Categories
play things to do

Quick Summer 2009 Movie Reviews

Now that summer is over I thought it would be a fun time to look back at the movies that we saw. I have made it very easy to read–enjoy and rent accordingly.

Star Trek
Man points: 9.8 / 10
Fun & engaging story that keeps moving at a good pace, good actors, amazing special effects.

Chick points: 9.0 / 10
My wife liked Star Trek almost as much as me? What a movie!

Nerd points: 10 / 10
Hey, it’s Star Trek–set phasers on awesome! bzzz!

X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Man points: 5.5 / 10
The story sucked, the special effects sucked, the acting sucked… ummm… yeah. At least he still has claws.

Chick points: 5.5
Loved the first two X-Men movies and was hoping for a return to form. More like the third movie (which was not very good).

Nerd points: 8.5 / 10
It’s based on a comic book, has fights, and chicks.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Man points: 6.0 / 10
I don’t like to admit I enjoy Harry Potter… but I do. However, this movie did not need to be made. Lacked direction and any sense of conflict. The entire story could have been condensed down to fit at the end of the last last movie or the start of the next one.

Chick points: 6.0 / 10
Ron’s just not very cute anymore and makes the same comic “zoinks” face way too much.

Nerd points: 9.0 / 10
It’s Harry Potter. Plus he finally kisses Genny in what is a very moving and possibly illegal scene.

The Proposal
Man points: 8.7 / 10
Let’s get one thing straight (besides me)–it’s ok to like chick flicks! I scored this one a 9.7 because it had Ryan Reynolds in it. However, I did have to drop it a whole point because it also had Sandra Bullock in it.

Chick points: 9.0 / 10
Funny, and not a super-sappy chick flick. Jared enjoyed it about as much as me. Not the typical cheese-fest chick flick.

Nerd points: 4.0 / 10
It has Ryan Reynolds in it but needs more space ships and Mr. Spock.

Transformers – Revenge of the Fallen
Man points: 7.8 / 10
Um, it was loud? Ok, it had some great action and special effects. The story was weak and it had some of the most annoying Transformers that Michael Bay could invent–think Jar Jar Binks if Lucas had made him more annoying and given him crack.

Chick points: ? / 10
My wife loved the first movie but didn’t see this one with me–just me and Kurt.

Nerd points: 8.8 / 10
Still don’t have the right paint job for Optimus Prime you loser Michael Bay!

Up
Man points: 9.2 / 10
Good fun movie that everyone can enjoy. Pixar’s got it’s normal brand of humor and tender moments working well here.

Chick points: 9.5 / 10
Has a sweet story with funny elements. Interesting look at the life of this old, lonely man.

Nerd points: 9.0 / 10
It’s animated with computers!

-jared

Categories
europe places to go

Photo Friday #32 & #33

We just got back from an awesome trip to Ireland, Germany and The Netherlands. One of the best pieces of advice we got before we got married was to make lots of good memories in the first few years (and before kids) so that when you have difficult times you can always look back on those memories and remember good times.
So we’ve taken that to heart and have really tried to be intentional about doing fun dates, weekend trips, leading a missions trip together, and now this, a real vacation!!
We decided on Ireland because both of us had always wanted to go there! We knew we would be going to The Netherlands (to discover my roots, haha) to visit my great aunt and uncle so since we had to fly to mainland Europe anyway we figured we’d sqeeze one more spot in…so we flew to Berlin for a few days before going to visit the fam.

 

I’ll post some more pics with some stories soon (plus i posted a bunch on facebook), but for now, here are a few teasers:

The cliffs of Moher (pronounced Moore) – we were literally on the edge, if you look closely, you can see the tiny people in the distance to give you some perspective on how big these things are! It was kind of scary walking along here, but exhilerating all the same!

Our favorite place in Ireland was this city called Doolin (also where the cliffs are), we watched this glorious sunset the night we were there and just wondered at God’s creation 🙂

Anyway, stay tuned…more to come!