Soon

 Very soon, we will have sunflowers!

Not just one, 

not just two, 

but three sunflowers!

I'm sure there will be more eventually, but for now, these are all there is. 

I had every intention of coming home and fixing my weedeater, then weedeating, but by the time I got off work, I was so exhausted I didn't do much of anything.  

Speaking of not doing much of anything, the two brazers who pitched such a fit about their pay were back today, and yep, you guessed it.  They didn't do much of anything all day. One of them leaned on her table, and the other sat on her buggy most of the day.  And they seriously think they don't get paid enough.  I think they get paid too much as it is. 

Let's just say, if we got paid by the header, they'd owe the company. 

Oh, and we had another bit of excitement in the plant.  It just never ends, does it?  Shortly after lunch, I saw a couple of the brazers and parts stagers looking at the floor, then up to the ceiling.  At first, I though the roof was leaking again, but it wasn't even raining.  Turns out, it was one of the overhead lines leaking.  I'm not sure what it was, but it sure wasn't water.  

Someone from safety came out and called maintenance, who eventually showed up and taped up the line with --guess what?  Something that appeared very much like duct tape.  It didn't work, though.  By the end of the day, another puddle was forming on the floor.  I guess second shift will report it, or else we'll do it when we get there in the morning.  

And finally, I knit half a hat yesterday 

while I was watching this really weird movie on Prime called The Young Messiah.  It's the speculated story of the Holy Family traveling back from Egypt to Nazareth when Jesus was 7 years old.  The idea was interesting, but they way they handled it was not good.   Don't waste your time on that one. 

Don't waste your time on one called The Inquiry, or the Final Inquiry either.  It's the same film but goes by both titles depending on which market you're in.  It's an Italian production, but has both English and Italian actors in it.  The weird part is, the English actors are speaking English, and the Italian actors are speaking Italian, but they dubbed the Italian into English for English speaking markets and the English into Italian for Italian speaking markets.  

Anyway, the plot was interesting.  The Roman emperor sends a trusted soldier to Jerusalem to investigate these claims of a crucified man having risen from the dead.  It could have been so good, but it wasn't handled well at all.  It would have been better had they left out the sub-plot of the romance between the Roman soldier and a Jewish girl, but that seemed to be what the whole film was about.  Whatever.  Watch it at your own risk. 

All was not lost, movie-wise, though.  I watch a really good one called Sisters Of War.  Set during WWII, it's about some nurses and some nuns who become close friends when the Japanese turn their convent into a prisoner of war camp.  

That one is worth your while.  In fact, I highly recommend it.  On Prime. 

Finally!!

What is that great light in the sky?  Why, it is the sun!!

I'd almost forgotten what it looked like it's been so long.  For the first time, I was able to put my little sunflowers outside actually in the sunlight.  I'd initially started putting them into the back yard under the cloches I'd bought for just such a thing, 

but I quickly changed my mind when I realized my back yard doesn't get nearly as much morning sun ad I'd thought.  Instead, I put them onto a tray and moved them to my front porch, where they got plenty of the mild morning sun. 

I was tempted to leave them out all day, but didn't want to overdo it what with it being their first time exposed to full sun, so after four hours, I moved them to the back porch for the rest of the day.  Tomorrow after work, I'll put them back out for a few hours -- hopefully before the clouds move back in for who knows how long. 

Now for the bad news.  I did a little research and deer love eat sunflowers.  That means I can't plant them out by the back fence like I'd originally hoped to.  Oh, I could have and put some repellent in my back yard, but I don't want to chase them completely off, so it's on to plan B.  I think I'll plant them in the front yard and once they've outgrown the cloches, I'll spread some Repels All around the yard.  

Full disclosure, I wouldn't have chosen sunflowers myself; they were in the wedding favors my nephew and his bride were passing out.  I kind of feel --not so much obligated -- I don't know the right word, but I really want them to thrive and prosper.  It'll kind of make me feel closer to family, you know. 

In knitting news, hat #2 is coming right along. 

