The Importance of Being Earnest

Family Appropriate: Most Definitely

Basic Outline: Based on a play by Oscar Wilde set in 1890's England, this movie tells the story of John Worthing and his 'brother' Earnest. Really, Earnest is a brother that he has made up, as an excuse to go into the city and live a little more care-free. It works quite well until he proposes to his love Gwendolyn, and her cousin Algy figures out what's going on. Algy then becomes Earnest, in order to go to John's house and meet his lovely ward, Cecily. Now, he just has to tell Gwendolyn that he's been lying to her, convince her aunt that he is worthy of her and try to keep Algy away from Cecily. Of course, much hilarious confusion ensues.

I recently re-watched this movie and remembered how much I love it. The cast is absolutely fantastic with Colin Firth as John Wirthing and Reese Whitherspoon as Cecily Cardew and, my personal favorite, Judi Dench as the charming Aunt Augusta. Judi Dench just makes me happy. She has some fantastic lines in the movie and her delivery just makes them that much better.

Recommendation: Please, please see this movie! (And then leave me a comment about your favorite part.)

Letters To Juliet

Family Appropriate; Yep!

Really? Do I need to say anything about this one? It's a classic, heart warming love story! It was as good as it looked in the previews...possibly better. Really, I'm just putting this on here so that you know, if you haven't seen it, you better do so!

Recommendation: Hm, that's pretty much all this post was. See it!

Iron Man 2

Family Appropriate: I would stick with the rating on this one, 13 and up. It's a little violent.

Basic Outline: Iron Man is busy saving the world, while still acting in typical Tony Stark fashion. However, he has a few enemies that he didn't know about. One being a competitor who knows nothing, but wants to get ahead and the more dangerous enemy being a Russian, whose father helped develop the technology that went into the Iron Man suit. These villans, of course, team up to try to take Tony Stark down. You also get some nice plot development with Pepper Pots and learn more about the Avenger Initiative, that is briefly introduced in the first movie.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I thought the first one was decent. I'm not into the huge influx of superhero movies, but the first Iron Man is one that I will sit down and watch with my husband when he turns it on. I had heard that the second movie didn't have a great plot, but I must disagree. I thought it had more plot than the first one did!

Recommendation: I enjoyed it! If you liked the first Iron Man, see this one too!

Date Night

One Word Description: Awkward/Scarring

Family Appropriate: Most definitely not! We sent the 15 year old out of the room and we probably should have sent the 23 year old (me) out as well!

Basic Outline: This movie is about a typical married couple. Their lives are hectic and they are feeling stuck in a rut. They decide to do something special for date night and go to a fancy restaurant. They didn't, however, make reservations. So, when they hear a name being called and no one coming forward, they claim to be the Triplehorns and take their reservation. Unfortunately, they are then taken outside by two men who think they are the Triplehorns and want a flash drive that they have stolen. They get away and set out to find the real Triplehorns so that they can return the flash drive and not have to worry about these guys coming after them. Of course, they have to do all kinds of ridiculous things before all is settled.

My opinion...the first 5 minutes were dirty and it only went downhill from there. I'm pretty sure I am scarred for life.

Recommendation: Do NOT watch this one!

The Help

I have realized recently that I don't write reviews on books I didn't like. This is because if I don't like a book after the first 100 pages, I generally don't finish it. This leaves me feeling like I can't really write a review on it, because I didn't actually read it. I am going to try to do better and at least let you know about books I didn't enjoy.

Age Range: Adult

This book is set in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960's. It follows three characters, Minny and Aibileen who are black maids and Skeeter who is a white girl who has just graduated from college. Skeeter is jobless, single and going crazy at home. Minny and Aibileen are essentially slaves who get to go home at night and are paid just barely enough to keep a roof over their heads. Both of the women they work for are a little crazy and not so bright in their own unique ways.

Skeeter is trying to jump start her career in writing and decides to write a book about the experiences of the maids in Jackson. She realizes that these maids raise the children and as children they all adore their maid. And then they grow up and treat them like dirt.

The book details her experiences in trying to write the book and the effects that it has on her life and the lives of those involved, particularly Minny and Aibileen.

Yes, this is one of those books that I gave up on after 100 pages. However, I was interested enough that I skimmed the rest of the book and read the ending. If you are interested in civil rights, this would probably be a more interesting read. I'm not anti-civil rights or anything, it's just not my favorite time period to read novels about. There were some interesting stories, I just found the book to be really slow and was not satisfied with the ending.

Recommendation: If you're bored, go ahead and read it.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

Age Group: Technically this is considered young adult, but I personally think all the Twilight books should be considered adult fiction, even though they're about teenagers.

I must qualify, that you need to have read the Twilight series for this book to make any sense. At least the first three anyway, the fourth isn't necessarily required.

When I first heard that Stephanie Meyer was writing this, I must admit that I was a little disturbed. It just didn't sound appealing to me to read a book that I knew was going to end with the main character being ripped to shreds.

That said, I was pleasantly surprised. I found the book to be very interesting. It was kind of fun to read about the world that Stephanie Meyer has created from a completely different point of view. It is a more traditional point of view, where the vampire believes humans to be weaklings, meant for nothing more than food. However, she starts to realize that she has been lied to and questions what she thinks she knows about being a vampire. I felt that Stephanie Meyer handled the sad and gruesome ending rather well. Maybe it was just because I knew it was coming, but I didn't find it to be nearly as depressing as expected!

Recommendation: If you enjoyed the Twilight series, this really is a fun supplement that I would recommend reading.

In The Good Old Summertime

I'm going to start trying to review a few old movies as I watch them! So here goes what will hopefully be the first of many!

Family Appropriate: Most definitely!

Basic Outline: This is a story that everyone knows well, as it has appeared in numerous plays and movies over the years. In movies it appeared first in "The Shop Around The Corner" and most recently in "You've Got Mail".

This particular version stars Judy Garland and Van Johnson. They both work in a music shop and are, of course, rivals from day one. They also happen to be exchanging anonymous letters. They are both fantastic actors and this is a very fun version of a classic story!

Recommendation: If you like romances and old movies, this is a must see.