Stephanie Plum Comes to Life

Sunday, for an early Valentine's Day, my husband took me to see the movie One for the Money.

He sort of wanted to see it, too. He has listened to enough of Janet Evanovich's books - I have heard almost all of them, as I listen to them in the car - to have a good feel for the characters. I think my hubby is a secret fan of the characters.

The show received terrible reviews, and while I wouldn't put the movie in the "really terrible" column, I certainly would not recommend that everyone rush out to see it. Especially at the cost of a theater ticket today. It is not the worst movie I've ever seen, but even Sex and the City 2 has this beat, and that was a pretty bad movie.

One for the Money stayed fairly true to the book, which I had to read this fall for my Detectives in Fiction class at Hollins University. So I was very familiar with the story the movie is based upon.

In this instance, the book is much better than the movie. That is often the case, though not always.

The basic story line? Stephanie Plum is an out-of-work lingerie sales girl. She goes to work for her cousin, Vinnie Plum, at his bail bond agency. She decides to bring in Joe Morelli, a former lover and a cop who has shot someone and then skipped out on his bail.

She is tutored in the fine art of bounty hunting by Ranger, a Latin man who knows how to handle a weapon.

In the film, Stephanie has this unnamed friend (or maybe she was supposed to be Stephanie's sister - she does have a sister in later books), whom we see only briefly. Stephanie calls her I think maybe three times. It is a rather odd device for the movie, and I'm not sure what it's purpose was, except for extra dialogue and explanation to the viewer. If you must resort to that to carry the script along, it is time for a rewrite.

The problem wasn't really the script, though. The problem was the total lack of chemistry of these actors between themselves and with the screen. You know how some actors just ooze personality across the air waves? There is none of that here.

Katherine Heigl looks as I might have envisioned Stephanie Plum, but that's about it. She is pretty wooden in her efforts to portray the spunky Stephanie.

The fellow playing Joe Morelli looks Irish, not Italian, and there was absolutely no chemistry between him and Heigl. None. Zip. Nada.

The guy playing Ranger did a little better in the hottie department, but still, I didn't feel the vibes between Stephanie and Ranger like I do in the books.

And Debbie Reynolds was completely miscast as Grandma Mazur.

I suspect many of Evanovich's fans will be disappointed with this rather ho-hum effort. The characters in the book are very rich in detail and personality, and there is much to be mined there. It's a shame that this first effort will prove such a disappointment.

However, I fully expect that One for the Money will become one of those that find a good home on the movie channels, where it will play endlessly and become a fan favorite simply through familiarity.

It's Coming! The Hobbit in 2012

I am a huge Lord of the Rings fan, so I have been anxiously awaiting the next movie: The Hobbit. This prequel to the first trilogy deals with how Bilbo Baggins obtained the One Ring.

I'm so excited. I have watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy many times; I can recite dialogue from it with ease. For Christmas, I asked for the Blue Ray extended 10th anniversary version that came out this year even though I don't own a Blue Ray player.

Yes, I'm a bit of a nerd.

If you somehow missed Lord of the Rings (and I know a few people who look at me like I'm a nut because they don't watch fantasy films so they haven't seen it), you really should watch it. Not for the magic but for the majesty and the themes of brotherhood and redemption. And for the great cinema.

Thursday Thirteen

Today it's all about the Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1. We saw the movie on Sunday and here are a few of my thoughts on it. There are probably spoilers but if you're read the book you already know how it ends anyway.

1. The movie is incredibly dark, not just in content but also in the cinematography. Dark colors, night, little light. Everything is rather drab.

2. Emma Watson (Hermione) needs to put on a little weight. I thought she looked a little thin and a little tired. But she acts the part exceptionally well and I believed her character more so than the lead one (Mr. Potter).

3. The special effects in the movie are well done, but nothing really stands out in my mind.

4. The movie adheres to the book in plot line, more or less, but does not adhere to the book in details.

5. In general, the book is better than the movie in my humble opinion, and that is not always the case with me. Sometimes the movies are better but I don't think that is the case this time.