While I was knitting, I watched the Call Of The Wild movie with Harrison Ford and a bunch of CGI dogs.  To put it into the vernacular of our British allies, it was bloody awful.  I mean, I'd heard it wasn't that good, but I had no idea it would be that bad.  

I mean, I know we've become a nation that worships dogs, but the level of anthromorphism in this film is...well, it's worse than a Disney movie.   It's just not realistic...and yes, I know it's not supposed to be realistic, but seriously...a dog doesn't have the cognitive capability to, say, know what whiskey even is, much less that the man shouldn't be drinking it to excess like that.  

This movie was so bad, I had to download the book to my Kindle get the taste of it out of my brain.  

If you want to watch a movie version, just stick with the 1972 version with Charlton Heston.  It's so much better. 

The Waltons: The Homecoming Review, And Other Stuff

Recently, I found out the TV channel The CW has done a remake of the 1971 classic Christmas movie The Homecoming.  This is the move that launched the TV series The Waltons.  I watched it yesterday, and I have thoughts.  These thoughts will contain spoilers, so this is your warning.  I'm going to put my review at the end of this post, so if you haven't seen the movie yet -- and want to-- I'll let you know when to stop reading. 

In the meantime, I finally got a good look at my neighbor's house yesterday on the way home from work.  It's a total loss.  My heart goes out to them.

Honestly, I don't even know who lived there any more.  The guy who owned it when I first moved onto this road passed away a few years ago, and I'd thought his widow sold the house.  I'm not completely sure.  

The bright spot of the day, I received my first Christmas card!

Thanks,  Jenn!  I've got one more batch to mail out, then all mine will have been sent. I had so many, I divided them up and mailed a few at a time, so as not to overwhelm my mail carrier.  Probably not necessary, but I did it anyway.  I tried to be kind to those who work in service this time of year.  Well, all year, but especially around the holidays.  They catch so much crap from the Karens out there, a little extra kindness goes a long way. 

Now, for the movie review.  If you haven't seen it yet, and want to, stop reading now.  

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Still here?  OK, let's begin.  

First off, it wasn't a bad movie.  I don't regret watching it, but it wasn't a great movie, either.  It's not one I'd watch over and over again, like the original is. There were a lot of similarities between the two -- naturally -- but there were a lot of differences, as well. 

First difference, they completely omitted Ben from the story.  The producers claim that decision was to give the other kids "more story", but that just doesn't make sense.  In the original movie, all the kids had plenty of story, even with Ben.  Another change they made was that Mary Ellen was the one obsessed with becoming a pilot, and Jim Bob wanted to be an architect.  Not that there's anything wrong with that  -- Amelia Earhart and all -- but we watched for 9 seasons Jim Bob living and breathing flying, hardly taking that pilot's helmet off -- and finally becoming a pilot.  The swap is rather jarring, but it appears they wanted to make Mary Ellen a tomboy feminist.  She does become "the first female pilot for the postal service".   But still, I don't quite get why they couldn't have left Mary Ellen becoming the doctor.  In 1933, that would have been just as groundbreaking as becoming a pilot.  

Also, the story itself seemed to be rather simplified.  I guess they thought they had to dumb it down for today's dumbed down audience.  It lacks the depth and richness of the original.  Everyone already knows John Boy sits up in his room writing in his tablet, so there's no mystery there, wondering what he's doing in his room with the door locked. 

And I wonder about the casting.  The boy they cast to play John Boy was good, but  the little girl they cast to play Elizabeth was totally wrong for the part.

Elizabeth was supposed to be 5 years old.  We know this because at one point, Mama Walton tells Ike, "It's hard to explain the depression to a five year old."  But the girl playing Elizabeth looked like she was about 10 - 12 years old. She was huge, almost as tall as Mama Walton.   Not only that, she couldn't act worth a flip.  She had a couple of crying scenes, and they looked as fake and contrived as they could be.  

Finally, I think the biggest detriment to the remake is that throughout the whole movie, they kept showing you were John Sr is.  This is a huge mistake in my opinion.  In the original, you, the viewer, didn't know any more than the family did.  You didn't know if Daddy was safe or not.  If he would make it home, or was trapped under a bus somewhere.  You felt the same worry and suspense the family did, waiting to see ....

