This is a blog about movies, books, raising children and some other of my random thoughts about life and love.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Adele is expecting!
Thursday, June 28, 2012
No strings attached movie
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Children's cold medicines and deaths related to cold meds
Joyful Noise Movie
Vi Rose has a son, Walter (Dexter Darden), who has Asperger syndrome, and a talented, pretty and ready-to-date daughter, Olivia (Keke Palmer). But not ready to date under her mothers household rules. G. G. has recently begun caring for her rebellious, drifter grandson, Randy (Jeremy Jordan). A romance blossoms between Olivia and Randy, which is strongly opposed by Vi Rose. Olivia also has a rival suitor, Manny (Paul Woolfolk). At Randy's urging, G. G., Olivia and most of the choir come to believe that some more contemporary arrangements (prepared by Randy) would be more successful for the choir. It also turns out that the choir has a chance at the national finals of the competition when the rival choir is found to have cheated by hiring professionals. But the pastor says that the church will not sponsor the choir unless they continue to use their reverent, traditional style.
Vi Rose's husband, Marcus (Jesse L. Martin), enlisted in the army after having trouble finding work at home, but his prolonged absence has saddened his family and causes additional tension between Vi Rose and Olivia. Meanwhile, a vivacious member of the choir who choreographs their routines, Earla (Angela Grovey), after a long dry stretch, finds passion first with Mr. Hsu (Francis Jue), whose weak heart gives way by morning, and later with Justin (Roy Huang). The town's tough times forces another choir member, Caleb (Andy Karl), and his family out of business. Vi Rose and G. G. come to blows in a confrontation, Olivia's frustration with her mother boils over, and G. G. threatens Pastor Dale with disendowing the church if the choir is not allowed to compete in the finals with the new arrangements.
During the movie Randy befriends Walter and begins to teach him how to play the piano. One day, while at the waterfall Randy hangs out at Manny arrives. Randy and Manny begin to fight over Olivia ending with Walter giving Manny a bloody nose. When returning home Walter brags to Vi Rose about the fight. Angered by the news, she throws out Randy and tells him to leave her family alone.
The choir travels to Los Angeles for the final, feeling very unsettled. Vi Rose and Olivia have a fight and Vi Rose slaps Olivia. Tough competition presents itself in the form of a choir made up of cute pre-teens, with a charismatic young soloist (Ivan Kelley Jr.). But Vi Rose, G. G., Olivia and Randy pull the choir together and they give a rousing performance, using the new arrangements and choreography, capturing first place. The choir returns to town in triumph, Marcus comes home to his family, Vi Rose tacitly gives in to the inevitable relationship between Olivia and Randy, and all ends happily. Earla and Justin get married just as Marcus comes back.
This is a wonderful movie. I strongly recommend this film. Most of the critics did not like this movie at all. However, after watching it for myself I feel that these critics are just crazy and do not know a good wholesome movie. There is a little bit of language in this movie but all in all i was an excellent movie.
Twilight Saga EW cover
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Father's Day playlist
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
The Vow
Paige Collins (Rachel McAdams) and her husband Leo (Channing Tatum) come out of a movie theater. On their way home, at a stop sign, Paige unbuckles her seatbelt to lean over and kiss Leo. At that very moment, a truck rams their car from behind and Paige crashes through the windshield. Both of them are rushed to the emergency room, and as Leo, in a voice-over talks about how "moments of impact help in finding who we are" the movie cuts to how Paige and Leo first met. The scenes of how they courted, proposed and married are interwoven with the present.
When Paige regains her consciousness, she thinks Leo is her doctor, having lost all memories of the past few years. When her parents, Bill and Rita Thornton, learn about this and visit her, it is the first time that Leo meets them. Paige does not understand why she left law school, broke her engagement with her previous fiancé, Jeremy, and why she has not been in touch with her family and friends. Her parents insist on taking her home with them and Paige agrees, assuming she might have married Leo for some mutual benefit and seeks evidence for the marriage. Just as she's about to leave, Leo comes running to play her a voice message in which she sounds very happy and romantic. Paige decides to go back with Leo, hoping it will help her regain her lost memory. Paige is welcomed home with a surprise party by her friends, but as she is not able to remember any of them, she finds it overwhelming and bursts out in anger.