6. I am not a fan of horror movie camera work (you know, where the people are running and scrambling and the camera is following along and it looks like it's falling off a cliff or something and you can't half tell what is going on) and there is a good bit of that in this film.

7. Helena Bonham Carter does a fantastic job as Bella LeStrange. Totally believable and wicked cool. I think she was my favorite in this particular film.

8. Daniel Radcliff has grown into a young man but I had trouble believing that Harry Potter was only 18 as he comes across older than that in the film.

9. I'm not a big Ron Weasley fan but Rupert Grint was the right actor for the part. He does a fine job with the character.

10.  There wasn't enough of Snape in this film, but then there wasn't a lot of Snape in the book, either. Rather unfortunate, that.

11. Ralph Fiennes is an excellent Vlodemort and he plays the character with much finesse and sophistication, which is exactly how I pictured him as I read the book.

12. Evanna Lynch plays a perfect Luna, wide-eyed and a little on the other side of the world. Excellent casting.

13. There is a lot of symbolism in the movie, mostly pertaining to Nazi Germany, fascism and other eye-brow raising forms of government. The torturing of Hermione is particularly painful to see at one point.


There you go. I give the film 3.5 stars out of 5. It's not a bad film but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone other than other Harry Potter fans.


Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here.  I've been playing for a while and this is my 167th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Review: Momma Mia

Momma Mia, with Glen Close - I mean Meryl Streep - has been playing on HBO.

I watched the movie in its entirety the night it debuted and I've seen pieces of it several times since then.

Some of the singing is off key. However it is a fun movie with a fairy tale ending. Kind of a modern Cinderella story with a twist, if you will.

The musical features songs by ABBA, and since they were one of my favorite bands growing up, I know every song. That is part of what makes this show so fun. Who hasn't heard those songs?

This is one of two movies I've seen this year that I think were made for sleep overs for women ages 40 and up. Not that I know of women who have sleepovers like that, but if we all did then this is one of the movies I'd offer up. The other is the Sex in the City movie.

The story line for Momma Mia goes like this: young girl on eve of wedding wants to know who her daddy is. She reads Mom's diary and decides it can be one of three guys, so she invites all three to the wedding. They arrive, Mom freaks. Young girl's beau is perturbed. Friends arrive to help out. Wedding day arrives, things don't go quite as planned, lovely happy ending.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlPMEdQKzJc

This is my favorite part of the movie. It won't let you embed it. Click it and watch it, though.

Review: Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince

SPOILERS BELOW

What a disappointment.

Of all of the Harry Potter movies, this one is the worst. If you are NOT a Potter aficionado, you will have trouble with this movie.

I consider myself to be a Potter fan of the minor sort, anyway, and I had trouble with it. It has been four years since I read the book upon which this movie is based and it’s been since the last movie was out that I watched any of the movies.

Suffice it to say, I’d forgotten a lot. So a little reminder as to who the characters were and why they mattered or why I should care would have been welcome. The movie instead felt like it simply dumped into the middle of something and good luck to you in trying to catch on.

It was also boring. I started looking at my watch about an hour into the movie.

The teen angst, while well done, I suppose, added nothing to the story. I certainly could have done without that in exchange for some reminders of who was whom.

Perhaps it was because I was anticipating the ending that I did not care for the rest of it. However, even Dumbledore’s death was anticlimactic in the movie.

I also recall that I did not care much for this book. It was not my favorite of the seven. That is not to say that I disliked it so much that I couldn’t read it, I just didn’t think that it held up in measure to the earlier volumes. And the upcoming Deathly Hollows seemed to me to be written with the screen in mind and it suffered for that.

A good movie should be a good movie unto itself, even if it is a series of movies, and this one fails that test. I am sure it will do well at the box office simply because of the name, but that alone does not make for a fine film.

This one was so bad that I likely won’t go see the remaining two at the theater. I may save my $10 and wait for them to come out on HBO.

Grey Gardens

I watched an HBO production of Grey Gardens just over a week ago.

I am still haunted by this picture.

