Much like last month, I’ve been very busy. Tutoring has wrapped up for the semester, and I’m currently preparing for the summer session. My two-week break between sessions will be put to good use. My plans include cleaning up my house a bit more than usual, rearranging things to fit my new piece of furniture (pictures of the new piece to follow soon), watching the NBA conference finals, and writing, writing, writing. Hopefully I’ll be able to squeeze a little movie-watching time in these two weeks as well. If I do, maybe I’ll have a few more movies to recommend next month.
Here are a couple movies to tide you over on this last day of the Memorial Day weekend. Enjoy!
AVAILABLE TO OWN OR RENT
The Book Thief
This movie completely blew me away. It reminds me of The Diary of Anne Frank and The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. Set in the same time period, The Book Thief tells the story of a young girl who gets adopted by a laid-back man (portrayed by Geoffrey Rush) and his spunky wife (portrayed by Emily Watson). She makes friends and learns to read for the first time, even though books are being burned in the town she lives in, due to Hitler’s harsh creed. To continue her reading lessons with her new Papa, she must find books to read, even if it means becoming the Book Thief.The star of this film, Sophie Nélisse, brought innocent charm to the screen that I haven’t seen in a while. Not only that, but she held her own in the small sets she shared with the intimidating Geoffrey Rush and the plucky Emily Watson. Now, Geoffrey impressed me. I’m used to him playing bad, creepy guys (think Barbossa from Pirates of the Caribbean). But in The Book Thief, he earned a new level of respect and admiration from me. Emily Watson is an actress I’ve enjoyed since I first saw her. Each role she portrays, she plays it to perfection in a fun, never-know-what-she’ll-say-next kind of way. This role was no exception.
You may want tissues available when you watch this one. Also, it does deal with circumstances that may be difficult for children to see and understand, especially young children.
Disney’s The Pirate Fairy
This is the sixth Tinker Bell movie Disney has created. What I like about these films is they give more stories in the world we first discovered in Peter Pan. I don’t know about you, but I’ve always enjoyed the idea of Neverland and mermaids and pirate ships. With Disney’s The Pirate Fairy, we find more connections to the original Neverland tale of Peter Pan.
First of all, we see a young James Hook, who later becomes Captain Hook. Providing the voice for this character is Tom Hiddleston, a great actor with stunning blue eyes and a lovely British accent. I first saw him as the blue-eyed soldier (a.k.a. Captain Nicholls) in War Horse. Right away his talent stood out, along with those eyes. His voice is the perfect choice for young James Hook. It goes right along with what I remember from the original Captain Hook from Peter Pan.Another connection is the introduction of the crocodile. He may be a lot smaller, but that didn’t make me root for him any less. I loved seeing him in this movie. It just added another layer of fun in a cute flick.
The other connections I’ll leave as surprises for you. How many can YOU find?
Readers, what are your favorite movies to watch over Memorial Day Weekend? Do you watch lots of war movies? Do you watch them alone or with your family?
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