Movies

I have been sick since Friday evening.  In the middle of a live viewing of America's Got Talent auditions (which I will write about SOON.  I hope.)  So I spent all of Saturday afternoon and evening (after Kaleb's last basketball game) laying in bed watching movies.  And I pretty much did the same thing on Sunday.

Thus far, the movies that I can remember watching (in no particular order and some with Kris/kids, some alone):

Sliding Doors
GREAT movie.  I think I am starting to believe that I really like Gwyneth Paltrow as an actress and I loved her in Country Strong. 

Griffin & Phoenix
I really liked this movie, though the ending did not satisfy me.

Thor
GOOD movie, I really enjoyed it.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Kris and I had already seen this but we let the kids watch it for movie night last night.  And of course, I liked it, because I'm cool like that.

Riding in Cars with Boys

I love this movie.  I do NOT remember crying that much the first time I watched that movie, but Kris insists I did.

Benny and Joon

I can't tell you how many times I have seen this movie but I love it so much!  I really like Mary Stuart Masterson's performance and I love Johnny Depp's character in this movie almost as much as his role as Captain Jack Sparrow.

End of the Spear

AWESOME MOVIE!  I have loved Jim Eliott and am fascinated over and over again by his "story" ever since a truly wonderful woman named Debbie Cooper taught me about him in Sunday School, a very LONG time ago.  I cried A LOT at the end of this movie too.  Go here to see the trailer for this movie.  If you've never heard of it or seen it, give it a try.  Even if you don't care about missionaries, God, etc...it is an excellent movie.

Beyond the Gates of Splendor

A great documentary (which I usually hate-primarily because I've never seen any), which "documents" what happened to missionaries Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming, and Roger Youderian in 1956, beside a river in Ecuador.  It also goes into detail about the wives/children and what they went through, how the missionaries all came together and took the journey that ended up in death (AND ultimately LIFE) for them.  It also shows several of the Auca (Huaorani) Indians, and their versions of what happened that day and in the days and years following.  AMAZING story.  I wrote what was supposed to be a ten page paper in college on Jim Eliott, and I think it wound up being at least 20+ pages.  Shocking, I know...

But in the midst of all of this, I found myself saying twice this weekend that unless people died in movies, I didn't like them.  Or rather, that I like movies where someone dies.  Does that make me crazy?  Don't answer that.  I already know the answer.  Two of the movies that I watched over the weekend had me wishing one (or more) of the characters had died.  I won't say which ones, because I don't want to provide any spoilers for any you haven't already seen.  But I really felt like I should break out My Girl and Bridge to Terabithia to get my "good guy/girl dies" fix.

If you end up watching End of the Spear and/or Beyond the Gates of Splendor, or have already seen them, please email me (or just leave a comment) and let me know your thoughts.  I'd love to hear your reactions to the movie(s) and the story.