Jodie, is Message in a Bottle one of the Nicholas Sparks movies? I might be corny, but I LOVED "The Notebook". I thought the acting was really great with the two younger characters in that one. I cried!!!!!! As for Paul Newman, there is very little he does wrong! ;-)

watched "blaze" tonight with paul newman and lolita davidovich. such great lines in this movie. paul newman just said ..as he oggled blaze..."God, if i could walk like that i'd walk everywhere i went..." LOLOLOL! paul newman is excellent in this. one of the best acting jobs i've seen him do.

movie night around here and also saw "it's complicated". i'm a little slow to see stuff, you guys. this movie kind of angered me. for me, it fell into the "unedited" movie categories where they put alot of money into the stars and not the plot or writing. it had a cute premise and good acting. so why not make it a good movie? the relationship wasn't clear. alot of it was cliche, and even the music seemed borrowed from "something has to give" or whatever the title was of the diane keaton/jack nicholson movie. ....anyone else? blaze, and older movie, was far fresher with verrry witty lines in it.

I just watched 28 Weeks Later. Rage viruses are a scary thing. :) Pretty good movie, though.

oh you guys. i finally saw "julie and julia"....!!!! i haven't loved a movie so much in ages. what a thoughtful, bouncey, intelligent, inspiring, perfectly acted movie and finely crafted story!!!! i'm so excited. if you haven't seen it, SEE IT!

i do the same thing, susie. after i see a movie that creeps me, the only thing that will take it away is to watch something that cancels it out!!! hurry and do that before you soak in that shutter ick any longer! ;-)

watched the video "Brothers"... what a movie! A sad but interesting story about the affects of war, family, and loyalty. Powerful story. Don't want to give away story line, in case you haven't seen it. Loved the ending.

i'm about to watch "mrs. brown". i saw the Young Victoria a couple of weeks ago as you may remember, and now i want to see queen victoria later in life. as i recall it got good reviews...i'll let ya know!

Brothers was soo good! I watched it twice in two days.

what was brothers about??

One brother comes home from jail right as the other one goes to war. Tells their story.

thanks, steen. i'm one of those people who likes to read the box! :-)

So how'd you like Mrs. Brown, Lisa? It cracked me up to see Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer together in something that WASN'T As Time Goes BY (which I LOVE). And what can you say about Billy Connolly? One of Scotland's greatest contributions after Sir Sean!!

i didn't get there yet, elle....the afternoon zipped by me. i'm trying to start it in a few minutes. if i can get it without a big interruption, i should have an opinion in a couple of hours!! i LOVE billy connolly!!!!!

ahhhh ok, i just saw it. oh that was a fantastic movie, mrs. brown is. first of all queen victoria is a fascinating character at all of the stages of her life. but this story is very rich on many levels, and i thought it was a beautiful love story. judie dench's face spoke volumes. and billy connolly is nothing less than a prince charming with wickedly beautiful eyes. he made the movie. i'm not sure it would have been anywhere as close to great without him!!! everyone should see "mrs. brown" if they haven't already!

who saw what this weekend??? i'm hoping to see something tonight. not sure yet.....i just watched the notebook AGAIN w hile i was cooking....i'm such a hopeless case. i never get tired of a good romance!

...rented "Violet"... good movie based on a true story about a woman who was arrested to dealing drugs falsely and how she stood up to the system in the name of truth, regardless of the consequences.
...also saw Chloe...an erotic twisted story.

thanks for sharing what you saw, lillian. who was in "violet"?

...honestly, I don't know. As a matter of fact, I rented this movie before and forgot I saw it, until I started to watch it, again. It was well worth the watch though, Lisa.

you liked crazy heart, susie? i just watched it a couple of weeks ago, and i just couldn't get into it. i liked the casting, but the story just got lost in the mumble for me....

...well Susie, if your like me and like the psych aspect of these kind of movies it will intrigue you...let me know what you think

hey movie wiffle peeps! i've just added the movie section of salon.com at the bottom of our main page for when you're interested in some of the latest reviews....!

Ghost Writer... slow but unexpected ending.

thanks for the "slow" warning, lillian. i have the WORST tolerance for "slow". it's good to know....

...your welcome, Lisa. Seen anything worth watching lately?

i watched "spendour in the grass" tonight...it happened to be on tv, and i had never seen the whole thing before. what a terrific piece. it had so many wonderful themes in it that were way ahead of their time, in my opinion. natalie wood was a genius in the film. what a great story of bipolar disease and sexual repression as well as the role of women and women's sexuality....roles of men and women, etc. i loved it!

Chris and I went to the movies Sunday night. He saw Salt, Chris loves the special effects and action. Said, Jolene was a female James Bond and actually made him look like a whimp. I saw, The Others for the lighter side. I thought it was silly and some parts funny. I can't imagine how they hold such straight faces acting so ridiculous. The two character roles were funny in and of themselves. I am a fan of Mark Wamlberg (wait for the video if you want to see this one)

i watched "the odd couple" all the way through this week. we have all seen the tv show. but the movie is really great in that it showcases the incredible acting of jack lemmon and walter matthau. i forgot how good they are, and i had never seen the movie all the way through. it's a study in facial expressions and perfect timing. i urge everyone to see it if you never have and see it again if you have. it's also one of the few movies that shows a real friendship between two men.

