Last weekend, I think it was, my Favorite Husband wanted to go to the movies, and I couldn't see anything worth wasting ten bucks and two hours of my life on. So I stayed home and did laundry and played Wii Fit, and he went by himself. He saw Armored, which I suppose I could have watched on video if I HAD to, but opted out of instead. Certainly *HE* wasn't so gung-ho on it that I would have broken his mighty heart by not going with him. His review was what I suspected--a grunt and a shrug--but he came home a good half-hour later than I expected him. Because, as it turned out, he decided with the lax security in the theater he would walk into a SECOND movie, and within ten or fifteen minutes he so much preferred THIS movie he had a hard time leaving the theater. So he came home and demanded this weekend we see this movie. So we went.

"This movie" ended up being The Blind Side, with Sandra Bullock. I was rather surprised my Favorite Husband went for it, because he despises anything with a sports theme with a Florentine fourteenth-century frenzy. Mojo has a sneaking "like" for football, since she grew up with two Penn State grads as parents, but not enough to properly assert my preferences when faced with the sheer dislike of my One and Only Beloved. (Well, if I *DID* care enough I'd keep watching and he could go hang himself for all I cared, but it really wasn't all that big of a deal. If I'm at home alone and a football game is on I *might* watch it--though nowadays I don't follow any of the teams so there's no serious rooting, so I tend to pick whoever was behind when I first turned it on (underdogs, don'tcha know) or the color jerseys I like better. But if the Favorite Husband is home, if the game stays on the complaining about professional sports people starts up, so I just let him change the channel. Pick your battles, people. That's Mojo's advice du jour. You're welcome.)

Anyway, I was a bit surprised he would be into it, for in addition to being a football movie it also looked like something of a chick flick tearjerker. And it COULD have, I suppose, but it really didn't get that bad. We both like Sandra Bullock, but like many people we like (Norm MacDonald, Wanda Sykes, blah blah blah) it seems hard for her to get a role she can click with, and she really did with this one.

But what I liked best was, the total lack of family drama they keep sticking in movies whether it's needed or not. The family was fully and completely functional. Even the teenaged daughter, who is usually the prime candidate for causing or getting into trouble, was a decent person. Sandra Bullock's character made the whole movie. The father was a good-natured sweet sort of guy who just tolerantly went along with everything. The whole family just got along splendidly, but not overly-cloyingly like they did in Dan in Real Life.

It was also nice seeing fairly wealthy people portrayed in a fully positive light. This whole family was kind to just about everyone they met, including a very nice scene between Sandra Bullock's character and her adopted son's crack-addict mother. With two pushy broads I was sort of expecting the stereotype screaming fishwife abusive mother throwing the rich lady out of her house, but the Sandra Bullock character treated her with the utmost respect and regard, and it ends up being this very nice, albeit somewhat sad, moment.

I'm guessing the movie was rated PG, or maybe PG-13, since even the gang kids who Michael originally associated with weren't quite as nasty as such street toughs are usually portrayed. There was very little language. My biggest complaint happened in the first five minutes, when poor Mojo was subjected once again, for the gazillionth time, watching Joe Theismann get his leg broken in super slow motion. I could have done without seeing THAT again for the rest of my life. Once they said the name "Joe Theismann" I started squirming and saying, "Oh, no, they're going to show it again, aren't they?" and my Favorite Husband laughed at me and said, "But you're gonna watch, aren't you?" Because it's like watching a car accident: you don't want to watch it but you can't turn away.

I've also spent the past week re-watching some of the classic Kurosawa films (I think the first time, for my Favorite Husband). Thus far we've watched The Seven Samurai, Yojimbo and the totally AWESOME Rashomon. Toshiro Mifune is just so great. Still on the pile to-be-seen is Throne of Blood and RAN>. I'm still waiting for my personal favorite, Ikiru, to come in for the library. I think I will purchase Ikiru and Rashomon for myself, 'cuz I like them so much. Or, hey, Christmas is coming up....

Mojo