The true story of Jackie O's aunt and first cousin had eluded me. I never heard of the 1970s documentary and knew absolutely nothing about these people. I watched the film because I have always enjoyed Drew Barrymore's work, though I have on occasion wondered about her choice of film.

She was absolutely fantastic in this role. Scarily so, actually. This was acting at its finest. She played opposite Jessica Lange and they were an incredible team.

In the 1930s, these two ladies were used to wealth and servants and the good life.

Somewhere along the line, things went terribly wrong.

The movie did not really give an indication to me as to what happened. They feel upon misfortune and lost their money because Dad left the house and didn't give Mom any allimony. Perhaps the documentary makes it clearer, I don't know.

The filth the women lived in, complete with cats and racoons, troubled me greatly. Obviously they were both mentally ill, but that for me needed to be clearer in the movie. The movie almost made it seem as if they thought that picking up their own trash was beneath them. So they'd rather live in squalor. There wasn't enough focus on the reasons to suit me, I suppose.

Which is the scary part, isn't it? That it can just happen... one minute you're living the good life and the next you're eating cat food. Sometimes there aren't any reasons and that makes it all the more terrifying.

The mother, played by Jessica Lange, was overbearing and dominating. She had her daughter under her fist, and the younger Edie never stood a chance. Mother Dearest was a rather scary woman as Lange portrayed her. Her daughter Edie had lots of sympathy from me but after a while I wanted to shake her into action. Obviously she could not take action, though.

In some discussions of young Edie I have read online, there is talk of schizophrenia, etc., and I can accept that. For both of the women.

That's because there was something deficit in the souls of these characters. Something strangely amiss.

By the 1970s the two were living alone in a falling-down ramshackled mansion. The city wanted to condemn the place. Jackie O and her sister stepped in and fixed the home back up.

And then some fellows came along and made a documentary, which from what I've read was an eye-opener that brought some modest fame to the younger Edie, at any rate.

I am always disturbed when I learn of people living in poor conditions, for whatever reason. It happens with greater frequency than most folks realize. I would hazard a guess that in every neighborhood in the US there is at least one home that has someone in similar circumstances. It might not be visible from the outside, but inside ... what a disaster.

But I believe these people are doing the best they can. It just doesn't live up to societal standards.

There are lists of homes with city health officials where people like firefighters are told they should not enter the home. I have seen them.

I think I live in fear of becoming a person like this. Someone beyond eccentric.

Anyway, I haven't been able to shake Grey Gardens from my brain. I am hoping this post will knock it loose from my skull.

Sicko

Last night I watched the Michael Moore documentary Sicko.

It made me cry.

I am not going to review it really; you can read a decent review at The Nation here if you want.

I am going to tell you why it made me cry.

The state of health care in this country is abysmal and I can't understand how we as a people can sit back and watch our neighbors lose their homes and everything they own simply because they are sick.

Do we think it isn't going to happen to us? Do we think we won't age and need care? Are we really that stupid?

I cried when I saw old ladies getting tossed from cabs into the streets. Kicked out by hospitals because they can't pay their bills. They were left in bare feet and in open hospital gowns, shuffling along looking for help.

It was enough to make me want to vomit.

I cried when I saw a 911 rescue worker learn she could receive an inhaler in Cuba for FIVE cents. The exact same thing cost her $120 in the USA.

I felt disgust at insurance agencies and at Congressional "leaders" who have let companies like the insurance and pharmaceutical industries run and ruin this country. This is not a democracy, not if we're letting the least of us suffer like this.

And don't tell me this is not the norm - I am in the health care system. I have my own horror stories. I've watched people I love suffer for lack of money. I watched my mother who had health insurance get sucked in and drowned beneath the cacophony of insurance calls and doctor bills. I watched the system fail her as well as her family as she was dying.

And I did the same with my grandmother and my great aunt.

Our health care sucks.

Statistically we should be alarmed that we're the 37th healthiest country. Or that our infant mortality rate is higher than that of some third world nations. Or that people in other countries live longer than we do.