The next day Paige ventures out to her regular cafe but does not remember having been there and loses her way back. She calls her mother because she does not know or remember Leo's number. That evening Leo and Paige are invited for dinner by her parents. At the dinner and in the bar later, Leo does not fit in with her family and friends. He persists in his attempts to help her regain her memory, but Paige is more driven to learning why she left law school and broke her engagement to Jeremy. During the course of one encounter with Jeremy, she kisses him. Her doctor advises her to fill the holes in her memory rather than be afraid of her past. With her sister Gwen's wedding approaching, Paige decides to stay with her parents until the wedding. Though Leo asks her out on a date and spends a night with her, the relationship is further strained when Paige's dad tries to persuade Leo to divorce his daughter, and by Leo punching Jeremy for talking about chances to bed his wife.
Paige rejoins law school and Leo signs divorce papers. At a store, she meets an old friend who, unaware of her amnesia, apologizes for having had a relationship with Paige's dad, thus alerting Paige as to why she had left her family. When she confronts her mother about this, Rita tells her that she decided to stay with Bill for all the things he had done right instead of leaving him for one wrong act. Paige then asks Leo why he never told her, and he replies he wanted to earn her love instead of driving her away from her parents. Paige, while in class, starts sketching; thus depicting how she first left law school. She continues her interest in art, eventually returning to sculpting and drawing. Though Jeremy confesses he broke up with his present girlfriend, hoping to be back with her, she turns him down stating she needs to know what life would be without him.
As seasons change, Leo, in a voiceover, talks about "moments of impact and ripple effects where some particles are brought closer and some are spun off into great adventures". Back in her room, Paige finds the menu card on which she had written her wedding vows and is deeply moved. The movie ends with Paige waiting for Leo at their regular Cafe Mnemonic and going with him to try a new place instead of their regular alternative, a Cuban place.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Alvin and the Chipmunks Chipwrecked
Meanwhile, the six chipmunks find an island and they sleep for the night. Dave asks Ian's help find the same island and begin looking for the six chipmunks. The next morning, the chipmunks go and find food and while doing so, an island castaway named Zoe (Jenny Slate) shows up and sees the Chipmunks and Chipettes for the first time. They then go to Zoe's tree house and Simon gets bitten by a spider, the side effects including personality changes and loss of inhibition.
The morning after, everyone observes Simon's personality has changed and he becomes a French, adventurous chipmunk named Simone. Simone asks Jeanette to dance to Alvin's dismay. Later, Zoe takes Simone, Jeanette, Eleanor and Theodore to a waterfall and Simone finds a cave. He returns with a gold bracelet which he gives to Jeanette. Brittany and Alvin see an active volcano the next day and they decide to leave the island. Theodore and Simone find Dave and Ian and they go to meet with the other chipmunks. They all begin to prepare a raft to get them off the island and everyone is assigned a job. When Jeanette and Simone go and look for food, Zoe kidnaps Jeanette and Simone gets knocked unconscious, and reverted to normal.
Everyone finds Simon awake and he cannot remember anything since the bite. They discover that Zoe has taken Jeanette and they head towards the waterfall. When they approached the tree log to cross, Dave and Alvin decide they'll go and find Jeanette. As Zoe forces Jeanette to get the treasure by tying her to a rope, Alvin and Dave come to her rescue. The island begins to rumble again and Zoe let go of the rope and Jeanette runs with Dave and Alvin back to the raft. When they reach the log to cross, Dave almost falls.
Alvin and Ian convince Zoe to help save Dave. They then run towards the raft and escape the eruption. While on the raft, Zoe apologizes to Jeanette for kidnapping her and forcing her to get the treasure. As a gift, Jeanette gives Zoe the gold bracelet that Simon had given to her. Alvin reconciles with Dave and they are rescued. The Chipmunks and Chipettes perform at the International Music Awards.
In the film's epilogue, the Chipmunks, the Chipettes, and Dave are on a plane heading back home. Alvin is speaking on the pilot's microphone that the plane's destination is set for Timbuktu, accidentally pushes the food cart, and it hits Dave.
