Movie Time (and a little TV, too, because, why not?)

It has been a busy time.  Birthday parties, weddings, Fathers' Day, house guests, and all the clean-up that goes into those activities has kept me off the blog for a while.  As a result, you get blurbs about a bunch of stuff I wanted to mention.  Here goes:

Alice in Wonderland Meh.  I remember walking out of a movie last year and seeing a giant poster of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, and I was disappointed to find out that I had to wait almost a year to see him in Alice in Wonderland.  When Tim Burton and Johnny Depp joined forces for Edward Scissorhands, it was genius.  They have a history of creativity and quirkiness that I was looking forward to in Alice.  However, I was disappointed.  The story wasn't all that compelling, the girl that played Alice was kind of blah, and I found both queens really annoying.  So, thumbs down from me on that one. 

Toy Story 3 Maybe I was disappointed with Alice in Wonderland because I had just seen this movie.  Wow.  I feel like where Disney is involved, they are fortunate if a sequel isn't super duper awful.  And I made the mistake of watching The Little Mermaid III, which was not only awful, but barf worthy.  So thank heavens for Pixar.  Toy Story came out when I was a freshman in college, and, like the rest of the world, I fell in love with Woody, Buzz, Ham, Potato Head and Slinky Dog.  Toy Story 2 was a pleasant surprise, and endeared me to Jesse and Bullseye as well.  After 2 extremely successful movies, I was skeptical that the third would measure up.  I worried that the writers would just recycle the last two movies and it would end the trilogy in a huge let down.  NOT SO.  Not only was it just as funny (if not funnier) as the first two, it was sweet and heart-warming and original.  It had my 5-year-old laughing hysterically, my mom rolling in the aisles, and me giggling quite a lot.  And it had me getting a little misty.  Okay, a lot misty.  At least 3 times.  It is one of those movies I'm not dreading to watch 500 times when we get it on DVD for the kids.  Two enthusiastic thumbs up.  Fine summer fun.

The Buffy/Angel Vampirepalooza It's summer.  Summer=crappy TV.  I have one TV show recording on my DVR right now that's not for Jacob.  Ugh.  So hooray for Netflix streaming.  I was browsing the Netflix instant selections on the website and came across the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and, on a whim, added all 7 seasons.  And for good measure, I also found Angel and added all 5 seasons.  So now I get my David Boreanez fix.  I decided to watch Buffy because I remembered being in college when it came out, and I'm pretty sure it was on a night I was out playing with my friends, so I missed the whole phenomenon.  Here's what I think so far:  Creepy demons with extra cheese is just what this summer ordered.  The first 3 seasons of Buffy are her high school years, and mostly consist of a Great Evil threatening the annhilation of mankind and Buffy and her pals kicking evil's butt.  Angel, a vampire with a soul, skulks around and gives the gang little nuggets of information that is usually the key to vanquishing the demons.  Plus he's Buffy's boyfriend, except when he turns evil and kills and tortures her friends.  Then Buffy goes to college and Angel leaves for LA, because things just aren't working out with the Buffster.  (Can we say spin-off?)  The college years are a bit skankified on Buffy, but Spike enters the scene and provides hilarity and amusement.  As for Angel, the series, I'm thoroughly enjoying it.  It's a little more dark and brooding, but has great story lines and fun characters.  All in all, it's making my summer a little more fun.  Whee!

That's it for now.  Time to hand off the computer to my hubby.