Doesn't that scare you?

Supposedly this is the greatest and wealthiest nation. So why do people have to lose their homes? Or lose their jobs when they can't work? Why do people HAVE to work while they're taking chemo, when they should be home taking care of themselves?

I have never had a problem with "universal health care" or even socialist medicine. I'm already paying thousands to the insurance company; I doubt that it would take much more off the top for my share if I were paying it in taxes instead. Last year we spent $8000 in insurance costs; it's money out of my pocket anyway.

Since I am already out of that money, I would much rather give it to a system where you and you and my grandmother and my aunt and everyone else I know and love will be assured of some kind of care that doesn't leave them wandering the streets with an IV in their arm.

We are fools.

The Rose

Last night I watched the movie "The Rose" with Bette Midler. I had not planned to watch it but was too tired to read.

We have over 100 channels and there never seems to be anything on.

I saw The Rose in the theater in 1979. I went with my friends. We played together in a Top 40 cover band at that time and this seemed like a good movie for a bunch of wanna-be musicians to take in.

The movie is about a young rocker who just wants her life back but her agent/manager/producer wants her to keep working to make him money.

She does drugs and at the end, dies. Or at least the movie implies she does. I prefer to think she went into a coma and eventually woke up and went on to live a quiet life.

I suppose it is a thinly-veiled Janis Joplin movie.

Bette Midler does a great job in this movie. The song "The Rose" brings tears to my eyes nearly every time I hear it.

I remember when I saw the movie in the theater, us girls in the band were bawling when we left.

I did not cry last night when I watched it but it sure made me feel kind of sad.

Wall-E

I received the movie Wall-E for Christmas.

We watched it Saturday night.

The movie is, on the surface, a story about a robotic trash compactor that falls in love with another robot when it visits from space. He follows her back to her ship. After some adventures, romance ensues.

However, this movie is full of messages.

There is the "humans are polluting the earth and making it unfit for habitation" message.

And the "humans do nothing but stuff their faces and sit on their fat asses" message."

Also the "corporations are taking over the world and they aren't doing a very good job of taking care of much of anything" message.

And "the smallest person (or robot, in this case) can make a difference" message.

The movie's premise is that B&L Corporation has taken over everything. The world becomes so polluted thanks to the consumer culture that there is nothing left to do but build space ships and leave robot trash compactors to take care of the planet. The idea was to be gone for five years, at which point the place would be cleaned up and inhabitable again.

That didn't happen, and mankind roams around in space for 700 years hoping the planet will repair itself, I guess. The ship's captain sends out probes to earth every now and again hoping for signs of plant life, even though everyone has forgotten what a plant is.

Wall-E is one of the last working robot trash compactors, if not the last one. Eve comes from space; she's a probe looking for a plant.

Wall-E has developed into more than a robot. He likes to watch Hello Dolly and collect stuff, including parts with which to repair himself. I suppose 700 years could do that to a trash compactor.

This movie received good reviews and made Pixar a lot of money.

I couldn't get past all of the "messages" to enjoy the film. I generally like apocalyptic movies - some of my favorites are Waterworld, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, The Postman, etc., and some of my favorite books (1984; Alas, Babylon) deal with the topic.

But humanity was portrayed in such a ghastly manner that I really didn't care if they came back to earth or not. Nor did I care much about Wall-E. I know I was supposed to but I didn't, mostly, I think, because the messages about the world and humanity so overshadowed the little robot that I could hardly see him for the larger back story.

I don't disagree with any of the main messages of the film, but I was dismayed that those messages took center stage. I felt like I was being beaten over the head with them.

Maybe I need to watch it again because I must have missed something crucial to the film since it received such good reviews. Perhaps I shall blame it on my cold.


*In the commentary section on Wikepedia, linked to above, there are notes about others who took issue with the film, many for different reasons than what I've cited.*

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

The other night we watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Very good movie!

Lots of action, a little romance, plenty of mystery. Vintage Indiana Jones stuff, cleverly updated to the McCarthy times.