Taken
Bryan calls Kim that evening. While they are talking, she sees several unknown men enter the apartment and abduct Amanda. Bryan then starts recording the call and tells Kim go to the next room and hide under the bed, and to shout out information about the kidnappers when they come for her. Kim is grabbed by one of the men, but she shouts a description out before she is taken away. Afterwards, Bryan realizes that someone has picked up the phone. He informs the listener of his specific set of skills and says if they let Kim go, he will not pursue them, but if they do not, "I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you". The listener then replies "Good luck" and destroys the phone. Bryan then sends Sam the recording for analysis.
Sam later informs Bryan that the kidnappers are members of the Albanian Mafia, who specialize in kidnapping teenagers to sell them into sexual slavery. Bryan and Lenore are told that if Kim is not rescued within 96 hours (or 4 days), she will likely never be found again. Bryan flies to Paris that evening using Stuart's connection with a private jet company. After landing in Paris, Bryan breaks into the apartment. He finds a reflection of Peter in a photograph recorded on the memory card of Kim's cellphone and returns to the airport where he finds Peter charming another potential victim. Attacking and brutally beating Peter, he is attacked by Peter's colleague. Beating the man down while Peter escapes, he then chases Peter who jumps from the overpass only to be killed by a passing truck.
Bryan seeks help from an old friend, Jean-Claude, a bureaucrat and former field agent, now within French intelligence. Jean-Claude tells Bryan where to start looking, but warns him not to make trouble. He meets an Albanian businessman who is a translator and later converses with a hooker only to be intimidated by her boss whom Bryan plants a listening device on the back of his collar. With the translator's help, the trail leads to a makeshift brothel at a construction site. He recognizes Kim's jacket on a girl there and takes her with him, killing several guards including the boss of the hooker he met earlier. Jean-Claude calls for a meeting in an open place and Bryan speaks to him through a radio from the Notre Dame de Paris. Jean Claude's boss is angry about the mess Bryan has made and wants to send him back to the U.S, which Bryan angrily refuses, saying that he will not stop until he finds his daughter.
Back at a hotel, the girl recovers and gives Bryan the address where she met Kim. At the site, he bluffs his way in pretending to be a corrupt police officer looking for a bribe. After a short conversation Bryan identifies Marko Hoxha, the man he spoke to on the phone. He knocks him out and kills all the other criminals. Searching the house, he finds several captives and Amanda, dead of an overdose. Enraged at what he has seen, Bryan then tortures Marko by using a makeshift electric chair in the basement. Although originally spitting in Bryan's face (twice) Marko then desperately tells him that because Kim is a virgin, she was sold to a man named Patrice Saint-Clair, because virgins are very valuable at the black market. Satisfied that Marko has told him all he knows, Bryan switches the power back on and walks out, leaving Marko to die.
Bryan then turns up unexpectedly to dinner with Jean-Claude and his wife, where he discovers that Jean-Claude knows things that he is not telling him. Jean-Claude attempts to shoot Bryan, but Bryan has unloaded Jean-Claude's pistol. Bryan then shoots Jean-Claude's wife in the shoulder, and threatens to kill her if Jean-Claude does not tell him where to find Saint-Clair. Bryan leaves the scene and goes to Saint-Clair's mansion, using Jean-Claude's card as an ID. He disables several guards to get downstairs where he finds a secret slave auction in progress. Kim is the last to be sold. Bryan forces an Arab bidder at gunpoint to buy her, but is immediately caught. When Saint-Clair learns who he is, he orders his men to kill him, but Bryan overcomes his captors and then tortures Saint-Clair into revealing where to find Kim. Saint-Clair pleads "It wasn't personal", but Bryan angrily replies "It was all personal to me" before killing him.
Bryan leaves the mansion, where he spots Kim getting into a car. He follows the car and then jumps onto a yacht where Kim has been taken. He dispatches all the henchmen including the Arab bidder. Badly injured he then enters a bedroom to find the buyer holding Kim at knife point. The man tries to bargain but Bryan shoots him in the head. He then hugs Kim who sobs "You came for me" and Bryan replies "I told you I would."
