27 Dresses - I am always a sucker for romance comedies. This one did not disappoint. Funny sappy movie. Really enjoyed it. Trailer

National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets - If you liked the first national treasure you will most likely will like this one. I like these types of movies for some reason. Just fun family friendly entertaining movies. I really like the writing for the Riley character in the films. You can’t go wrong with a nerdy witty sidekick. Check it out if you liked the first one. Trailer

If you went to see “The Dark Knight” you have already seen this but if you haven’t:


Watchmen (trailer 1) from Grimrock on Vimeo

I saw this and was very intrigued. I haven’t read the book or know anything about the plot or characters. But this trailer really got me excited for something I know nothing about.

The Dark Knight: First off I think this movie is extremely over hyped. But after saying that, it is and will probably be the best movie of the summer. It is not a perfect movie like many have said elsewhere all over the web. My first and pretty much only complaint is its length. It is 2 1/2 hours and feels it by the end. If they would have cut 15-20 minutes off of it it would have felt perfect to me. But I don’t know what they could have cut to make it that length. One thing I did notice were a lot of continuity mistakes during the film and I usually don’t pick up on those during a first viewing. Not a big deal but I was surprised to have noticed quite a few. Now on to the all the goodness. The acting in this is excellent all around, not just from the Joker. I am so glad that Maggie Gyllenhaal has replaced Katie Holmes. She just ads her acting goodness to the role. The action sequences are spectacular all around as well. The best thing about this movie is the writing and especially the writing for the Joker. The Joker in this film is really a mastermind of a character. They made him extremely ruthless but also extremely clever. The crimes he puts together always keep you guessing to what will happen. I just really love good plot writing and this movie has that even though you could complain about the end not wrapping very well. I almost forgot but the music in this movie is top notch. They use the motif  of a slow glissando (my own audio example below) a few times during the Joker’s scenes to create tension, and it sure does. Such a great device and overall great score. You probably won’t even notice it during the movie and that is a good thing. That means it’s doing its job extremely well. Overall this is a really good film. Go see it in the theater or even at an IMAX theater if you have one near by. Some of the film was shot with an IMAX camera. Trailer

Bella: What a great movie. This is a great drama mainly about 2 people and how one moment in their lives will or have changed them forever. Very emotional movie. Has great characters and acting. Definitely worth seeing. Trailer I don’t like the first song of the trailer. It doesn’t represent the vibe of the movie at all.

Sunshine: I had heard about this movie a while ago and stuck it on my list and it just came in. This movie could have put itself on the list of best sci-fi movies of all time but really went in a direction that has been done before and really cheapens this film down. The first 40-60 minutes of this film are perfect. Was sucked right in and was loving what this movie was about. But the plot took a turn that I really didn’t care for.
Spoilers (skip to End Spoilers if you don’t want to read any)
They had to go and turn it into a semi monster movie kind of like “Event Horizon”. I don’t know why they decided to have a half burnt superpower crazy man enter the plot but they did. They really could have had the one crew member go kind of crazy, separate the ships, sabotage the ship and then kill himself. It would have worked and I would have bought it. I just didn’t want this movie to be that kind of movie. Just wanted something different.
End Spoiler
I love the cast in this film. You probably will recognize every person in this film if you are an avid movie goer. They aren’t what people call “A-listers” but they are all great actors. As a group they work very well together. Overall this is a great film about trying to revitalize the sun to save the earth even though the plot went to a place explained in the spoiler section. But you may love where the plot goes. Acting is great and the film is beautiful. Something to put on your list if you like sci-fi. Trailer

Diggers: This movie is about a group of friends who all are clam harvesters or “diggers” living in a small town. I put it on my list because Paul Rudd was in it. This is a pretty good comedy/drama. Nothing spectacular about it, but it might be something you would want to check out. Trailer

Be Kind Rewind: I thought this movie was pretty funny. Mos Def and Jack black were both great. Fun little movie. Trailer

This was a bad movie week for me. Sometimes you just get a string of movies that you don’t like or can’t watch all the way through. Here they are for this week: Rescue Dawn, Fay Grim, Mr. Untouchable. Rescue Dawn I sat all the way through just because I was doing something else. It was pretty bad. The other 2 I watched about 15 minutes of and had to turn them off. I hate turning off movies and not watching the whole thing, but sometimes you just have to.

Hancock: I didn’t know much about this film before I saw it so I really didn’t have any expectations. Other reviews of this movie give the first 2/3 of the film a good review and the last 1/3 a bad one. I kind of agree with that assessment. The movie overall is very entertaining. I think Will Smith was good in this film but I have read elsewhere otherwise. Another solid summer film. I liked it, you may hate it. Trailer

Mr. Brooks: I gave Kevin Costner another chance with this film. I’m not a big fan of his as most people are not, but I’m glad I watched this one. This is a different role for him as he plays a killer. Don’t want to talk about the plot because it might reveal something. If you like serial killer cop movies give it a shot. And Dane Cook is even pretty good in this film. Did I just say that? Trailer

Super High Me: I just watched Super Size Me last week so why not follow it up with Super High Me this week. This is about comedian Doug Benson’s quest to stop smoking pot for 30 days and then start smoking pot all day for 30 days. He wants to see what it does to him both mentally and physically. The movie is very funny and is done pretty well. It speaks about California law of  medical Marijuana as well. As someone who doesn’t drink, smoke or do any drugs (legal or illegal) I have come to certain opinions about subjects like this. In a nutshell it is just let people do what they want as long as it doesn’t effect someone else. If you have a differing opinion you might want to check it out to get a different point of view. Trailer

Conversations With Other Women: I heard about this film through a tech podcast of all things. The Executive Producer/Post Production Supervisor for this film was on the podcast. The interesting thing about this movie is that it is done in split screen. So there are 2 seperate shots on screen at all times. You may think that it would be hard to watch both and keep up with what is happening but it isn’t. It stars Aaron Eckhart and Helena Bonham Carter. It was nice to see Helena Carter in a normal role, since I have only seen her in dark movies for the most part(fight club, harry potter, sweeney todd). I liked this film but it may not be your cup of tea with the format as well as it being very relationship dialogue heavy. Trailer

I found this recipe very randomly. My mom broke her ankle about 5-6 years ago and I had to take her to the doctor. While I was in the waiting room I was looking through magazines and found this recipe. I made it a few weeks after and have been making it ever since. It is very easy to make, is extremely yummy and feeds a lot of people(8 very well).

From Southern Living

Ingredients
1 (15-ounce) container ricotta cheese
1 (8-ounce) container onion-and-chive flavored cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon seasoned pepper
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 (3-ounce) package shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
2 (26-ounce) jars tomato basil pasta sauce
1 (16-ounce) package egg roll wrappers
60 to 64 frozen cooked Italian-style meatballs

Preparation
Stir together first 6 ingredients until blended. Stir in 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese; set aside.

Spread 1 cup pasta sauce in bottom of a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish.

Cut egg roll wrappers in half lengthwise; arrange 10 halves over pasta sauce. (Wrappers will overlap.) Top with meatballs. Spoon 3 cups pasta sauce over meatballs; sprinkle with 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese. Arrange 10 wrappers evenly over mozzarella. Spread ricotta cheese mixture over wrappers; top with remaining wrappers and pasta sauce.

Bake at 350° for 50 minutes. Top with remaining 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese and remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Bake 10 more minutes. Let stand 15 minutes.

Note: For testing purposes only, we used Classico Tomato and Basil pasta sauce.

Yield 8 servings