Annie Hall (1977) #35

I came into this movie with a callus attitude b/c I kind of thought I wouldn’t get Woody Allen’s humor and that it would be pretty crass.  It was pretty crass actually but I ended up liking the movie.  It seemed very close to Groucho Marx humor - they talked really fast and the humor was really dry and you had to be paying attention to get some of the one-liners.  Woody Allen actually quotes a joke from Groucho Marx so I’m sure he was very influential in Allen’s humoristic style.

I like the younger Diane Keaton better than the older Diane Keaton in movies.  The movie actually gets it’s name from her b/c her real last name is “Hall” and her nickname is “Annie” hence the name “Annie Hall”.  Basically it is a romantic comedy very similar in nature to When Harry Met Sally but without the great soundtrack of WHMS.  They both even have the song “It had to be you” in it.  I’m finding A LOT of movies use that song in them if not prominently then in the background.  Another similarity I saw in this movie is of Diane Keaton to Katie Holmes.  Some of the ways “Annie” wore her hair and certain facial expressions really reminded me of how Katie Holmes acts today.

It’s funny to watch all these movies and start to see all these influences that older movies have on newer movies.  Anyway, on the whole I thought it was enjoyable but definitely in a weird Woody Allen sort of way.

Shane (1953)  #45

I’ll be honest…I chose this movie b/c the Western genre is not my favorite so I wanted to go ahead and get it out of the way.  However, I was pleasantly surprised!  It isn’t like your typical shoot’em up kind of western film.  There was a rich plot with significant character development.  I ended up loving Shane as much as Joey did (well, maybe not that obsessive but almost). 

It is based on a book by the same name taking place in Wyoming.  Homesteaders, who want to have clear boundaries for their homes vs. the rancher who thinks he owns the whole kit’n’kaboodle as far as the eye can see.  Shane is clearly a gun-man who wants to change his career to settle down and does so with the Starrets.  Joey (the little boy) instantly attaches himself to Shane, while Marian, even though happily married, has eyes for Shane, too!  I’ll admit he IS pretty dreamy!  Shane gains trust and sides with the Homesteaders.  There is actually only one time he has to pull his gun to shoot somebody but I won’t give it away - which pulls him back into his gun-slinging career - be it ever so reluctantly.  A classic “sacrificing himself for the good of the people” scenario!

Have you ever seen The Negotiator with Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey?  They have this discussion about the movie Shane and how it ends — When he rides off at the end of the movie, is he slumped over dead or just merely wounded?  Both of the men have differing opinions.  My opinion is that he doesn’t look dead.  Possibly wounded but he is sitting straight up riding his horse.  If he were dead he would be totally lying on his horse (I should know, I’ve seen quite a few dead people in my life - may they rest in peace)!  I also don’t want to think of him as dead b/c he is the hero and the hero never dies!

All in all, I thought it was a great movie.  I highly recommend it - even if it is a Western!

The African Queen, 1951, Rank #65

It only took us a couple of months to watch another movie!  This time it was The African Queen with Humphrey Bogart (Charlie Allnut) and Katharine Hepburn (Rosie).  It was set in 1914 in German East Africa during WWI (actually filmed on location - which was rarely ever done back in the 50’s).  A LOT of the film was their journey down the Ulanga/Bora river in the steam boat The African Queen)  I hate to say it b/c it seems mean, but what is wrong with Humphrey’s teeth?  They look like buck teeth - are those his real teeth or were they fake? I’m trying to look it up but can’t find anything about it. I guess that you don’t really see his teeth in other movies b/c he doesn’t usually smile a lot.  They just seemed unusually large.  Anyway…that is really neither here nor there.

The film did kind of start off slow for me but it picked up the pace pretty quickly.  I found it pretty funny that Rosie and her brother had been there in Africa for 10 years as missionaries but still were singing hymns in English when the Africans were just making noises and they hadn’t even tried to give up their English roots to serve the people!  I guess it’s not real life with real missionaries so I won’t go on about this point. 

Humphrey Bogart won his only Oscar for Best Leading Actor for this movie, and he genuinely thought his acting was his best ever.  I honestly haven’t seen Katharine Hepburn in very many movies, and the jury is still out on her.  She seemed very uptight even when she was supposed to be relaxed (I realize her character was a Methodist missionary but still…).  I also wanted to puke if she said “Mr. Allnut” one more time until she fell in love and started calling him “Charlie”.  I wonder how many times she said it? 

Overall, I think it was a very enjoyable film.  I’m glad I saw it, but it wasn’t my all time favorite love story - not like Casa Blanca or It Happened One Night (so far anyway).

“Hey Mommy, pull my finger” is what I heard last night when I got home and went back to see why the little stinker wasn’t asleep yet.  So, of course, I pulled his finger to which he responded by wiggling his little rump in front of me trying to “toot”.  He was unsuccessful at having a toot come forth and he says “Mom, I’m trying to toot but I couldn’t”.  I say, “yes, I see that” as he goes bounding to bed giggling with laughter.  So I ask him, “where on earth did you learn that?”  He says, “that’s what Philip’s Dad did when we went to Philip’s house”.  Thanks A Lot Randall P. Duncan!  (not to mention any names!)  How can you not laugh at such a boy thing!  Boys will be boys!

