Rats, Robots, Indiana, Fetuses, Wizards, Explosions, and Exercise

Things have gotten away with me a bit, so here's the quick lowdown on the fun stuff for July.

July 3rd, Tuesday-Ratatouille
I cannot begin to tell you how much I loved this movie. I was in tears when the title dish was tasted. Seriously. And I don't usually cry at movies. The story made sense, the characters were well-rounded, and beautifully animated. The colors were warm and rich, Paris never looked so inviting. Rats never looked so intelligent and agile. And what a lovely sentiment, that excellence, that truth, that being what you truly are, that all of these things are important and should be celebrated. How wonderful.

July 4th, Wednesday-Transformers
And then there were robots. Destroying stuff. And fighting each other. I loved the cartoon when I was a kid and was all excited to see the live-action movie ever since I saw the teaser trailer online. Bumblebee was annoying, but the big fights with the robots destroying a city made up for the ridiculous plot which inexplicably involved Shia LeBeouf's antique eyeglasses, if you can believe that. But who cares about plot when you have great special effects? Um, well, you know I do like a good story. But explosions are fun too!



July 6-10, Friday to Tuesday-Indiana and Daryl's Grandfather's Birthday
We went to Indiana to see Daryl's grandfather for his 90th birthday. (Isn't Daryl handsome?)

And then we saw his mom's family and met a new addition to the extended family, Nicky.
July 14th, Saturday-Knocked Up and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
OK, I still cannot believe that Katherine Heigl would end up with Seth Rogen, but for the purposes of this movie I'm gonna give it a pass. (I mean, it's like she's forcing herself to like the guy because she's going to have his baby.) It's nice to see a male comedy that actually wants the man to grow up and make it seem like a good thing. But that happens in the last 15 minutes of the movie and what you have before that, for about an hour and 45 minutes, is men acting like kids. And that's the funny part. I guess growing up isn't funny? And the crazy neurotic women are the funny ones. Why aren't there more funny women in the movies? What's up with that?

And speaking of women in movies, Dolores Umbridge, from the latest Harry Potter movie, is one of the best villains I think I've ever seen in a movie. The actress, Imelda Staunton is fantastic. Umbridge is all pink plaid with hundreds of kitten plates straight from the So Cute it Hurts factory where they pump out adorable little fluffballs to insinuate themselves right into our brains and make us say, "Awww." But Umbridge, is also perfectly fine with torture, and what's most important to her is the accumulation and continuation of that power. Umbridge is also the worst kind of villain, in that, she thinks she's doing the right thing by doing the worst thing, and when she gets her comeuppance, you cheer. Harry's going through a bad time and is isolated, even from his good friends. Evanna Lynch is wonderful and perfect for the role of Luna Lovegood. It may even be said that she makes Luna even better than the books. It's not the greatest Harry Potter movie, but it was pretty good.

July 15th, Sunday-Live Free or Die Hard
OK, remember the statement about explosions? In this movie, it happens in the first five minutes! The movie is a total exercise in the more explosions the better, the more fights the better. And there's some great action and the hero uses a car to hit a helicopter. It's fantastic. Kevin Smith shows up to confirm all conspiracy theories and Justin Long is around to teach us all how to steal a car that has the OnStar system. And Bruce Willis does a great job of making us believe he's too old to be doing this, even though there are plenty of opportunities in the movie where he would most likely be dead. It's not a deep movie, but it's satisfying in the way that watching big explosions are satisfying.

July 21st, Saturday-I bought an elliptical exercise machine. I was so excited about it, I cannot even say.

July 29th, Sunday - And in honor of the Simpsons movie, I visited a local Kwik-E-Mart.