Recent Rentals

MOVIE REVIEWS:
M = Mutt to MMMMM = Marvelous

The Holiday: I thought I would start with my favorite of this bunch of movies! I never even heard of this movie until I saw the trailer of it before another rental. The cast looked great and the premise looked amusing. Cameron Diaz (a movie trailer producer) and Kate Winslet (a newspaper writer) play women who are sick and tired of their lives, especially the men, and want a break. Diaz goes to a website that offers trading homes for the holidays. Winslet agrees to trade her home in the quiet English countryside for Diaz's home in LA for two weeks during Christmas. Jude Law (schwing!) plays Diaz's love interest and Jack Black plays Winslet's hopeful. I won't give it all away except it is a charming film with many memorable moments and excellent supporting cast. I especially enjoyed the "movie announcer" guy's voice coming into Diaz's head as she figures out her life..."she had the job, the house, the guy and gave it all up..." If you want to just sit back and enjoy a fun romantic romp...this is it.
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Rocky Balboa: I know what some of you are thinking, "Puhleez!" Right? If you just think about the first Rocky and maybe that was the only one you have seen (or want to remember) and you liked it...then you will appreciate this one. Forget all about Mr. T, Russians, etc. Just remember, Rocky. A guy who was being used as just dumb muscle but had a little faith and faith from others. Well...in any case...Sylvester Stallone should have only made TWO Rocky movies - the first one and this one. In this movie our hero, Rocky, is a punchy former boxer that owns a restaurant named for his late wife, Adrianne. The movie spends to much time on Rocky lamenting for his late wife...but the guy has heart. He tells the same stories over and over of his time in the ring, to his customers, while at the same time not forgetting that he could be the punch drunk boxer that is washing the dishes. He appreciates what he has. Then there is a computer generated boxing match between Rocky (back in the day) and a current heavy weight. Rocky shows to be the winner. The current Champ's handlers decide that this would be easy money and a way for their guy to look good to the fans, who don't like him. Rocky agrees and there you have it. I wish there was more boxing in the movie. The movie has surprising heart, much like the first movie, like it or not.
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Happy Feet: You just gotta love penguins! There is just something about them that is adorable yet comical. This animated movie is a lot of fun and music is great. This clever movie follows the life of a penguin that instead of singing like his fellow penguins...he is born dancing. He has well...happy feet. He can't belt out a tune to show his emotion, instead he lets his feet do the talking. Needless to say, he is an outcast as if he had a red nose that glowed. Even though it is a penguin dancing you know someone had to choreograph the tap steps and in the credits I saw the name Savion Glover. Glover is one of the best tap dancers that has ever lived and you can tell he had fun with this premise. The dancing penguin, Mumbles, sets out to prove he can make something of himself and help his fellow penguins get through the drought of fish. This was just a totally fun and toe tapping movie. The animation is different than most animal animated movies. The animals weren't cartoonish, they actually looked like the animals but talked. I was surprised it beat out Cars for best animated movie but in some ways it was a toss up. Cars had a better story but dancing penguins...c'mon!
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Edison Force: Okay, this was a "who ever heard of it" movie by a "who ever heard of it" production company BUT has Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Dylan McDermott, John Heard, LL Cool J and even Justin Timberlake...I had to give it a shot. This is an interesting crime/thriller that kept me with it as the plot followed a young newspaper reporter who wanted to prove corruption in the police department but really digs up corruption at the foundation of the city's government. All this happening as the city is going through a revitalization know as "Better Edison." Personally, I think that would have been a better title for the movie and the box would have been better served without LL Cool J on the cover with a big gun. Deep characters and a surprise rental for sure. As far as the production company goes...all I can think of is that it must belong to one of the stars.
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The Movie Mommy will not be renting many movies in the next couple months and will feature guest reviewers! Thanks for reading!