Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!

I spent my Thanksgiving yesterday with a few friends in my apartment. Here's a picture of the spread! We went in on one of those grocery store Thanksgiving meals. For $50, you got an 11-lb turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, dinner rolls, cranberry relish and a pie, all ready for reheating. I'm not sure it was such a great deal. We thought it would be super convenient and cheaper than any other option and I guess it was but the mashed potatoes and stuffing came in one of those microwave-safe packages you find in the refrigerated food section... which, in fact, is what I bought for myself when celebrating Thanksgiving alone last year. Silly me, I was expecting food prepared by the people behind the deli counter. Regardless, it was nice to have friends over and we had a good time and it was convenient and quick and it did sort of feel like hosting a real Thanksgiving because I had to time everything correctly and did make spinach-artichoke dip as an appetizer for everyone as well as corn and a non-pie dessert. Hope everyone else had a great holiday!

Movie Review: The Descendants

I saw a sneak preview of The Descendants a couple of days ago. I had also recently read the book on which it is based, as I am wont to do. Surprisingly, the movie very closely follows the book, although of course it can't fit in everything from a 200+ page book. I think the edits made for the big screen were smart ones, though, and, in fact, I can't think of anything they left out that should have been there. I feel like you got a good handle of the characters in both and there was really only one very small change they made to the plot towards the end that was something that didn't make much sense to me when it happened in the book so I'm actually glad that it was changed. Sorry for the vagueness but I don't want to spoil it.

That being said, I didn't enjoy the movie that much. It's getting Oscar buzz and, judging by the audience reaction when I saw it, many were enamored by the film. George Clooney is definitely an amazing actor, as if we didn't realize this before. And Shailene Woodley did pretty well, especially since all I've ever seen her do is star in that insipid ABC Family program, The Secret Life of the American Teenager. But, I just found the whole thing pretty boring. Maybe it was because I knew exactly what was coming since I'd read the book. Maybe it was the lack of comedy - I thought the film would be more of a dramedy since the book had some entertaining moments but the movie seemed too serious. Or, maybe it was just the plot.

The general plot of the film involves George Clooney as Matt, whose wife is dying in a coma thanks to a boating accident and who is forced to suddenly up his child-rearing involvement to his two daughters. To make things worse, he finds out his wife was having an affair pre-accident. And, finally, he is a descendant of a major landowner in Hawaii and has a huge land deal looming over his head while his wife is dying. I guess you would say it's about a middle-aged man finally waking up to the world around him and growing up. And that, I guess, is boring. My suggestion is to wait to rent it or skip it entirely.

Movie Review: Tower Heist

I went to an advanced screening of Tower Heist a few days ago and have to say I enjoyed it. It’s a good mix of action and comedy and stars Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy as the leaders of a group that plan to pull off a $20 million heist in the apartment of a Bernie Madoff-type person played by Alan Alda. There’s a great supporting cast of thieves, including Casey Affleck, Matthew Broderick and Gabourey Sidibe. The movie has a lot of funny moments and is very well-paced. Sometimes with these types of films, they focus too much on the build-up to the heist. And, sometimes the heist takes forever. But this had a great mix of both. And of course there is some suspension of belief regarding the events of the heist but there’s enough to make you laugh that you are willing to overlook some of the ridiculousness. Overall, a pretty enjoyable movie.