Next Three Days

This movie is the story of a family that gets torn apart by what we are led to believe is mistaken justice - although do we really know if the wife is innocent or guilty? It doesn't really only cover 3 days of this drama, but theoretically covers a 3 year span of their lives.

After exhausting the courts and what little evidence for or against his wife, Russell decides his only choice is, to break her out, so we see the extensive planning and it will remind you in part of his prior movie Beautiful Mind. Crowe has something for wall diagrams.

Honestly they do a great job at keeping us guessing as to whether he can pull it off and then can they get away as a family.

Worth seeing - I'll give it 4 out of 5 stars for the suspense and believable characters. Liam Neeson doesn't play a big enough role to mention, but you will love the role of Crowe's father although he doesn't speak much.

RED & Waiting for Superman

Both of the these movies are worth seeing. Totally different from one another I know, but worth seeing.

RED - Let me 1st put the disclaimer out that I have been in love with Bruce Willis since 1985 when he starred with Cybil Shepherd in Moonlighting. Putting that aside I have to say the movie was fun, entertaining and had a lot of star power beside Bruce. Morgan Freeman, who doesn't love him? Helen Mirren and John Malkovich just to name a few. All the characters are hilarious and although their are some rather unbelievable stunts (what action film doesn't have these?) anyone that sees this movie will enjoy the well spent 2 hours.

RED stands for Retired Extremely Dangerous. These retired operatives are seen as a threat and everyone they communicate with is put in danger, enter Bruce's character Franks long distance love interest

Movie Update

Best movie of the year....The Town! Hands down had the best story line and acting over The American and Social Networking. Skip The American, but Social Networking was worth the money. For 1 it makes you slap your forehead and say, "why didn't I think of that?" Secondly it's a fun little history lesson of how something so big could start out small and be a great success. It had fun characters and a mystery to follow through the whole movie as to who was going to get credit and who should get credit.

Red Carpet fall TV

Well, it has begun...so much TV and so little time! There are several new shows, but the best TV I've seen is Grey's Anatomy & Private Practice. The season premiers rocked!
I wasn't sold on Undercovers or Chase. However, I loved the dynamic in The Whole Truth and Hawaii Five-O. Is your head spinning yet? Try to keep up because we also have a new Law & Order out of L.A. Two other new cop shows Blue Bloods with Magnum and Detroit 1-8-7 from our old writers of NYPD Blue, can't miss those!

So I have to ask about Heroes and Mercy? Those were 2 of my fav's from last season!
I have to catch up with The Good Wife yet. Can you feel my pain?

I'll give more details on each winning show next time, meanwhile, get busy catching up!

Beach Road written by: J. Patterson & Peter De Jonge

I certainly don't mean to sound like a Patterson groupie or anything, but I have to say Beach Road is yet another fabulous tale full of colorful characters and enthralling story line that you won't want to put down until your done. And then....he or Peter throw us this curve ball just when you think the stories over!

I was initially daunted by the number of characters it tells you from the beginning that we will have to keep straight, but each chapter is titled with the characters name. We are reading their POV for the most part.

The story begins a bit graphic with some of the most colorful characters yet they don't play much of a part in the big story. Tom the washed up ex-athlete now small town lawyer, his old heart throb from high school-Kate who is not washed up but fed up and a young basketball star are the main characters that tell us the story. The story is of a triple murder in a otherwise quiet low crime area of East Hampton.
Add in a drug dealer, a few quick ruthless murders, an old love affair and a town divided by the supposedly racial motivated murders and you've got a heck of a story!

Happy reading and let me know what you think of the ending!

Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay

Sarah's Key is an amazing story that delves into an event called
Vel' d'Hiv'. This was the round up of all Jewish residents in France that led to the death of 4,000 children alone. It's told by two different points of view, in two different time periods. Sarah, a young Jewish girl and her family experience Occupied France in a heart wrenching tale starting in 1942.
Julia, an American journalist living in France, tells her story beginning in 2002. Each story line is full of intensity with a constant flow of new tribulations being added in as Tatiana holds your undivided attention.

This book will make you cry and break your heart all the while it is impossible to stop reading to find out what happens in the end to these irresistible characters.

5 out of 5 stars.
Happy Reading

A Wrinkle in Time written by: Madeleine L'Engle

I know what your thinking....Tina this is a young-readers book I read in the 4th or 5th grade. Well, I didn't and it was recommended by another author (Anna Quindlen) as her awakening to the want to write as a young child, so I couldn't resist. Besides it's just another research project for my future young reader's books.

