movie reviews

MOVIE NIGHTS: POMPEII

luxorlivingandstyle
Posted on Friday, June 13, 2014 9:34 AM
Pompeii, Movie Review, Love Story, Kit Harington, Carrie Ann Moss, Kiefer Sutherland, Luxor Living and Style, Movies, great rental
 
     If there is a romantic bone in your body, you will love this movie.  This is one that stays with you for days after viewing it.     
 
It’s about love and politics.  And religion. And the wrath of God.  It entangles the reality of the lost city of Pompeii and the destruction caused there, but there is a fictional love story as well which is done so very well.

     You can feel the chemistry between these two characters. Kit Harington (Game of Thrones, which I’ve not yet seen) and Emily Browning play the young, would-be couple and Kiefer Sutherland plays a perfectly detestable antagonistic ass.
 
     Basically, a slave falls in love with an absolutely beautiful daughter of a wealthy merchant.
     The film was just released in February of this year. Love, love, love!  Go rent it when you’re in the mood for a fabulous love story.
 Enjoy your weekend.
                                                                                                                                                                       
 
-SDS
-June 13, 2014
Share this post!

MOVIE NIGHTS: Labor Day

luxorlivingandstyle

MOVIE NIGHT review, Labor Day Movie, Josh Brolin, Kate Winslet, rental ideas, Luxor Living and Style, film review,
      I’m trying so hard to continue with my usual Friday posts forMovie Nights, and I finally found one!  This is such a chick flick.That being stated, my husband loved this movie, too!
 
     If you are in love with love and romance and attraction and if you are in love with the idea of hoping for love, this is a movie for you.  Some people want and desire nothing more than to be loved.  This is especially true, even when life derails you.  Nothing means as much without people to share your life with. ( Climbing down from the soap box.)
 
     Josh Brolin plays an inmate who, through various events occurring over the long Labor Day Weekend, ends up spending time with Kate Wislet’s character, who, before experiencing her long weekend with the inmate, was beaten down by life, and barely hanging on emotionally.
 
     In a way, these characters are a lot of us.  Life is hard. We may not be where we planned on being, we can all be frazzled and jaded and hurt. Needy. Vulnerable.   I suppose this is why it’s easy to connect with the characters.
 
     I’m not even going to talk about how easy it is to stare at Josh Brolin.  His hair is gloriously sexy.  
 
     If you think the plot is unthinkable, I find it very realistic.  I once lived on a secluded, 500 acre ranch for years and it was just outside Houston about an hour away.  The Texas prison system has real estate just off the highway, in Huntsville so we all would pass by as we went on with our daily lives.  The inmates  would often be outside gardening in the fields right next to the roads.  A married college girl who worked for me came into work one day and stated, ” I don’t know about ya’ll…but I kind of like the way those inmates look at me when I drive by!  I sure wish my husband would look at me like that!”  We all laughed.
 
    Being around the prison system, you also hear the stories of guards who fall in love with inmates and divorce their spouses.  Recently on the news, there was a big story about an inmate who had impregnated several different female guards on his block.  Point being, people do meet ex convicts or inmates and get swept away.
 
     This story is clean and decent, and is about two people needingeach other, and that’s always a good thing. Loved it!
 
     (You can check out other Movie Night  ideas in the thread here!)
-SDS
-May 17, 2014
Share this post!

MOVIE NIGHTS: MY WEEK WITH MARILYN

luxorlivingandstyle
    Friends always ask me where we go and what we do at night and are not excited by my answer. It’s what we appropriately  call “Movie Night.”  This is when one or the other picks out a movie to rent at home, we have a show time that our movie will start, gather the babies on the sofa in a blanket with all the lights off and scented candles burning and enjoy an hour and a half of escapism and relaxation together at home(…and of course there must be snacks!) Movie nights at home are an “event” for us. 
 
     When friends ask us how we stay home so many nights and why we don’t go out more often the answer is always the same…”going out is like taking sand to the beach!”  I have what I want at home.  We love being home and we love our planned movie nights.  I plan on blogging about the movies we come across that are worth seeing every Friday morning in case if you missed it at the theater!
 
