Friday night Kim and I were both feeling a little tired and worn down, so we decided to order some pizza in and watch a movie. After browsing through the On Demand selections, we only saw a couple of movies that we were familiar with. One that stuck out in my mind was Role Models, which I remember seeing a few previews for and laughing at those. Not wanting anything too serious, we decided to give it a try.

The premise of the movie is two co-workers (also on/off again friends) get in trouble and instead of heading to jail get the option to be mentors for a couple of kids. One of their “littles” is a younger kid with a fowl mouth who is proud of the fact that none of his past big brothers has lasted more than a day. The other little brother is an older geek who participates in medieval role playing games with others. The diversity in the group leads to some hilarious scenes throughout the film.

The plot is fairly predictable, with one of the main characters getting back together with his girlfriend in the ending sequence, but aren’t most successful comedies? Kim and I both thoroughly enjoyed the movie and it provided a great opportunity for us to rest up for the rest of the weekend. More on the weekend later…

Kim and I, along with a small group of friends, headed down to the Paramount Theatre on Friday night to watch Warren Miller’s latest film titled Children of Winter. I thought at this time last year we had already been out on the slopes, but looking back at the post from the Warren Miller film last year, it appears that I was wrong. This helps put my anxiety at ease, and I hope that the snowfall this year can only be as great as it was last year. I do see there is a potential storm coming in for Thanksgiving. Now we really need to wake the snow gods and hope that enough snow dumps so we can head into the high country this coming weekend.

I thought the movie was good. It’s always amazing to see what some of the skiers and riders are capable of, and it’s very impressive that it is all caught on film. But the part that was the most interesting was the segment on Skijoring in Leadville, Colorado. This event can best be described by first thinking of slalom waterskiing, but with horses instead of boats and icy jumps instead of forgiving buoys. I can’t find any info on the competition in Leadville, but it is definitely something I’d like to see. There is a short glimpse on what I’m talking about 30 seconds into this trailer for the film:

To kick off this past weekend, I dragged Kim out to the movie theater to see the latest movie from my favorite director, Kevin Smith, called Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Don’t let the name fool you, this isn’t a pornographic film, though there is some nudity throughout. The IMDb entry linked above sums up the plot pretty well.

Lifelong platonic friends Zack and Miri look to solve their respective cash-flow problems by making an adult film together. As the cameras roll, however, the duo begin to sense that they may have more feelings for each other than they previously thought.

I wouldn’t recommend the movie if you are easily offended, but the results are absolutely hilarious. Even with all of the humor there is still an underlying love story that makes this one of the better romantic comedies in quite some time. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I know that Kim did too. That’s two thumbs up!

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.