Back in Los Angeles, Bryan reunites Kim with Lenore and Stuart who make it clear to Bryan that he now has their respect. Later, Bryan surprises Kim by taking her to see Sheerah for a personal singing lesson.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
At First Sight movie
I believe Kilmer is amazing in this film. He plays a blind man named Virgil. He then meets Amy who is a New York architect. He comes home from their first meeting and starts describing Amy to his dog as if she was a coffee cake. She falls in love him. He starts to fall for her and chooses to go to New York with her. He elects to have eye surgery to possible be able to see again. The surgery was a success but now he decides to stay in New York to be with Amy much to his sister Jane's upset. Virgil and Amy's relationship starts to have issues. They realize how much they need each other. However, about 5 weeks after the operation he starts to go blind again. Virgil decides the one thing he wants to see is a hockey game. He then leaves New York and goes back home. He gives his sister her life back after thanking her for taking care of him all these years. He moves back to New York on his own. He gets a new seeing eye dog. This movie was based on true events that had happened. It is a heartwarming romantic drama.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1
The film starts out as Bella Swan plans her wedding with the Cullen family. Before the wedding, Edward Cullen tells Bella that he had murdered people in the past However, undaunted by this, Bella and Edward continue to go ahead with the wedding. During the reception following her wedding to Edward, Bella is visited by her good friend, Jacob Black. When Bella admits that she and Edward plan to consummate their marriage during their honeymoon, Jacob becomes angry but is held back by his pack. He then runs off into the woods, and Edward takes a very upset Bella back to the reception.
The couple spends their honeymoon on the Cullens' private Brazilian island called Isle Esme. Although hesitant, Edward has sex with Bella for the very first time. After Edward realizes that he has bruised Bella's arm, back and shoulders during sex and he vows to never be intimate with her again, which brings much disappointment to her. Howver, he later gives in to her seductions though. However, two weeks into their honeymoon, Bella discovers that she is pregnant with a fetus growing at an extraordinarily accelerated rate. After consulting with Carlisle, they rush back to Forks. Bella refuses to consider having an abortion, and enlists Rosalie's help to protect her wishes.
Opposed to Sam Uley's plans to kill Bella and her child, which is thought to be a demon, Jacob angrily leaves his pack and arrives at the Cullens' to protect Bella. Seth and Leah Clearwater join him shortly after and in doing so form a new wolf pack. As the pregnancy progresses, Bella's health severely starts to deteriorate. As a last resort, she begins drinking blood, which satisfies the fetus' vampiric thirst and allows her to be able to regain some strength. Soon afterward, Bella goes into a painful labor and gives birth to her daughter, Renesmee, who is named after her mother, Renée, and Edward's, Esme. In order to save her life, Edward injects Bella's heart with his venom to transform her into a vampire, but however nothing happens, and Bella is thought to be dead. Greatly distraught, Jacob attempts to kill the newbon baby, but is stopped when he realizes he has just imprinted on the child, and therefore becomes her protector.
When the werewolves learn of Bella's "death", they attack the Cullens' house in an attempt to kill the baby. They are forced to stop after learning Jacob has imprinted on Renesmee, which, under their wolf law, means Renesmee cannot be harmed. After Bella is thought to be deceased her wounds suddenly heal and she remembers her entire life as the venom reaches her heart. The Cullens all look at each other in shock. Bella's heart finally ceases, and she awakens with red eyes, a newborn vampire.
In a post-credits scene, the Volturi hear about Bella's conversion. Aro notes that it does not end their dispute with the Cullens though, proclaiming, "They have something I want".
Therefore, part 2 should prove to be an amazing movie. I have extremely high hopes for the second installments.
Twilight Saga Eclipse
Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard) attacks and bites Riley Biers (Xavier Samuel), in order to begin creating an army of newborns set to destroy Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart). Back in Forks, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and Bella discuss the complications of becoming an immortal vampire. At 18 years old, one year older than the age Edward was when he became a vampire, Bella expresses her aversion to the idea of marrying so young, though Edward refuses to turn her until they are married and she has had various human experiences that she would otherwise miss out on. While Charlie Swan (Billy Burke) investigates the disappearance of Riley Biers, Edward suspects his disappearance was caused by the newborn vampires. Furthering his suspicions is the intrusion of Riley into Bella's room.
Although Edward fears for her safety, Bella insists that Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) and the rest of the werewolf pack would never harm her, but Edward is still not convinced. Bella goes to La Push to see Jacob, and returns home unharmed. During one of her visits, Jacob confesses that he is in love with Bella, and forcefully kisses her. Furious, she punches him and breaks her hand, and Edward later threatens Jacob and tells him to only kiss her if she asks him to. Bella even revokes the invitations of Jacob and his pack members to her graduation party, but when Jacob apologizes for his behavior, she forgives him.
