Karen’s Opinion

I often tease my husband because he has the ability to pick some horrible movies when choosing movies at the video store. It is like they call out to him, “pick me! pick me!” I have to say though, he redeemed himself by choosing two good movies this past Friday. Yes, two great movies! The best one was Three Days with Russell Crowe. I can’t begin to describe that movie without giving the plot away so I’ll just say, I recommend it. The other movie was The Tourist. Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie make a dynamic couple. You could feel the tension between them. I am not sure how to explain the movie but it had twists and turns that kept me trying to figure out what was happening. It was filmed in France and Italy so was especially fun to see the beautiful scenery.

During one of the scenes of The Tourist, Johnny Depp was smoking one of those electric cigarettes that are supposed to help you quit smoking. I don’t know about the success rate for them but I have read about a product that has been very successful for many people. CiGRX is a small mint-flavored lozenge that temporarily reduces the urge to light up a nasty cigarette. The great thing about cigrax is that the cigrx side effects are minimal. In fact, it contains natural dietary ingredients: yerba mate (mah-TAY) and anatabine (an-AT-a-been). Extracts of mate are found in Yerba mate’s chemical components and are similar to those found in green tea. Anatabine, an alkaloid found in tobacco is also used to make CigRX. The chemical make up of CigRX using anatabine and yerba mate make a less addictive solution to help one to stop smoking.

I do appreciate the position of movie makers who show that smoking is not a good idea instead of the producers who take money from cigarette manufacturers to fund their productions.

Usually, if a movie is nominated for a Grammy award, it means I will not like it. I am not sure why but I guess that what leads the movie to be nominated is a sense of outrageous portrayal. If one looks back on the movies that have been nominated, they are not the normal, easy to follow movies. They are the ones with grandiose costumes and outlandish behavior. At least, this is what I find to be true of Grammy nominated movies.

Not so, with The Kings Speech. Hubby and I were trying to pass time while waiting for our daughter’s flight to arrive from Florida. We shopped at Family Leisure in Oaklandon. That is another post in itself! What a place. We ran a few errands at Joanne Fabrics and Gander Mountain then walked around the mall for a while. We went to dinner and were lucky enough to be seated in the bar area where we could pass more time. We watched the Louisville, Cincinnati basket ball game. That was fun.

We still had 3 hours to kill! We laughed at the obscurity of the situation. Usually, our days are planned with detail at every turn. It was nice to not have an agenda. So, finding ourselves with time to kill, we decided to take in a movie.

With only two movies available at 9 pm, The Kings Speech and The Company Men were our choices. We chose The Kings Speech. OMG! What a great movie.

I am sad to say, I don’t know much about the history of England’s monarchy. I do now! I went to the library yesterday and have been reading all about the kings and queens. There was a lot of scandal! I am drawn to stories that expound on human frailty. My daughter informed me that if I were to watch The Tudors, I would learn quite a bit about the history of England’s Monarchy. She is working on a distance learning education degree and finds she needs a break now and then. She loves history and retains information like a sponge. I love to learn from her!

What will our grandchildren say when they look back on how our world has changed? We think it is amazing that technology has come so far with music and video available with the click of a mouse. We can talk to people without picking up a phone. Don’t get me started on how immune we are to the raunchy things we are exposed to in the media. Good or bad, things are always changing. Take a look at this preview of a video that shows what might have been put out on the Internet during the events of Christ’s birth.

to understand the movie we watched the other night. Hubby and I rented The Other Man starring Liam Neeson, Antonio Banderas, Laura Linney, and Romola Garai. The actors spoke in low tones and we had trouble catching on as to what the plot might be. We turned the volume way up and finally figured out what “might” be happening. I don’t think we are that old!

The movie had an interesting theme, what would you do if you found out that your wife had an affair. If you could find the “other” man, would you want to meet him? What would you have to say to said man? What you think you would do and what you would actually do might surprise you. I recommend this movie, if you are really bored.

We watched a cute movie, Leap Year, starring Amy Adams and Matthew Goode. I enjoyed this movie! The woman that Amy portrays decides, after hearing that it is okay to propose to a man on Leap Day, she is going to get a ring on her finger by asking her long time, dragging his feet boyfriend to marry her. According to Irish tradition, a woman can propose to a man on February 29 during a leap year. She travels to Dublin where her boyfriend is attending a conference. Every type of setback is thrown in her path. Figuring out the phones, rail systems and other travel methods is an adventure that is fun to watch. I enjoyed watching Amy walk on very rough terrain in the highest heels you can imagine. The bits of romance were very nice. I had never heard of Matthew Goode but my daughter has seen him in other movies. He was nice to look at. A very funny movie with beautiful scenery. I recommend it!