Recommended to all Indiana Jones fans.

4 stars

A Really Stupid (and bad) Movie

Last night we watched You Don't Mess with the Zohan, which stars Adam Sandler.

This was, hands down, one of the worst movies I have watched in a long time. If we hadn't ordered it on pay-per-view I'd have stopped watching after the first 10 minutes. As it was I picked up a book while my husband watched it.

Even James, who has a much higher tolerance for bad movies, said after 40 minutes that we just wasted $4 ordering that movie.

He likes Adam Sandler, generally, and has seen most if not all of his movies. I have always found them too stupid to endure for the most part. I can't think of a single one that I would watch a second time.

This movie was so sexist that I wanted to puke. The lead character treated women as if they were nothing but his personal sex toys. The debasement began in the first minute of the movie and continued throughout. If you have any respect for women, or if you find the objectification of women objectionable, then this movie is not for you.

The basic plot is Zohan is some super Israeli fighter who wants to be a hairdresser. He fakes his death and goes to New York. He meets a Palestinian hair dresser who gives him a chance and he turns the salon into a famous place (because of course the poor female hair dresser couldn't do it herself).

I think there was some message about people getting along there at the end and being peaceful but it was pretty much lost in the midst of all of the stupidity portrayed in the rest of the movie.

ZERO stars

Swing Vote

Last weekend we saw the movie Swing Vote with Kevin Costner.

The movie basically is about a down-and-out divorced father who works in a egg factory (and gets fired during the movie). Through some twisted logic, he becomes the key vote during the presidential elections.

The presidential candidates then via for his vote.

That's the plot, but the movie is quite a commentary on our society. It is billed as a comedy but I cried throughout much of the show.

The movie highlighted the people that don't seem to matter in this country, at least not to the media and not to the government. Costner's character was one of those folks who have given up and lost hope of ever doing anything with his life. Why should he bother voting, much less trying to understand the issues, when so little of it pertains to his life?

He doesn't care about abortion or stem cell research or the War in Iraq, except that its taken some his drinking buddies away from town. He does care about high prices, gassing up his truck, feeding his daughter and making sure she gets to school.

The presidential candidates swoop into town to convince this uneducated bumpkin to vote for their side. It doesn't really matter what they stand for or if they are right or left in their politics; if Costner's character said he liked purple and the polka that is all that mattered.

Finally Costner's daughter forced him to understand the importance of his decision. He read letters that folks just like himself sent to him, hoping he would make a difference. He asked for a debate between the two candidates. One of the letters asked why, in a nation so rich, is there so little for those who have the least?

It is a good question and the movie did not answer it. That's because the answers are multiple and singular. I can name it in one word: greed.

The concept of the Greater Good has vanished. People do not care about one another. If I know you I might care about you but otherwise, I have no need or desire to see that you are safe and fed. That is how people think, with their eyes and hearts completely closed.

Politicians listen only to whiny self-inflated egoists who sit in their McMansions boo-hooing because they might have to pay another $100 a year in taxes. Those crybabies never think that their money might feed another person, or fix a road so that their best friend's cousin doesn't get killed in the bad curve, or pay for health care for an elderly mother who just had a stroke. All they think about is their tightly closed pocketbook.

The politicians (or the McMansion crowd) don't hear the cries of the waitress trying to raise her daughter on $18,000 a year. Or the sounds of a family of four trying to get back on $24,000 a year. They don't realize that there is no blame - not everyone can come out on top. Despite the rhetoric, we can't all be president or run corporations or make a million dollars. There just isn't enough time or space.

The politicians just hear Halliburton's cries for more cash and Exxon's demands for lower pollution controls. Big business rules. Hail the corporations!

This movie pointed out what is wrong and sad about this country and about the pitiful and sick election process that we undergo every four years.

It made some members of the audience uncomfortable and it made me cry. I wish everyone would watch this flick and understand, if only for a moment, the absolute unfairness of our capitalistic system and just how undemocratic our so-called democracy really is.

