or leave them round, put them in the oven for nine minutes at 375. This is almost always long enough. If you find your cookies dripping over the edge of the sheet, well, silly, you need more flour! When nine minutes are up, test the cookies. You can do this several ways. You can scoop one up and pop it in your mouth, getting pieces of it everywhere and burning your hand, mouth, esophagus, etc. You can cut one open like a scientist to see if it's cooked to the core. You can try to lift it off the sheet with a spatula and fail. If you're an experienced baker, you could tell by the level of brown the cookie has become.
I recommend a different method, personally. I take my finger and gently press the edge of the cookie and lift if from the baking sheet ever so slightly. The cookie is light and fluffy, visually crinkles up a bit when you lift it, and it's just screaming, "I'M DONE!" If the edges are brown, they are definitely done. Usually, the best cookies are the ones that are just lightly tan all over - a nice even coat. Ideally, they will not be stiff. At least that's the goal. Let them cool on the cookie sheet for about two minutes and then slip your spatula under. If you waited just the right amount of time, the cookie will welcome the spatula and climb on willingly. Be careful during this period if you choose to move them to the cookie sheet - this is when they are in the prime and are ready to cool for best quality, but they will easily pull apart. Gently slide them onto a cooling rack. (If upon, tasting your work - if you did the rounded cookie - the inside is cooked against your will, decrease the time.)
Now, recipes always say "allow cookies to cool completely before storing" and this is generally a good idea. While eating them before they are completely cool is the best cookie-eating idea ever, the extra moisture cookies have before they are completely cool encourages, well, not only mold in the cookie jar but something far more likely - sogginess. (This sometimes happens when you mix cookies in the same jar too.) Cookies that have been sitting in their own sweat, if you will, do not taste their best.
Please enjoy these cookies. Eat each one slowly because, I bet you, they will not hang around long.
I've watched Megamind many times, and I've seen clips of it and music videos for it many more times, and so there are certain things I've picked up on that I didn't necessarily the first time around. Since I'm also a huge fan of purple, I loved Roxanne's dress at the restaurant. Did you notice it never makes a reappearance?
In the rain, it turns blue and, it seems, never regains its original, gorgeous color. I'm talking about when she dons the dress again at the end of the movie. Did DreamWorks mean something by this? by the color? by the reappearance? Probably not. Can I surmise something from it anyway? Certainly, because even if the animators just goofed or weren't thinking philosophically about this, the coincidences can still make us think deeper about how it played out. And who knows? Maybe DreamWorks was thinking irony.
If they were, they were probably pointing out that, at the first instant, she was in love with Bernard - enough to kiss him (it seems likely to me, based on her personality, that it was her first kiss) - and in the second instant, she's in love with whom he really is.
When Roxanne so unwittingly thrust reality upon herself, she runs and her dress turns soaked-blue. What's going on when her dress morphs? She realizes that the man she's loved all along is really the evil villain of the city she's been plotting against to stop, the evil overlord of the city, the man who destroyed Metro Man. She's in shock, hurt, betrayed, and cut wide open. Everything she's believed in is a lie - and it put her at his mercy. At the time, she rebels against the revelation by dumping him, leaving him alone in the rain. The man she loved is not this alien super-villain.
So how does this further apply to the closing scene?
Well, I propose that it is kind of a reminder - whether intentionally or no - that the deception and revelation happened: Megamind lied to Roxanne, tricked her into caring about him, and then the truth came out. All of that is still true, none of it has changed. Megamind did wrong and Roxanne had every right to dump him. But now, still keeping all of that, she accepts him and, well, takes him back, if you will. The blue dress reminds us of that night in the rain - how all the other times they spent together came to a close in that moment - and brings home the fact that Roxanne has taken that and channeled her feelings for the real person behind the hologram.
First off, did you know Scott Hahn plays electric guitar???
For those of you who don't know this next song, it will grow on you, trust me. The Megamind video to go with it just adds to the fun - XD
("Miss Fortune", "Sir Prize": It's ironically interesting that when written this way, they're good things.)
Whoever made this video did a really good job.
This next video is hysterical! Is there any wonder why I want to go to this college? In the first one, the sound quality is poor. In the second, the visual is.
I thought this was a good song for Megamind, but let me know what you think!
Love Gobber! Here's that Mulan song again!
This may also amuse you, if you haven't already seen it - Darth Vader as a Scottie? lol!
Be the first to name all the movie lines and you win! (prize to be determined at a later date)
1) "Anyone could see the prince was charming"
2) "Will you quit it?! I'm trying to swim, here. What the ocean isn't big enough for you or something like that?"
3) "Should we be hysterical?!"
4) "Hey, look! Is that Smith?"
5) "Could you tell Luke, is that who you could tell?"
Of course, I'm the final judge, and only my answer counts as the real one unless you can prove it was in another movie. Even if you don't know them all, go for it! (Btw, last month's is still open.)
Okay, right now, I have a lot on my plate. And I should be "eating it". But I couldn't resist reminding you all about those beautiful Disney classics!
First of, my all time favorite classic:
(I didn't have time to watch all these through to the ending, so if there is a problem, please report it to me.) Another wonderful movie; basically Cinderella was a saint (I don't like what the sequels have done to this lovely movie): Now one I haven't seen in the longest time, and the most frustrating part: I can't seem to find it! (it's gotta be on that shelf somewhere.......) When I was little, I had a friend with the same name as me and we both had red hair. We used to argue about which one of us sounded more like this talented mermaid:
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