You don't feel the utter let down when Mama sends John Boy out to look for Daddy, only to return home without him -- then the overwhelming relief when the family opens the door and he's there -- with a big bag of presents, no less.  This movie robs the viewer of that experience.  

Oh don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad movie.  It just wasn't a good movie, either.  It was worth watching, but won't become the timeless classic the original movie has.  

From now on, I'll stick with the 1971 version, thank you very much.   

Long Weekend

My long weekend is just about over.  I'm afraid there really isn't much to tell you about it.  I'd wanted to get up and do something today, but I just didn't. Of course, you know the zoo trip was out of the question after getting that vet bill.  Still, I thought I'd drive up to Southaven or even Batesville and do a little window shopping, but with no money to spend, that lost its appeal.  What I did instead was finish the mowing, split some more firewood, and wash dishes.  That's real exciting, huh? 

Saturday, I rented the new Aquaman movie.  Now, first thing I must say is that I'm not a big fan of DC movies -- not since the original Superman with Christopher Reeve, and the original Batman with Michael Keaton.  I did kind of like Batman Begins, but The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises, eh, not so much. 

I had high hopes for Aquaman, because of Jason Momoa.  Someone once said, "Only Jason Momoa could make Aquaman not suck," and truthfully, he was the best part of the movie.  Oh, it wasn't terrible.  It was an, "I'm glad I rented it, but I don't think I'll buy it" kind of movie.   It could have been great.  Instead, it just sort of flirted with greatness, but didn't quite get there. 

For example -- and I should probably give you a spoiler alert, even though the spoilers I'm about to drop were so blatantly obvious and predictable, they aren't really spoilers at all -- in the cave, when he turns away from the two women to go after the trident.  That moment could have packed a lot more punch.  Instead, it fell a bit flat.  What should have been momentous, left me feeling like, "is that all?"  Same way when he retrieved the trident.  That could have been -- should have been -- an intensely powerful scene, birth of a hero and all, but again, it fell flat. 

The other thing I didn't like was that the battle scenes just seemed to drag on and on.  In fact, the whole movie seemed to be one fight after another, with just enough of a plot to connect them.  The best scene of all was the mid credit scene.  Now, that left me wide eyed and saying, "Wow!"  All that to say, this is one that won't be added to my collection. 

The rest of my weekend was spent watching Lone Star Law.  For some reason, Hulu has skipped me all the way up to season 4.  I'm going to have to go back and watch seasons 1 - 3.  I've seen a few season 1 episodes, but then the "Watch Next Episode" option took me all the way to season 4.  Not that that's important, but still. 

In the midst of all that watching -- and the accompanying homesickness it brought on -- I finished a hat. 

And I started another. 

This one is just plain stockinette.  The plain ones knit up so much faster. 

If I seem a bit down tonight, it's because I have to go back to work tomorrow, and I'm not looking forward to it.  Have I ever mentioned how much I hate my job?  I hate it even more, now that I've got a stalker harassing me. 

Maybe I need to go on and put that milk bucket under that bull. 

Then I Cried

I couple of days ago, I was reading through some old blog posts.  See, at the bottom of each blog post is a widget that provides three links to older posts that are supposed to be related to that particular post.  I often click on those and just reminisce about old times.  

On this particular day, I ran across a post from October 22, 2013.  In that post was the following passage:

Work was exhausting today. Group Leader Fernando wasn't there, and the person they sent over there to ...well, lead the group...um...is..um...well...as my co-worker likes to say, she'll worry the horns off a billy goat.  And she did exactly that.

The irony is, she worried us so much about doing our work, that we couldn't get our work done because of her worrying us, and ended up having to stay late to get the work done that we didn't get done while she was worrying us to death.  Then she came over and started worrying us about staying late.

I guess my co-worker got a little fed up because she told her, "We will get the work done, and then we will leave."

First I laughed, until I realized that the worrisome group leader is now my permanent group leader and this is my life every. single. day.

Then I cried.

