Have you seen any good movies this Christmas holiday? American Thanksgiving is the start of a month long movie fest, with one big block buster after another. While not an avid movie goer, I do read the reviews in search of those rare gems. This year, Charlie Wilson’s War, staring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman caught my eye. I especially enjoy movies that are based on real life events, and this one does not disappoint.

Hoffman’s character, the wisely cynical, self depreciating (is he Canadian?) CIA agent is brilliant. So is Tom Hank’s role as an over indulgent, sexually promiscuous congressman. You can’t not help but love these two men, who, along with grand dame Julie Roberts, manage to save the Afganistan people from being blown to bits by the Russians. OK, I am totally over simplifying the plot, but it’s the one liners that make this movie so cunningly funny. Definitely adult humour, leave the kids at home. Not only a great flick, but a good history lesson if you’re like me, and failed to understand why Afganistan is a hot bed for terrorism and violence.

Another good film praised by the critics is The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, released on Christmas Day. It’s meant to explain the legend of the Loch Ness monster. The movie opens with a dark, almost macabre scene where young Angus MacMorrow (Alex Etel), discovers a black, barnacled football-shaped egg. The adventures begin when the egg hatches in his father’s work shed.

Sad at times, I love this film because the characters are so distracted with their own pain and suffering. Angus’s freckled face and earnest eyes fill the screen. His expressions, not his dialog, steel scene after scene. This is the kind of movie everyone will love, so be sure to include the grandparents. It’s dark and the battle scene at the end left my kids holding onto me for dear life, but like all good movies there is a happy ending.

Those are my pics for the holidays - what are yours?

Cheers,

Julie

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 29th, 2007 at 9:45 am and is filed under Current News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.