Busy Weekend

We had last Thursday and Friday off from school....remnants of the old "Teacher's Convention" of yesteryear.  The convention is gone but the days off remain.  Thursday was slotted as Parent Teacher Conferences, but my team tries to be flexible and hold them mornings and evenings the week before and the week after the Thursday...all to get the day off!

My wife and kids still had school.  The town we live in went through a Teacher's Strike several years ago.  As a result, they missed a lot of school days that year and ever since the calendar has been different from the surrounding districts.

I didn't do much on Thursday as a result of a REALLY late night on Wednesday.  Dinner with my teaching partner and then some late night prowling with my cousin as he waited for a flight to arrive.

Thursday was my wife's birthday.  The kids and I gave her her presents before they all left for the day.

The rest of the day involved a long nap and a re-watching of "Serenity".  The movie grows and grows on me with each viewing.

# 84 on my flickchart list

After picking up the kids and dropping them off where they needed to be, I put an episode of The Mike O'Meara Show on to my iPhone and mowed the lawn.

We had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants that night and then settled in for the night.

Friday was rainy and cold, so we settled in for a mini-film festival.

# 3 on my flickchart list

 

# 34 on my flickchart list

# 240 on my flickchart list

Plans got a bit screwy for our family and I ended up seeing "Looper" by myself.

# 139 on my flickchart list

It is rare these days where I care enough to pay to go see a movie but this one had enough buzz and an intriguing concept.  It is also rare where I avoid all spoilers and can be truly surprised by a movie but I did my best with this one.

I left slightly underwhelmed but it is growing on me in retrospect.  I think I need to see it again at some point. I won't spoiler it for anyone who may be waiting to see it.  Needless to say, if you think this is your sort of movie, it probably is....some action, makes you think, sort of a twist ending....

On my way home, I stopped at one of the few video stores still in business and bought four movies.  One for the kids, two for all of us and one for me.

Saturday involved breakfast out after a few episodes of "Law and Order".  We also played a game of Monopoly.  Nan got kind of bored after an hour and "killed" her player (we don't tend to use the Monopoly pieces....usually there are HeroClix or MiniMates or the like on the board).  We then proceeded to play "Haunted Monopoly".  The rules got weird, but we swapped Nan's figure for a ghost and had to pay "Exorcism Fees" and deal with "Fright Attack" damage.

The night ended with a game of poker.  The Armchair Squid was there and will probably do a better job of writing things up.  There was a LOT of Texas Hold 'Em when I was hoping for a variety of games, but it was a fun night.  I left with about $12 more than I arrived with!

Today's highlight was watching one of our new movies..."Unstoppable".

# 38 on my flickchart

If you've stuck around this long, I'll give you the short version.  I really liked this movie after I first saw it.  It kind of stuck with me.  I'm not so good with the reviews but this was a fun flick.  The characters got established quickly.  The writing was crisp and the interactions were believable.  The story is credible and edge of your seat tense.

Much longer post than I usually do.  I erased and rewrote it a few times but will leave this babbly version.

And I realize I left out so much! Part Two tomorrow?

Film Festival Friday: 6/29/12

Another week, another batch of movies!

Currently #74 on my flickchart list.

The week started very rainy here in Vermont. I took advantage of that and spent some time Monday on the computer working on my comic book database and put "Serenity" on in the background.

I am a late-to-the-party Whedon fan.  I had read his comic book runs on "Astonishing X-Men" (enjoyed it) and "Runaways" (caused me to drop the book) but hadn't seen any of his TV work.  We were fans of Nathan Fillion from "Castle" and once The Armchair Squid shared he had enjoyed "Firefly", we hunted down the series and become instant converts.

I'm not sure how the movie works as a stand alone film as I've not spoken to anyone who has seen it but NOT seen the show.  The phenomenal opening tracking shot (actually TWO shots nicely cut together) does a great job of introducing you to the main characters and setting up the story.  It is action packed, funny, grim and exciting!

Currently #124 on my flickchart list

Tuesday's comic session had "Live Free or Die Hard" with Bruce Willis playing in the background.  I went with the unrated version.  I remember seeing this in the theater when it was PG-13 and realizing how badly they had erred by going with a lower rating.  Die Hard NEEDS to be an R rated adventure. 

Currently #37 on my flickchart list

Each summer, I try to send my new class of students a postcard every couple of weeks.  On Wednesday, it was time to send out the first batch.  "Predator" with Arnold Schwarzenegger seemed to be a good choice to have on in the background.

Currently #41 on my flickchart list

Last night Nan and I watched "North By Northwest" with Cary Grant.  What a great movie, from start to finish.  I think a Hitchcock week is in order.  The Armchair Squid recently talked about starting his daughter on some Hitchcock movies....I think that is a GREAT idea!