Then I really didn't want to go back to work this morning, but alas, the bills must be paid, so off to work I went.  And so, my Memorial Day weekend came to an end.

Over said weekend, though, I was able to get out and work in my flower beds a little.  I got mulch spread over about 1/3 of the bed. 

 I was going to get out this evening and mulch around those four zinnias, but I didn't.  I didn't do the rest of the bed because in that space between the salvias and the moss rose, I've got some seeds planted.  I think it is Chinese Forget-Me-Not.  I'd bought them last year and never did plant them.  A week or so ago, I threw them into that space, just to see if they'd come up.  Lo and behold, they are.

I wasn't sure if they'd germinate, what with the seeds being old and all, so this is a nice surprise.

Speaking of my salvias, I thought this one had died, but look, it's putting out new leaves.

The other two also look pretty sad, but not as bad as this one.  Maybe they'll recover and grow, too.  Oh, and one of my dahlias is blooming red.

I have three.  One has yellow blooms, and this one has red.  The third one hasn't bloomed yet, so I'm anxious to see what color those will be.

I'd planted some wildflower seeds in this spot, but very little has come up here.  I've got a couple of zinnias and a couple of vincas.  Other than that, nothing.  I guess the grass has choked everything else out.

So, after taking my pictures, I spent a few minutes and started pulling the grass out.  I haven't decided if I'm going to try again with seeds, or just plant something already started.  I'll let you know. 

Finally, I spent most of Monday -- as is my custom -- watching war movies.  I try to watch one about each major war the U.S. has been involved in, except the Revolution.  I save those for Independence Day. 

Anyway, for my Iraq/Afghanistan era movie, I watched a new one:  Taking Chance.   

I'd seen it pop up in my Amazon Prime recommended movies, but it wasn't until someone in one of the Veteran pages I follow on FB recommended it that I decided I need to watch it.  Oh my goodness, you need to see this movie! 

The movie is set in 2004, and in it Kevin Bacon plays a man named Lt. Col Michael Strobl, who -- as he puts it -- crunches numbers in a cubicle in Quantico.  Every night, he reads the casualty reports from the combat zones, and one night he spots a young man from his hometown on that report.  Immediately, Col Strobl volunteers to escort the body.  He is told that it's very unusual for such a high ranking officer to escort a PFC, but he says he wants to do it anyway. 

All along the journey, the kindness and respect he is shown touches him, and teaches him a little about himself.

I won't go into any more details, but let me just say, even old stone hearted Becky cried a little at this movie.  OK, I cried a lot.  I started tearing up about 5 minutes in, and didn't stop until the movie was over. 

Seriously, if you don't see another movie this year, watch this one.  You'll be glad you did.

Knit One

I finished the first one, and started another washcloth.

These are the smaller size I like to use for my face.  The yarn is Peaches & Creme and the color is Pink Lilacs. 

Yesterday morning, I woke up at 5:20.  You know it's sad when your first thought is, "Boy it feels so good to sleep in until 5:20!"  I got up and let the dogs out, then I laid back down.  I thought they'd want back in soon, so I'd just relax until they got me back up.

Next thing I know, it's 8:30.  I must have needed that sleep.

I have an alarm set for 6:30, and I honestly don't remember it going off.  I was just that tired.  These 3:30 mornings are starting to catch up with me.  I can't turn down the overtime, though.  You've got to get it while you can, because one day -- just like that-- we'll be back to working 4 days a week. 

Needless to say, I didn't make it to church.  I'm so glad they started putting the sermons up on the church's website.   

I spent my afternoon watching the last Hobbit movie.  I must honestly say I was disappointed in them -- all three of them.  First of all, when you stretch out a single book into a trilogy, you have to add a lot of filler.  In this last movie, the filler was so trite and so cliche, it had me rolling my eyes more than once. 

Secondly, the CG -- which had been so masterful in the LOTR trilogy -- was very fake and cartoonish.  Most of the battle scenes looked like cheaply made anime cartoons.  In one of the battle scenes, you can see several groups of characters making the exact same movements.  It looked like a bad copy and paste job.  I really expected more from Peter Jackson. 

