I'm catching up on some Netflix movies and was sick of grading assignments so I figured I'd write out a blog entry.
Our visit, although brief, was nice earlier this week. I got to see Grandma Stika for a bit as well as a chunk of the Smith clan. The St. Patrick's Day parade wasn't in the cards due to the weather. I even got to ride along to Caledonia. Gavin didn't get to lay his eyes on his car but he'll see it soon enough on Easter weekend.
Speaking of him driving a car, we took time on Wednesday and he got his license. The wait was ridiculous. Then again that's quite normal for the Ankeny DOT location. In hindsight, we should have gone to the station in Decorah when we were in NE Iowa or to the location in Ames. We were seen right before 5pm or else we would have been told to come back the next day. We had more than a two hour wait so being told to come back the next day would have not gone over well.
We spent time yesterday visiting with our State Farm agent, well actually her assistant. His car now has insurance coverage. And finally today we bopped down to the Treasurer's office in Des Moines and had the title changed over to Gavin, received license plates, and registered the car too. He can now legally drive the car when it needs to be brought back to Ankeny.
I took my car in to the dealership yesterday for some basic maintenance and to figure out what the rattling noise was under the hood. My dad thought it was the incline pulley which made sense. Turns out the clutch in my air conditioner compressor went to crap. The dealership states they won't only replace the clutch because the repair usually doesn't work well. They'd rather replace the entire compressor. Mighty pricey. It will have to wait or I may not fix it at all. It seems silly to spend over $1,000 on a repair when I do want to trade in the car within the year.
Now for some movie reviews:
"Orphan": holy cow good horror movie! Family adopts a 9 year old girl. Bad things start happening and they find out she actually has a hormonal disorder and is actually a grown woman. A mentally ill grown woman. Lots of thrilling parts.
"Hellraiser III and IV": one of my favorite horror movie series. I own the first two movies thanks to Michael and decided to watch more in the series. I think there are like 10 total movies. I expected them to get worse as I went further into the series but so far they are still decent.
"Cake": Jennifer Aniston is the main character that is dealing with grief and chronic pain. It's actually a really good movie and an interesting role for her. I highly suggest it.
"The Constant Gardener" A decent cast of characters and a plot that does keep you interested. A politician's wife is murdered in Africa and he decides to investigate to figure out why. Rachel Weiss is the main female character. Quite the scandal is recognized by the end of the movie. It relates to the AIDS epidemic in Africa and a pharmaceutical company.
"Life of Pi" I was quite confused by the end of this movie. I can understand why it won so many awards as the effects are awesome throughout the movie. The boy is telling the story throughout the movie (well he's a grown man) and I was confused if the tiger actually existed or if he manifested the tiger to represent a cruel human he had to share the boat with.
"Fed Up" Fantastic documentary. It relates to the sugar industry and how after the fat-free/low-fat craze hit in the late 80s, the amount of sugar skyrocketed in many products to make food taste better when it was lacking fat. It's a movie I plan to show to college students. I wanted Dan to watch it but got impatient and sent the DVD back to Netflix so I could move on to the next video.
"Wild": Reese Witherspoon is the main character that decides to walk the Pacific Crest Trail. She decides to change pace with life due to her drug use, failed marriage, and poor choices. It was based on a true story and they mentioned details at the end of the movie. Overall, a pretty good movie.
"Horrible Bosses and Horrible Bosses 2": A very funny pair of movies. I found the first to be better than the second. Crude humor with an interesting cast. Seeing Jennifer Aniston play a sexual harasser was unexpected but she did it well.
"The Age of Adaline" A woman has an accident in the 1920s and it doesn't allow her to age any longer. She has to live a secretive life and move a lot so people don't notice her perpetual youth. She bumps into someone from her past though and things get messy.
"Little Miss Sunshine" This is a weird movie centered on a weird family. It was Steve Carrell's first major film I believe. The family is traveling to California to take the daughter to a beauty pageant. Lots of surprises along the way, including a death which made it feel like National Lampoon's Vacation. It was an OK movie.
"Left Behind" So this movie relates to the "Left Behind" book series. I loved the book series. The movie was 'meh'. Nicolas Cage was assigned the lead role which is horrible casting. I figured they would cover the entire first book but they actually only covered like half of the book. The ending was not great even though it was accurate for the book. It was a crappy spot to end the story though. Basically the reaping occurs (think Revelations) and all of the good people are taken to heaven suddenly. All the sinners are left behind and deal with the chaos. Car crashes, planes falling from skies, mass confusion, the works.
"Little Children" I rented this movie years ago when it was a new release. It features Kate Winslet as the main female role. It has screwed up story lines for most of the characters and most of the issues are sexual. Definitely 'R' rated. I like it though because is shows a lot of human nature.
"Perks of Being a Wallflower" I think it was OK. I honestly cannot remember much about it so it wasn't a movie that made me go "wow".
"Interstellar" Now this movie made me go "wow". I don't know why I waited so long to watch it and wish I would have seen it in the theater. It was an interesting story line with Earth becoming inhabitable so other planets and galaxies needed to be explored.
"What Dreams May Come" I remember being more freaked out about this movie when I first saw it as a kid. I think it's ironic that the movie involves suicide and Robin Williams killed himself. It was still good as I remembered though.
"Babel" Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett play a married couple in this movie. It's another movie that has more than one story line running through the movie. Cate's character is accidentally shot and kindness in a foreign country saves her. While they are dealing with that issue overseas, their children are being watched a house keeper/babysitter. She is an illegal from Mexico. Since the parents cannot get back in a timely manner the babysitter has to take the kids into Mexico so she can attend her son's wedding. On the way back into the states, her nephew does something stupid at border control and the babysitter and children end up wandering in the desert and almost dying. Lots of thrilling parts with both stories.
"Rendition" Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal are the married couple. Due to a terrorist attack, Jake's character is pulled off a flight since he was recently in the country and held for questioning (and torture). His wife goes nuts trying to figure out what happened to him and becomes aware of improper tactics of our government when it comes to holding suspects.
"Selma" Fantastic movie about the Civil Rights Movement. It's fairly accurate and shows a lot more about Martin Luther King Jr. beyond the famous speech he gave. It shows more about the marches and the violence that took place in the south. Highly recommended.
