Media Monday... Movies, Movies, Movies!

It's already Tuesday, and I missed Monday, so I'm including a quick post of short cuts, all about the movies we saw this weekend!

We always do a movie day on Thanksgiving weekend.  By the end of November, the Oscar films are starting to pour into the theaters, and we're usually so busy that we're playing catch-up with them.  It started on our very first Thanksgiving together (Kinsey, Finding Neverland, Saw, Sideways) and has continued every year.  This year, we caught five great films!

• The Muppets.  Major love.  More on this tomorrow, for Adventure Wednesday!
• The Artist.  An absolute must-see if you're a fan of silent films... and even if you aren't. Take a dash of Singin' In the Rain, a pinch of A Star Is Born, and you have a story about the silent age of cinema told... in the style of the silent age of cinema.  There's some really indelible imagery in the film, and it's created in the vintage-retro aesthetic that I love.  Plus, the two leads seem as if they were plucked from the 1930s.  Hollywood just doesn't make actors - or movies - like this anymore...  but it seems France can.
• Hugo. Two films in a row that are love letters to classic cinema - though I didn't really expect it of this Scorcese children's pic when I first saw the trailer.  I don't want to spoil anything for you, but it's a slow but immersive jaunt to France that entertains while it pleads for the preservation of film.  This actually may be my favorite Scorcese film.
• Arthur Christmas.  The most benign of the bunch, but a pleasant watch nonetheless.  I usually expect more of Ardman (the Wallace & Gromit studio) but it's still much better than many animated films.
• We Bought A Zoo.  It was playing in a "sneak preview" (the kind you buy tickets for, not the kind you're selected for.)  I wasn't expecting much, because Cameron Crowe hasn't interested me since Almost Famous... but I was totally won over by the film, the characters, the actors, and the depth of feeling.  I won't lie.  I cried - a lot.  I loved it.

We've also been seeing more and more of our own script.  With Tom home this week, we've been going gangbusters, and it keeps getting better and better.  Thanks also to a long discussion over dinner with my mother-in-law this weekend, we having been looking into a new avenue for the main character that has been fun and exciting to research.  Woo-hoo!