The Impossible

Oh!  See this!  This is an awesome movie about the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.  Bob and I can't stop thinking about it and talking about it.  The acting is incredible, the story is true.  The movie captures a lot of raw emotion.  "Extras" in the movie are actually played by tsunami survivors.  It is an excellent movie that showcases one family among hundreds that experienced the horrors and mercies of the tsunami.

Les Miserables

This was a good movie.  I've read the book, seen the stage play, and I enjoyed those.  Therefore I was really looking forward to this movie, especially after the preview of Anne Hathaway's performance of Fantine.
While being a good movie, it really wasn't great.  Bob and I had a hard time with Hugh Jackman's singing voice.  Since he is the lead, that made a lot of scenes that we were wincing through.
Worth seeing?  Yes.  Worth the hype?  No.
But please see the stage play if you get a chance.  Amazing.

Cool fact:  Colm Wilkinson, the original Jean ValJean on stage, played the bishop that "saved" the movie's Jean ValJean.

Piano Guys

Right now there is a lot of warranted hype about the You Tube video, O Come, O Come Emmanuel.   It is beautiful music and videography.  Their other videos are also outstanding.  Be prepared to spend some hours (!) watching the amazing talent on cello, piano, humor, and images.

Wow.  

Wreck it Ralph

We've seen this twice already: last night for date night, and this morning with the kids.  

It really is quite clever and cute, and has a good message.  

Surprisingly on Friday night there were only a couple of kids in the theater.  

The audience was really "our age" group.  

There seems to be something in it for everyone to enjoy.

Restaurant near DC Temple

So this is only really applicable if you are in the D.C. area, but Bob and I found a fantastic little restaurant near the temple.  It is called "Piacci" and it serves delicious Italian food.  Try it out!  It is next to the railroad tracks off Seminary Road, near the BP gas station, near the castle looking building...
Yum!  Bob, Jonas, Gideon and I dined there last night after our temple visit, and we each had delicious entrees and chocolate puffballs filled with mousse for dessert!  WOW!

THE AVENGERS

Definitely not disappointed with this one.  We went with only the expectation of seeing a good movie.  We left and realized we couldn't stop talking about it because we loved it so much!

I think knowing the background of the superheroes so well (having seen all the films before) is one of the most critical things that helped to make the movie as enjoyable as it was.

The movie was really worth the wait and worth the money we spent.  Best movie since Sherlock Holmes 2.

Loved it!

The Lorax

Well, we watched this movie as a family after our Dr. Seuss week. We liked it. We kept wondering though, how does Danny Devito feel about always being cast as a short, overweight, non-human? (Hercules, Lorax...)

We came away singing some new songs and bought them on iTunes so we could keep singing. I turned one of them, "How Bad Can I Be?" into a family home evening lesson with the challenge to try the opposite, "How Good Can I Be?"

So, pretty fun! If you are a die-hard Seuss fan, see it!

P.S. Forgive the foreign language version of the poster. I clicked and downloaded before realizing it looked slightly different. And I'm too lazy to fix it.