Four Movies and a Book

I saw four movies over the Christmas break. Jack and I went with friends to see Four Christmases a few days before Christmas. I liked this movie better than I thought I would. I figured this was the kind of movie that you see all the good parts in the movie trailer, but I was pleasantly surprised. Some parts were hysterically funny. And I just love Vince Vaughn.

The next two movies I saw were with the kids, and one I liked a lot better than the other. We saw Bedtime Stories on Claire's and my birthday. Very cute....a good family movie. Definitely one we will buy when it comes out on dvd/blu-ray.

A couple days ago, I took the girls to see The Tale of Despereaux. I dunno....I didn't really like it. The story was just not that interesting to me. I am not exactly sure what the girls thought of it, because I started making fun of it as soon as we got out of the theater. I think Anna and Claire may have liked it until I started imitating the peasant girl and generally poo pooing the movie. (My bad.) It has a large cast of actors voicing the characters.....Sigourney Weaver, William H. Macy, Dustin Hoffman, Matthew Broderick, Emma Watson. I guess it just didn't work for me. It's beautifully done, but the story was ehh.

Today, on the last day of Christmas vacation for the girls, Claire and I went to see Marley and Me. Meghan had seen it earlier this week with friends, and I promised Claire I would take her. I did like this movie. I thought both Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson were very good in it. However, I did think parts of the movie were not cohesive and at times there was too much marital angst and not enough Marley. Overall though, it was good. And kleenex was a must. This is definitely a tear-jerker. It makes me want to go back and read the book, which I started a couple years ago but never finished. I did not get to see Seven Pounds, which is the movie I really wanted to see. Meghan saw it yesterday and said it was good, but she didn't rave about it. I guess that will go in the Netflix cue when it goes to dvd. Meghan also saw Yes Man and loved that one, as did everyone she saw it with. So, that one will also go in my cue as well.

OK, the movie watching is done for now! It is time for me to get serious about my book club book. Some fool (um....that would be me) decided a 500+ page book would be just the thing to read over the holidays. I have until January 15th, and I am 100 pages in, so there is still time. I picked....drumroll......

Yes, I know, Oprah picked it. (Does that turn anyone off now? To me, it just seems like a lemming-thing to do to read one of her picks.) Anyways, despite that, the story really intrigued me. And our club needed something heavy to read after a light Christmas read in December. So, we shall see how the discussion goes in a couple weeks. So far, it is holding my interest. I am going to power-read this week with the kids back in school and Jack back at work.

So, did any of you see any good movies or read any good books over the break? Do tell. I love recommendations!