It's small so it doesn't take much time and it's a page turner so well written you won't think it's meant for 4th graders. Having said this: if you have a 4th grader I highly recommend it for a girl or boy. It is science-fiction, although I don't want that to deter you from reading it because it's an absolute delight with more of a mystery feel than sci-fi.

The main character Meg is a 12 year old girl who's constantly in trouble and her bad attitude is blamed on the mysterious disappearance of her Father. To top that off she feels like an oddball in her own quirky family that you will immediately fall in love with. The first line of this book is famous "It was a dark and stormy night", who wouldn't want to read on from there?!

You'll find a lot of beautiful lessons that this book has to offer. The first and foremost is the ability to recognize that we all have different gifts and to not sell yourself short if you haven't discovered your gift as of yet. During the hunt for her father, Meg discovers that some of her traits that seem a negative can actually be a strength when channeled correctly.

Aside from the lessons for your children; the author does a great job of giving you a clear and colorful picture of each scene and character sometimes with a dry sense of humor. This 1962 book truly is a timeless piece that any writer or reader will enjoy.

Happy Reading!

The Help written by Kathryn Stockett

This book recommended by a good friend, was a joy! The Help is historical fiction that transports the reader to a time not so long ago-not too far away, but as foreign of a life style as a foreign country a century ago, for most of us.

The characters all have a distinctive voice and special in their own way, not all of them are likable though. They tell a story about the South that points out the bigotry still very much alive and rampant in the everyday life of families in the 60's.

It also shows a time when woman were expected to be pretty little housewives and nothing more. College, if you were privileged enough to attend was for the purpose of finding yourself a good husband. That brings us to the main character "Skeeter" she is a lot of fun to read, easily relating to her. She like many of us stuck between our families vision and what our true potential could be if we didn't have a ton of baggage being carried around.

I don't want to give any more away. Be sure to read or download the very enjoyable audio of this book, read by 4 different-very talented ladies.

Happy reading!

Reading books that teach vs reading the easy ones

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
I started this book with lots of zest for the content, but it's a hard book to read, very "text book" style with more facts than my old brain can remember. My first inclination is to pick a different one off the shelf. I'm resisting knowing that once through this text book, the size of a phone book, I will have gained the knowledge I craved when I picked it up.

This lesson holds true for many parts of our lives. We crave something deep or meaningful yet we are not necessarily willing to put the work into it that it requires. Examples: relationships with the opposite sex or with God. (I have to say that a relationship with God is simpler than the opposite sex.) Another example is an education. We want to learn something new, but do we take the steps to enroll in a class or research it, often not.

As our parents or teachers probably told us all: "if it were easy everyone would do/have it."
I'm going to keep plugging away so that I glean all from it I can. Please be patient for it's review.

Tattos on the Heart by: Gregory Boyle

Reading is one of my favorite things to do. The best kind of reading is when the book holds your attention to the point you don't want to put it down yet you don't want the experience to end. Father "G" the author of this book and founder of Homeboy Industries does this with great eloquence and humor. He shares some of his twenty years of stories; each one having great significance. He writes in a way that takes you from laughing to crying to straight up awe of his compassion and depth of love.

One of the chapters is about closing both our eyes and opening the other. I think by this he means that our third eye is either our heart or our view through Jesus' eyes. If I was to assume we could be as lucky to have this view. Imagine if we could...... the good that would come from all of us.

This book is a true joy to read and truly inspirational. I hope that you will pick it up and see if it inspires you. Please share your thoughts.

Movies not worth mentioning

The reason I haven't posted a weekly review is mainly because there was nothing good enough to bother with. I know...I've missed the point of a review if I think they all have to be good!
I'll start with the oldest -
Brooklyn's Finest - This movie shows a really ugly side of law enforcement. Three main characters deal with a major drug operation in 3 different ways and a very burnt out cop (Richard Gere) finds himself in the thick of a big case when he is trying to leave the force quietly.

Overall the movie makes you distrust most law enforcers and question the motive of a person that goes into the service of protecting and enforcing the laws of our state. This is not how I want to envision police officers hired to protect and serve. I can't tell you what else I didn't like about the movie without giving details away, let's just say you won't leave uplifted. 1 star

Green Zone - The military are in Iraq in hot pursuit of WMD, but there are 3 different parties involved in this pursuit and it's clear they do not all have the same agenda. There was a political agenda, a military agenda and then you have the CIA. The movie certainly had a political point it wanted put across. The problem I had with the movie was the over the top herky-jerky camera man. It was impossible to know who was shooting at who or who was getting shot and there was at least one too many battles that make the movie seem to drag on and on.

