Kit Kittredge: A Review

Kit Kittredge is perfect.

Okay, it’s not perfect. It’s a bit predictable and wee bit sentimental (meaning, my husband groaned from time to time and my daughters & I cried) but for a family movie, yes. It’s almost perfect.

Set in the 1930’s during the heart of the depression, this movie inspired some great discussions at the dinner table as well a new conservatism on the part of my husband. (“Do I really have to finish my carrots, Daddy?” “Yes, you do.”)

Abigail Breslin is spunky and capable as the heroine of this American Girl tale. Wallace “I don’t lisp!” Shawn (of The Princess Bride fame) was a favorite among my children, and Joan Cusack’s librarian, too, had them besides themselves with giggles.

Oh, and the character of Countee steals the show at the end.

My 11-year-old son followed his father’s lead in complaining good-naturedly about the “girliness” of the movie, yet (don’t tell him I told you) was glued to the screen throughout both viewings.

Yes, we watched this movie twice: once to see if it all turned out (What do you think? Did it?) and a second time, to revisit all our favorite scenes. There were many.

3 ½ stars out of 4 for this very fun family movie.

See Candise's review here.


All for the greater glory of God,

The Great Debaters

Althought it's rated PG-13, I allowed my whole family (aged 10 and up) to watch "The Great Debaters" last night. I was glad we did. Based on the true story of the first African-American college debate team, the drama revolves around Melvin Tolson and his Wiley College students. I was impressed how Tolson taught his debate team to stand up for themselves and use their God-given intelligence. I was impressed how James Farmer, Jr. attended college at age 14. I was impressed that he quoted from Saint Augustine in his final rebuttal agains the Harvard University national champions. But Texas in the late 1930s is still mired in Jim Crow rules and blatant racism.

*Spoilers* We skipped the bedroom scene between the Wiley College sweethearts. But I was able to narrate in whispers while playing through the lynching scene. The car-load from Wiley accidentally comes upon a mob who has just lynched a black man, and they narrowly escape back down the dirt road.

The special features include a live interview with the living members of the Wiley College debate team and Denzel Washington. An inspirational drama produced by Oprah Winfrey.

Happily, this movie shows that people of all colors can be very smart and very stupid. It opened the door for a good discussion of slavery and would work well as a follow up to a Civil War unit study. We also watched "Black Ulysses" which is an episode in "The Young Riders" DVD #2 about the underground railroad helping slaves escape in 1961.

Bless me Father

We've been watching this as a family nightly, courtesy of netflix. The Amazon link will give you a glimpse of how well-loved this series is--it has a solid 5 star rating from numerous customer reviews. Now available as a complete set on DVDs. Filmed in the 70s, set in the 50s, supposedly pulled from BBC in the USA.

The old pastor of St. Jude and the new, inexperienced young priest and their housekeeper is a hilarious trio. Family fare, and not at all disrespectful of the Catholic Church, although of course a bit politically incorrect for these days: the doctor is always smoking and carries a bottle in his bag!

The Movie Juno: a Review

The movie Juno is being called a mini-blockbuster and took third in box-office sales this past weekend. I’m not surprised; I dragged my husband to it a couple weeks ago (It was our anniversary; he was feeling amenable) and we both loved it.

Well, “love” is a strong word for my patent attorney husband. He did really like it, though, as far as I can tell, and as far as I could tell (based on my sidelong glances), he even swiped at his eyes once or twice by the end of it.

But don’t tell him I told you.

Anyway. I’m giving the movie one more shout-out because it’s really very good. Clever, quirky, engaging, cute…you’ll laugh and you’ll fall in love with the leading actress for all her sassy smartness. She’s coping as best as she can and I commend her.

You may also be uncomfortable a couple of times—there is a scene of brief but discreet intimacy at the beginning, and the would-be adoptive father (played by Jason Bateman) has some issues—but hey, life can be uncomfortable and teenage pregnancy is certainly out there for us to deal with.

Better a movie that celebrates one teenager’s pregnancy (and her responsible decision-making regarding it) then one that promotes abortion.

That’s why I’m telling ya.

Go to this movie.

PS. This is my first review for Love2learn at the Movies so go easy on me! Also, I do not yet have teenagers so I'm not all that certain on how to go about recommending the ages for this film. I'm going to say ages 16 and up, but feel free to leave a comment and offer your opinion.

*This review has been cross-posted at Minnesota Mom.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets

My family and I had been looking forward to this sequel because of how much we enjoyed the movie National Treasure. We went three days after it opened because we wanted to avoid the crowds of this reportedly highly successful box office hit.

From the beginning the movie was intriguing. It starts off with Ben Gates (Nicholas Cage) and his dad played by Jon Voight, giving a lecture about the elder Gates' grandfather during the time of President Lincoln's assassination.

No sooner do they finish their talk than the character played by Ed Harris, dispels the image of the grandfather by proving he was in fact an accessory to the president's assassination.

Well, then the adventure begins.

One clue leads to another and soon they are traveling the world trying to clear the Gates' name by finding the lost city of Cibola.

This movie is geared for everyone's entertainment. It was produced by Disney so for the most part it is good family fun. Except for the fact, that the main character and his girlfriend lived together. Living together without the sacrament of marriage is never a very good message to send to children or teens. Anyway, you would think that since the original movie was released in 2004, this couple would be married and have children by now, instead of still dating...but I digress...

The are interesting little factoids that come up during the movie such as there are actually three statues of liberty; there are identical desks at the White House and Buckingham Palace; there is an underground passage in one of the nation's monuments, etc. If your children are anything like my son, he or she will do a little research via the internet to find out if these tidbits about American history are true or not.

And, don't worry if you haven't seen the original National Treasure. Even though all the characters are the same and I believe all the original main actors return for this sequel, it is a new adventure.

I didn't go into too much detail here because I wanted to leave you with the SciFi Catholic's entertaining review of the movie. The review can be found at the following link.

Can I still have fun if I can't understand it?

For those of you interested and have not seen the movie yet, you can check out the trailer and visit at the Official Website