We decided to have a night at home last night and settled on watching the movie Into the Wild. We flipped through the on-demand listings and checked IMDb for one that was rated pretty well, and this one was at 8.3/10. Here’s the plot summary from the above mentioned site:

Based on a true story. After graduating from Emory University in 1992, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandoned his possessions, gave his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhiked to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters who shape his life.

Though it started a little slow, by the end Kim and I both were fully engaged by the movie. The adventures that the guy went through were inspiring and makes you want to take a little trip of your own. However, hopefully yours ends up better than his does in the end. I’ve also learned that there is a book of the same name that I may actually try to get a hold of and read. I can’t say that I’ve ever said that before, but I’d like to learn even more about the trips and life of this guy. I’ve already begun reading this 1993 article from Outside Magazine.

Since I was still confined to crutches over the weekend, we decided to make Friday a dinner and movie night. One of our favorite combinations in Denver involves food from the Hornet followed by a movie at the Mayan, which is right across the street. Nothing of note happened at dinner, the food was good per usual. We did sit on the back deck after dinner to enjoy a drink and the nice weather, despite it mostly being used by folks grabbing a quick smoke.

As far as the movie of choice, it was Bigger, Stronger, Faster a documentary about steroid use and abuse in America. The writer and director of the film followed the personal steroid use of his two brothers along with loads of others in professional sports and entertainment. It detailed the risks of abuse, but also unmasked some common myths of the performance enhancers. Though it wasn’t ever clear if he is for or against steroids, the movie was highly educational and well put together.

Kim and I recently went to the Mayan Theatre, just up the road from our house, to watch the movie Juno. One awesome thing about this theater, is the full bar upstairs where you can buy a drink and head into the movie. For us, our choice was a bucket of local beers! The movie itself is one of those quirky comedy movies that I typically love and Kim isn’t so fond of. This was totally different though, and I think Kim may have laughed more than I did throughout the film. Perhaps it was the beers, or maybe she actually liked the movie, but either way this was definitely a good watch and both of us really enjoyed it.

It took nearly three years but I’ve finally seen 10MPH. I first learned about this movie while skimming through a magazine years ago. Though at the time segways were not very popular, the same is still very much true. I don’t think I’ve seen one outside of an airport in years since I first heard of the movie. Regardless I still think this is a wonderful documentary full of some hysterical moments, and wonderful scenes from across our great nation.

To view the movie for free, you must first sign up for an account at ourstage.com. Once that is complete you can either watch the whole thing online or download to watch at your convenience. Personally, I downloaded it and watched it in bits and pieces. And not only is this free, OurStage is actually donating $1 for each person that signs up to the two producers of the movie who are busy working on their next film, 10 Yards.

Keeping with the theme of this week, while on a Frontier jet with service to Cancun, I watched the movie Ratatouille, one of the most recent Disney/Pixar films. In general, I think their films are highly entertaining despite being mostly rated G or PG. There is still some humor that appeals to the older generations, and this one is no different. Just as usual, I was extremely impressed with the graphics of the movie. But this one has a plot that goes above and beyond most of Pixar’s other films. It centers around a family of rats, and one rat in particular that desires and succeeds at being a French chef. Do rats have thumbs? If so, they’d definitely give this one two thumbs up.

Though we haven’t gone snowboarding yet this season, we have been thinking about it a ton. We have all of the gear we need and are just now waiting for some good snow. There are plenty of resorts open now, but they have so little snow that it doesn’t make the drive seem worthwhile. So, we gathered with thousands of others on Friday night at the Paramount Theatre (map) to watch Warren Miller’s latest film titled Playground. Before the movie began, the MC for the night encouraged everyone to get as loud as possible so that we could wake the snow gods and bless the mountains with tons of powder. Maybe it worked, since it appears that snow is on the way starting tomorrow! Hopefully we’ll be out enjoying some fresh powder this coming weekend.

Friday night, Kim and I saw the movie Across the Universe. Before I get into the details of the movie, I would first like to say that it cost $9.75 per ticket! When the heck did this happen? It is now cheaper to buy a DVD than it is to go out to the theaters and see a movie. Unbelievable.

On to the movie, this a modern musical film which features 34 Beatles-related compositions. Being a big fan of the Beatles music, this was my main reason for seeing the film. After a few minutes, I realized that the plot was actually pretty decent. Besides all of the music, there are loads of Beatles references throughout.

A dock worker Jude travels to America in the 1960s to find his estranged father. There he falls in love with sheltered American teenager Lucy. When her brother Max is drafted to fight in the Vietnam War, they become involved in peace activism.
- From the IMDb

If you are a Beatles fan, i would highly recommend this movie. And even if you aren’t a fan, the movie is definitely entertaining enough. Although if movie prices are that high everywhere, I would wait for it to be on video.

Kim and I headed to Red Rocks last night for yet another sold out show. This was not your typical show though, everyone was there to watch Wedding Crashers on a screen that nearly filled up the stage. I was floored that Red Rocks could sell out just for a movie showing. There was a band on before the movie named Under A Blood Red Sky. Obviously they are a U2 cover band, but I don’t think many people were there actually to see them. In fact many people around us were annoyed by their performance. I didn’t think they were bad, but definitely no comparison to the real thing. As expected, the movie was a huge success and it was amazing to hear seven or eight thousand people all laughing at the same time.

On my flight to Indy Tuesday night, I bit the bullet and paid $8 to watch Blades of Glory (IMDb page). I wasn’t expecting much, but the movie was actually pretty funny. Jon Heder, the guy who played Napolean Dynamite, wasn’t funny at all and I did expect that. But on the other hand, Will Ferrell was hilarious at times. I don’t think it’s in the theaters anymore, but if you haven’t seen the movie I’d say it’s worth the rental price after August 28th. I’d give it one and a half thumbs up.

Sorry for the late in the day post. I wanted to get this up earlier, but my installation of gallery was not cooperating. It appears that a recent update that I installed a day or two ago may have broken a couple of things. So instead I had to add some pictures to my flickr page. I guess this is also a good time to announce that my mom has officially moved her pictures to flickr since yahoo photos is apparently shutting their doors.

Anyway, a local Denver 7-11 store has been converted over to a Kwik-E-Mart to promote the upcoming release of the Simpsons Movie. And given that 7-11 is giving away free squishees today for their 80th birthday I just had to stop in and check it out. I got my free sour apple squishee, took a few pictures, and even bought a six pack of Buzz Cola and a box of KrustyO’s. Click here to see a list of Kwik-E-Marts and see if one is in your area. If not, you can still get a free squishee today from any 7-11 store. If they only had Duff Beer my day would be complete.