Matt Damon plays the same guy he played in the Bourne trio, so there's no surprise there. One very interesting point of view that they showed was the large party atmosphere at Sadam Hussein's mansion, some how I had a hard time swallowing this. 1 star

Precious Based on novel "Push"

Precious is a powerful movie with amazing acting. The amount of abuse this girl has taken will sicken you. Fortunately, we see Precious grow greatly in her scholastics and maturity level due to some wonderful people that come into her life as mentors and friends. Both the ladies that were up for Oscar Awards were very worthy! I don't know how Monique could play such a vile role as well as she did; every scene with her has you on the edge of your seat.

The movie points out a sad state of young people in this country and, it is not solely in the African American community either. I recently heard a statistic that stated 1 in 5 children suffer some kind of abuse or neglect. Thank God for teachers and councilors that show true concern for their students.

Make sure you see this movie, I dare to say that it will change you in some way. I personally look at all children with more compassion, even teenagers!

Oscar Nominee - Invictus

Invictus inspires us to work for the good of all. It shows Mandela trying to bring a divided country to a solid force of one country through the Rugby team which represented the countries division for years. I caught myself about welcoming Mandela to his 1st game and the audience cheered the Bucks to wins. Throughout the movie you saw the shift from Us vs. Them to We.

There are some great lines delivered by the great Morgan Freeman about a "Time for forgiveness" and how "leadership comes from example, but a team also needs motivation to be better than they think they are."

This is a must see movie. Five out of five stars.

Weekend Movie: Sherlock Holmes

In my quest to see all the Award Nominated movies this one was on my list. Not to mention I do love Robert Downey Jr. as an actor. He did a great job in Iron Man and The Soloist.

This movie is a period film that had great detail in the set and costume. While the romantic relation between he and Rachel McAdams is very fun as is his relationship with his side kick Watson played by Jude law; I have to say I didn't enjoy this movie. Sherlock Holmes shouldn't be full of witch craft, high technology or unbelievable special effects. It was very slow and I found it hard to understand Roberts English accent. He seemed to be mumbling everything. This story has lost the appeal of the original stories we grew up with.

I can only give it 2 out of 5 stars.

Weekend Movie: Avatar

Jurassic Park meets Star Wars? Not exactly but something like that. If you enjoyed Jurassic Park though, then you'll enjoy this more.

I was reluctant to go see this movie based on the blue people and the sci-fi vibe, but it has so many Oscar nominations (9) I couldn't avoid it any longer.
The story had everything in it including tragedy, a warmonger, an unlikely hero, a love story, the underlying "care for our earth" tone and yes plenty of science fiction or fantasy built in. Most of all it has amazing special effects. The lush green landscape of Pandora is a feast for the eyes and the costumes or whatever they use to produce the blue people was very detailed down to accessories they all adorned. You can tell a lot of time and effort went into this film.

It's a little over three hours long which was also a bit of a deterrent in my book, but admittedly, I enjoyed every minute of it. I can think of a redundant war scene that could have been cut if I were the Director, but I'm not so we'll just leave that to the pros. I have to give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Happy movie watching.

Weekend Movie: Edge of Darkness

This movie is one of the few that doesn't give much away in the preview or ads you see, so there are lots of surprises that I enjoyed. There are several very sinister characters in the movie. Mel Gibson plays a good "desperate man" searching for the killer (think Law Abiding Citizen with Gerard Butler.) He's a Boston Detective so he has lots of friends in high places and lots of enemies that he has to consider. He REALLY doesn't seem to have anything to loose as he tramples over everyone and breaks more than a few rules.

Some great aspects to this movie:
1) touching flashbacks of his daughter in her youth.
2) BIG questions right from the get go to peak your interest.
3) twists.
4) it gives new meaning to "got milk"
All in all this was an enjoyable movie. Was Mel's accent perfect at all times? I'm not sure, but it sounded authentic to this Arizonan. :) Mel hasn't acted in a new movie for several years now, but he still knows how to stay in character. I thought he did a great job in his comeback film.


I'll give it 5 stars.

It's Complicated

It's Complicated is perfect. The actors and comedy are at the high standard that Nancy Meyer's the writer/director is known for. Maybe you remember a few of her others: Father of the Bride, Something's Gotta Give or What Woman Want.

