Midnight in Paris

This film about Paris as a center for artistic expression is a lovely tribute to the city: I wonder what made Woody Allen fall in such love with Paris?  All of his earlier movies are all about the beauty of Manhattan, but Paris now seems like his true love.  Owen Wilson does surprisingly well as the lead actor, although he isn't required to do much except act befuddled and stunned by meeting such historical figures as Hemingway and Gertrude Stein.  Overall, the film is worth watching, but there isn't a lot of substance in it.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Wow, what a great film: the last one by Sydney Lumet.  Great cast, fantastic writing, compellingly disturbing plot.  What's not to like?

Sherlock Holmes

The original Irene Adler story, told well in this adaptation.  Not much to say otherwise: Netflix is wonderful for making all of these old TV shows available!

Thor

I took a day off work, and watched this movie as part of enjoying the beautiful weather; or, at least, to avoid my allergies.

The storyline felt forced (redemption through sacrifice, brotherly conflict, identity issues), but you really can't expect too much from a superhero movie in that respect.  It was fun to see Hawkeye make an appearance, in preparation for the Avengers movie.  Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgard, Kenneth Branagh (director), Patrick Doyle (music): quite the talent assembled for this movie!

Book of Mormon

Wow.  Hard to know exactly what to say about this sometimes profane, always irreverent, profoundly hilarious, and wonderfully written and performed musical.  It had its South Park moments (especially in the Cartman-esque voiceovers that explain the life of Joseph Smith), of course.  And the profanity was extreme enough that it startled me: maybe because when I grew up it would have been unimaginable for such profanity to have been on Broadway.  Overall, though, a fantastic production with a great cast.

White House Correspondents' Dinner | C-SPAN

Seth Meyers rags on Donald Trump. The Donald looked mighty pissed...

Easy A

This modern-day "adaptation" (if it could really be called that) of Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter is predictable yet quite charming to watch.  Lots of well-known actors in the supporting cast: Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Stanley Tucci, Fred Armisen, Malcolm McDowell.  Emma Stone is fun as the protagonist: I give this movie an A!

Wanted

Got around to seeing this, even though I knew it wouldn't be as good as the comic of the same name.  And, of course, it wasn't.  It had some of the same attitude, though (lots of swearing and killing), and they made the movie somewhat unpredictable, even though the comic already had some surprising plot twists.

Ponyu

A cute little Japanese movie about a boy and his fish.  Or maybe a fish and her boy.  A little trite, but enjoyable in the spirit in which it was made.  Hearing Tina Fey and Matt Damon voice the boy's parents was a bit disconcerting!

Red

This movie (like Expendables, featuring a cast of older actors) is a lot of fun to watch.  Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman,, and Brian Cox play a bunch of "retired" spies/assassins who are forced to unretire.  Quite the fun film!

The Expendables

My first Blu-Ray movie from Netflix.  The picture quality didn't make up for the poor storytelling.  At first I thought it might be an action-oriented remake of The Seven Samurai/The Magnificent Seven.  That would have made for a fine movie.  Oh well, what can you do: bad movies will continue to be made.

Despicable Me

A charming, if somewhat predictable, animated film.  I thought this film was cuter (in terms of the kid-friendliness and charm) than Megamind, but the latter was the more entertaining story.

Conversations with Other Women

Two of my favorite actors (Aaron Eckhart and Helena Bonham Carter), and some interesting writing (although disorienting cinematography).  I enjoyed it!

Children and learning

Preschool lessons: New research shows that teaching kids more and more, at ever-younger ages, may backfire. - By Alison Gopnik - Slate Magazine

Fascinating article.

Nuela

Excellent South-American food.  I know, rather generic classification of food over a large continent: but it's how they describe themselves.  A heart-of-palm salad was great; the oxtail empanadas acceptable, but not so special.  The ceviche was excellent: we had tuna with a mildly spicy coconut sauce.  The salmon entree was good, but not as good as the ceviche.  We finished with a passion-fruit curd topped with a coconut sauce.  All in all, an excellent meal.

Megamind

Megamind is hilarious!  The spoof of the comic genre was well-done, and had lots of quick little inside jokes (like when Marlon Brando made his parental appearance).  Quite fun to watch, although it's really an adult movie dressed up like a kids' movie.

The Social Network

The "story of Facebook".  Backstabbing, a dislikable protagonist, $, all the makings of a good story.  I'm not convinced the story is very accurate, given what I've seen of what the media tends to say about things that I have been familiar with.  But it was entertaining, nonetheless.  And it reminds me of why I don't have a Facebook account too...

I'm not quite clear on why Jesse Eisenberg deserved an Oscar nomination for best actor.  I liked him better in Zombieland and Adventureland.  Facebook-land?

Rick Santorum's problem

Boy, pissing off the wrong people will sure cause one problems these days...

Charlie Sheen Quotes As New Yorker Cartoons

Hilarious!

Prime Suspect 5

Another Helen Mirren-as-hard-boiled-detective-fighting-in-a-man's-world tale.  These Prime Suspect episodes are always fun to watch!