Finally, Legolas (what was he doing there in the first place?  Oh, yeah, filler) looked completely fake.   Did they even have Orlando Bloom there, or did they just animate him? Seriously, he looked plastic.

All in all, they were entertaining movies, but I'm not going to rush out and buy them.  I'll wait until they get tossed into the $5 bin at Wal-mart. 

Movie Review--Disney's A Christmas Carol

The story is one familiar to all of us.  Cold hearted miser Ebeneezer Scrooge wants nothing to do with happiness, charity, good will, and least of all Christmas.  One Christmas Eve, an encounter with his long dead business partner Jacob Marley changes his life.  Marley's Ghost tells Scrooge that he will be visited by three spirits, The Ghost of Christmas Past, The Ghost Of Christmas Present, and The Ghost Of Christmas Yet To Come.  These encounters produce such a profound change in Mr. Ebeneezer Scrooge that I once declared him the fictional character I most wanted to be like. 

This Disney version is only the most recent in a long line of movies and TV shows chronicling Scrooge's ghostly encounters, and his subsequent change.  It features the voice talents of Jim Carrey as Scrooge, and Colin Firth, Gary Oldman, and Cary Elwes -- who each voice several characters in the film.

Let me start off by saying that the computer animation is simply stunning. Instead of being cartoony, many of the characters --especially the background characters-- were so lifelike that in a few scenes, I thought I was looking at a composite between computer animation and live action.  And the level of detail is much greater than one would expect in a movie thought to be made for children--especially for children accustomed to Japanese anime.

That being said, I have a love/hate relationship with this movie.  It started off really good.  I liked the beginning, the scene showing them opening a copy of the book, and the story proceeding from there.  As the story progressed, I thought, "This is really good.  I'm going to love this movie."   However, I was soon to be disappointed.

When the movie sticks to Dickens' original story, it is really, really good.  But when it strays, it is really, really bad.  There are some moments that will probably be too frightening for younger viewers, and other moments that will be too --well, dumb-- for older viewers.  Let's discuss a few of them.

First off, Marley's ghost.  It starts off good when the door knocker appears as Jacob's face, but then it does this weird, ghoulish jumping out at you thing which will likely send small children into a screaming panic.  Then, a few minutes later, when he is delivering the "chance and hope I got for you" speech, the ghost throws in some lighthearted, almost slapstick humor which is totally inappropriate for the scene and the character.  It left me rolling my eyes and thinking, "oh, good grief."  It was actually pretty funny, just not right for this scene.

The Ghost of Christmas Past is portrayed as a candle, which is a pretty big departure from the original story, in which it is described as an androgynous, ageless, human like being.  As if that weren't bad enough, it's not obvious that this is what the ghost is.  I didn't realize that, "Hey, that's supposed to be a candle"  until just this morning, when I was looking at the cover of the DVD box.  While watching the movie, it just looked like a weird blob with a disembodied, floating, flaming head.   I found this to be a very disturbing image, and am not sure I'd want a small child to see it.

Towards the end of the movie, The Ghost Of Christmas Yet To Come reveals his face, which never happens in the book.  I've seen this done in other movies, showing him to have a skull like face.  This is done for shock value, I think, so I don't really have a problem with it.  However, in this movie, he looks more like Darth Vader than The Grim Reaper.

On the other hand, The Ghost of Christmas Present was simply stunning in his beauty and simplicity.   He's always been my favorite, and this movie is no exception.

Other than this, the biggest problem I have with this movie is some of the transition scenes.  At the end of the first ghost's visit, Scrooge has seen enough.  He tells the ghost to take him home, then grabs the cap and forces it down over the spirit's head, snuffing out the light he gives.  At this point, the movie takes a serious departure from the book, in that the cap turns into a rocket, blasting Scrooge up and into outer space.  Weird.  And he goes up and up and up and up and up and up and up.....And just when you are thinking, "when will this end?", it does.  But then you have to watch him fall, and fall, and fall, and fall for just as long, until he finally lands on his bedroom floor.  This entire scene was utterly ridiculous, and could have been completely eliminated.

