I didn’t really want to go, but hey, when your grown daughter gets the afternoon off and your husband is retired, you just have to seize the day. So we went to see Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr., Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard, and Gwyneth Paltrow. It was an afternoon well spent.

I’ve always liked Jeff Bridges, but I was a bit startled by his character - he was so old, not the sloppy sexy star I’ve grown to love. He did an okay job, but I was never quite convinced… Terrence Howard played his role well, but he won’t get any awards for it. As for Gwyneth Paltrow, her performance was way too understated, leaving Robert Downey Jr. all the really great lines and, of course, the action. He, after all, becomes Iron Man, the action hero for our time…

Just having read The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns (along with watching The Kite Runner) which take place mostly in Afghanistan, I immediately liked the movie when the opening scene is in that war-embattled country. Our hero-to-be is there on business selling his wares when he is injured by some of the same. Over a three-month period of captivity, he goes through an inner and an outer transformation, both which help him get back home where he has another type of war to wage. But like the best of heroes, he takes the high road rather than play dirty comes out smelling like a rose, or at least colored like one.

A few more thoughts about Robert Downey Jr. He has gone through his own transformation so fit into this role well. I was a bit skeptical - why is such a good actor playing a Marvel Comics character?  But since he is such a good actor, he brought the character to life and made every single scene interesting to watch. We really cared what he was doing, what he was going to do. I also have to say that he bulked up well and he’s come a long way from playing the young Charlie Chaplin, although he wore that role well, too.

Congrats and a High Five to everyone involved in bringing Iron Man to life.

Dianne here. Check out my story at yourhub.com this week on the mixed messages I got on aging and beauty from watching TV this week. It reminded me of the front covers of women’s magazines with a diet and decadent recipes contradicting each other…  I welcome your comments on this “hot” topic

Dianne again - where are you, Liz?  Anyway, I wanted to see In Bruges for two reasons: I like Collin Farrel and I’ve actually been to Bruges, Belgium. I thought it would be a light comedy, good for a Good Friday escape. Actually, it has a Good Friday scene in it, but I won’t tell you the details as it would give an awful lot away. And there is so much to give away - three-dimensional hit men played wonderfully by Brendan Gleeson and Collin Farrel, a really bad guy played superbly by Ralph Fiennes, a pretty girl thrown in for a love story not just a sex scene, and a midget who is an apologetic American. ”Please don’t hold it against me,” he says, and those of us who’ve traveled in Europe and elsewhere laugh out loud because we’ve seen the ugly Americans abroad (also portrayed in this movie) and we’ve also felt apologetic for our country’s current politics…

The plot itself, the reason the hit men are in Bruges, is much more substantial than the movie trailer would have you believe. Of course, if it told you that, then it would give away too much. Let’s just say it makes you care about the main characters and along with the laughs, makes you not just cry, a little, but gasp. So kudos to writer/director Martin McDonaghy. Is it just me or are all the good movies, writers, directors, and actors these days from foreign countries? 

I give In Bruges a High Five, but if you’re like the older couple who left early on because of the language, you might want to stay away, although it fit well with the characters and story and wasn’t just there to shock the audience or get an R rating.

Dianne here. If you want a nice outing at the movies, go see Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. It stars Academy Award winner Frances McDormand and Academy Award nominee Amy Adams along with a great cast of men. I particularly love the actor who played Michael and would have… well, I won’t give away the ending of the movie. Although that is easy enough to predict while watching it, mainly because we know it will be a happy ending. It is that type of movie. It isn’t meant to surprise us, or shock us, or bedazzle us. It is simply meant to entertain us and make us feel good.

However, in our current time of war, on the 5th anniversary of George Bush taking us into Iraq, Miss Pettigrew does have a message: war wrecks people’s live. The setting of 1939 England just prior to that country’s involvement in World War II reminds us just how precious life and love are, that every moment counts and we shouldn’t waste time playing games or going after things that won’t fulfill us. The fact that both Frances McDormand’s character, a down and out governess suddenly turned social secretary, and Amy Adams’ character, both learn this in a period of 24 hours does not mean it isn’t true. Many lessons in life happen overnight, like success - they just have a lot of suffering and years of experience behind them.

Oh, how I wish more people would learn their lessons. Oh, how I wish more movies were this well-written, well-acted, and well… thought-provoking without being depressing.

