I love the holidays! This year I was off work for a week and a half and it was fabulous. Amidst all the festivities and celebrations I managed to fit in quite a bit of movie watching...one of my favourite pastimes...which you're probably all tired of hearing about!
Anyway, from my own little "critics corner"....

Holly and I finally managed to get together for a movie...actually dinner, shopping and then the movie. We saw P.S. I Love You which stars Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler...aaaaahhhh...oops, sorry, pausing to sigh over dreamy actor with adorable accent.
If you're looking for a chick flick, I would highly recommend this movie. So heartwarming and sad all at the same time. I'm not going to say what it's about because people get upset with me for spilling the beans, which, by the way, I really don't understand, because I don't usually say anything other than what the trailer shows. Shouldn't everyone know that much, especially if they're going to see it, don't you choose movies based on their story?? Sorry, just a small rant in the middle of my review! Anyway, I would give this movie 4 out of 5 stars, unlike my local newspaper critic that gave it 1!
I also have to mention Harry Connick Jr. You have to see this movie if for no other reason than to see him play a very unusual character...he's really very good in this, strange but good.







Another friend and I went to see the highly-anticipated, well, by me anyway, long overdue...National Treasure Book of Secrets. All I will say is that if you liked the first one you will LOVE this one! I liked it better than the first but I know someone else that saw it and said they still liked the first better, so there you go, to each his own. It's just a great adventure movie! Definitely 5 out of 5 from me, same local newspaper guy again gives this one 1 out of 5!












Of course the kids and I had to see a couple movies. First Emily, Jesse, my niece Bailee and I saw Alvin and The Chipmunks. Very cute and very predictable but I really wouldn't have expected anything else from it. The kids loved it and that's all that matters. I would give it 2.5 out of 5, the kids would probably give it 4!






My brother and his crew and Emily and I went to see The Water Horse. This movie was surprisingly very good but it is NOT meant for young children. It's rated PG for good reason. It's not all "oh, look at the cute little water creature!" like the commercials show. I don't want to discourage anyone from going, it really is a very good movie, and you know your kids and what they can handle. I would probably give this movie 3 or 3.5 out of 5...I know, wishy washy, can't decide!




The rest of my movies were all rentals. First I saw Waitress with Kerri Russell. I had heard from a few people how much they liked this movie and they were right. Kerri Russell is great in it and Andy Griffith has a small but definitely scene-stealing part and the scenes between the two of them are some of my favourites.
Then I watched The Contract with Morgan Freeman and John Cusack. I picked it simply because of who was in it. I'd never heard of it before, obviously went straight to DVD which is never a good sign. I can see why, it was ok, but definitely average. I expect more, especially from those guys, they're two of my favourites.
This was the last one I saw a couple nights ago...The Kingdom. I had wanted to see it when it was in the theatres but never got around to it and then I didn't know what to expect since it didn't do very well when it was out. It was FANTASTIC! It centres around an FBI team that goes to Saudi Arabia to try to discover who was responsible for bombing inside an American compound. It really makes you feel like you might actually be getting some sense of what they're going through over there in the war and this is only a small piece of it. It was very powerful...especially the ending. Definitely 5 out of 5!

There you have it, my very long winded movie reviews for the last month. Don't worry, there's not much coming out in the near future (except 27 Dresses!) so I won't be bombarding you all at once.

If you've seen any of these I'd love to know what you think...agree or disagree?