1 month of movies + 2 others worth noting

I have watched a LOT of movies in the last month. It started when I got home and learned that my parents had HBO and DVR. It's like Disneyland for someone like me who doesn't even have cable. Here are the movies I watched while in Sioux Falls (and yes, I did actually leave the house quite a bit):
1. The Departed: though this is a movie I've seen and it's very bloody, it's a GREAT STORY about a dirty cop and another secretly infiltrating a mob group. I've wanted to see it again, knowing how it ends, so it was nice to not have to pay to re-watch it.
2. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation: Mark and I keep saying we want to watch this with the fam at Christmas, and this year we finally did. It is STILL so funny.
3. The Princess Bride: I wasn't obsessed with this movie like my college friends, but when my Dad and I had a night at home and I learned he hadn't seen it, I told him we had to watch it. I think he got a laugh or two from it.
4. A Prairie Home Companion: I wanted to see this even though I hadn't ever listened to the show on NPR. My parents and I watched it and I'm hoping it got them excited about going to a recording in Minneapolis (they have tickets!). Note: I AM listening to the radio show on NPR as I type this. :)
5. Dan in Real Life: I went to see this with my friends Tami and Danyelle at the cheap theater in Sioux Falls. It was VERY GOOD. I LOVE Steve Carrell. I'd recommend it and will likely buy it.

When I got back to Portland, the Urban Family New Year's weekend started. Here are the movies from that weekend (we packed a lot in):
1. Once: this is an indie/european movie about 2 people who meet randomly and record music together. It's a musical, lots of music and very slow moving. I really liked it but the others did not.
2. Juno: this is my favorite movie I've seen in months, maybe all year. Sure, it is about teenage pregnancy and a couple dealing with infertility, but it is FUNNY and witty and sharp and sweet. The soundtrack is great (with a lot of music by Kimya Dawson, who I hadn't heard of before). Highly recommended movie, if you like quirky stuff like The Royal Tennenbaums or Napoleon Dynamite.
3. Stardust: this was the hit of the weekend for us. It's a fairytale in the vein (vain) of The Princess Bride about a fallen star, a prince, and a witch with an all-star cast.
4. The Namesake: I had heard lots about this on NPR's Fresh Air (see Terry Gross link to the right) and looked forward to the meaningful story. It's exactly what you'd expect in a story about a young man dealing with his family heritage v. US culture. P.S. His girlfriend is played by Jacinda from The Real World London.

All this movie watching made me realize I don't go out to movies a lot and I never rent them (expensive!) but I LOVE movies. So I joined Blockbuster Online. :) I have already caught 3 and have many more on the way:
1. Waitress: this is about a waitress in an abusive marriage who gets pregnant and has an affair. It's quite funny. It's also tragic--the woman who wrote and co-starred in the movie was tragically and randomly killed before it got to theaters.
2. A Mighty Heart: This is the movie about the wife of a reporter who is held hostage. Good Oscar-type movie. It's exactly what you expect from the previews and it's not a "must see" but it's good.
3. Hairspray: It just felt like a movie to see since I saw the original one years back. Very campy, light, funny. I was laughing and cheesing through most of it.

A couple of other really good movies I saw earlier this year are worth noting. These are strong recommendations:
1. Enchanted: I think EVERYONE should see this. It, like Hairspray, is very campy but it is the most feel-good movie I've seen in a while. It's about an animated princess who falls into the non-animated world and is searching for her prince. Amy Adams and Patrick Dempsey are great.
2. Into the Wild: Quite the opposite of a feel-good movie, this is a movie about a college grad who takes off to find meaning in the world having grown up with a materialistic family. His aim is to live alone in Alaska in the wilderness. This is a true story, very interesting.

That's the end of my long post on movies. :)