Its been some time since Holly and I have seen a movie but this weekend we managed to fit in a couple. Friday night we managed to sneak in dinner and a movie before getting home in time to watch the Detroit Redwings lose in game 7 – disappointing to say the least. At least we had a great dinner at the Honeycreek Inn in Cannonsburg – Holly tried bluegill for the first time and I went with a safe ribeye option. After dinner we went down to Celebration Cinema to watch The Taking of Pelham 123. I can’t believe how expensive movies have gotten (not to mention concessions) – now I know why we don’t go to the theater very often. I thought the movie was very good but I was expecting a different ending; on the Ben Rapin scale of 1-5 I would give this a 3.5 (I am a tough critic). I didn’t realize the movie is a remake of an older version – we learned this tidbit from Holly’s dad who is a TV/movie aficionado. For those interested, the CW Network is showing the original movie tonight (Sunday, June 14). Holly also told me that the New York Transit Authority has never again scheduled a Pelham train to leave at 1:23…interesting movie trivia.
Last night after a long day of celbrating (aka euchre & beer) my cousin’s graduation on my part, and entertaining & babysitting on Holly’s part we decided to rent a pay per view movie – finally settling on Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino. Despite some interuptions from a “fussy” baby and a “chatty” audience I was thorougly enthralled with the movie and surprised that it didn’t get more buzz when it was in theaters. I really like Clint Eastwood and thought this movie, where he plays a gruff, racist, war veteran who softens up as he adapts to “diversity” moving into his neighborhood, just added to his repotoir of fine movies. If you get a chance I would highly recommend seeing this. I gave it a 4.5 on the Rapin scale!