Meanwhile, Alice (Ashley Greene) sees a vision that the newborn army is attacking Forks led by Riley Biers. Jacob, accompanied by Quil (Tyson Houseman) and Embry (Kiowa Gordon) overhear this, which leads to an alliance between the Cullens and Wolf pack. Later, the Cullens and the wolves agree to a meeting place and time to train and discuss strategy. During the training Jasper (Jackson Rathbone) explains to Bella that he was created by a vampire named Maria to control a newborn army. He hated his original existence and upon meeting Alice, joined the Cullens with her. Bella sees the true bond between a mated vampire pair and begins to understand Jasper better. Despite her reluctance to marry, Bella realizes that spending eternity with Edward is more important to her than anything else and agrees to marry him. Edward and Bella camp up in the mountains to hide Bella from the bloodthirsty newborns. During the night, Bella overhears a conversation between Edward and Jacob, in which they temporarily put aside their hatred towards each other. In the morning, Jacob overhears Edward and Bella discussing their engagement and becomes very upset. Before he can run off to get himself killed in the fight with the newborns, Bella desperately asks him to kiss her, and she realizes that she has fallen in love with him. Edward finds out about the kiss but is not angry, as Bella says she loves him more than Jacob.
Victoria eventually finds Bella's hiding spot, and Edward kills her while Seth kills Riley. The Cullens and the Quileute wolves, meanwhile, destroy her "army", though Jacob is injured saving Leah Clearwater from a newborn. Several members of the Volturi arrive to deal with the newborn army. They also see that the Cullens are guarding the newborn, Bree Tanner (Jodelle Ferland), who had refused to fight and surrendered to Carlisle. Jane (Dakota Fanning) tortures Bree to get information, then instructs Felix to kill her, despite the Cullens' efforts to spare her. When Jane notes that Caius will find it interesting that Bella is still human, Bella informs her that the date for her transformation has been set. Bella visits the injured Jacob to tell him that even though she is in love with him, she has chosen to be with Edward. Saddened by her choice, Jacob reluctantly agrees to stop trying to come between her and Edward.
Bella and Edward go to their meadow, where she tells him she has decided to do things his way: get married, make love, and then be transformed into a vampire. She also explains that she never has been normal and never will be. She goes on to explain that she's felt out of place her entire life, but when she is in Edward's world she feels stronger and complete. At the end of the story they decide they need to tell Charlie about their engagement.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Avengers movie
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Twilight New Moon
Bella becomes heartbroken and very depressed after Edward's breakup and departure. Charlie decides to send Bella to Jacksonville, FL to her mom. However, Bella refuses to go and agrees to start spending more time with her friends. After going to a zombie movie with Jessica, Bella sees a group of bikers. This reminds her of when Edward previously rescued her from an assault, and she sees his image warning her to stay away that it was dangerous. Bella discovers that all thrill-seeking activities evoke images of Edward's preserved image. She is also comforted by a deepening friendship with Jacob Black. Jacob helps to ease her pain over losing Edward. When Jacob suddenly begins avoiding her, Bella gets worse again. She then discovers he has become a werewolf, which is an age-old enemy to vampires. Jacob's pack members are on a constant patrol for Victoria, a vampire who wants to kill Bella just to avenge the death of her mate, James, by Edward's hand which leaves Jacob with very little time to spend with her. Bella returns to seeking thrill-inducing activities as a way to ease the pain
Through miscommunication, Edward believes that Bella has killed herself by jumping off a cliff into the ocean. Distraught over her supposed suicide, Edward then decides to travel to Italy to provoke the Volturi which is a powerful vampire coven that is fully capable of killing him. However, the Volturi decide he is too valuable as a vampire. However they will kill him only if he exposes himself to humans as a vampire. Alice, Edward's sister, and Bella rush to Italy in hopes of saving Edward, and arrive just in the nic of time to stop him. It is then that Edward tells Bella that he has always loved her and only left to be able to protect her. However, the Volturi determine that Bella, a human who knows that vampires exist, must either be killed or transformed into a vampire herself. However, Alice stops the Volturi from trying to kill Bella by sharing her premonition with Aro, a Volturi elder who is able to read thoughts through a single touch, in which Bella has been transformed. Soon afterwards, they return back to Forks and Bella forgives Edward for leaving her. The Cullens vote in favor of Bella being transformed into a vampire, much to Edward and Rosalie's dismay. Later on, Jacob reminds Edward of the treaty that the Cullens made with the Quileute tribe: they will not attack each other, as long as the Cullens do not bite any humans. Which is an action necessary for Bella's transformation. This upsets Bella causing her to tell Jacob that he had no right to interfer and that it is her choice. The movie concludes with Edward telling Bella that he will change her into a vampire, but only if she marries him first.
