Marley and Me (2008)

Who let the dog out? And why can't we control it?

The latest meeting of We Heart Owen took place at the AMC 1000 in San Francisco. Britt, Pete and Keith sat through this popular holiday holdout dram-com.

Many cried by the time the film ended. It wasn't the sunny flick I signed up for. Aniston (spoiler) loses a baby, her job, and her dog. The ladies next to me were balling by the time the final montage broke out. For an Owen Wilson film, this was kind of a downer. Not even the Marley highlight reel during the start of the credits lightened the mood.

The story was better than I expected, a true one about a newspaper columnist (remember those?) back in the days they made money, I guess. Looks like a nice job for a Medill grad.

I thought dog people would love it automatically, but Keith didn't.

The Labrador puppies scene killed. Women swooned. They made a joke about a Labradoodle.

So let us know if you'd like a We Heart Owen button. There are stunning new designs posted on the Facebook page's Photos section. Owen's a bona fide leading man now, which feels kinda strange, like watching your dad cry. He's all growed up. Good for him. Anyways, it looks like he'll get back in form for the Night at the Museum sequel. YeeehaW!

Speed Racer (2008)

Oh man. I will be the odd man out on this one, however I think that might be the charm or lure of Speed Racer. But I won't hate myself for really really enjoying this movie, and comments come what may.
It might be said that Hollywood has lost touch with how to tell a good story, and considering that most of the movie was shot in Germany, then it makes sense that this had the potential for a good story. The reason it has a good story though is not that it was produced in Germany but that maybe the Hollywood Machine found a niche market--- namely me.
I am a pop culture savvy late 20-something who fancies himself a weekend warrior who has tried sports ranging from Whirly Ball to Windsurfing--Table Tennis to Beer Pong. Most times though you will find me on my bike, on a pair of skis, or in (sudden major chord) a go-kart.
God please just keep reading, and it should make sense why I over looked all the slick graphic work to which I am generally opposed to hand crafted modeling.
I would never consider this to have been a remake, retelling, reiteration or redo. Naively I'm going to suspend my disbelief, as one must wholeheartedly do to enjoy the futurist perspective anyway, to say that this was an homage (glowing chorus of angles). Because each episode of the original was so formulaic and stretched to fit a 1/2 to 1 hour (some "To be continued..." episodes), one would think that there wasn't much to go on for 2+ hours of candy gloss mayhem. But Speed hits most of the points of the Racer Saga, with the specifics of the company Pops works for and his ring as a wrestling champ. I was the only one of the 7 people in the theatre who laughed because I have the episode on DVD where Pops has a flashback of his days mangling faces before taking on 5-8 thugs. Those little things made it that much more real.
Do I think the two beers I had between getting out of work and the start time of the movie made a difference? Yes. Because despite pre planning and eating a whole bag of popcorn (I splurged) I had to get up to let my water run 40 minutes in. Otherwise I may use my "get boozed first" designation.
Here's where I get sentimental.
===SPOILER(?)===
If by the end you don't feel for Speed and his family, you might not be human, or you have never tried to push yourself to do something at which you could fail. I put that warning in there despite the fact that I don't believe you can go to a movie about racing or competition without knowing that the protagonist will come out on top. Maybe it's my current life circumstances but by the end I got teary (not all out crying like when I saw Big Fish weeks after my grandfather died). Of course it might also have been that I went alone on a week night, but regardless. I couldn't help but think about all the racing movies I love and remember and recommend to the pantheon of which Speed Racer will be a part:
Downhill Racer 1969, Le Mans 1971, Wind 1992, and Without Limits 1998, and maybe Hidalgo 2004.
I will put one watch check in, not because I was wondering when it was over or when I could get a chance to piddle again, but because I wondered how were they going to fit a whole ralleye race in for the predictable big finish. I will also say that the kid who played young Speed was very mediocre compared to the kid that played Spridle. I suspended my disbelief that he was bad.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008)

Frumpy? Yes. Dowdy? You betcha. Needs a makeover? Like you wouldn't believe. Miss Pettigrew has a problem. And lucky for her, she's found just the people to fix it.

:Plot Outline:
Guinevere Pettigrew, a middle-aged London governess, finds herself unfairly dismissed from her job. An attempt to gain new employment catapults her into the glamorous world and dizzying social whirl of an American actress and singer, Delysia Lafosse.:

Meanwhile, WWII looms on the horizon, giving a bit more heft to the film than might appear in the previews. Unless they played up that part.

The music is pretty good, with live big band stuff out of the 40s. A touching number near the end, "If I Didn't Care," is originally by an all black band called The Ink Spots. I don't know whether to laugh or cry about their name, but they made decent song.

Atonement (2007)

This is a real good weepy. The movie was a little hard to follow, as it jumped in time and between reality and make believe. Also they spoke with English accents, which I can't really understand. Keira was pretty good and James McAvoy makes me want to be a better man.

No watch checks, except when I got to my seat a half hour before the movie was supposed to start. I blame Dort for that. But we got good seats and she had a pretty good story to tell. She had gone to a funeral the day before of a man killed by Stanford hospital--they gave him chemo for cancer he didn't have. so with that cheery beginning, the place filled up and we watched a flick.

this is a good love story movie, and the war stuff is done tastefully. they mix in real clips from the Dunkirk evacuation of troops, of all the guys happy to be home. of course, some of them didn't make it, leaving the need for atonement of the sins others had committed against them. the soundtrack is like solo piano mostly, with some Cure songs mixed in. just kidding. but they did have cool interplay between the sounds and the music. for instance, a typewriter keystroke would repeat and turn into a rhythmic piece of music.