I love it when I watch a movie or TV show and hear a mention of a place that I’m familiar with. Of course, I’m not talking about major cities like New York, L.A., or Chicago, since they get mentioned often enough. I’m talking about lesser-known places like Slippery’s Tavern in Wabasha, MN, which hosted a few scenes from the comedy Grumpy Old Men. I used to eat at Slippery’s every now and then when I was in college, so it was cool to hear the mention in the film.

I also recently watched Mindhunters, which was supposed to take place near the Outer Banks of North Carolina (even though the movie was actually filmed in the Netherlands). I’ve never been to the Outer Banks, but have been considering taking a family vacation there at some point, so it was still neat to get the reference there.

And I don’t know why, but I do tend to like movies a bit more when they have that touch of familiarity about them. Heck, I even like Home Alone because the main house is in Winnetka, which is not too far away from here. What can I say, I’m easy to please!

The Oscar nominees for Best Picture have been released. They are:

• The Departed
• The Queen
• Little Miss Sunshine
• Babel
• Letters from Iwo Jima

So, how many of those have you seen? I’ve only seen one, The Departed, and thought it was very good. It’s not unusual for me not to be familiar with Oscar nominees because I rarely get a chance to watch movies while they’re in the theater, so it often takes me a long time to get around to seeing recent releases.

I’ve heard some great things about Babel and Letters from Iwo Jima, but am not very familiar with the other two nominees.

Well, I wasn’t old enough to watch the 1977 Oscars, but I’ve often heard of the event referred to as “proof” that the Oscar voters often get things wrong. In case you don’t remember, ‘77 was the year that Rocky beat out the likes of Taxi Driver and Network for the coveted Best Picture prize. What a joke, huh?

I just read a very good article about the Oscars and how the voters don’t usually go for the “edgy” stuff. I completely agree with the author about that one.

I used to love watching the Oscars. I’m a huge movie fan and always looked forward to the event. But recently, I’ve been turned off because I don’t agree with the voters’ choices and don’t want to waste my time anymore (when, oh when are they going to change the program to cut out the stupid musical numbers and shorten the damn thing???). Plus, with Crash beating out Brokeback Mountain, I see no reason to take the awards seriously.

Okay, I was tagged by Ms. Kat to participate in a movie meme, even though I said it was impossible for me to choose five favorites! I watch so many movies that I’m sure I’m forgetting some excellent ones here, but these are five that I can think of right now (and they’re not in order):

1. The Silence of the Lambs — This is the first movie that truly freaked me out.
2. Sunset Blvd. — I usually don’t go for old movies, but I was immediately drawn into this one.
3. Se7en — Had me on the edge of my seat the entire time.
4. A Few Good Men — I’m not sure why, but I never get tired of watching this movie.
5. Forrest Gump — Another movie I can watch over and over again.

Looks like almost everyone has been tagged already….

Edit: I’m tagging sewcute!!!

My husband and I went to see a movie together at a theater today for the first time in ages! Seriously, it’s been at least six months since we’ve been able to coordinate our schedules, find a babysitter, and just enjoy a couple hours watching a movie.

We caught a matinee showing of the latest 007 movie, Casino Royale, at the the local cinema. I really liked that movie and will be posting a full review of it over on my Reviews and More blog, so please check it out over there in a couple of hours!

The Indiana Jones series is one of my favorite movie franchises ever, so I was pretty excited to see this little blurb about how director George Lucas is set to start filming the fourth film in 2007. Unfortunately, the movie isn’t scheduled to be released until 2008, which is still a long way off.

I’m really interested to see how they’ll handle the aging of the main character. Harrison Ford is 62 now, so it wouldn’t be reasonable to expect him to pull off the kinds of stunts that filled the first three installments. From what I read, the newest film is going to be more of a “character piece.” I can’t wait to see how this turns out!

(Photo from thealmightyguru.com)

I just rented Fever Pitch last night and I thought it was a cute movie. It’s a romantic comedy starring Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore as two people who have to overcome various obstacles to their relationship. With her, it’s the fact that she is extremely competitive and works very long hours in order to get ahead at her job. With him, it’s the fact that he’s a diehard Boston Red Sox fan and basically turns into a whole different person from April to October. He’s got season tickets and plans his entire life around Red Sox home games.

The movie was from the Farrelly brothers, who also did Dumb & Dumber, There’s Something About Mary, and Me, Myself, & Irene. Unlike those other films, Fever Pitch isn’t exactly a “belly laugh” kind of movie. It does have some funny moments and I laughed out loud a couple of times, but it wasn’t a comedic romp or whatever. Overall, it was cute and likable — an entertaining movie to watch when you feel like spending an evening at home.