I must say that I enjoy the chemistry that happens on screen between Isabella "Bella" Swan and Jacob Black. Showing Bella a glimpse of how things could be if Edward was not around. She also admits to Jacob that she loves him near the end of this movie.
Baby Avery
However, I would love to see the last goal Avery which was to help raise the remaining $365,000 (out of $1 million) that is needed to bring Dr. Kaspar's SMA Gene Therapy program out of the lab and into her SMA friends. Dr. Kaspar's SMA Gene Therapy could help cure Avery's friends or at the very least offer some advancements towards a cure for them that they did not have before. There is a link to be able to help donate to this cause at Avery's blog. The link is http://averycan.blogspot.com/.
May this sweet child, Avery Lynn Canahuati, rest in peace in heaven. I also want to extend my deepest condolences to the Canahuati Family and all of this little girls friends as well.
Photo of Baby Avery and information courtesy of Avery's Bucket List found at http://averycan.blogspot.com/
Childrens foods
I got a very interesting email the day before yesterday. It was over the best and worst foods to feed your infant. I food some of the items on both lists to be very interesting I will definitely pass this information along soon as I finish reading it.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Hard Times And Ways of Getting By
Times have gotten hard for tons of Americans because of the economic recession we are in. There are those that have been laid-off or even fired due to company cut backs as a result. The prices of gas has been on the raise again. It is getting to where it is too expensive to be able to just survive.
The mormons tell their people to have a well supplied pantry or food storage area and also a 72 hour kit. I believe one of the easiest to understand plans for food storage can be found here at http://providentliving.org/fhs/pdf/WE_FamilyResourcesGuide_International_04008_000.pdf. It contains some interesting interest. If a diaster hit then that is where your 72 hour kit comes into play at. There is a good printable list of supplies to have in a 72 hour kit. the link for that is http://lds.about.com/library/bl/preparation/72_hour_kit.pdf
Mortal Kombat Party & Movie Viewing
Saturday, April 7, 2012
The 2010 movie Robin Hood
In this movie, it is 1199 and Robin Longstride (played by Russell Crowe) is just a common archer in King Richard the Lionheart's (played by Danny Huston) army. He is a veteran of the Third Crusade and Richard's war against Phillip II of France, he now takes part in the siege against Chalus Castle. Disillusioned and war-weary, he believes the King when he invites him to give an honest view of the war and the King's conduct. However, after Robin gives a very blunt and unflattering appraisal, King Richard immediately breaks his promise to Robin of no repercussions for speaking honestly and has Robin and all of his comrades taken prisoner to be judged after the end of the siege. The betrayed men then decide to free themselves and desert the king. Following the death of the King, Robin and two of the other common archers, Allan A'Dayle (played by Alan Doyle) and Will Scarlett (played by Scott Grimes), and as well as a soldier Little John (played by Kevin Durand), attempt to secretly return to their homeland after fighting abroad for the past 10 years. Along the way though they come across an ambush of Royal guards by Sir Godfrey (played by Mark Strong), an English knight that is collaborating with the French. Philip of France had ordered Sir Godfrey to assassinate King Richard. Having discovered that the King has already slain, Sir Godfrey is then chased off by the arrival of Robin and his companions. Aiming to return to England safely and richer in pocket than when they left it, Robin and his men steal the armour of the slain knights and, under the disguise of noblemen, head for the English ships on the coast. Before leaving the scene of the slaughter, Robin promises one of the dying knights, Robert Loxley (played by Douglas Hodge), to return a sword to the knight's father back in Nottingham.
