Movies...

The movie store here is not that great... they tend to cater to the very religious crowd who only want to watch wholesome Christian movies, or to the "White Chicks" crowd who only watch... well, movies like "White Chicks". It's very hard to rent a good movie that isn't a blockbuster, or that's more than a couple of years old... and certainly no Academy Award winners, that's for sure. So, I asked Cory to pick up movies while he was in PG last weekend and hopefully we'll remember to return them this weekend (although apparently Roger's Video has done away with late fees) so we don't have to make a mid-week trip in just to go to the video store.

We just finished watching Pan's Labyrinth. I'm baffled. Ummm... okay... first off... SUBTITLES!!! I hate subtitles because I tend to multi-task while I'm watching tv, which means I miss a heck of a lot of dialogue when there are subtitles. Drives Cory nuts. But at least I have the ability to multi-task, thank you very much! But I thought, okay, I can give my full-attention to this one, and I did. I didn't even think about the dishes on the counter, or the laundry wrinkling away in the basket. And I must say... the two hours went very fast. Wow! Beautiful, crazy sets. Fantastic job with costuming. Very haunting soundtrack. Definitely deserving of the Awards it won. And yet, I'm sitting here now, thinking I should be going to bed, but I can't decide whether or not I liked this movie. It was not what I expected at all. By the end, I wasn't even aware that I was reading subtitles though, so it captivated me, that's for sure. I covered my eyes for a couple of scenes. I'm glad I did... I heard Cory say "ugh" a couple of times. It's certainly no fairy tale and NOT something my sons will see for years and years. Horrific, but so imiginative at the same time.

And on Tuesday we watched The Number 23. That's another head-scratcher. "Did I like it... did I hate it? What on earth was this director thinking?" It was entertaining, I suppose... but again... not for young eyes, and definitely not one to multi-task through. I think, also, that it requires a second viewing. Kind of like Memento... watching it once isn't enough to figure out what is going on. It was definitely not what I expected.

Maybe we should stick to renting "White Chicks" and the "Ten Commandments".