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.
2/26/2011, reviewed by Amanda Evans
Set in the 1950‘s, Shutter Island is a psychological thriller with all the creepy music, mysterious characters, and “dark, stormy nights” that make movies like that work. Then it has the big plot twist at the end. If you are planning on watching it you might not want to read my review because I’m not going to keep any secrets. If you are a woman with children, please do read my review. You shouldn’t watch this without knowing what you’re getting...
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10/25/2010, reviewed by Amanda Evans
We saw a trailer for this at least a couple years ago and have been impatiently waiting to see it ever since. We finally had a chance on a wet Sunday afternoon and we all loved watching Joshua and Lucy and even little Esther be enthralled with it. This documentary takes a little over an hour to show us glimpses from the first year of four different babies around the world. From Tokyo and San Francisco to the middle of nowhere in Africa and Mongolia, it was amazing to see what is the same and what...
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8/3/2010, reviewed by Amanda Evans
Inception was an incredibly mind-blowing movie on so many levels (pun intended?). The story was intricately crafted and kept your mind intently engaged without being so confusing you lose interest. There were times I laughed out loud in astonishment and there were others I squirmed in suspense. At other times I nearly held my breath in emotional empathy. Plot, acting, effects, timing...they were all about as perfect as it gets. This movie was exquisitely crafted.
Inception...
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6/8/2010, reviewed by Amanda Evans
This is a movie about a group of aging religious devotees in a small village on the coast of Denmark. They live simply, eating their food boiled and mushy. But when Babette, a French refugee sheltering among them for years, wins the lottery, she decides to spend it on ingredients to lay a real French feast before these humble people. As they see these exotic ingredients arrive, they are apprehensive, to say the least. But when they taste of her carefully prepared and exquisitely presented bounty,...
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6/3/2010, reviewed by Eli Evans
The Karate Kid story is well-known: a scrawny kid moves with his mother to new city and quickly manages to make an enemy of the local bully and his gang. A martial arts master takes him under his wing, mentoring and training him until the boy competes in the local martial arts competition. Along the way, the boy learns about discipline, self-control, and gains an appreciation for others. The original 1980s version was a great coming-of-age film that I must have watched half a dozen times...
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