Movies

All I Want for Christmas is…

kanniduba3 Comments

…a longer attention span?????

So, I went ALL ALONE to Church this morning.  I wanted—-well, okay, NEEDED to be present at Church this morning.  I wanted to devote one hour to focus my attention on the true meaning of this glorious season—one hour to myself to  devote to prayer and peace.  I’m always so distracted at Church when I have the whole family with me that I rarely come out with any deeper understanding or calmness of being.  So today was mine. 

And what I discovered was that my kids are not the reason for my distraction at Church.  I am just simply distractible!  There was no end to my distractions….my head was a jumble of intrusive thoughts.

“Oh, look at that cute baby…so sweet! Awww…he’s getting baptized today! I remember when Mister was baptized…his suit looked almost exactly like that one.  Wait!  FOCUS! FOCUS!”

Okay.

“Oh, look! There’s one of my former students…wow, he’s gotten so tall!  What was his name?  Kevin? Mike? Jason? No…Kevin, definitely Kevin…..or was it Will?  WAIT!  FOCUS! FOCUS!”

Deep breath.

“I can’t believe John still made it to Church this morning after their great party last night! I know if it were me, I would’ve skipped it….Carly must be home with the kids cleaning up.  I’ll have to call her later to chat about lunch next week.  WAIT! There I go again! FOCUS! FOCUS!”

Listening.

“What a great sermon he’s giving today…I can’t believe I only have four days left to prepare for Christmas!  What do I have left to do?  Okay, candy…wrapping…gifts for this one and that one…shoot, can’t forget to make those pillows!  Maybe tomorrow?  But wait, I have to go to the mall tomorrow.  And I really need to go visit my Grandmother.  Maybe I should’ve done that instead of coming to Church today.  CHURCH! DAMMIT! FOCUS! (Oops..sorry God!!  I can’t believe I thought the word Dammit in Church.  I’m going to Hell…)”

And on and on it went, until I finally asked God to grant me the serenity of mind to focus for the last 10 minutes of the service and not embarrass myself further with my random thoughts. 

I used to be smart.  I used to be able to pay attention and process information…ponder it, and comment intelligently on it.  Apparently, not anymore.  I think it must be parenthood, and the inability to get through a single thought without interruption that has rendered me incapable of sustaining my attention on anything for more than three seconds.  Or perhaps it’s the years of continuous multitasking that has rendered me incapable of sustaining my attention on ONE thing for any length of time…..my brain is conditioned to do many things at once…being forced to do ONE thing, it breaks into random thoughts of nothingness to give itself the illusion of multitasking so it doesn’t feel itself a failure.  Whatever the case, I DO know that I must learn to attend at Church, not just to attend Church.  I’m sure God doesn’t appreciate my inconsequential musings.  And neither do I. 

I want to be smart again.

Harry Potter…A Review

kanniduba4 Comments

So if you haven’t gone to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince yet, please do NOT read this post.  If you haven’t read the book yet, do NOT read this post….SPOILERS GALORE AHEAD!!!  READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Big Girl and I went to see the movie last Thursday night.  Was it as epic and fantastic as I had anticipated based on the trailers???  Absolutely!!!!! 

Until the end that is, where it fell flat as a left-over pancake.  To say I felt cheated and deflated leaving the theatre is an understatement, and it took me a couple of days to sort it all out enough to feel capable of writing a fair review.  I even began to doubt my memory, wondering if I had made up JK Rowling’s ending…surely the director would never veer so far from the book at such a critical and climactic moment?  Surely Rowling herself wouldn’t have allowed the director to flatten the climax?  It must be me….Maybe I imagined the epic battle between the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix inside the walls of Hogwarts?  Maybe I made up the sick stomach I had when I knew that evil had breached the walls of the castle?  Perhaps the palpable fear within it’s walls was a figment of my overdeveloped sense of fantasy?  Maybe Harry DID just stand and watch as Dumbledore was Avada Kadavra’d off the planet?  I must have misread the part where Dumbledore rendered Harry incapable of interfering knowing it would lead to his demise….and what about Bill Weasley?  Wasn’t he there and attacked by that horrible werewolf guy??  Hmmm…maybe not…..

But no, it wasn’t me.  The very anticlimactic scene in the movie left out all the important elements that Rowling included in the book, boiling the ending down to the simple and unbelievably easy act of killing Dumbledore, most absurdly, as Harry stood by and watched from a short distance.  Apparently, the director felt that piece of the ending was the only part worth telling…but he was so wrong.  In my opinion, the director missed a potentially career-altering opportunity to make a great movie into a brilliant masterpiece. 

Now that I have that off my chest, and backing up to the first two hours or so of the movie, it was brilliant!  The special effects were overwhelmingly dazzling!  I found my jaw dropping more than once…beautiful, believable, and flawless, the special effects drew me into the world of magic and gave me goosebumps.  The cinematography was stunning as well….the best since Harry Potter 3 which was a visual feast.  Beautiful camera angles, and a gorgeous, yet darker set all helped draw us into the story.

The character focused storytelling was also fantastic.  (Which made the ending even more shocking to me….why why why spend all that time on the rich character development, only to drop the ball at the end???  Grrr!)  The young Tom Riddle (at both ages) was hauntingly creepy.  Both actors were intensely sinister….I wouldn’t have guessed they could have found the right mix of cunning, charm, and downright creepiness in a child actor, and they found it twice.  Standing ovation for both young men.   And I also give props to Draco…..I wasn’t sure that I would be capable of feeling the proper mix of horror and empathy that was conveyed in the book, but Tom Felton did a magnificent job with his character. 

All in all, it was a wonderful film, and even though I felt cheated by the ending, I will watch it again…this time better prepared to handle my disappointment.  I am more anxious to go back and re-read the entire series though.  I want Rowling’s version in my mind, not David Yates’.

They’re On Sale!!!

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I got our seats yesterday! Had to go for the day after Opening Day due to a conflict with a prior commitment, but Big Girl and I are VERY excited! Zan and I will make a date to go later that weekend.

And just in case you want to see it again….*tee*hee*

Watch This Movie!!!!

kanniduba2 Comments

So, over the weekend I took Little Girl to see the movie UP at the theatre.  I expected it to be good.  I guess I didn’t expect it to be as heartwrenchingly brilliant as it was.  This was Pixar at it’s best.  The story was … important.  On so many levels, it was important.  And it struck me to the core of my soul.  Emotionally captivating and so breathtakingly human…you will fall in love with this story as I did.

Oh, yeah…and bring a box of Kleenex.  You’ll need them.