I love movies!

I love movies!

Monday, December 5, 2016

12 Days of Christmas Movies!

Oh, I just can't get enough of Christmas movies!  I love the nostalgia, the family values, the moral lessons, and the hilarity of moments that we can all relate to.  I wanted to share my faves with you, but I had a hard time getting it down to 10, so I went with the 12 days of Christmas theme.  I am not a fan of movies inflicting guilt on kids (and adults) for not believing in Santa, because Christmas is Christmas with or without him after all.  So, I created a list of Dawn's Top 12 Christmas Movies. Santa is not a main character in most of these, except for Elf (because Elf is literally my #2).  I am not going to write a review of each of them, but I'll rank and rate them.  They are in order of my favorites and not all of them are family friendly.  Adults, you have 20+ days to watch these 12 movies.  (We've already watched #12 and #2 and may watch a couple more than once!)  Kids are optional for enjoyment of the family friendly ones.  I guarantee you won't regret watching any of them! Enjoy!

12.  The Muppet Christmas Carol  (G)


11.  A Christmas Story (PG)

10.  A Charlie Brown Christmas (G)


9.  The Family Man (PG-13)


8.  How the Grinch Stole Christmas (PG)


7.  The Nativity Story (PG, with a fairly traumatic delivery of John the Baptist.  My daughter was scarred by that scene when she was about 6.  Recommend for ages 8+.)


6.  Joyeux Noel (PG-13) lots of subtitles #worthit


#5 Christmas Vacation (PG-13) 


#4 Home Alone (PG)

#3 Love Actually (R)


#2 Elf (PG)


#1 It's A Wonderful Life (PG)

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Monday, June 27, 2016

Finding Dory



Thanks to very aggressive marketing, my mostly blind son has been bombarded with talk and hype of Finding Dory for months, and he's become obsessed.  The only movie he has ever watched was Finding Nemo.  And he did like it (enough to sit in front of it for 1.5 hours, which is a tall task for him), but he has a lot of baseline anxiety, so Marlin's anxiety-inducing search for his son was enough to nearly bring him to tears.

Despite this, he could not wait to see Finding Dory.  He has only been speaking English for about a year, so he usually can't keep up with audio description since they talk so fast, but we recently heard about an app called Disney Anywhere that does more simplified voice description through your phone, and we were eager to give it a shot.

The movie was great, as expected.  It was a sweet story with incredible animation (the octopus was genius), and had some good lessons about not only believing in yourself, but about how sometimes your disability can actually be an advantage.  I have kids with dyslexia, ADHD, hearing impairment, and vision impairment, and I can give you ways that each of those things have at one time or another been a blessing.

I read many articles about the movie beforehand, and many blogs stating that it was not a good movie for adopted kids.  Though I value and respected those others' opinions, I personally knew that telling my kids (especially the Dory-obsessed one) that we wouldn't be seeing the movie would not go well at all.  I also knew that I have worried and stressed over other movies warned to me (Annie and Kung Fu Panda 3, most recently) and they turned out to have no negative effects on my adopted daughter.

Basically Dory (because of her short term memory loss) was separated from her parents very young and never could find them again.  There is always loss in adoption.  And some kids feel that loss more than others, I think.  I am very open with my kids about talking about their first moms.  Maybe as they get older, it will become a bigger source of sadness and loss for them, but for now it just seems to be something that is a part of their story, but they don't automatically go there every time I expect them to.  I asked Kate afterwards how she felt during the movie when Dory got lost and couldn't find her parents and she said, "Sad.  I felt sad for her."  But she was quick to laugh at the funny parts, and overall said she loved the movie.

She is also visually impaired, and her favorite character was the near sighted whale shark, Destiny, who kept running into the walls of the aquarium.  (Today at Target she spent her own money to buy her own plush "Destiny," because she can never have too many stuffed animals.) So, I guess I'd say we are a family that doesn't take things too seriously.  I mean we are aware of their pain, and address the loss of adoption, but if that loss makes it hard to watch a movie, then I view it as a bridge of opportunity to bring up some difficult conversations, and talk openly about their feelings.

