Hunger Games Trailer

Can I just say I am super-looking forward to this movie coming out?  I need to make lots of friends between now and March.  That way, I have someone to go with me to see this movie.  If all else fails, I can drag my husband to it (unless he ends up dragging me which could very well happen)...

Movies

So everyone knows about the issue Netflix has been having.  First, raising their prices by about 25% (or more).  And then threatening to separate the websites for the mail-in dvds and the instant watch.  Two different websites were supposed to be in the best interests for the consumer?  Yeah whatever...

Jared and I decided to try to look into alternatives to Netflix to see if we could save money.  We have the instant and two-dvds-at-a-time plan.  Our list is typically outdated, so the movies we have we sometimes wonder why we wanted to watch them in the first place.  And they sit in our house for about two weeks before we finally get to watching them.  Yeah, not a good use of our money.

Here's what we found as an alternative:  the library.  Looking at the movies in our list, we could put holds on these movies and potentially have them in a couple of days to a week from now.  Granted, some of the newer movies have about 500 holds.  But if we want to watch them sooner, we can use Redbox.  Redbox only costs a dollar (soon to be a dollar twenty), and we can be sure to watch it (who would rent a movie if they didn't have that "I wanna watch a movie" mood?) and return it within a day.  Bottom line, using the library and Redbox will ultimately save us up to twelve bucks a month (I could get Taco Bell with that kind of money - one of my guilty-but-I-don't-know-why-I-love-it pleasures).

We're still sticking with the instant plan because we use that almost every other day.  So, it's still worth it to us.

If you don't have a library card or haven't looked into what your library offers, then you're really missing out.  I love the City of Madison's library system.  My local library is really small and hard to browse for books, but I tend to browse for books online now.  All I have to do is put a hold on what I need, and the library will have it for me within a day or two (unless there's a line of holds ahead of me).  Using your library for your media is a definite potential for saving money (even if you happen to get hit on by random people while there - a story for another time).

Inception

So, after being told by a million people to watch this movie, I finally watched it last night.  And let me tell you, it lived up to my expectations.  It was a really good movie.  I know a lot of people were disappointed because the idea wasn't original.  But whatever, it takes a lot for an idea to be original these days...  The story-line was awesome.  The cinematography rocked.  Did I mention the music was awesome?!  Yeah, if I find myself loving the music/soundtrack, then you can bet I loved the movie.  Inception was directed by the same guy who directed the Dark Knight.  Also, Dark Knight's composer composed the music for this movie (also did Sherlock Holmes - no wonder I liked the music).  So I highly recommend it.  And if you watch it and decided it wasn't worth it, then obviously we have very different tastes in movies (and music :p).

Gran Torino

This was a movie I wanted to watch, but I didn't fully understand what it was about.  But it's definitely worth watching.  I recommend it, and I can't truly say how good it was without giving it away.  Disclaimer: there is a lot of swear words and racial slurs.  Clint Eastwood's character is a racist, grumpy old man.  I didn't think anything of it because my grandpas are both grumpy old men who tend to say racist things also.  So, his character fit right in with how I view old men...  Anyways, the movie deals with the older generation accepting the newer generation and finding out that race is only skin deep.  That's not doing the movie justice, but I recommend it anyways.  I can also state the fact that this movie brought tears to my eyes (yeah, I'm an emotional girl).

Confessions of a Shopaholic

So, Jared and I watched Confessions of a Shopaholic today.  It was an awesome movie.  There were so many true statements said in that movie.  The main character explains why shopping is so addicting.  It makes you happy to try new things on and buy new things.  And then you get home and lose your shopper's high.  So, you have to shop again.  Did you know there are actual hormones that are released while you're shopping and trying new things on?  That's how we get that happy feeling.  Anyways, there was an awesome quote said by the main character's father.  It was something along the lines of, "It's not my things that define me; it's my family that defines me."  That's a lesson that everyone can benefit from.  The movie was an awesome feel-good movie.  Go see it.  It'll keep you laughing.  And I'm sure most guys would enjoy it also.

The Secret Life of Bees

I very much enjoyed this movie, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys dramas set in the South during the 1960s. Or maybe just dramas, period. It's basically about a girl who's trying to find herself by trying to retrace her mother's past. It's just a good movie. The only issue I had is the scene with Alicia Keys playing the cello. It's very difficult to seem like you're playing the cello when you're not. But when there's vibrato in the song, and the hand's not moving, then you can definitely tell the cello's not being played. And it was Alicia Keys, a very musical-oriented person; I thought she'd be able to pull off the fake playing. Anyways, good movie, go see it!