Dianne here reporting that 10,000 B.C. doesn’t even deserve to be italicized. My husband wanted to see it, so I went, but I wish I had steered us to a better movie to spend our money and time on. However, it does have special effects reminisent of Jurassic Park. Only that movie, as I recall, had a believable plot, although fantastical. On the other hand, 10,000 B.C. has Jamaicans living somewhere in Switzerland living off of wooly mammoths when some Arabs on horses come north to steal their fresh meat and strong young people to help build their pyramids. Of course, a hunter turns warrior to save his woman and although he is on foot as are all the tribes he meets and gets to join him along the way, they are able to follow and catch up with the Arabs and take down their leader. But why the Jamaicans decide to go back to the snowy mountains to live rather than staking claim to the fertile soil by the Nile, I do not know. I would have sent for the few people I left behind rather than take them back a few seeds to become farmers….  Oh, sorry, I ruined the ending, but you’ll probably sleep through it anyway.

Dianne here. So I’ve been reading and writing so much on politics on this blog that I decided to start a strictly political blog attached to my fundraising page for Barack Obama. Please visit that page here:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/women/PMM

It’s called Puttin’ My Money (where my mouth is) because I’ve decided for the first time in my life to donate money to a political campaign, even if it isn’t tax deductible.

That’s how much I believe in Obama’s campaign and the need for change in this country.

And with that, I will go back to just reviewing movies, books, TV shows, and life in general.

Thanks!

Read Dianne’s commentary on the campus shooting in Illinois yesterday at YourHub.com

It’s a big switch from her Valentine’s Day fluff piece, although as she says in her commentary, we as human beings do need to escape from the horrors we see and experience in this world. It is self-protection.

It is why Oprah’s show goes from serious subjects such as a husband killing himself and leaving his wife penniless to soft topics like the sheets Oprah can’t live without. She knows that we can only take so much bad news before we switch channels.

It’s why Dianne hopes now that the WGA writers strike is over that The Daily Show with Jon Stewart will start having different types of guests, not just political authors and such. A celebrity can sometimes be a welcome change…

Dianne here. Check out my 14 Suggestions for Single Women on Valentine’s Day on YourHub.com.

I’m offering a great deal on my book (above) from my website at www.singlewomenaliveandwell.com/swaw.html.

It’s a collection of creative non-fiction stories by and about women who have learned to be happy on their own.

Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you!

Since Juno was the only best picture nominated for an Academy Award that I hadn’t seen yet, I decided to go today. And I agree with Liz, it is the Little Miss Sunshine of this award season, only better. It touches on so many types of relationships, good and bad, and yet gives us hope. I couldn’t help but think while watching the show how supportive Juno’s parents were when she announced her pregnancy. Even though Juno’s real mom long abandoned her for a new family, Juno has the kind of self-esteem that can get someone through anything life dishes out. I give it a High Five, as did today’s Saturday matinee audience, which was surprisingly large for a movie that’s been out for a long time. Reminds me of the audiences going to My Big Fat Greek Wedding a few seasons ago. So much to like and, well, what’s not to like?

So if you have yet to see this year’s break-through Indie hit Juno, it just might be time. Nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture (along with several other award nominations), it is 2008’s Little Miss Sunshine. In other words, it’s a great film-a comedy with an edge that draws you in immediately into the title character’s world–which has just abruptly changed. At 16 Juno finds herself pregnant, and with the help of her best friend, she finds a couple in the PennySaver to adopt the baby.

The acting and character development in the film is superb. Ellen Page’s portrayal of the sarcastic and witty Juno is somehow endearing, and you root for her character throughout the film. Her interaction with the father of the baby (played by Michael Cera which some of you will remember from the brilliant show, Arrested Development) is heartbreaking, funny, and touching. The potential adoptive father in the film is played by Jason Bateman who appreciates Juno’s sense of humor and they connect in an unexpected way. While Jennifer Garner plays the potential adoptive mother, and is anxious about the arrival of the baby and obsessed with making everything perfect. Meanwhile Juno is simply trying to make the best of an awkward situation, and keep her head high while doing so. Written by Diablo Cody and directed by Jason Reitman, Juno is not to be missed! 

I will not give away the ending…but it took me by surprise. For more analysis and commentary (which WILL give away the ending), check out my new Blog: www.filmfascination.wordpress.com