     I had never planned on seeing this film…at the theater or from my sofa.   Marilyn is often portrayed as simple and one faceted.  I didn’t have time for yet another thing Marilyn, yet in the door he walks with our movie for the night…and he thought I’d be happy with “My Week With Marilyn” which had come out earlier this year.
 
     I pretended to be content with his movie selection, and after dinner we gathered with the babies on the sofa and began the film.
 
     I totally was not expecting a wonderful movie, but it touched our hearts, it had lovely scenery and Michelle Williams acting and appearance was stunning. She was awarded a Golden Globe for Best Actress  for this film.
 
     Usually, whenever anyone is trying to portray Marilyn, a lot of red lipstick is used, as a lot of obvious eye contour as well, however in this film, the makeup artistry was amazingly natural looking.
 
      We walked away from the film feeling we understood Marilyn Monroe a lot better than before, and were extremely impressed with Michelle Williams as well as the entire cast.  This movie will stay with you.
 
    This is a MUST-RENT !!
 
 
 
 
 
September 21, 2013
–SDS
Share this post!

MOVIE NIGHTS: Hope Springs

luxorlivingandstyle
Hope Springs Movie oster, Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, Steve Carrell, MOVIE NIGHT, Luxor Living
       I am a lover of Psychology and a loather of dysfunction.  If you’ve ever been in a relationship that was dysfunctional with an emotionally distressed individual, then you would especially like this movie.
 
  This film made the perils of marriage as funny as possible, while also revealing the initial root causes and demise of the sexual relationship between two adults.
 
  My husband was somewhat disturbed by the film, and in total disbelief that there would be couples out there who do not engage in sexual activity for extremely long periods of time. Our personal theories on the subject are the same, in that if you are not having sex with your spouse…guess what people…you are not married. It’s not acceptable, it’s not normal, you’ve lost your mind and you have severely deep rooted issues. Period, that’s it.  If you despise the person you are married to so much, that you do not wish to be next to them, every night, sleeping in the same bed and enjoying their company…then you shouldn’t be married. (Can you tell this is an issue I am passionate about?)
 
Steve Carrell, Hope Springs Movie
 
  I can speak to the subject because I was married once before and it literally poisoned my soul for years as I tried to get to the root of the individual’s various problems, so I now have a “zero tolerance” policy regarding the relationships and people in my life.  It is because of this, that I loved this movie.
 
  I found Hope Springs to be fun, but real and even though we have no issues in the area of our connection…we never plan on it so we refer to this movie in the respect of never, ever wanting out relationship to get to such a severe point.
 
   Tommy Lee Jones and Meryl Streep are both fabulous in their portrayals of the otherwise perfect married couple, and Steve Carrell plays the perfect marriage counselor. 
 
   Around 15 to 20% of couples claim to only be having sex 10 times per year.  Experts define this and anything less to be a sexless marriage. So this film does accurately portray more marriages than you know. See this film!
 
   Go forth and rent!
-SDS
-August 2, 2013
Share this post!

MOVIE NIGHTS: Rumour Has It

luxorlivingandstyle

     Never ever do I feel like I have so much time to burn, that I want to watch a movie for a second time, however in this case I’ve made an exception! Rumour Has It was released on DVD in 2006, but maybe you missed it !!!
 
     We fell in love with this cute movie about a year ago when we rented it…and it forced us off the freeway we were on in California last month,  when we saw a sign that said “Half Moon Bay.”  We ended up taking a 24 hour detour and stayed the night in that town out of curiosity! (See Half Moon Bay blog here) 
So we decided to watch it again this weekend, and it’s a really cute film.
 
     It has Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner, Shirley MacClain and Mark Ruffalo. Basically, it’s a love story/chick flick but it’s hard to tell who’s really in love until the end! 
 
      The writing is very clever and you won’t be bored with the scenery either. I won’t bore you with the details, but everyone we asked about the movie had never seen it. (Yes, we were typical tourists while in Half Moon Bay and had asked people there if they had seen the movie, but nobody had there either!) They were too excited about the new movie that was actually filmed there this year called  Chasing Mavericks with Gerard Butler.
 
     Back to the film, Rumour Has It…if you have not seen it, RENT IT! The scenery is amazing and the story line is witty!
October 5, 2012
–SDS
Share this post!