At the end of November we made our annual trek down to Washington, DC to celebrate Thanksgiving with Aaron’s family. The journey was remarkably easy and hassle free, which I can only imagine was a direct result of the economy and fewer people flying. We had a great visit. We spent lots of time with nieces Molly and Emily, and nephew Andrew, which was fabulous. We saw a bunch of movies – Slumdog Millionaire, Australia and I took Molly and Emily to see Twilight, which was fun for me since Molly is the one who initially told me about the books. I think a highlight of the visit for Aaron though was watching the extended versions of all three of the Lord of the Rings movies with the kids who apparently enjoyed them just as much as he does. We continued our Thanksgiving tradition of making the centerpieces out of Pillsbury pizza dough. The girls and I made the usual cornucopias, while Aaron and Andrew made an armadillo. And of course we did some great eating. Lisa cooked a delicious Thanksgiving feast and hosted 14 of us for dinner. Click on the above picture that Rita took of all of us Thanksgiving morning to see the photos from our visit.

A couple of weekends back Rita came north for a quick visit. When it came up in conversation that none of us had seen The Departed yet, we headed over to our local second run theater to see it on the big screen. In short, I thought it was great; a totally enjoyable and immersive cop-gangster movie with a great story and some excellent performances. Mark Wahlberg and Alec Baldwin had supporting character roles, and both were truly entertaining. And Leonardo Dicaprio, who I have had mixed opinions on in the past, gave a strong performance as well. It definitely felt like a Scorsese movie, there was plenty of violence, but there were also some surprisingly funny moments. And all the Boston references, footage and accents were icing on the cake for me.

This past weekend we saw, Pan’s Labyrinth. The movie is set in post-Civil War Spain and tells the story of a girl who goes with her mother to live with her new step father, a Captain leading soldiers against resistance fighters. The girl creates a fantasy world to escape to, to hide from her very grim reality. The story then shifts back and forth between these two worlds for the duration of the film. The movie is visually powerful and full of beautiful and horrific images. It’s a dark, gruesome and often disturbing film. Honestly, I haven’t decided yet if I liked it or not, but I’m still thinking about it, so I suppose that says something. If you like the fantasy genre and don’t mind brutality in films, go see it and let me know what you think. Maybe we can process it together?

Aaron and I recently rented Capote. The movie is a partial biography of Truman Capote during the time he researched and wrote his book, In Cold Blood. It was a quiet, introspective movie, but totally engrossing. Philip Seymour Hoffman’s portrayal of Truman Capote was amazing and clearly deserving of the Best Actor Oscar he went on to win earlier this year. My only criticism, and I’m not sure that it wasn’t the intention of the filmmakers, is that it the movie leaves you with many questions, eager to know more.

So Aaron and I went to see X-Men: The Last Stand the other night. It was just ok. I gather this one was done by a different director than the first two, and for me there was a noticeable difference. There was more cheesiness and less character development in this one. That said, there was still plenty of action to keep us entertained. It just felt a little routine and unimaginative, but a fine, mindless, popcorn movie nonetheless.

Last weekend when Rita was here visiting, she, Aaron and I sat down and watched this movie over pizza on Saturday night. I can honestly say this was one of the funniest new movies I have seen in a long time. The film had a great balance of good writing, and physical comedy mixed with embarrassingly relatable moments. Steve Carell was excellent in the title role as a charmingly real guy who was vulnerable, a little self-loathing, and yet likable. We laughed out loud, a lot.

Aaron and I saw Grizzly Man the other night. What a strange movie. It’s definitely worth seeing, but it’s quite bizarre. The movie tells the story of Timothy Treadwell who lived with grizzly bears for thirteen summers in Alaska. Then in October 2003, his remains, along with those of his girlfriend, were found near their campsite in Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Reserve. A grizzly had killed them. Here are my thoughts on the film:

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While in Seattle, Aaron and I went to see V for Vendetta. Admittedly this movie was not my choice and if Aaron hadn’t wanted to, I probably would not have seen it. You see, Aaron recommended that I read the graphic novel that this film is based on a few years back. I did read it and I didn’t like it. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I found myself enjoying the film and even Natalie Portman, who normally annoys me, didn’t ruin it. For me, the movie version of the story stripped away the unnecessary side stories and sped up, what read as a very slow, drawn out narrative. I thought the film was smart, entertaining and visually very well done.

Aaron and I recently saw the Collateral, starting Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. Jamie Foxx plays a cab driver who finds himself the hostage chauffer of hit man Tom Cruise, while he works through a list of hits. The movie had a promising start and I was enjoying it until about three quarters of the way through. Without giving anything away, the last half hour of the movie relies so heavily on coincidence and clichés that it was almost unwatchable. Presumably we’re suppose to believe that Jamie Foxx’s character has been changed by the evening and that this change drives his actions in the last portion of the film. Really though, it just comes off as silly and trite.

Amy recently leant us her Shrek 2 DVD. It was cute, light and entertaining. I enjoyed both the addition of Antonio Banderas (who would have thought?) and all the pop culture references. The DVD’s bonus features, especially the digital animation mistakes and goofs, were also enjoyable.