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They call me "The Enabler"...

LOVE this movie, love this soundtrack.  I've had a copy of the movie for awhile now and after recently watching with my sister, we commented on just how great the songs in the movie were.  So I looked this soundtrack on Amazon and found a new copy for only $ 2.25!  The shipping cost just about the same.  If you know me, you know I love a great deal, so I promptly ordered a copy and it was here in about 2 days.  And I can tell you, it really is an amazing soundtrack.  Ray LaMontagne's "Trouble" and Anna Nalick's "breathe 2 am" are haunting and will stay with you long after you've heard them.  The first 3 songs by Smashmouth, Third Eye Blind and Eagle Eye Cherry are straight out of the 90's top 10 most-played songs, but are great in the compilation none-the-less.  Recommended!

 

New favorite...

It's no secret that I love movies... romantic comedies to be specific.  When in Rome is one of those movies that jumps right up into my top 25 favorite movies of all time list.  The characters have great chemistry, it's funny, believable (when you set apart the "spell" storyline) and just think of the main characters, and it's set in gorgeous locations.  I really adore this movie, and I'm sure I'll be watching it over and over again. P.S. LOVE that dress!

 

Another movie that I wanted to see was the sequel to Romancing the Stone which I saw last weekend.  The Jewel of the Nile wasn't nearly as good, but I didn't expect it to be.  I wasn't a huge fan of where they took the plot, but I just wanted to see how things ended up between the main characters.  They journey to get there was pretty funny.  Not a set of movies that I ever really care to see again, but I'm glad that I saw them.

 

New writers...

I'm always on the lookout for new authors since I love to read so much.  I was very lucky recently, find these two amazing authors in the clearance section at Barnes and Noble. 

I'll admit, I judge books by their covers.  This one certainly looked interesting, so I picked it up and checked out the storyline.  I was hooked, the blurb seemed really funny. So I decided to read the first few pages to get a feel for the author.  3 pages in and I was laughing out loud in the middle of the store. I took it home with me and thoroughly enjoyed this book.  The main character has a great voice telling the story. I looked up Eileen Cook to see what else she's written and was disappointed to only find 3 other young adult novels.  Hopefully she'll write another adult novel soon!

This was another cover that really grabbed me.  The book really has nothing to do with the cover in this story, but that's okay.  The important part is that it got my attention.  Just Breathe by Susan Wiggs is about a woman who loses her job, is artificially inseminated with her husband's donation the same day discovers her husband's infidelity, and the marriage ends.  She moves back home and then discovers that she is pregnant with her ex's twins, while falling in love with her high school crush.   Right before I found this book, I had just been to the theater to see The Back Up Plan with Jennifer Lopez, which is about a woman who is artifically inseminated the same day she finally meets Mr. Right, and she then later finds out that she has twins. 

I was surprised that two similar story lines were jumping out at me the same day, so I went ahead and picked this up.  Another book where the main character has a fantastic voice, interesting plot lines, and believable situations for the characters.  Upon looking up more books by Susan Wiggs, I was dissappointed to find that she is primarily a romance novelist, but I might try a few of them, she's a great author.  I hope that she writes more contemporary novels soon!

More reviews....

 
First up, the A-Team.  Ben and I went to the theater to see this on Saturday evening.  As someone who's never seen a single episode of the TV show, I didn't really know what to expect.  But I thoroughly enjoyed this film, it was really funny and had good action sequences.  A few twists here and there kept the story interesting. 

I rented Extraoridinary Measures last week.  It was good, not great.  This movie is completely predictable, but I wanted to see what measures had to be taken to save these little kid's lives.  That was the important part of the story.  The actress who played Brendan Fraser's daughter stole the show.  Overall, I don't really ever need to see this again, but I'm glad that I watched it.

Another movie that I rented last week was The Young Victoria.  This was better than I expected it to be.  I have followed the Tudor's line more than the Victorian era, but seeing this movie made me want to research more on how she became queen and her relationship with her husband.  How amazing for her that she was able to find someone who really loved her and not her crown.  The sets and costumes were beautiful for this movie.

I saw Romancing the Stone on several lists of "best romantic comedies" so I decided to give it a try.  This was funny and sweet, but reminded me a lot of the Crocodile Dundee movies that I loved to watch growing up.  Loved the parts specifically about Turner's character being a writer... the opening scene when she's writing her novel, and in the middle of the movie when she finds fans in the strangest of places. Looking forward to seeing the sequel, The Jewel of the Nile.

On my long list of classic movies that I've never seen, the original Sabrina with Audrey Hepburn is near the top.  I didn't want to see that one without my sister (who's on this classic movie watching journey with me), so I rented the 1995 version with Julia Ormond, Harrison Ford and Greg Kinnear.  This was a great movie, a little slower pacing than I expected, and I can't wait to see the original.  Harrison Ford is a better actor than he portrayed here, I would have liked for it to seem like he was trying harder in the role.  Julia Ormond was fantastic.  I believe she made this movie right after Legends of the Fall, in which she is absolutely amazing.
 
 
 
 

Recent Movies

Killers... Saw this in the movie theater on Sunday and just loved it!  Another one that didn't receive great reviews, but I laughed quite a bit.  Sure, the movie is predictable, but I enjoy putting my criticism in check and just sitting and enjoying a funny film on a weekend afternoon.  I definitely recommend it!

My sister and I have decided that we're going to start watching older movies, the popular classics that we've just never had the chance to see.  This past weekend, I got to see 2 on our long list...

 

Some Like It Hot - Very funny movie, wasn't sure what exactly to expect, and I can see why it's a classic!  It was definitely a good film to start out on, it gives me hope for the rest of our list!

Roman Holiday - I wanted to see this one because there are references to it in one of my favorite movies of all time, Only You, featuring the Mouth of Truth.  This was a beautiful movie, Audrey Hepburn is quite captivating and Gregory Peck is an upstanding gentleman, both soft or strong depending on what the situation calls for. I admit, I hoped for a different ending, but was left satisfied just the same.
 
 

From Paris, With Love

Just saw this movie last night.. better than I had expected, since it didn't receive great reviews at the box office.  I'm a Jonathan Rhys-Meyers fan, altough I'm not sure he's an action movie star just yet.  John Travolta was almost unrecognizable phyiscally, but pulled of the crazy character's personality quite well.