Christian Movies

 Louie and I started watching Breakthrough a few weeks ago, but the first thirty minutes are kind of painful. I just wasn't in the mood for it. But since I'd had it from the library for several renewals and knew it was based on a true story, I finished watching it myself. 

Simply amazing. I love the story. I'm curious now to read the book which Joyce Smith wrote after her son went through the ice and wasn't expected to survive. Our God is awesome!

Back of DVD blurb: "When Joyce Smith's (Chrissy Metz) adopted son John (Marcel Ruiz) falls through an icy Missouri lake, all hope seems lost as John lies lifeless. In the face of every bleak medical case history and dire scientific prediction, Joyce's unwavering belief inspires her community to pray for John's recovery. Based on the incredible true story, Breakthrough is an enthralling reminder that faith and love can create a mountain of hope, and sometimes even a miracle."

Those first thirty minutes though . . . ouch. She's being horrible to the new pastor. The angry adoptee lashes out. It made me think of watching Fireproof with friends after it had been highly recommended. The first chunk of the movie was husband and wife fighting. Loudly. Not an awesome cinematic experience.

Watching this made me curious to know more about the real people. I'm especially curious about the one rescue diver who heard a voice telling him to go back. Did he become a believer? I may need to get the book to read more! Or spend more time here.

More Movies

This slip of paper has been sitting at my desk for a while. My recovery from knee surgery has been fantastic, so I'm busier again. These are movies I've watched since the last time I blogged about movies.

On A Clear Day
I had seen a trailer for this quite a while ago, but had a hard time remembering the title. When I googled for it, it took a while to find it! (Barbara Streisand comes up right away.) Here's a Wikipedia blurb about it: "On a Clear Day is a 2005 Scottish drama film written by Alex Rose and directed by Gaby Dellal. It stars Peter Mullan as Frank Redmond, an engineer in the shipyards on the River Clyde, who becomes stagnant and quickly sinks into depression following his redundancy. A naturally strong swimmer, Frank gets an idea while on a 'booze cruise' with his friends to swim the English Channel. Featuring an ensemble cast, it co-stars Brenda Blethyn, Sean McGinley and Billy Boyd, among others."Louie wasn't interested in watching it with me, but I really liked it a lot. I liked how his relationship with his son and his own self-discovery came along.

Upside
Again, I had seen a trailer that intrigued me. I really enjoyed this one, too. (I watched it alone.) Kevin Hart plays an ex-con who's trying to get his life together. Brian Cranston(?) is a quadriplegic who needs a caregiver / assistant. It was funny, touching, and sad. It made me a little curious to find and watch the French film originally made about the real-life people the story is based upon.

Letters To Juliet
Loved this! Super cute and fun! (Except her original fiance and how he basically ignored her . . . ) Louie watched it with me. Another one that makes me want to visit Italy. Delightful!

Aquaman
We watched our home DVD version. It's the second time we've seen it.

Bend It Like Beckham
I borrowed this from our d-i-l Angela. It's one that I've heard of for a long time, but never before watched. It was an interesting mix of coming-of-age and cultural lessons on Indians in Britain. I liked it a lot. I love that David and Victoria Beckham had a little cameo at the end!

Green Lantern
Again, a home DVD. I am so weird. As this is often panned as Ryan Reynolds' worst movie ever, I like it! I think it is an entertaining hero movie. And I love love love the way he and Blake Lively make googly eyes at one another . . . though I think that each was actually romantically involved with someone else at the time. They've been married for a while, though!

The Croods
Netflix. Pretty dumb. Kind of cute. Wouldn't watch it again or recommend it.

Instant Family
Amazing! This story of adoption and families and love had me. I thought about re-watching it before bringing it back to the library. Such a lovely story! And sad. And touching. And inspiring.

Movies and Recovery

Since I knew I would have some "down time" while recovering from total knee replacement surgery, I requested a bunch of videos from the library that I'd been meaning to watch. I just wanted to make some quick notes. It's weird for me to watch so much media in less than a month's time!

Ready Player One - I loved this! I'm not really a video game person, but I loved all the 80s cultural references and music. I loved the underdog beating the Goliath. Perhaps I had low expectations and that's why it surprised me so much. Louie and I watched it together and he enjoyed it, too. True confession: after I had returned it to the library, I was looking at clips on YouTube and ended up getting it from the library a second time and re-watching it! I just really enjoyed it.

Iron Lady - I'm glad I watched this without Louie. Although I love Meryl Streep and I'm up for learning about historical figures and eras, it was a bit slow-paced. It opens as Margaret Thatcher is in her dotage and uses flashbacks to tell her story. I liked that she was a shopkeeper's daughter and "rose above" her "station" in life. I'm glad that she made her way in a man's world.

Crazy Rich Asians - I watched this one alone, too. Louie said he wasn't interested, but I think he might have enjoyed it. I was delighted by Rachel's story. I think the cast was fantastic (though I didn't know who Awkwafina was before this). My favorite scenes were when her mom came to see her (I cried) and the Mah-jong game. I would watch this again! Loved it!

Manchester By the Sea - I got this thinking it was something else. My friend Kathy loved this and I need to ask her why. I thought it was super depressing. Casey Affleck plays a man who is deeply troubled. He seems to be dead inside. He gets into bar fights. When his brother dies and he has to return to deal with the details, he learns his brother has left him in charge of his teenage nephew. Long, sad, winding story with an unsatisfying (to me) resolution.

A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish - Netflix. Louie watched it with me and said, "I think the target audience was 13 year old girls." "We didn't have to watch the whole thing!" We usually decide within 10-15 minutes if it's worth the hour and a half. Oh well. It was cute. I like Cinderella stories.

Knight Christmas - Netflix. I had watched this home alone and should have waited to watch it with Louie. Not much less silly than the other one, but geared for an older audience at least.

White Christmas - Netflix. Also watched alone. For the third(?) time in my life.

Woman in Gold - watched alone. So cool! I'm amazed at how it turned out. In fact, I had to look up the info online afterward. The painting is in the U.S. now! Absolutely amazing. The interviews afterward made me chuckle. The young lawyer dude never comments on how cool it is that RYAN REYNOLDS is portraying him!

Ender's Game - DVD. Rewatch for us. Just makes me want to reread Card's books which are so much better than this movie. Interesting to see Harrison Ford as Graff . . .

A Brilliant Young Mind - I liked it more than Louie did. Asa Butterfield is incredible. I'm so very glad that our children were not autistic! I loved the young girl.

Won't You Be My Neighbor? - This documentary about Fred Rogers was extremely well-done. I thought about my mom and how much she loved Mr. Rogers and what he stood for. This was worthwhile and interesting. I like Mr. Rogers more and more the older I get and the more course the world gets.