Have you seen ***Real Women Have Curves|http://imdb.com/title/tt0296166/***?

We watched it last night courtsey of Netflicks. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The Mexican music and flair was entertaining, the story heartwarming and the dialogue sharp and witty. America Ferrara did a splendid job portraying a not-so-stick-thin gal struggling to find balance between family obligations and personal ambition.

I think you should see it. Be warned, however, that you will see underwear.

On Friday night Peter and I joined the hordes at the movie theater to see ***Charlie and the Chocolate Factory|http://imdb.com/title/tt0367594/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxsbT01MDB8dHQ9MXxmYj11fHBuPTB8cT1jaGFybGllIGFuZCB0aGUgY2hvY29sYXRlIGZhY3Rvcnl8aHRtbD0xfG5tPTE_;fc=1;ft=5***. I had my doubts about seeing this film. I love the 1970’s version of this film, starring Gene Wilder, and didn’t know how’d I’d feel about the new film.

As luck would have it, I really enjoyed it. It was a very entertaining movie that didn’t outshine its predecessor. The elements that were the same brought out nostalgic memories, and director Tim Burton, didn’t feel the need to rehash the old jokes. Johnny Depp plays Wonka with a fresh and new perspective, and Freddy Highmore shone as Charlie Bucket.

Personal Highlights:
*Getting to see the Chocolate Factory in its “fully operational ‘heyday’ days”.
*Helena Bonham Carter’s appropriately bad teeth. (inappropriate teeth in movies is a pet peeve of mine!)
*That an entire theater-full of adolescents was laughing, cheering and enjoying a movie devoid of sex, foul language and nudity. Perhaps there’s hope after all!

ps. My college roomie, Melissa, will be relieved to hear that this movie is also lacking in a certain song entitled “Cheer Up Charlie.”

pps. Fun Fact- I once knew Roald Dahl’s first wife. She is a lovely woman who still carries her “old Hollywood” air about her.

Whatever happened to the good, old fashioned movie-musical? It is alive and well in the latest flick from the creators of “Bend it Like Beckham,” ***Bride and Prejudice|http://www.brideandprejudicethemovie.com***.

Peter and I ventured to the Boston Common Loews theater on Friday night with high hopes. Bride and Prejudice is a remake of sorts of Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice with a Bollywood flair to it. All the usual suspects are present and accounted for: well meaning, yet overbearing mom, beautiful sisters, handsome (and free spirited) gentleman, and, of course, Mr. Darcy 🙂

Being a musical, the characters periodically break into song and dance about. (500 points if you can name that paraphrase!) The musical scenes are definately more Bollywood than Broadway. The first song was in Punjabi and it was fabulous. I was hoping that they all would be, but the following songs were in English.

It was a fun, kooky and entertaining movie. Go see it.

If the title describes your age then you should see ***Hotel Rwanda|http://www.mgm.com/ua/hotelrwanda/intro.html***.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when we walked into the theater. The movie has been receiving good reviews and ***Don Cheadle|http://imdb.com/name/nm0000332/*** and ***Sophie Okonedo|http://imdb.com/name/nm0645683/*** have been nominated for several awards for their performances, but I was still skeptical. I think that I was worried that the film was being revered for its topic instead of its virtues as a movie.

What I discovered, was a movie that held its own. The story of Paul Rusesabagina and his Oskar Schindler-like harboring of Hutu and Tutsi refugees in Kigali, Rwanda in 1994 was more than poignant, it touched me to the core.

I was 15 in 1994 and I remember hearing about the genocide in Rwanda. I remember thinking that it was horrible that no one was interveining in the chaos. I was not however as ashamed to be an American as I was last night watching this movie. The blatent disregard for human life by the West was shocking and shameful. Yet, even while surrounded by hate, Rusesabagina was able to keep a brave face for his family and the 900 guests at his hotel.

I wonder, if faced with the life or death situation that Rusesabagina was in, if I could muster the courage to save so many lives?

The tears flowed several times during this movie, and while I walked though the theater lobby, and during the car ride home… and even after I was tucked into bed. Even now, 24 hours later, thinking about it, tears come to my eyes.

Despite the emotional distress that the movie sparked in me, I wouldn’t hesitate to see it again. This emotional journey should be taken by everyone. Seeing a number of true heros stand up for what they believe in is simply inspiring. If anything was going to inspire you to charity work, public service, or to join the Peace Corps, this is it.

..but it won my heart. (awwww!)

Peter and I went to see ***In Good Company|http://www.ingoodcompanymovie.com*** last night. I was pleasantly surprised by the film. I had a feeling that I would enjoy it, but it turned out much differently than I had expected.

The movie parallels the lives of a 51 year old Ad Sales Exec and his 26 year old new boss. (Peter leaned over and said, “that would be like if I became your Dad’s new boss!!”) Though they are in different places in their lives, they are both struggling with carreer decisions, money, life choices, etc.

The pace of the movie was often excruciatingly slow, and that only made the picture better. The soundtrack was slow and soothing and sometimes non-existant. I found myself noticing the sound of the Movie Reel Machine in the projection room. Still, if it had been loud and fast, it would not have been the heart wrenching film that it was.

One of the things that I liked best in this movie was that the main characters are good, honest people. And they make the right choices in their lives. Not necessarily the choices that would make them happiest, or the richest, but the decisions that make sense. I left the theater feeling as if a huge population (the honest, hard working, moral sort) of people had finally been represented in a movie.

This film won’t win any awards. Dennis Quaid won’t be recognized for his portrayal of a deeply emotional character. This may just be a stepping stone for a very classic looking Topher Grace. In any case, it was a great film, uplifting and funny,

Last night, Becky and I had planned to see ***In Good Company|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0385267/*** using the $5.50 Loews movie vouchers I can get at work. Everything was looking great until I got to the counter and found out that I couldn’t use them. Why? Apparently, I had been duped by the Loews website. They indicated that the release date was December 31, 2004, well beyond the 10-days-old requirement for using the vouchers. However, this was the limited release date, and the movie had, in fact, been released nationwide just a few days ago. Drat.

So, we instead went to see another movie we’d been wanting to see for a while, ***The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362270/***. This fabulous, hilarious film starred Bill Murray as the revenge-driven sea explorer Steve Zissou, searching for a mythical jaguar shark that killed his friend, Esteban. From Jeff Goldblum’s performance as the eccentric millionaire sea explorer Alistair Hennessey, to Willem Dafoe’s pouty German underling Klaus Daimler, the movie was a riot. Becky and I were cracking up in almost every scene at the absurdity of the movie’s plot and characters, from the “research dolphins” which apparently can neither hear nor understand the crew’s commands, to the eight unpaid research interns from the “University of North Alaska”… simply a great film.

For those who are familiar with ***Buckaroo Banzai|http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086856/***, there are a few significant links between the movies, one of which is the presence of Jeff Goldblum as an eccentric outsider. The other one I’ll let you discover for yourself… it’s a real treat. 🙂 I don’t know of any other direct links, but in general I couldn’t help but think about how similar (and wonderful) the two movies were. I already own B.B. on DVD, and L.A. will certainly be going on my wishlist as well.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou gets four flippers up from The Woods!