TV: Rumor Has It

I just watched Rumor Has It. This is a really funny movie. Jennifer Aniston plays Sarah Huttinger. Her mother's mother, Katharine Richelieu is played by Shirley MacLaine. Her fiance, Jeff Daly, is played by Mark Ruffalo. Kevin Costner plays Beau Burroughs. Kathy Bates plays Aunt Mitsy, who is just a good friend of Sarah's mom. Sarah's mom died when she was 9. Sarah comes home for her sister's wedding. At the wedding, she finds out that her mom ran off for a few days right before her wedding. Jeff wonders if she ever did the math and realized that her mom and dad's anniversary was less than 9 months before she was born. So then she asks her mother's mother (who hates to be called "grandma") if her mom had had a fling while she was in Cabo.  Sarah decides that maybe Aunt Mitsy can give her some info. She finds out that aside from her dad, the only person her mother ever liked was Beau Burroughs. Then Aunt Mitsy shows her Beau's picture in the yearbook and she also sees the picture of another guy, Charles Webb. She knows that name sounds familiar. Aunt Mitsy says he was the celebrity of their class because he wrote a book that became a movie and she starts describing the movie and all of a sudden she and Sarah simultaneouly realize that the book and movie are about Sarah's mother and grandmother. So, Sarah goes in search of Beau Burroughs to see if maybe he is her dad. The whole movie is really funny. Well worth watching!

TV: He's Just Not That Into You

I watched He's Just Not That Into You. It has a lot of big stars in it: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Bradley Cooper, Gennifer Goodwin, Scarlett Johansson, Busy Phillips, and Jennifer Connelly. Mary (Barrymore) handled the magazine advertisement for Conor's real estate business. Conor loves Anna (Johansson) but she meets Ben and isn't as into Conor as Conor is into her. Gigi (Goodwin) goes out with Conor who never calls her back. So she goes to a bar where he hangs out. His roommate, Alex works at the bar. Kelli Ann (Phillips) is a bartender/hostess at the bar with Alex. She has a crush on him, but he's not into her. He decides he wants to be her friend so he gives her advice on who to date and what it means when guys say certain things. Gigi's sister, Janine (Connelly) is married to Ben (Cooper). She is mad at him because he has been smoking behind her back and her dad died of lung cancer so she's upset about that. Ben meets Anna (Johansson) at the store and is instantly attracted to her. He tells her "I can't do this" because he's married but he keeps finding reasons to see her. He's good friends with Neil (Affleck) who doesn't believe in marriage. He's been living with Beth (Aniston) for 7 years but even though he's more committed to her than any of these guys who are already married, he doesn't want to get married. Beth finds out that her sister is getting married, so she realizes she really wants to be married. She works with Gigi & Janine.

Overall, this isn't a great movie. Yes, it has a lot of big names in it, but there are so many relationships that is can be hard to follow and being a Christian, I don't think these are good relationships, either. 

TV: Last Chance Harvey

Another movie I watched this week was Last Chance Harvey. It stars Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. Dustin as Harvey misses his flight home from his daughter's wedding and so he goes to the airport lounge. Thompson's Kate does PR for the airport interviewing people as they come and go from their flights. She had tried to interview Harvey when he heads for his plane but he was in a hurry and blew her off. Now, he sees her on break in the lounge and he apologizes for being rude. They talk and end up spending time together.  Very cute movie. Hoffman and Thompson both also co-starred in Stranger Than Fiction, another of my favorite movies. I'll tell you about it soon. Kathy Baker is also in this movie. Richard Schiff plays Harvey's boss. He was also in I Am Sam as the prosecuting attorney.

TV: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Another old movie I watched this week was the Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. This is a drama about how this generation of girls bonded and helped each other through rough times and how it affected their offspring. It stars Sandra Bullock, Maggie Smith, Ellen Burstyn, Ashley Judd, James Garner, and many others. It's a very good dramatic movie.

TV: Somewhere in Time

Another movie I watched this week was Somewhere in Time starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. It starts in 1972 where Reeve's character, Richard Collier, is in college and he's just finished opening night of a new play he wrote. An old lady walks to him, hands him a beautiful pocket watch and says, "Come back to me." She goes home and dies that night. Eight years later, he's having writer's block, and feels he has to go away for a few days. He drives until he comes to the hotel (filmed on the beautiful Mackinac Island, Michigan) that he never had the chance to visit that is near his old college. He decides to stay there for the night. He goes down to supper and has time to kill before they open, so he's looking at the Hall of History when he sees this photograph of a beautiful lady that so mesmerizes him, he has to find out who she is. Unfortunately the name plate is missing. He finds out her name was Elise McKenna (Jane Seymour) and she acted in a play at the hotel's theater. The next day, Richard goes to the library and does research on Elise McKenna. He finds out that the old lady that gave him the watch in 1972 was Elise McKenna. He goes to the home of the lady that took care of her and wrote her biography and asks for more information about her. While he is looking at all her stuff, he sees a book written by one of his professors. He's told she read the book over and over. He looks at the title and it is called "Bid Time Return". He realizes he should go back in time and find Elise McKenna. I won't tell you anymore. But, I love this movie. It is so romantic. The music is awesome too! Rachmaninoff and John Barry and Barry Williams. If you have never seen this movie, you need to watch it. It is definitely a classic.

TV: P.S. I Love You

Another movie I watched this week is P. S. I Love You. It stars Gerard Butler, Hilary Swank, Lisa Kudrow, Harry Connick Jr. and Kathy Bates. Gerard plays Jerry Kennedy who dies of a brain tumor but he isn't ready to say goodbye, so he writes Holly (Swank), his wife, several letters to be delivered after he's gone. It's a sad drama but it is kind of cool too, because she travels to Ireland and the countryside is beautiful and she also gets to start her own company designing shoes.

TV: Mean Girls & Shallow Hal

I have been watching some of my older movies lately. Yesterday, I re-watched Mamma Mia because the music has been going through my head all week. After watching that I remembered that Amanda Seyfried, who plays Sophie, the girl who is getting married in Mamma Mia, was also in Mean Girls. So, I decided to watch Mean Girls. It's a cute movie about this girl who has been homeschooled for 16 years (Lindsay Lohan) who comes to the states and goes to school. She has trouble making any friends the first day. The second day, the Plastics, a clicque of 3 of the most popular girls at school, invite her to eat lunch with them, and trouble starts brewing as she because "mean" like them. It's a cute movie for teen girls and has a happy ending. Amanda Seyfried is the "stupid" girl in the Plastics and their leader is played by another favorite actress, Rachel McAdams.

I also watched Shallow Hal this week. This is a comedy. Jack Black plays Hal, who is very shallow, until he gets trapped in the elevator with Tony Robbins one day.  Since they are stuck for a long time, Tony and Hal talk and Tony realizes that Hal is brainwashed into believing that only outer beauty is important. He reconditions Hal to see people's true "heart" beauty, so even ladies who are less than physically attractive but who have a beautiful heart look like models to him.  His friend Mauricio, played by Jason Alexander is disgusted by this because he has his own deformity that makes him only like physically perfect girls. Very cute, funny movie!