On Mothers Day I usually will bring up birth moms and have a time to talk and pray for them.  This year, my (then) 9 year old daughter told me that she didn't want to do that.  Why did we have to talk about her?  She really had nothing to do with her anymore.  I said, "But she does!  Without her, we wouldn't have you!  And she loved you.  I am sure she thinks about you, and I think about her enough to honor her with a prayer for her life."

Well that might make more sense to her when she's 12 or 13 than it does now.  But for the short term, I'm going to allow my adopted kids to watch these movies that address loss, pain and sacrificial love so that their little hearts and minds will be stirred to not run from the hard conversations, but to address their feelings-- so that we can tackle them together.

Monday, May 30, 2016

Zootopia

Three cheers for Zootopia!  I absolutely loved this movie.  It was so cute, so fun and heartwarming, and so relevant.  In the political climate of today, a movie showing the effects of fear and prejudice against those who are different from you is so timely.  I assume it was a coincidence because these animated movies take so long to make, but the fact that it came out this year was a very good coincidence in my opinion.  It opens up great conversation to have with your kids about judging others and seeing beyond one's outer appearance, and hopefully some adults will learn some lessons as well.  It is a really great movie that the entire family will love.  (Even the dad that usually falls asleep in any animated film.)  It is still in regular theaters, but will probably hit the dollar movie next week since it will be out on DVD on June 7.  I highly recommend it!  A+

Friday, May 20, 2016

Top 10 Sports Movies for the WHOLE Family

Movie Night in the Seabolt house lately has had a sports theme.  Since Sam discovered Rocky back in the fall, we have been on a sports movie kick.  Not all sports movies are family friendly, obviously, and some were better back when we were kids (like Karate Kid).  Rocky is the only one I find truly timeless.  Some are great, but not super family friendy (Creed, 42, Rudy, Race).

I thought I would compile a list for you all of my top 10 family friendly, awesome sports movies. These are all great, rated PG or G, with many lessons and stand-up-and-cheer moments. Pretty sure all of them (except Rocky) are even based on true events.  A few of them are based in the 1970's with lots of fun music.  I didn't really rate them, but they are all really good and you and your kids are sure to enjoy them.  Obviously, there are more great sports movies out there, but this will be a good list for those of you with young kids who like sports but not bad words or dirty scenes.  I'm not saying there aren't any bad words, but they are pretty tame.  Go line up your Netflix Queue and enjoy!  Once you've watched a few, you'll find a theme: I love underdogs!
































Saturday, April 23, 2016

The Jungle Book




Is the new adaptation of The Jungle Book good for kids?  Well, don't expect the light, charming ride that was the original.  This one is intense, sometimes dark and full of adventure.  One long scene inparticular was quite scary.  My kids were holding onto me more in this than they did in The Force Awakens. The story was similar to the original, with a few fun changes.  It was amazing how real the animals and scenery were.  The whole thing was filmed in a studio in LA. The animals were mostly puppets and computer animation, but you would never know it.  John Favreau directed an all-star cast.  Idris Elba as Shere Khan, Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, Lupita Nyong'o as Mowgli's wolf mama, Scarlett Johansson was Kaa the snake, Christopher Walken was perfect as King Louie, and Bill Murray made the movie as Baloo.  I wish there had been more music, but the 2 songs were good.  I loved the new ending. When we left, I asked my two 9-year-olds if they would recommend it for ages 8 and up.  My son said, "An 8 year old would have to be crazy-brave to enjoy that."  So, we would recommend it for Ages 9+, unless they're crazy-brave.