Miscellaneous Media

My husband likes to laugh. He loves Comedy Central and he enjoys watching comedians and funny movies. When we first started dating, he was constantly quoting lines from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I had to watch the movie to see what he was talking about.

These days, he is fascinated with Jeff Dunham. Jeff is a ventriloquist and comic. You can view some of his skits on his website here.

I just wanted to point the ventriloquist out in case someone hasn't seen him. Some of his work is a little irreverent. I like his character Peanut the best. You can find more of his stuff on youtube.com if you care to look.

Moving on.

I have seen two movies in the past two months. While not a record, it is close. We don't get to the theater often. We both have a thing about paying $7.75 for a small soft drink and a bottle of water. We can stay at home and drink out of the tap for free.

Anyway, I saw The Golden Compass in December. I was disappointed in the movie because it could have been so much more. It had the potential to have the scope and depth of Lord of the Rings, but it did not. I think it failed the book. Philip Pullman's vision was not realized. I found the lead character unappealing and I never felt I knew her or her motivations. Others have said otherwise, of course.

Sunday we saw National Treasure: Book of Secrets. I enjoyed this film, probably because I took no expectations into the theater with me. I enjoyed the first movie, too. I love history and I love mystery so these movies work well for me.

For Christmas, I received all but one of the remaining seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer which I was missing. Buffy was a show I enjoyed but until this year I did not see the seasons beyond Season 4. I thought overall the series ended better than Xena: Warrior Princess, which is the only other set of DVDs for which I have the entire show.

After the New Year I ordered the last missing Buffy season, and while I was at it, I ordered the first season of Cagney and Lacey.

If you're seeing a pattern as to the kinds of TV I watch, well, then you know why I don't watch TV much anymore. You rarely see well-produced and written shows these days about strong women who overcome the odds and move forward with their lives. Apparently those women have turned into ... well, I watch so little TV these days I don't even have anything to compare them to.

The only show I make any effort to watch now is Ghost Whisperer and while Melinda is an interesting character she is not in the same league as Buffy, that's for sure. I attempted the new Bionic Woman and it didn't do it for me - she was just a puppet, not a thinking woman.

Other shows that I used to watch include La Femme Nikita, Murphy Brown, and Designing Women. I even liked Charlie's Angels, the (real) Bionic Woman, and Wonder Woman when I was (much) younger.

I am always up to checking out a show, so you if know of something that might fit the "strong woman" bill, let me know. I rather miss knowing that on X night of the week, there will be good TV.

In the meantime, I have this big pile of books... and I will continue to read.

Movie: Shenandoah

Shenandoah
1965
With Jimmy Stewart

We caught this old movie Friday night. Neither of us had ever seen it. I happened to have managed to be in charge of the remote for a time (this is unusual) and I stopped on it.

It's set not far from where I live, just up the valley. While I don't think it was filmed on location - that landscape certainly looked more Californian than Virginian to me - it was interesting to watch.

Charlie Anderson is a farmer who doesn't want to take sides in the Civil War. Then his youngest son is taken prisoner by a Yankee brigade. The movie really brought home how devastating war is on everyone, even those who want no part of it.

3.75 stars

Movie: Little Miss Sunshine

Little Miss Sunshine is a movie about a very dysfunctional family who wants to take their daughter 900 miles away to a beauty contest.

There really is a Little Miss Sunshine contest. I know this because my niece has won the one around here. Several times.

Anyway, this movie won two Oscars in 2006. Which is way better than winning a beauty contest, I bet.

The movie was billed as a comedy but I did not find it funny. I considered it a drama. It was rather engaging and I enjoyed watching Steve Carrell (sp?) in something other than a stupid movie such as 40-year old Virgin. He is a pretty good actor when he isn't sticking something up his nose or whatever.

3 stars

Movie: Chuck and Larry

Last night we saw Chuck and Larry at the the theater. Since my husband is a fireman, it apparently was must-see. We went with a bunch of fire-fighting friends.

I think Husband found it amusing but I laughed only twice during the entire two hours.

The movie was stereoptypical, mean, and based on an unbelievable premise. Potty humor never has really appealed to me.