I was going on a walk today when I was noticing all the holes in trees and I saw this dead tree with a big gash in it and I just kind of glanced up when I walked by and I kept going.  I thought “I think I just saw something” and walked a few steps backwards when I saw this beautiful owl just sitting there!  Wow!  Look how it blends in with the tree perfectly!  I ran back home and got my husband and sons and we walked back to take these pics!  As best I can tell from the internet is that this is an Eastern Screech Owl!  What we learned about owls at the San Diego Zoo is that the reason they turn their heads instead of their eyes is that their eyeballs are so big there is no more room in the socket for muscles to turn their eyes…so, they turn their head instead!  This totally made my day!

Josh and I just celebrated our 10 year Anniversary!  I can’t believe time has gone by so fast!  We celebrated by taking a trip to San Diego.  Neither one of us had been there before and then it coincided with Josh’s best friend’s wedding.  My parents kept the kids!  We really had to adjust to being able to stay out late or do whatever we wanted. 

Let me begin by saying that this trip, aside from all our excursions, was completely FREE!  Josh travels a lot so we had a billion frequent flyer miles on American, so of course we upgraded to First Class!  Then Josh’s co-worker lives there about a stone’s throw from the ocean in Del Mar (about 20 minutes north of San Diego) and she happened to be in Europe at that time so she let us crash at her condo.  She also let us use her convertible Mini-Cooper which was sooo fun!  Thanks Val!

The pictures above are some fun things we did.  The first is on the beach the first night in Del Mar.  I loved that little community.  You could walk everywhere!  Then the next day we went to the San Diego Zoo!  Amazing!  God is so creative! We got the Backstage Pass where we got to see some of the animals up close and personal.  We got to pet and feed a Rhino, kangaroo, and flamingos as well as see some other endangered animals.  Highly recommended!  That night we went to Old Town and ate at a yummy Mexican food place called Coyote Cafe.  They had a strolling Mariachi band which is sentimental to us b/c we had a Mariachi band at our rehearsal dinner 10 years ago!

The next day we went to Coronado Island and I put in a picture of the Hotel Del Coronado - otherwise known as “The Del” - because this is the place where they filmed The Marilyn Monroe movie - “Some Like it Hot” that we have reviewed somewhere on this blog.  Lots of things have changed but it was still cool!

Then we went to the reception of Josh’s best friend Brian who got married to Jennifer.  They are both members of the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints and got married in the Temple.  So, we weren’t able to attend the wedding but we did attend the reception which was beautiful!

To top off our trip, after the wedding festivities, we went hiking in Torrey Pines State Park.  It was so beautiful and we hiked to the edge of the cliff overlooking this vast expanse of ocean!  Amazing!  God is so BIG!  I can’t even imagine!

I have been so blessed to be married to such a fun, loving, faithful, and loyal husband and wonderful father for 10 years.  I love you so much, Josh!  Here’s to 10 more years (er, 20 or 30….)!

I have to show this photo of my all my boys.  They are all lined up on the couch ready to enjoy our first family movie watching together!  We did this on Father’s Day and watched Disney’s Jungle Book.  I was actually very surprised Grant stayed in the room almost the whole time and was engaged (it helped that there was popcorn involved!)  I was sitting on the other side of the room and just had to take the photographic moment!

Ok!  I am officially the worst blogger in America.  When was my last post?  Over a month ago.  That’s ok, b/c probably not a lot of people are reading it.  I’ve realized it is hard to blog and have time to sit down and do it.  It’s also hard to find time to sit down and watch movies.  We thought we would get thru this list in a year, but at this rate, I don’t think that is going to happen.  So, since our last post, we’ve watched 6 movies - here they are all in one post so I can get it off of my to-do list and move on!

#55 North by Northwest 1959 - Such a classic Alfred Hitchcock suspense thriller.  Loved it and love Cary Grant!  This is a must see!

#69 Tootsie 1982 - Dustin Hoffman dresses up like a woman and get entangled in a love quadrangle it seems like.  I think I liked his made up woman character more than I liked him.  Funny and light and enjoyable.

#70 The Wild Bunch 1969 -This was by far the bloodiest movie I have ever seen in my whole life.  There was not one “good guy” in this whole movie.  Seriously I was rooting for no one!  Warning: heavy violence, strong language, and more nudity than I cared to see.

#85 A Night at the Opera 1935 - A Groucho Marx and bros. comedy.  I don’t really get into comedy like this, but it was quick witted and funny.  You really had to listen closely to catch the comments that Groucho was saying off the cuff.  I really admired actors that can ad lib so much.  I was pleasantly surprised.

#86 Platoon 1986 - Another bloody movie, but at least I knew for whom I was rooting.  Really a very realistic look at the Vietnam War and what the soldiers went through.  Very young Charlie Sheen (main character) and Johnny Depp (cameo).

Rebel Without a Cause 1955 - Why Why Why would someone take this movie off of the 100 best movies, yet keep The Wild Bunch?  I loved this movie.  The best of all the others listed here.  Who can’t relate to the teenage angst of trying to figure out who you are compared to who your parents are.  On top of that such a romantic love story between James Dean and Natalie Wood (even tho they definitely do not look like teenagers). A Must See!

I tried creating this post about a week and a half ago and something funny happened with the computer, so it didn’t post and I was so mad that I’m just now getting around to doing it AGAIN!  So, I hope it works!

I thought I would share this list with you b/c funnily I have 2 degrees that are on this “worst-paying college degrees” list.  I have a B.A. in Spanish from Baylor University.  And, I have an A.M. (a fancy U. of Chicago way of saying a Masters of Arts) in Social Service Administration (another fancy U of C way to say Social Work).  Actually, working in hospice I was paid pretty well for being a social worker.  The really funny thing is that for being a Stay-at-home-Mom you get paid absolutely NOTHING except in hugs and kisses!  What could be better than that?