My Week In Moives - Gremlins Is Still Fantastic

Gremlins (1984) is easily one of my absolute favorite movies of all time. I was so excited to see it when it first came out. I saw it then at 11 years of age and loved it and still to this day love this movie. My kids have been wanting to watch it, but I've been a little reluctant to play it for them for fear of inducing nightmares. The snowday earlier in the week gave us not only the excuse the lay around and watch a movie, but to also play it in the day as far away from bedtime as possible. They got a few jumps out of it, and Elias was delighted with some of the grossness. You could tell he got a little naughty rush when the Gremlin explodes in the microwave. Overall, they really enjoyed it and so did I for the 467th time. It's been at least 4 or 5 years since I've seen it last. Gremlins really is a fantastic movie that really holds up well. The story is tight, the scares are innocent but effective and the production has a timeless feel to it. Besides some of the musical score, there is nothing in the film that really dates it. If you're not obsessed with this movie (like I am) it's worth checking out again. I know G4 has been running it alot lately.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008) I really wanted to see this in the theatre, but missed it. It was pretty good. It's one of those "up all night, running around the city getting into crazy adventures" kind of movies...sort of like Adventures in Babysitting, but not in the same league. Instead of focusing on the "adventures" there's a romance at the heart of this story. The love story was kind of tired but there were enough good one liners and some wacky minor characters to make this worth watching. Kat Dennings plays Norah - she's really good, she was also in The House Bunny. But this Michael Cera kid who plays Nick here but we all know him from Superbad and Juno, this kid is a one trick pony. I don't think he's all that funny he's just been in some funny movies. He plays "put upon" real well, and he uses quite a bit here...it's effective but I'm on to him! I don't think he'll be around much longer!

Sex Drive (2008) I'm such a deep movie goer, aren't I?! Here, I guy and his buddy drive half way across the county so he can score with a girl he met online. That pretty much sums it up. Along the way there's plenty of wacky misadventures, more outlandish and cliche' than Nick & Norah's. They steal a car, hang out with some Amish folk, end up in jail and learn a little something about themselves along the way! Awww! Not a terribly funny movie, but it's pretty quickly paced and there are a few laugh out loud moments including a really well done scene near the end of the picture that makes you realize how flat the first 80-or so minutes were. The DVD has an unrated version, which I couldn't tell what was too racy to make it into an R-rated cut, except maybe for a scene involving a well endowed Mexican talking donut.