But this one wasn't the worst.  During the third spirit's visit, there is actually a chase scene!  Between the scene in which Scrooge sees his own deceased body lying on his bed, and the scene in Old Joe's shop, Scrooge is chased through the streets of London by a ghostly hearse drawn by two glowing-eyed demon horses.

And the demon horses chase him through the streets, and he slides down icy sewers as if they were waterslides, and belly whops across the snowy roofs of London, and it just goes on and on interminably until I was thinking, "Good Lord, this is the awfullest thing I've ever seen!"  But finally, mercifully, it does end, and the movie goes on.

There are a couple of other scenes that were held a bit too long, but these two were the worst.  They could have shortened or eliminated these, and included some of the wonderful Dickensian prose that they left out.  The movie would have been stronger if they had. 

Now, the end of the movie left me with a warm glow, and thinking, "Boy that was good!", but I think this has more to do with the strength of Charles Dickens' masterful story, than anything this movie had to offer.   If you're looking for a version to introduce your children to this wonderful story, you're better off going with The Muppet Christmas Carol--still one of my favorites. 

Overall, this movie was a disappointment, and if I'd watched it first, I probably wouldn't have bought it.

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No New Dog Here

This weekend was National Adoption Weekend at Petco.  What I did not know is that this does not mean that Petco's are having adoption events at their stores.  So, I drove all the way up to Southaven thinking there would be dogs available, but there were none.  Needless to say, I am still a single dog household.  According to the store events tab, they are supposed to have an adoption fair next Saturday.  Still, I think I'll call before I drive up there. 

I did buy this for the neighbor's dog.

Today was his birthday. He is one year old. But really I got it hoping it would keep him entertained when he comes to visit. It's got these holes in the ends

that you can put dog food or treats in.

According to the label, this provides endless hours of boredom prevention. It didn't work with that dog. He still wanted me to throw it for him.  For an hour.  Then I put him outside, and he came back later and wanted me to throw it some more.  I am so ready for cooler weather so I can take these dogs on proper walks!

I also bought another one of these hides.

This one will be for Scarlett. I don't have a photo of her in it yet, though she has gone into it. I want to give her a day or two to get used to it.

After all that, I consoled myself with a chocolate milkshake from McDonald's and came on back home, where I knit on the sock.

And watched The Book Of Eli.  It was a pretty good movie, but not exactly what I expected.  The story line was good, but I really don't like those futuristic movies where everything is all gray and sepia.  It just doesn't look real.  I know it's supposed to depict a bleak world destroyed by a war, but there is still going to be some color left.  Anyway, Eli is a man charged with taking the last copy of the Bible on earth to a safe place, out West.  He has to battle an evil man who views the book as a powerful tool he can use to control people.  That's all I'm going to say about it, because it's a fairly recent release, and some people may not have seen it yet.  Just a couple of cautions, it is violent and full of obscene language.  If you can get past these, it's a movie you ought to enjoy.   

Movie Review-

The Christmas Miracle Of Jonathan Toomey

Based on the book of the same name--which I have not read--this movie will become a classic, at least in my house. The story centers around a ten year old boy named Thomas, whose father was killed in a war. To add insult to injury, after the father dies, the mother is forced to sell their house, and they move in with the boy's aunt out in the country. During the move, Thomas loses his treasured nativity set, which he and his father had always set up together.

In the community into which they move lives a woodcarver named Jonathan Toomey--nicknamed Gloomy Toomey by the local children. He is a dour old fellow who mostly keeps to himself, and seldom speaks except when he absolutely has to. After seeing some of Mr. Toomey's work in one of the local stores, the mother contracts him to carve a new nativity set for Thomas. She also asks if Thomas can come watch him work and Mr. Toomey reluctantly agrees.

What happens next, well that's the Christmas Miracle Of Jonathan Toomey. I won't tell you any more. I don't want to spoil the surprise.

