Movie: Lars and the Real Girl

Meghan brought home the movie "Lars and the Real Girl" on a reco from someone at her work. I have to say I faintly remember seeing the ads but the movie seemed to slip by without much press. Well - I am here to tell you that it was amazing! Movie Rating: A+

You are probably better off just watching it without knowing too much about it, so I won't give out many details. The movie is a drama - though it is mostly uplifting and funny - but not in a "laugh out loud" kind of way. The plot revolves around a man (Lars) who is socially awkward (probably some mental illness) and falls in love with a life size female doll. There is a similarly awkward female co-worker who falls for Lars and there is a love triangle with Lars, the girl and the doll. It is an extremely engaging film and what I liked most about it was how there wasn't a bad guy. There was no tension (no need for an antagonist) but it was a very compelling and heart warming journey about acceptance and love.

I also need to add that the actors chosen were perfect for their roles and totally made the movie. Probably falls close to "Little Miss Sunshine" in that regard.

Sleeper Movie - Arlington Road

Very few movies have delivered for me like Arlington Road. Whenever movies come up over a lunch conversation, I can count on 2 things:

1) Very few people have heard of or seen Arlington Road

2) Almost everyone I recommend the movie to comes back and tells me how much they loved it.

Since I was just reminded this week how good a reco this movie was, so I figured it was worth a blog. The movie is rated R and not for kids.

Arlington Road was made in 1999 however the movie has only become MORE relevant with time as Tim Robbins suspects his neighbor of plotting a terrorist attack. If you are interested in a suspense / thriller this is it! I highly recommend seeing it without doing much more digging on the movie, you will enjoy the twists and turns.

I did find a "safe" review on IMDB.com

"Arlington Road" is the perfect example for how thrillers should be made.

A good story, a good atmosphere, good actors and voila! you have got a good thriller. "Arlington Road" has got it all and it's a near perfect movie that is a must see for the thriller fans.

The intense beginning sets the mood for the rest of the movie. It's atmospheric and tense right till the good ending. I'll admit that there are some slow moments and some distracting plot lines but it doesn't take away the tension or ruins the atmosphere in any kind of way.

The movie is very well casted with Jeff Bridges as the more and more paranoid getting Michael Faraday and Tim Robbins as his neighbour that he begins to suspects of being a terrorist. Both main actors pull of really well and help to created the good thriller atmosphere that this movie has.

Good thriller with a great atmosphere, story, actors and ending that will stay with you forever.

Movie Review: Lake House

Meghan and I rented "Lake House" last night per Shelby's request. If you are not familiar with the movie, it's about 2 people who fall in love (blah blah blah) but the fun part is that they rent the same lake house but live 2 years apart. Got it? They fall in love but are in different times.

I really enjoyed the movie because it makes you think differently and it takes you a while to get into what's going on. However you have to get over the fact that yes Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock are the main characters, but NO there is no exploding bus involved. Also the movie is NOT about really convincing you how they could communicate 2 years apart or how they fall in love, all of that you kind of quickly have to take for granted.

The movie spends most of its time saying if these things were possible, what might happen and how strange this must be. I had no problem getting past these things and enjoying the movie for what it's about, a neat idea. If you are the type of person who gets hung up on the details of a movie and it ruins it for you, this movie may bug you. However the idea is fun and I really enjoyed it.

Reminded me a bit of K-PAX, which I also recommend. That's a movie that makes you feel like a kid again, like there really is all sorts of possibility that we don't yet understand.

Monopoly: Here and Now

As you may or may not know I am a huge fan of poker because it is "a game of people played with cards". For a similar reason I like monopoly because people's personalities really come out and everyone has a different idea on what is a "fair deal".

The original monopoly game was based on the streets of Atlantic City, well for the updated version each city in the US got to vote for their top 3 landmarks to make it into the game, and the landmarks were placed onto the board in order of which landmarks received the most votes!

Congrats to Fenway Park for becoming the "Park Place" of monopoly, sure we came in second to "Times Square" New York but that was to be expected based on population. A more important note is that Yankee stadium didn't make it on the board and therefore will be torn down in a few years :)



As expected Cincinnati is also not represented on the boardgame about the United States.

Some other interesting tidbits would be that the tokens are now "icons" of our culture (also known as product placement). These include McDonald's Fries, a Starbucks coffee, and a Toyota Prius (didn't know that existed), and a Motorola cell phone.

I just bought the game, I'll let you know if it plays the same.