50 Down

Well as of today I have watched 50 movies off my new list.  The list started with 196 movies on it, but it seems to keep growing.  People tell me about movies, I see trailers for movies, read books about movies, one way or another my list keeps growing. My list is now at 210.  And that’s not including the Coen Brothers movies that I want to watch, though there is some overlap.  And, I’m not only watching movies off of this list, I am watching many more.  To see the movies I’ve watched so far this year click here.  Here are a couple of movies from my list that I’ve watched recently.  (Click on the photos to see the IMDB page).

  House of Wax (NR 1953) *****
  I loved this movie.  I had seen the remake a few years ago with Chad Michael Murray and was not impressed, but when I read about this movie in one of my books it was supposed to be very good so I watched it.  And I was not at all disappointed.  This movie is about a wax sculpture whose partner burns down his wax museum, with him inside, for the insurance money.  The sculpture comes back badly maimed and with a vengeance.  This was a classic old school horror movie and I absolutely loved it!

  Sunset Boulevard (NR 1950) *****
This movie caught my attention from the very beginning and held it throughout.  An old silent film actress is all alone in her house, forgotten by Hollywood, but she is writing a script, preparing for her comeback return.  A writer stumbles upon her house and she convinces him to rewrite her script, and promises to pay him handsomely.  He soon realizes that he has gotten into more than he had bargained for.  This movie was fantastic.  The use of narration and the acting was so good.  I highly recommend this movie.

 Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (NR 1966) **
My book raved about this movie and talked about how good it was, but honestly, I hated it.  It was boring and dragged on.  It’s the story of a married couple who has some young people over after a dinner party and they drink too much alcohol and start to fight, embarrassing their guests.  If someone knows what all the fuss is about this movie, please let me know.

  The Ref (R 1994) ***
I read an article online that had this movie on a list of great Christmas movies.  While I’m not sure about that, but it was a very funny movie.  A house burglar gets more than he planned when he decides to hold these people hostage and lie low in their house.  Their bickering and screaming get in his way and he ends up being more of a marriage counselor than a thief.  An entertaining comedy, but full of cursing.

These are a few of the movies on my shelf waiting to be watched:

The first four

As of yesterday I have marked four movies off my list: Bridget Jones’s Diary, Fargo, Memento, and Taxi Driver.

I have been ranking each movie with stars as I watch them, five stars being the best.  There were two movies that earned 4 stars, one that earned 5, and an !, and one that earned two stars.  Can you guess which movie earned what ranking?

Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001-R)
This movie, starring Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, and Hugh Grant, is about a woman, Bridget, who at the beginning of the New Year realizes that she is unhappy with her age, her weight, her job, and the fact that she is man-less.  She decides to start a diary and to get herself into shape.  This is a very funny comedy about her love life and other adventures.  This film was very funny and I really enjoyed it.

Fargo (1996-R)
I really had no idea what this movie was about when I started to watch it.  It is written and directed by the now famous Coen brothers and it definitely did not disappoint me.  This movie, starring Frances McDormand, William H Macy, Steve Buscemi, and Peter Stormare, follows a man (Macy) strapped for cash who decides to hire some men (Buscemi and stormare) to kidnap his wife so they can share the ransom money.  Everything goes wrong and a local police chief (McDormand) starts investigating.   McDormand is amazing in her role as Marge Gunderson, her acting in this role landed her the Oscar for Best Actress.  I greatly enjoyed this movie.  McDormand was great to watch and the on-screen drama was captivating.

Memento (2000-R)
Memento follows the story of a man with no short term memory (Guy Pearce), which is a little difficult since he is trying to find and kill his wife’s murderer.  He gets by with a system that he follows religiously.  He receives help from Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) and Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss).  This film, written and directed by Christopher Nolan was amazing.  I was fascinated with his way of storytelling and by the story in general.  This story made me think and gripped me throughout.  This movie really surprised me.  I was not disappointed by this pick.

Taxi Driver (1976-R)
This film is one that is on a lot of lists for being an outstanding film.  It is about a taxi driver (Robert DeNiro) who is mentally unstable and is very disturbed by all the scum and sleaze in New York City.  He decides that he is going to take matters in his own hands, by means of violence.  He decides to save a young prostitute (Jodie Foster) from her life on the streets.  For everything that I had heard about this movie, I found myself very underwhelmed and honestly bored.

Here are my rankings for these films:
Bridget Jones’s Diary  ****
Fargo ****
Memento *****!
Taxi Driver **

 

To-Do List

 Right now my to-do list is long and daunting.  My blogging has been sporadic because I have been really busy and it seems like my list just keeps getting longer, and longer and longer!  Do you ever have days like this?  I feel like April has just flew by so fast.  I have no idea where it all went.  I am so far behind on everything at home.  I’m really hoping to use tonight and tomorrow to catch up while Adam is at work.

How do you control your to-do list?  Do you have any helpful hints for me?

Ladies who work full time, how do you keep up with your house?  It seems like I cannot keep up with the laundry, the dishes and the cleaning!

Feeling of Accomplishment

A feeling of accomplishment is one of the best feelings in the world.  Having a whole list of things to do and not being able to check any of them off feels like failure, but even if I mark only one thing off I have accomplished something.

Yesterday I was stressed because of all the things on my to-do list and between last night and today I have checked nearly all of them off.  Now that’s accomplishment if I do say so myself.  Last night I finished all of the laundry, did all the dishes, went grocery shopping, and read my Bible.  And then today I made all my phonecalls, paid all the bills, I made dinner, balanced the checkbook, kept up with the dishes, made Rice Krispie treats, and got to watch The Voice last night and tonight.  Talk about marking things off my list!

I only have a few more things to get done before Thursday and I know that I will be able to get them done.  I feel like the more I get done, the more I will be able to do.  Want to know how I was able to get so much done last night and tonight?

Adam wasn’t home.  I always get most of my to-do list accomplished when Adam isn’t around.  When he is, I’m lucky if I get one thing marked off my list.  I think it is because when I am by myself the only thing I can do is mark things off my list.

Yay for this feeling of accomplishment, I predict I will sleep soundly tonight!