One for the Money, Jane Eyre 2011, Snow White,The Hiding Place, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

I am finally updating on the movies I've seen.

I watched The Accidental Husband a while ago.  It has Uma Thurman, Colin Firth and Jeffrey Dean Morgan in it. It's about this radio talk show host, Emma Lloyd, (Uma Thurman) who gives advice about love.  Emma tells a lady who calls that she should break up with her fiance. The lady does and the ex-fiance (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) seeks revenge on Emma and trouble ensues.  It's a romantic comedy. There were some funny parts, but for the most part it was okay.  I don't think I would watch it again.

I saw One For the Money with Kathryn Heigl and Jason O'Mara.  Stephanie Plum (Kathryn Heigl) is unemployed and newly divorced.  She is offered a job in the bail bond business through a family connection. One of her assignments, that she must capture and bring in to be arrested, is an old flame (Jason O'Mara).  The job ends up being much more dangerous than Stephanie originally thought and she must keep herself safe and try to put the pieces of the case together quickly before anyone else gets killed.  It was also only okay for me. It didn't do much for me. 

I love Jane Eyre. I have read the book (although it has been a long time).  I have seen a couple of versions of the movie, but I had not seen the newest version from 2011 until a couple of weeks ago.  I liked it.  It was pretty good.  I need to read the book again to remember.

I watched Snow White and the Huntsman.  It was a twist on the original fairy tale. I didn't like it all that much. The evil queen was a bit too scary to me.  The actors didn't have much chemistry in my opinion.

Since I recently read The Hiding Place, I decided to watch the movie with the same title.  First of all, in order to understand the movie you must read the book.  They don't give much background information in the movie and at some points it was a little confusing even after having just read the book. (There were some people there that had never read the book and they had no idea what was going on.)  Second of all, it was a little slow, but I thought it was a well made movie. (From the trailers I thought it would be much cheesier) Third of all it misses some important parts of the book (I do realize they can't put everything in the movie otherwise it would be forever long)  Overall, I liked the movie.  I am glad I watched it and at the end the real Corrie ten Boom comes onto screen and talks for a few minutes.

The last movie I've seen recently is The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.  Watching it really made me want to visit India.  It is such a beautiful, dirty, different, exotic place.  The movie is about a group of retirees that are enticed by a hotel in India aimed at elderly people.  The cost of living is cheaper and it is a new and exciting place to live.  It goes through the trials and adventures of the people as they get settled and get used to the culture of their new place.  I must say that there was a  bit of sexual content in there but they don't ever show anything.  The show had potential to be awesome.  I did love all of the scenes of India.

The Last Dragonslayer, Jane Eyre movie (2011)

I counted and this will be book #16 for me. I didn't count movies. I wish I could throw in all the movies I sleep through. That's when I get my best REM sleep.

Jasper Fforde has been at the top of my list ever since I picked up The Eyre Affair about 8 years ago. I think I've read everything he's had published (at least that's available in the U.S.) He writes literary fantasy, and his pages are chock full of wild connections between dissimilar things. I adore it. My friend Amanda met him at a book signing in Seattle last year, and it's a good thing I wasn't there or I would've gone all fangrirl on him, and that's never a good thing.

The Last Dragonslayer is the first installment in Fforde's first YA series. It stars a 15 year old girl named Jennifer Strange who works as a driver for sorcerers, who (in this society) have been relegated to doing home renovations like rewiring houses and redoing plumbing. The back cover blurb reads, "In the good old days, magic was powerful, unregulated by government, and even the largest spell could be woven without filling in magic release form B1-7G." Fforde weaves the mundane into the fantastical, and it's good fun.

That said, this book was a little slow going for me. The pacing seemed off, and I was on page 136 before I went, "Oh! She has a goal!" Then I cared more about her and read the rest really quickly, but it wasn't quite as fun to me as his adult novels. Still, I've no doubt I'll keep reading what Jasper writes. Bring on the Quarkbeast, I say.

Movie-wise, I sat down with my *boys* and watched the 2011 version (all artsy) of Jane Eyre. I'm assuming everyone knows the story. Things I liked were the cinematography--it really showed the sweeping bleakness of the moors; the casting--Jamie Bell was especially good as Sinjun, and I loved the choice of Mr. Rochesters; the way it effectively portrayed why Jane did not fall for Sinjun (I've never seen that work as well as in this version). However, my kids said, "I think I need to watch an episode of The Andy Griffith Show to cleanse my palate now," when it was over. While I adore the book (it just might be my very favorite ever) it translates into a pretty bleak screen experience. It can't help it. 3 stars out of 5.