Big News!

Ok while most of you may know this, but in case not beth and I have lots of BIG news!

1. We are having a Baby! Beth is due October 10th! Which is both scary and really exciting all at the same time.

2. We are moving to North Atlanta. More specifically the cumming area. We'll leave on the 9th of March, so lots of packing etc. is in store. I will be working as a Route Manager for TrueGreen Chem lawn. Not my end goal as a career choice, but a good job to take care of our expanding family.

More to come on both of those in future posts, but wanted to let you know.

Also, I will be finishing the movie series in the coming weeks (hoping before the end of March).

The Most Dissapointing Movies of 2006

Invincible

Walberg is quickly becoming a must see actor, but this was not one of those movies. I thought the story was so-so, but more then anything it was mis-titled. There is nothing about the lead character in this movie that is invincible. It would have been better titled "Reluctant hero"




The Nativity Story

I didn't even expect this to be great, but it makes the list for two reasons. First, the movie had the wise men at the manger (which go read your bible, they weren't there) and there were 3 of them. This was not only too cliche, but just not acurate. Second the angels were so weak, I mean there was nothing to be afraid of, no reason to think that they were that different then an average person.


Taladega Knights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

"Chet, I'm gonna be all over you like a Spydur Monkey!" Ok, it did have some funny scenes and some funny lines! The family dinner scene cracked me up, but in the end it just wasn't as funny as I hoped it would be and was a little crass. This could have been a case of too high of expectations.


Little Miss Sunshine

Speaking of Crass movies this one was certainly that. It too had it's moments, but I just didn't have any of those laugh out loud moments. The story was really not that compelling, and Greg Kinnear's character just made me tense the whole time. If you didn't see it don't bother.


X-Men: The Last Stand

Brett Ratner, your no Brian Singer. The X-men franchise had been really good at combining action and character development, in the first two movies. But Ratner was not able to maintain the quality of the previous films. For one it was too short, they could have let it breathe a little more. Second they had an entire plot line that was pointless (the angel character). And didn't allow for very meaningful dialog. Overall I really expected this to be a little more fun then it turned out.


Stranger Then Fiction
I thought this might be the movie where Will Ferrel showed that he was more then just a comedian, ala Jim Carrey in "The Truman Show". But it ultimately was just disappointing. The premise was good, a guy who hears the voice of the author who is writing his life.

I was hoping this would be in the same vein as "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind", a little quirky, and kind of weird, but ultimately original and satisfying.
While it was original it was not that satisfying. Really the movie failed to capitalize on the one thing it had going for it which was the voice. It didn't and so I'm sad to say it's on this list.

href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343737/">The Good Shepard

This movie directed by Robert Deniro, starring Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie had a lot of promise! It was one of the movies I was most looking forward to this fall. And wow! Robby stick to your day job. The plot wasn't that bad, but it took soooooo long to get to the end of the movie I just didn't care any more.

Jolie doesn't even make the first hour of the movie and when she is on the screen she has nothing to do. Honestly, I think that she was miss cast as the stay at home house wife. Damon, plays his character rather well, the problem is it's a boring character.

In the end I think they could have cut out about an hour in the film and it would have been a much better production.

2006 Movie Review Pt. 2

#10 The Break –up

If you haven't seen this movie then you need to know that it was probably the most poorly marketed movies of the year. It was billed as a romantic comedy, and while it has some funny parts, I wouldn't call it a comedy, and it's not really that romantic.

The movie, as it's title would suggest, is about a break-up, a Bad break-up. The movie centers around the fact that neither wants to give-up their loft apartment. Vince Vaughn plays his typical role, opposite a decent preformance by Jennifer Aniston.

What I liked about the movie is that is wasn't your typical romantic comedy. It has a some grit to it. Several scenes that were very believable, and emotional. It doesn't let you off the hook just to advance the plot it makes the characters, actually have to work through some issues. It's not perfect but good enough for #10


#9 The Illusionist

Ed Norton and Jessica Beil, did a good job in pulling off this tale of romance and intrigue. However, Paul Giamotti was worth the price of admission. The plot was so, so but the cast made up for it .

#8 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
& A Prairie Home Companion

The tie here is becasue I just had a lot of fun while watching both of these movies. Neither are oscar worthy, both were enjoyable.

This movie I remeber stopping about half way through and say to myself, half these guys are digitally enhanced. They did an incredible job, with the CGI, i haven't seen anything this good since Golum in the Lord of the rings series.

Good summer popcorn flix.

I've been a admirer of Garrison Keeler since i was in college. I love tails from lake Wobegone, and thought this would be an interesting show. It didn't dissapoint! It has a good pace to it and has lots of good individual moments.

The best however are John C. Rielly and Woody Harolson, as the singing cowboys. Funny stuff.