2 stars

Movies: Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix

We took in the fifth Harry Potter movie on July 19.

Seeing as it was based on the book of the same name, I wasn't expecting much action. That book did not have as much going for it as I would have liked. It was, I think, a kind of a fill-in book, a way to age Harry or something.

Anyway, the movie was so-so. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was definitely a better fim.

The children have grown and are young adults. Unfortunately for the fellow who plays Harry, it was very obvious. The young man definitely needed a shave . . .

2.5 stars

Movies: Shrek the Third

Shrek the Third
Now playing in a theater near you

We love Shrek around our house. We have sat and watched the first two Shreks numerous times.

I am sorry to say I doubt we watch the third one over and over, unless it turns out to be one of those movies that gets better on second viewing.

This Shrek was a little darker with few laughs. My husband can generally find a laugh in something long before me, but even he was disappointed in this film.

"They made one too many Shreks," he commented as the closing titles came on the screen.

The magic was missing in this film. Instead of feeling fresh and original, this seemed trite and tired. For me, from the beginning there was a plot hole big enough to drive a tractor trailer through and I had difficulty getting past that. The king was dying; the queen still lived. His daughter lived. And Shrek was named king, didn't want to be and set off in search of Arthur ... why?

Merlin made an appearance as a hippie, and could have been a wonderful character but wasn't. I felt like there were many missed opportunities in this movie and I'm rather sorry about it.

I was perfectly willing to enjoy it, and it wasn't bad but it certainly didn't blow me away.

2.5 stars

Thursday Thirteen

1. Overheard in Books-A-Million: "I ordered Harry Potter but I never got my card to present. I have to have that book when it comes in so I can read it! Can you check on my order?" The words were spoken by a wizened white-haired man.

2. The next Harry Potter movie comes out in July.

3. The seventh - and last - Harry Potter book comes out in July also.

4. I have the weekend of July 21 marked off on my calendar so I can spend that Saturday reading the book.

5. I didn't start reading J. K. Rowling's books until the fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, came out. Then I went back and read the others.

6. Now I am an avowed Harry Potter fan, but I tend to forget the details of the books.

7. The movies so far have been very well done.

8. Harry Potter has grown up a lot in the books and I appreciate the character development.

9. Rowling has a great play on words and her character names have been well-thought-out.

10. My closest friend has never read Harry Potter. Neither has my husband, although he goes to the theater to watch the movies with me.

11. Once when I was discussing Harry Potter with someone in a restaurant, a woman turned around and informed me I was going to hell because Harry Potter is stuff of the devil.

12. Her son or grandson, who looked to be about 13, told the woman it was only fantasy.

13. Kids can tell the difference between fantasy and reality. It seems to be adults who don't know the difference.

Movie: Man of the Year

This 2006 release stars Robin Williams. It is directed by Barry Levinson.

We watched it last weekend as a pay-per-view on DirectTV.

We generally enjoy Robin Williams; my husband is an ardent fan. However, in recent years that ardor has cooled as Williams' seems to have become practically manic in his delivery.

Williams portrays Tom Dobbs, a talk show host (think Bill Maher or Jon Stewart) who runs for office and wins.

Meanwhile, there is a problem with the new electronic voting machines sanctioned by Congress. Pretty girl realizes there is a problem, gets in way of big corporation, gets smeared, attempts to tell Dobbs that he really didn't win, falls for him, etc. etc.

The movie had about three laughs and was very heavy handed in its messages. While I agree with the messages, I am not sure they make for good entertainment. Yes, the electoral college system we use is weird, to say the least - a man winning the presidency by winning 13 states? Sure, it can be done with our system.

That was one of the messages.

The other is the complete distrust of electronic voting, and I really agree with that message. I think the machines can be rigged and altered and are totally unsecure. But it's hard to make an entire movie around it, especially a movie that didn't know whether it was a comedy or an action flick.

Maybe if they'd chosen total action flick?

Anyway, I was glad we didn't waste the money at the theater to see this.

1.5 stars