The movie stars Tom Berenger as Jonathan Toomey, and that in itself is worth the price of admission. I absolutely loved this movie. It is touching without being cliche, and though the story is just a tad predictable, it is so well done that it feels fresh and new throughout. Plus, there is a little surprise at the end that is guaranteed to make you smile. Oh, and it is a good clean family movie that you can watch with the littlest children without having to fear what might be in the next scene.

My Rating: ***** Five Stars

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Movie Review--Eragon

The story of Eragon takes place in a fictional land which is protected by fire breathing dragons and the ones who ride them. These brave men and women are called Dragonriders. They have a telepathic connection to their dragons, and communicate by thought rather than speech.

In the not too distant past, one Dragonrider grew hungry for power and killed all of the other riders and their dragons. He then crowned himself king and ruled the land with an iron fist. High taxes, forced conscription, poverty and oppression became the norm for the people of this land.

As the story opens, a young woman has stolen a stone from the king and is riding for her life. The king's henchmen, led by the shade Durza, close in on her, so she magically sends the stone to another part of the forest. It is found by a young farm boy named Eragon. The stone turns out not to be a stone, but an egg, which hatches into a dragon. The farm boy and his dragon, Saphira, become the last hope of the people of this land.

Now, I have not read the book, so I can only judge by the movie. The book was written by a 15 year old boy named Christopher Paolini, and you can tell. The dialogue is cliche and the humor juvenile. Even the names he gives the characters sound childish. Compare Paolini's "Urgals" to Tolken's "Uruk Hai." Compare Paolini's "Varden" to Tolkien's "Rohirrim". It leaves a lot to be desired.

The hero is rather unbelievable. A farm boy who suddenly becomes an adept warrior who leads and army of people much older than him into battle isn't credible. A dragon who grows from a hatchling to a dragon big enough to ride in the space of 5 minutes just stretches the imagination a little too far. Yes, I know it's fantasy, but even in fantasy, the story has to be believable, as if in that fantasy world, these things really could happen.

The characters never truly develop. I mean, the boy learns to do magic, but his character remains shallow and superficial. What about his growth as a boy becoming a man? His development of character as a human being? This kind of depth is barely hinted at, and never truly develops.

Probably the worst part of this movie is that there is not an original idea anywhere in it. It's like the author took a copy of Lord of the Rings, and a copy of The Dragonriders of Pern, and put them into a blender. He threw in a dash of Star Wars, changed the names, and viola, you have Eragon. The boy Eragon is easily a combination of Luke Skywalker and Frodo Baggins. Brom the Storyteller is no more than a shadowy imitation of Aragorn. Even the final battle scene was almost a direct copy of the battle of Helm's Deep. Honestly, I kept expecting Theoden to pop out of somewhere and declare, "The horn of Hamm Hammerhand will sound in the deep one last time".

Eragon is not a bad movie, if you like shallow characters and pedantic and predictable plots, but if you've ever watched The Lord Of The Rings, you may get the feeling you've seen this story before--and in much better form.

Movie Review: 40 Year Old Virgin

I must say I was very disappointed in this movie. I'd read all the hype about how good it was and how funny it was, but it wasn't at all what I expected. I suppose if you think people screaming obscenities is funny, then you'll think this movie is hilarious, because that's what 90% of the movie consisted of. I don't, so I didn't. There was also an excessive amount of nudity. I think every woman in it was shown bare breasted at least once--some many times--and of course, they were not natural breasts. They were enhanced, either surgically or digitally. I know that sometimes nudity can be done in an artistic way, but this was about as opposite of that as you can get.

The story, what little actual story there was, was about a 40 year old man who was still a virgin. Three of his so called friends find this out, and decide they are going to rectify that situation. What they end up doing, however, is introducing him to every sleazy, demeaning, degrading form of sex there is--all filmed in graphic detail. He wisely rejects the advice given and the opportunities presented and finds a nice woman that he can just be himself with. She accepts him for who he is, and they end up getting married.

All in all, this movie was little more than an obscenity laden porn flick. There was very little about it that was actually funny, and a lot about it that was crude and vulgar. The only redeeming part of the movie is that the main characters wait until after they are married to have sex.

I'm sorry I wasted my time with this movie. I give it 3 thumbs down.