Whats playing the week of January 23, 2009

Movie night went on the road this week. The mommy of the house wanted to see the new movie Inkheart and then decided to toss dinner into the mix.

Mo did not enjoy the movie all that much, it is more the Harry Potter crowd than Kung Fo Panda crowd. Meaning too much plot for a six year old. We parents thought it was okay but not as good as we would have liked.

Brendan Frazier plays a man who repairs antique books. It is his cover for dragging his daughter around Europe looking for a book that is quite rare. It also allows him to stay away from reading out loud, you see he has a magical power called 'Silvertongue' that brings whatever he reads to life. One night several years ago while reading a book called Inkheart, he brought characters out of the book and his wife went into it and he has been trying to find another copy of the rare book to release her.

The movie has a very strong, though wasted cast. Paul Bettnay, Helen Mirren, Andy Sirkis (golem for LOTR) and Tom Broadbent all perfrom very well. They are however wasted on a script that only dabbles on what the power could provide. For example, why bring the tornado from Wizard of Oz to life, why not bring one of the witches? Things like this, I think frustrated many of the people in the theater that night.

Dissappointed but glad we saw it nevertheless.

Whats playing the week of January 9, 2009

Mighty Mo has been on a Rikki-Tikki-Tavi spree. It is watched once every other day. The other DVD on rotation is a 4 shot of newer Scooby Doo Where Are You episodes. As a Scooby fan, its has not been tiring to watch.

Tonight Mo has requested the Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe for his movie night.

He does watch a lot of videos, mostly for the purpose of giving him appropriate content. The wife and I would rather watch our shows on DVR or when he is not around and that is not a bad thing. Even the local evening news can be terribly depressing.

Whats playing the week of January 1, 2009

I have to say I was surprised by what we put into the DVD player this week and the response by Mighty Mo.

First we put in Mouse Hunt, a fairly old movie from Dream Works starring Nathan Lane and the pizza delivery guy boyfriend from "Something about Mary". There is also a nice cameo by Christopher Walken. It is nice to finally watch a movie with an animal that doesn't talk. Mo was not much into it the first 2o minutes and then couldn't stop watching. By the second viewing, he was laughing non-stop.

Next up was Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. This Chuck Jones classic arrived for a New Years Day viewing following several hours of Merrie Melodies on the Cartoon network. This was a highlight for me as I love Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck cartoons.

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is a 30 minute movie based on a Kipling story. A mongoose, Rikki-Tikki, is taken in by a family in India and he protects them from two cobras that want to kill them and drive off humans so their baby cobras can roam free. Yes, a very dark subject but done in typical Chuck Jones style. Mo loved it. As I thought he would. Again watched as often as he could. He even began to mimic the mongoose stance when the back end bounces from side to side and he chatters loudly.

Lastly was Beethoven. This Charlies Groden classic, (did I really say that) about a St. Bernard taken in by a family with a ambivant and down right slobeber-disgusted father figure. Mighty Mo was digging the movie until a plot twist has Beethoven in a dog pound and the pretense is he is going to be put down. This really affected him and the last 20 minutes he did other things but watch.