Today is January 13 and Heather is 25! Much love to you, sis! I wish I could party with you. Wow! 25, dude, I'm starting to feel old and stuff. =)

Well, this weekend I saw "Catch me if you Can". It was ok. I mean, I think I made a mistake by seeing it after "Chicago." It just didn't entertain me as much. ("Let me entertain you, let me make you smile")

Anyway, suffice it to say that I enjoyed the movie and Leo was good. Tom Hanks grated on my nerves with that accent, though. Where was he supposed to be from??? I really do think I would have liked it better had I saw it before. I just wasn't engrossed in it. In fact, I was ready for it to be over -- it seemed to drag a bit at the end to me. I was thinking, hurry the freak up and catch him! That's another thing, why show us at the beginning how it ends up?? I couldn't see any purpose it served other than to let Hanks' character ask him numerous times how he passed the bar exam.

Movie question for those of you out there with a keen eye --- why do I keep seeing trailers with deleted scenes?? this is driving me nuts!! For example, the trailer for "Two Weeks Notice" (great one, by the way) has a scene with Sandra Bullock and Heather Burns (the one with the very recognizable voice). They are jogging in a park and she says to Sandra, "You love him" and Sandra replies, "I love him?" they banter back and forth in this manner and it ends with Sandra saying, "come on, give me another." This scene was totally not in the movie! so why would you spend millions on advertising dollars showing something that is not in the movie?? this is just a dumb business practice! Anyway, I had just seen that trailer before I went to see the movie, so I know I'm right. Also, in "Catch me if you can" there is a scene with Leo and either Jennifer Garner or the braces girl jumping up and down on the bed and throwing money around. This scene, I imagine was supposed to remind us that he really was just a kid. Was it in the movie?? NO! People in Hollywood, get a clue! If we see it in the trailer, we expect to see it at the theater. Enough of showing us what "bonus footage" we'll get in the DVD!

Now, that's that. You know now my new pet peeve! Have a great day today, it is Bubbles' b'day, after all!

Amy

Every once and awhile, a movie comes along that is so good that you can’t get your mind off of it. I’m here to tell you folks that that movie is Chicago. It surpassed my very, very high expectations. It’s that good – I promise. This movie catapulted its way into my all time favorites list during the opening number. It’s that good. Forgot Moulin Rouge (which I did adore, save the Madonna number), Chicago has set the bar for the all new American movie musical, and make no mistake, that bar is extremely high – I doubt any at all will be able to compare. I’m telling you, it’s amazing.

So, as I mentioned in another post, I saw Chicago on stage back in February (I think) of 2000. I almost missed it because I was in T-town and it snowed 5 inches. I couldn’t get home on Friday. Thankfully, it had all melted by Saturday and I was able to make it. I loved it. It was edgy, provocative, intriguing and I couldn’t take my eyes off the stage. My favorite part was the music. So, like I said, I had very high expectations seeing it on the big screen. It surpassed those expectations. I’m no Roger Ebert, but I’m going to give you a run down, Amy D. style, on this movie.

I saw this with Grace. About 30 minutes or so into the flick, she leaned over and I said, “I LOVE this!!” I wholeheartedly agreed. I was hooked from the very beginning after Velma (Catherine Zeta-Jones) washed the blood off her hands and bounded on to the stage of the club. I was already grinning when I heard the familiar opening strains of “All that Jazz”. The bass and piano were thumping as she stepped on to stage. “C'mon babe, why don’t we paint the town.” Pause, pause. “And all that jazz.” I knew this was going to be an awesome movie.

I’ll spare you all the details of the rest of the movie and run down what I thought of the actors. Catherine was excellent; she has a great, belting voice and can dance like nobody’s business. I think she was perfect for the role. Renee Zellweger was spectacular as Roxie Hart. I thought she was a movie star before, now I think she’s going to become a mega wattage, full blown, superstar. She was so good. She’s convincing and her singing and dancing really did rival Catherine’s, if not surpass it in some cases. In fact, I’ll go ahead and say that her singing did surpass Catherine’s. Catherine had the upper edge in dancing. Richard Gere is not one of my favorite actors, but I came away impressed. His first song, “All I care about” had me a bit skeptical. In that number all the girls around him danced, so he didn’t have to. But he grew on me throughout the movie and did a good job, and even danced pretty well. My favorite number of his was, “Razzle Dazzle.” Oh, maybe not, I forgot how amazing, “We both reached for the gun” was. (See what I’m saying? Nary a second that wasn’t spectacular!) Now, Queen Latifah, threw down in her role as Mama, she was great. Unfortunately, her number with Catherine was left on the cutting room floor. I would have rather seen that than another Gere soft shoe, but alas, I’ll wait for the DVD. John C. Riley and his “Mr. Cellophane” gave one of the few poignant and quiet moments of the movie. He wasn’t in it much, but that one number was excellent.

What more can I say other than you must go see it on the big screen. Hands down, the best movie I’ve seen in years. If you love music (not just musicals) you’ll love this movie. The modern day audience will probably be pleased with the fact that most all of the music numbers take place in Roxie’s head so you don’t have to suspend reality. No one just bursts into song standing on the street. Anyway, it’s beautifully filmed, splashy, exciting, just downright awesome entertainment. I could go on and on, but you just have to see it for yourself! I’m going to see it again --- hopefully as soon as next week! And, I’ll be picking up the soundtrack on January 14! (Check out 3 of the songs -- you'll have to click on upcoming releases)

If and when you see it, (and I made it pretty clear that you absolutely have to, right?) throw a comment up here to let me know if you liked the movie, too.
Ames