really good and really dumb

We've been doing a lot of tv watching recently (excuse: holidays, colds, and a new little baby in the house). Two weeks ago we watched Teen Wolf and I have to say...that's a really good movie. I know I'm a bit biased, being a big Michael J. Fox fan. But everything about that movie is great! It pulls out all the 1980s stops (yes, yes, I love the 80s). But it goes even further than that...I mean, the guy is a wolf! at school! and everyone's okay with it.
Reasons you need to check your tivo and watch this movie again:
A. his best friend is named Stiles and his girlfriend is Boof. Yes, Boof.
B. worst role-model coach ever in 80s movie history.
C. best drama teacher ever in 80s movie history ("How am I going to put this to you? Uh... look at it this way. No wolf, mmm, no wolf, ahh, no part.")
D. Beach Boys "Surfin USA" while doing a handstand on top of the Wolf Mobile.
E. Saturday Night Fever homage with Michael J. Fox in a white suit blow-drying his hair.
F. Francis from Peewee's Big Adventure is on the basketball team.
G. "Win in the End" song when he uh, wins in the end.
H. Again...he turns into a wolf right on the basketball court and the game just keeps going! No news media show up at his school for an interview. There's no Time Magazine-cover montage sequence showing that the wolf sensation is sweeping the country. Wouldn't we expect the government to intervene and do all sorts of research on this wolf specimen?? I love the 80s.
In the words of Scott (Teen Wolf's) coach, "There are three rules that I live by: never get less than twelve hours sleep; never play cards with a guy who has the same first name as a city; and never get involved with a woman with a tattoo of a dagger on her body. Now you stick to that, and everything else is cream cheese. "
So if you haven't seen the wolf in a while, time to check out Teen Wolf again. If for NO other reason than to see the final credits, where a fan in the stands realizes his fly is unzipped. I gotta think the editors noticed it, but they must have thought it was good enough to keep in (or they didn't have any other shots of Scott giving his dad a bear hug). I guess I'll spoil it and let you check it out here:


And now for the really dumb...
This Saturday, we watched Throw Mama From the Train. What a tooootally dumb movie!
It came on TV, we were all sick and stuck in the house, and so many people referenced it on our Name Survey (since the character's name is Owen), so we thought we'd check it out.
Waste of time.
First off, the whole plot is a remake of the Hitchcock classic Strangers on a Train (which is a really good and creepy movie. Check it out) At least Throw Mama fesses up to stealing the plot idea and references the Hitchcock movie in it's dialogue. But the problem with Throw Mama From the Train is that it's supposed to be a comedy, yet they're talking about killing people. I know there are dark comedies out there but this one just doesn't work. The writing is horrible and the characters are annoying. Bottom line: don't bother seeing it.

I didn't mean for this to turn into Critic's Corner here....but if you're looking for good movie recommends that are still in theaters, I really enjoyed:
Kite Runner (beautiful story, interesting to males and females, educational, worth while)
I Am Legend (totally on the edge of my seat the whole time, great acting from Will Smith, plausible?)
Dan in Real Life (funny, real, great characters)

And that's it for the really good and the really dumb. Enough movie talk. Time to work on the real blogging at hand....Christmas pictures.