Movie List
The most important thing we've learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, Never, NEVER let
Them near your television set—
Or better still, just don't install
The idiotic thing at all....
It rots the senses in the head!
It kills imagination dead!
It clogs and clutters up the mind!
It makes a child so dull and blind
He can no longer understand
A fantasy, a fairyland!
His brain becomes as soft as cheese!
His powers of thinking rust and freeze!
He cannot think—he only sees!
-Roald Dahl from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
In an effort to be more thoughtful about the movies we watch, we are attempting to write a short review of each one. Perhaps the Oompa Loompas were a little extreme in their song above. There are lots of good stories in movie form, and there's nothing nicer than snuggling up on the couch after a day of hard work and enjoying a good story together. But before you know it—
We loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until our eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone's place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
We hope these reviews will help you find some good stories to watch with your family. We'll try to give a brief synopsis and mention anything offensive that stood out to us, but please don't sue us if you watch one of these and get offended at something we didn't mention.
Click here for the rest of Roald Dahl's poem.
3/2/2010, reviewed by Amanda Evans
This movie can be described in very few words: corny, cheesy, and lame. Three hours long, it is trying to be a sentimental, inspiring story. Instead, it inspires groans and much rolling of the eyes.
2/22/2010, reviewed by Amanda Evans
Conceptually this movie sounded interesting. Technology has discovered a way to connect the human mind to a robot body so that people can "log on" from the comfort of their homes and send their "surrogates" out into the dangers of the world. Some people get surrogates that look mostly like themselves (only better looking) but others use it as an opportunity to be different—thin rather than fat, tall instead of short, or even sometimes a woman instead of a man. At first surrogates was a way for...
read more
2/5/2010, reviewed by Amanda Evans
Set in New York during the 1930's, Sylvester Stallone plays a gangster who promises his dying father he'll go straight. One month later, the day begins when he will sign a deal with some bankers and become an honest man. But between 8:30 when his accountant gets him out of bed to ask for his daughter's hand in marriage and noon when the bankers arrive to trick him out of his money, he has to deal with one fiasco after another. His hit men have become butlers but keep calling him "Boss", his...
read more
1/29/2010, reviewed by Amanda Evans
Based on a true story, this movie is set in the mid 70's when France was unchallenged as the world's top wine producer. Alan Rickman is a British-born wine snob running a tiny wine shop in Paris who decides to put on a contest to attract customers. In the interest of appearing unbiased, he heads to California to pick up some competition, certain he won't find any. However, what he discovers among the rolling hills and bizarre people of the Napa Valley surprises him.
This movie is as unpolished...
read more
1/22/2010, reviewed by Amanda Evans
Walt Kowalski is a man from a bygone age and after his wife dies, all he has left is his 1972 Gran Torino. His boys have grown and gone leaving plenty of hard feelings to go around. A veteran of the Korean War, he faces his prejudices as one by one the houses around his fill up with Hmong (Asian) immigrants. Then Sue, the smart and sassy young lady next door befriends him and he finds himself mentoring her misdirected younger brother, Thao. Suddenly Walt is not alone anymore and his life takes...
read more
|