#7 Freedom Writers

This was the biggest suprise of the year to me. I expected a "Dangerous Minds", "Stand and Deliver" type of knock off. But Hillary Swank did a tremendous job of being a real person, and true to her character.

Also the movie doesn't overwhelm you with the cheese that it could. It doesn't make everything ok. What it does do is give you a picture of what could be. What happens when you provide a place where students feel like family, and give them a place to feel safe.

If you work with students in any capacity you have to see this movie!


#6 Mean Girls & Brick
Both of these movies are about high school kids. And they are on completely different ends of the spectrum, but both good shows.

(yeah I know this came out in 2004, but I just saw it)

I saw about 5 minutes of this on TBS and really wanted to rent it. After seeing just how mean girls really can be in middle school, the makers of this movie nailed it!

You have to be able to appreciate the hyperbole, and real nastiness that can occur in this realm of popularity and status. The show also showed what can happen to a person who get's wrapped up in them selves and how they appear. But really what it did best is show just how MEAN girls really can be.

This movie is really gritty. It is a film Noir (detective) set in a High school. It's complete with a murder and a good bit of violence. The lead is the kid from "3rd Rock from the Sun". If you have the stomach for it, it does a good job of capturing the high school mind set and putting a n interesting twist on it.

Movie Review, Pt. 1 continued (from the wife)

Well, I am not quite the movie buff like Buck, but I have tried to dive into movies a bit more than "I liked it" or "I didn't like it" since we have been married; so, I thought I would join him in this movie review of 2006!

Here are my two biggest surprises of the year (this means I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would):

CHILDREN OF MEN
The concept of this movie was very intriguing. The pace was very good even though it was a long movie...much slower and I would have left gloomy and depressed. The thing I loved most about the movie was all the "talking points" it provided. I could see this movie playing out
wonderfully in a college classroom. It attacked so many issues our country and our world is facing...it really made me sit back and think about what I thought.

ERAGON
I feel a little cheesy writing about this movie. The movie we wanted to see wasn't playing so I agreed to sit through this movie...the reason that is such a big deal is that there is nothing appealing to me about the story, characters, genre, etc. I have never seen Lord of the Rings or other epic tales of adventure. So, the story moved well & captivated me. I still don't think it is a great movie, but I did stay awake, and I would recommend it to others as a one-time see!

2006 Movie Review Pt. 1

Ok, I’m a movie buff I love going to the movies or even just watching one at home. So I thought it would be fun to review the Movies I’ve most enjoyed, and the ones that disappointed me the most, and what I’m looking forward to in 2007.

Now let me say that this is only the movies I have seen. There are a ton of movies that I’m really interested in seeing that I just haven’t been able to get to, many of them are up for Oscars. I’ll list those at the end so you know which weren’t under consideration

Let me just say this is MY favorites. Meaning these are the movies that I enjoyed watching the most, not all of them are “great movies”, but I really enjoyed them.

So over the next week or so I’ll give you my top movies for 2006 (so far) and the ones I was most disappointed in, and what really peaks my interest for the coming year. Also, Beth is going to join the fun as well so she’ll be posting her list as well.

For now let me start with a couple of movies that “Surprised me”. This simply means that I didn’t really expect the movie to be as enjoyable as it was for me.

Cars – The guys are Pixar are incredible, but for whatever reason I just didn’t really like the concept behind this movie. However, the opening scene had me hooked. It was really incredible from a visual perspective. And this is from my 27 inch non-hi-definition sanyo.

The story was well paced, and the message of the movie (life doesn’t have to be lived at mach 12, slow down and enjoy the journey) was first-rate. It’s not a movie I’d watch a lot but I enjoyed it and would say it’s worth a viewing

The Holiday – I wasn’t really thrilled with the cast, and was really leery of a romantic comedy with Jack Black in it. But it was a lazy afternoon and this was the best thing playing so Beth and I went.

I had an absolute blast! I found the the film to be very original, especially for this genre. The film captured some incredibly authentic moments that were priceless to me I remember thinking on several occasions wow, that’s just like someone I know.

Typing this now I want to rewatch it just to see those again. It’s not a perfect film, but it definitely surprised me and I'll catch it again soon.

Ok, well that's it for now, more to come later in the week!

A Preview

Well it's almost tomorrow and I can't sleep, so I thought I'd give you a preview of some posts that are brewing.

1. Missional Communities - Some friends of ours recently joined a new church and they do small groups in a unique way. It's intriguing to me and honestly God is really challenging me with this idea /concept. But more on that later . . .

2. 2006 Movie Review - Not the best of but just a review of the movies I liked, disliked and was surprised by, my wife says that she will join me in this post.

3. This may not make it to fruition, but I'd like to put together a top 5/10 of anticipated movies.

4. An update on the two of us. Look for this more around mid to late February.