During the Channel crossing, Robin discovers an inscription upon the sword that reads "Rise and rise again, until lambs become lions," which is oddly familiar to him. Upon arriving in England, Robin (who has assumed the identity of Loxley) is brought to London and chosen to inform the Royal family of the King's death. He then witnesses the coronation for King John (played by Oscar Isaac) who is the younger brother of Richard. John orders harsh taxes to be collected and sending Sir Godfrey off to the North to do so. He has no idea that Sir Godfrey is actually a French agent who, using French troops, will use this Royal Decree to stir up enough unrest to cause a civil war in England.
Robin and his companions head to Nottingham, where Loxley's old and blind father Sir Walter (played by Max von Sydow) asks him to continue impersonating his son, in order to prevent the family lands from being taken by the crown. Loxley's widow, Lady Marian (played by Cate Blanchett), is initially distrustful of Robin, but soon warms up to him when he recovers taxed grain for the townsfolk to plant. Later, during a celebration of the planting, Sir William Marshal (played by William Hurt), an old friend of Walter Loxley's, arrives in Nottingham to inform Sir Walter about a planned gathering of the northern barons. He then tells Robin that they met when Robin was a child. Afterwards, Walter tells Robin about his father and his past. Thomas Longstride was a stonemason and philosopher who drafted a charter of rights and inspired the people of the north to accept it. However, he was executed for treason when he refused to give up that charter to the King's soldiers.
Meanwhile, Sir Godfrey's actions have stirred up the northern barons, who march to unite and meet with King John. Robin arrives in Barnsdale, the site of his father's execution, and discovers the stone monument from which Thomas taught him the inscription which is engraved upon the hilt of the sword that he received from Sir Robert. He convinces John and the barons to agree to the signing of the charter of rights. Having realized Godfrey's deception, and knowing he must reunite his people in order to meet an imminent French invasion, the King agrees. A battle follows in which Robin and the northern barons attack Sir Godfrey's men while the latter are ransacking Nottingham — but not before Godfrey has killed the blind Sir Walter.
The film climaxes with a French invasion on England's Dover Beach, opposed by an English army. In the midst of the chaos, Lady Marian attempts to kill Sir Godfrey but he gains the upper hand over her and then prepares to kill her. However, Robin intervenes and duels Godfrey himself. The English are victorious and Godfrey attempts to flee on horseback, but Robin shoots an arrow, from a long distance, which pierces straight through Godfrey's neck. When King John sees the French surrendering to Robin rather than to himself, he is extremely unhappy, and believing it to be a major threat to his power. Therefore, in the final scenes, King John not only reneges on his promise to sign the Charter of the Forest, but he also declares Robin to be an outlaw. In response to this action, Robin moves into Sherwood Forest with the lovely Lady Marian and his friends to form what will become known as the Merry Men of Sherwood Forest. "So," as the concluding scroll says, "the legend begins."
Friday, April 6, 2012
The Cutting Edge
Kate is a world figure skater training for the 1988 Winter Olympics. She has the talent but years of spoiling has left her very impossible to work with. Douglas Dorsey is a former hockey player. His team goes to the Olympics where he literally runs into Kate on the way to the ice for the game. However, during the game he suffers an eye injury during that game in which his peripheral vision is damaged. He is forced to retire from the sport of hockey as a result of his injury.
In the next four years leading up to the next Winter Olympics, Kate has driven away all her potential skating partners with her attitude and perfectionism. Her coach, Anton Pamchenko needs to find another replacement for her. That is when he proceeds to track down Doug, who by now is back home in Minnesota, working in a steel mill, living with his brother and playing in a semi-professional hockey league on the side. Desperate for another chance at the Olympics, Doug agrees to a tryout to work as Kate's partner, even though he has a macho contempt for figure skating. However, Kate's snooty, prima donna behavior gets on his nerves immediately. The first few practices between them do not go well. He agrees to stay on as Kate's partner. In time, though, their relationship grows warmer and warmer. They learn to work together and become a pair to be reckoned with both on and off the ice.
To the surprise of everyone, they advance all the way to the finals in Albertville and seem to be one of the top pairs competing for the gold. Everything is going well until they realize that they have fallen in love with each other. Doug and Kate are forced to reconcile these new feelings with their mutual desire to win at all costs.
Now just don't forget to "toe pick" and enjoy.



