2013 Summer Movies: #5 The Errand of Angels

Rated PG for dramatic situations, The Errand of Angels stars Erin Chambers and Rachel Emmers in this 2008 work about sister missionaries.  While the film talks some about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, it's primarily about relationships and how the main character learns to build better relationships throughout her mission.  If we start expecting more from others, we need to look first at how much we are contributing to the situation both positively and negatively and focus more on the positive.  Mica and Hedgehog had seen this before so just Daisy and I watched it this time 'round and we both liked it.

2013 Summer Movies: #4 Bend It Like Beckham

Bend It Like Beckham rated PG-13 for language and some sexuality.  This feel good soccer film  was made in 2002 and stars Parminder Nagra, Kiera Knightly and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.  We thought it was very enjoyable with some surprising comedy.    For some interesting highlights contrasting reel life and real life in Bend It Like Beckham, visit: http://espn.go.com/page2/s/merron/031110.html
In 2003 a slightly better known film starring Kiera Knightly came out: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

2013 Summer Movies: #3 The Devil Wears Prada

Released in  2006, The Devil Wears Prada with Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt.  Rated PG-13 for some sensuality (the main character has a boyfriend).   When do you say no to your boss?  Who are you willing to step on so that you can get ahead?  And how did they wrangle those advanced copies of Harry Potter?!?  There were clever additions to the movie of asking for the improbable if not impossible.  Hedgehog could see the differences in the color of the belts  and it was a lesson in fashion for myself and Daisy.  This was a fun little spree of a movie into the world of vogue that trickles down to our shopping level.

2013 Summer Movies: #2 Pleasantville

Made in 1998 and starring a host of big name actors such as Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon along with several other familiar screen faces.  Don Knotts has a hilarious role throughout the movie and look for his reaction at the end of the film as he's driving away.

Pleasantville was filmed in color, then individually manipulated to replace color in certain sections of the film.  The effect is succinctly describe here: http://video.about.com/desktopvideo/Pleasantville-Effect-With-Final-Cut.htm

Rated PG-13 for language and thematic elements dealing with sexuality. (It's generally implied that people turn to color after engaging in some sort of sexual behavior but people can also turn to color for other reasons such as love, anger or even just things not in the norm for that individual.)

The movie creates a good background for discussing everything from art to book banning and censorship to racism and nudity vs. pornography to sexuality. When do we stand up as opposed to when we stand "with the crowd" and go along?  The standing with the crowd and the standing up happens on both sides of the color situation in Pleasantville, giving a nice contrast of how hard it can be to determine which side to join in some battles because both sides have tenants with which we agree.   The last movie, Stand and Deliver, was pretty straight forward and definitely worth watching with some discussion thrown in.   We just ended up discussing Pleasantville quite a bit more both during and after the movie.

2013 Summer Movies: #1 Stand and Deliver

Stand and Deliver rated PG made in 1988 starring Edward James Olmos, Andy Garcia, and Lou Diamond Phillips.  Educational movie about Calculus and the AP test.  Daisy didn't think that she would like it but she did. Hedgehog said it was good and the teacher was funny.  Mica also liked this film

Sunday Randomness # 401: Life Flight in the Intermountain West

 

Sharing a video from a safety demonstration. (Lift off is around the 45 second mark.) Learn more about Life Flight at: http://intermountainhealthcare.org/services/lifeflight/Pages/home.aspx