Eat Pray Love... awesome movie. All the actors were fabulous. A universal story of heartbreak and healing is what makes this movie so fantastic. Something we can all relate to. Julia did her usual, fabulous job and the male actors were just as great. A scene or two made me cry. Even though I thought this would be a chick flick, it is not just for us. Must see. Loved it. It stayed pretty true to the book, too. And there were some really fabulous lines in the movie.

i saw an older but not classic movie last night...."the story of bill w" with james garner (a fave), James Woods, and JoBeth Williams. The movie itself wasn't any artistic masterpiece. But the story held your attention and gave quite a bit of insight into the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous....I enjoyed the story. And the story matters. It could have been done better, but it was still worth it....

I enjoyed that movie, too Lisa.

I saw Charlie St. Cloud. My next man will be a sailor. <3

the previews for that look fun, steen. i like it when people cross dimensions and such....

It was an even better book. But the cinematography was beautiful.

i love beautiful cinematography! my opinion is that a movie should either be minimal with cinematography and a great screenplay and acting serving as a filmed play OR have gorgeous cinematography that acts like another actor in the movie. did you ever see "anna and the king" with jodie foster? oh the cinematography is amazing...it is another player in an also great story!

last night i saw a katharine hepburn / spencer tracey movie that i somehow missed. how is that possible? i thought i'd seen them all. this was called "without love". and it was slow, and not the best of their movies by a long shot. but it had alot to offer. the two get married for practical reasons, not for love. spencer has an adorable little cairn terrier named dizzy. it could have been great with a little tweaking. great premise. not a great movie. but a fun find!

I have to tell you a story. For 5 years we cruised around the same time each year. We found it amazing that this guy, Bill W. and his friends were on the same ship at the same time every year!! We only knew this because we'd see a room cordoned off with a sign saying "Private party for friends of Bill W.". Can you imagine our "duh" moment, when the light bulb finally went on?!?!?

oh that's funny, elle!!! i find this man very remarkable. he had tons of opportunities for the limelight and turned them all down. i wonder if he was called by a much higher source to do the work he did. it's hard to think of too many people who have had as much of an effect on so many others, isn't it?

You are so right about the impact he's had!! I have to try to see this movie.

it might be a little obscure, elle. it's not new at all. it might even be from the 80's. or possibly 90's. james garner looks alot younger in it. i found it on netflix. so i know they have it. but you probably need a big video store for them to have it. in any case, i learned alot from it and want to know more.

I hope I put this in the right place.
I just watched Inglorious Basterds last night. I absolutely fell in love with the film. The plot is totally convoluted but after all it is a Quentin Tatentino film so that is to be expected. It was funny,had a great sound track, and of course there was gore (scalping!) Although, I have to say for a Tarentino film it was kept to a minimum,
The film takes place during World War Two where there is a group put together to kill Nazi's. The crew is led by Lieutenant Aldo Raine played by Brad Pitt who orders his men to each collect 100 hundred scalps or "die trying". Pitt is absolutely hilarious in this role. Most of the laughs in the film come from him and his folksy hillbilly draw. I have to say I was most impressed by Christopher Waltz who played Nazi Hans Landa as the "Jew Hunter". In the beginning of the film he interrogates someone hiding a jewish family then slaughters the family leaving one to live. So there are actually two plots running simultaneously done in "Chapter" form yet again a Tarentino trait.
Fast forward and you see the one who got away Shoshanna is running movie theater where a Nazi "war hero" takes a shine to her and wants to premiere his movie about his" heroism "(a kill fest) which will be seen by Hitler, Joseph Goebbels,and two others that escape my memory at the time. Shoshanna sees this as the way she is going to exact her revenge and the Basterds see this as the way to end the war. I will not give away the ending. It was a thoroughly enjoyable movie.

you did it just right, ericka! thanks for this. i think i would like this...pitt is better for me when he's comical. something about his scooby doo look! i want to check this out for sure.....!

saw "it's complicated", baldwin ,streep, and enjoyed it like an 8 /10 because of the main actors, the bittersweet humor, and the ending...BTW, steve martin was also contributed and their marijuana-induced scene was too funny in one of many "delicate" moments.

i saw that a couple of weeks ago, jodie. i thought it could have been better...but there were some good moments. mostly because of the acting. i loved steve martin all high too! baldwin was fun....it was the script that i thought could have been alot better.....

I liked Inglourious Basterds too, Ericka! A little hard to follow at times, but well worth the effort.

I think it's one of those movies I will watch again an again. I love the Kill Bill series and watch both whenever they come on. They usually run back to back. When first saw themt all I could say was WTF because it was just such strange and interesting movie with such a great story behind it.I also am a fan of Tarentino's other movies. Funnily enough I am not that big a fan of Reservoir Dogs.

did he do pulp fiction?? here is a suggestion i saw online from someone i respect. it would appeal to alot of people here...The Chorus ( Les Choristes), an absolutely charming French film about a composer and musician who takes a job in a harsh, disciplined school for boys. Mesmerizing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anh7Enari2U

Yes, I have seen Pulp Fiction.
The Chorus looks good. From the description it put me in mind of another foreign film I saw and can't remember the title, It's about a tough school in France and it's teachers and students day to day struggle. What struck me me as odd was having some class representatives (students) sit in the teacher meetings and were included in the deciding if certain student s would pas to the next level. If anyone knows the name of this movie I would be very grateful! It will drive me nuts!

For some reason I think Iit's called The Class. That title just popped i y head!

I don't see the link Dan. Oh and I answered myself which is like talking to myself which I do often. LOL!