Alec Baldwin plays the part of a hurt, needy ex-husband to a tee. Meryl Streep has got her act together as a divorcee, but then as the trailer clearly tells you somehow these two end up together once again and quickly Meryl finds herself right back in a chaotic relationship. Then you throw the great Steve Martin into the mix and you have good comedy.

I can't see any reason not to give this 5 out of 5 stars.

Movie frenzy-"The Hurt Locker"

The Golden Globes are tomorrow and I was seriously contemplating going to a matinee or two today to catch up on some of the nominees I've missed. I talked myself out of the anxiety and almost convinced myself that it's okay if I haven't seen them ALL! I know your laughing, but this has been a annual thing with me to see all the movies before the Oscar awards and with the Golden Globe being similar I was feeling the pressure today.

Fortunately, I did watch a nominated movie last night called "The Hurt Locker." This is a good movie that depicts the life of a soldier on the EOD squad. These brave (somewhat adrenaline junkies) look for and disarm roadside bombs or IED's which evidently account for 50% of the loss of life in Iraq. The movie will have you tense as a tight wire. Each scene is anew with another touchy bomb. It doesn't take long to see why a soldier would be trigger happy or hyper-sensitive to everything and everyone around them. The actors each do a great job a defining their role and personalities. Bravo to the director: Katherine Bigelow, also up for a GG. Watch this one and you will see why it has received numerous award nominations.

Weekend Movie Review

Crazy Heart
Redemption: atonement for guilt; salvation; an act of redeeming. All definitions of what this movie ends up being about. "Bad" Blake is a washed up country singer desperate for fulfillment from any source, fortunately for him he.........Oh,can't tell you any more; don't want to ruin the movie for you.

I loved Jeff Bridges portrayal and the co-stars Maggie Gyllenhaal, Robert Duvall & Colin Farrell round out this movie with some great characters. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
Enjoy the movie!

This movie makes me want to read some of the works from Thomas Cobb; the author of the book made into the same named movie. In fact when I checked out his other works I found a book (Shavetail) set in Arizona back in the late 1800's. I'm definitely going to check it out since I'm a sucker for a good historical fiction.
Happy reading!

To or not to.....resolutions, intentions, goals.

I'll admit I don't care for the word resolution, to me it sounds too concrete. If I don't accomplish a "resolution" I'm surely a failure. My husband threw at me "intentions." I'm not sure that sounds concrete enough. Coming from years in big corporate America I prefer goals. This I can comfortably write down (very important for accountability) and say it is my goal to do this or that better or to start doing something and yes I start my goals in January and the goal is to accomplish it within the next 12 months or to start immediately and carry through the next 12 months and beyond.

I shake my head at how each year I seem to have the same "goals" listed. I hope this is the same with others and that I'm not alone in my quest to actually reach the goal and maintain it.

First, in all fairness I have to look over last years goals and see how I did....fair, not great.

Secondly, I compare my new list to last years and again shake my head.
I still have the whole "reduce debt" listed, write more and now I've added time management, Ugh. That is just another way of saying, do what I initially intended to do more and spend less time reading e-mails and vegging in front of the TV, which takes up far too many hours!

This year I have pared down the list and I like the way that looks.
1) Time management
a. Unsubscribe to the gazillion e-mails I get from retailers.
b. Put one hour aside a day for writing.

2) Reduce debt
a. This may require cutting up credit card.....will advise.

Please feel free to share how you handle the New Year intentions, goals or resolutions.
Happy New Year to all!

2 new movie reviews:
Up in the Air with George Clooney and 2 great actresses that carried this movie to a 3 1/2 out of 5 stars. I can't say I loved this movie, I found myself yawning in the middle of it and can't really tell you how it ended because they leave it so obscure. It had it's high points though. The young trainee George reluctantly takes under his wing is very good at playing the green newbie on the block and George's fling plays a great part. I know this is up for several Golden Globes so if your like me you'll see it just for comparison.
Movie #2 is out on DVD already, but deserves a review:
The Soloist with Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. Both these actors did a fabulous job with a well written script. Robert Downey Jr. plays a LA Times reporter in search for a story, enter Jamie Foxx as a mentally ill homeless man that plays a violin out on the streets. Downey turns this into several human interest articles and a full time counseling job. More importantly this movie does a beautiful job of showing us the life of the homeless and the inability of our current system to help these people. Make sure you see this one!