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Creed



This movie was the surprise of the year for me.  I didn't even know it was coming out until a couple of months ago.  My 9 year old son has gotten into boxing and the Rocky movies recently, so we have watched nearly all of them in the past 6 months.  If you've seen them, you know... they start out awesome, and then go downhill.  Well, guess what?  They came back with Creed and TOTALLY REDEEMED THEMSELVES!  This movie was GREAT.

Directed by Ryan Coogler of Fruitvale Station-- awesome movie starring Michael B. Jordan, who was amazing in that and awesome in this.  And Sylvester Stallone was so, so good as Rocky. The Rocky from #1 & #2 who we loved for his goofball charm and pet turtles.  He still has the same strut and played the character so well, even at 69.  He is nominated for Best Supporting Actor and he has my vote.

The story is so well done, only slightly corny, and thoroughly entertaining. It had enough connections to the original to make it nostalgic, but was updated enough to feel fresh.  There is an amazing street running scene that it so cool.  I must worn you though, you might cry.

Bridge of Spies



I almost always enjoy movies based on a true story.  This one was interesting and well directed.  I enjoyed it, Stephen fell asleep.  It was a little slow at times, and at the end I had several questions I felt were not answered.  But it was good.  I don't think it will win an Oscar, though. B

Brooklyn



It was good, not great.  I am surprised by its nominations.  I have seen other movies that were more deserving this year.  Wait for video.  Don't vote on it on your Oscar ballots. B-

The Big Short



Even though it got several Oscar nominations, I don't know if this will win much-- but it is highly entertaining.  Based on the book by Michael Lewis (the guy who wrote Moneyball) and directed by Adam McKay (Anchorman?) it is smart, informative and funny.  Clearly an amazing cast.  I learned a lot and left feeling a little sick, but the story is real, and they told it in a creative and riveting way. A

Room




Room very well may win Best Picture at The Academy Awards.  I haven't seen all of the nominees, but I have seen most of them, and this one definitely stands out.  I knew almost nothing about it before I saw it, and I think that made it even better.  So, I won't write much, because I don't want to give anything away.  I know that Brie Larson won Best Actress at The Golden Globes, and she deserved it.  She was great.  And the kid!  Man, he was incredible. The acting and cinematography are so real and raw that you feel like you are in the movie with them. You forget they're acting.  This movie will break your heart and sew it back up again.  One of the best movies I've seen in a while. A+

Saturday, January 2, 2016

The Martian



So many movies to see, so little time!  Sadly this year, I canceled my Entertainment Weekly subscription because I never had time to read them these days.   And now there are so many good movies out, but even if I can make time to see them, I have no time to do my "research."  So, all I knew about The Martian, was what I had heard on NPR: it was based on a book by a software engineer Nasa-loving nerd who just really wanted to write it and didn't care to make money on it, so he wrote it and put it on the internet... and people LOVED it.  We actually chose it for our book club book this month, but I haven't even started it yet.  I had not even watched a trailer, but knew it was about a guy that got stuck on Mars.  That didn't sound that great to me, and I imagined it would feel like "Gravity," which was beautifully done, but incredibly intense.  Then I saw it was nominated for Best Comedy or Musical Golden Globe, it made it to the Dollar Theater, and Book Club is meeting soon and I haven't started the book.  SO, we got a sitter last night and went with everyone else in East Cobb to see it.  It was awesome!  If you love nerdy problem solvers like we do, it is a must-see. Fantastic cast, great directing, fun music that adds to the comedic element.  It does seem a stretch that the Golden Globes categorized it as a "comedy" and it certainly had some Gravity-type intensity, but it was also a lot of fun and triumphant.  Matt Damon was great and well cast in the role.  I liked everyone, except it is hard for me to accept Jeff Daniels or Kristen Wiig in a serious role, ever.  I was surprised at the end when I saw it was directed by Ridley Scott, as it seemed a different type of movie than he usually does, but I was impressed.  Also, once you see it, "The Martian" seems like the perfect title, but beforehand, you're not sure what you're getting into.  It is really good though, even if you're not all that into science fiction (like me).  I give it an A-.