Do to some scheduling changes, Marci and I have suddenly ended up with a free night once a week. This week, I suggested we go see a movie and she upped the ante to a double feature. We saw The Blind Side and The Book of Eli.

The Blind Side

I had completely forgotten that Marci saw this while I was in Vegas. I guess she wanted to see it again, so it’s all good. Given how long this has been out, I’m just going to briefly describe what surprised me.

First, I was never able to reconcile Sanda Bullock’s voice in the movie with her voice in my memory. I found this odd, but it didn’t detract from the movie. In fact, it may have allowed me to better separate actress from character.

Second, I thought the actor playing the younger son stole pretty much every scene he was in. I expect there’s nothing original about this thought, but I hadn’t heard anything about him before seeing the movie. As wonderful as Bullock did, I’m surprised this young actor was more lauded for his performance.

Finally, I honestly had expected more drama. The movie was lighter than I exepcted it to be. This isn’t a complaint as I’m perfectly satisfied with what I got, it just wasn’t quite what I had anticipated. All told, it was a very enjoyable movie, and while it doesn’t jump onto my purchase list, I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing it again.

The Book of Eli

While I had seen enough previous to have a vague idea of this movie, I really didn’t have a good grasp of what to expect beyond a kick-ass Denzel Washington in some sort of post-apocolyptic world. With a book. And it was.

I thought the movie got off to a bit of a slow start, though that feeling was enhanced by the fact that I had chosen the movie and wasn’t certain how interested Marci really was. However, once it got moving I was never again bothered by the pacing.

Fair warning, it’s a violent movie, well deserving of its R rating. I don’t want to give anything away, so I’ll just say that I enjoyed the ride of the movie and then the ending stepped things up enough that I definitely want to see this one again. I haven’t decided yet if I want to own it, as I’m not sure I’ll really want more than a second viewing. I suppose the second viewing will be the true test.

(with thanks to kapgar for TUA) I want an iPad and I can’t even really articulate why. Hmm, that’s not quite right. I want one because it looks sleek and fast for what it does and a starting price of $500 is low enough to be tempting (despite the fact that I’ll end up with a more expensive model). What I have yet to determine is when and where I would actually use it. It’s not going to be on my person like my iPhone, so I can’t just use it whenever I have a some time to waste. And if I’m lounging at home, I’m more likely to use my laptop so that I can multitask. (I have Aperture and Quicken running most of the time that I’m doing something else.) Oh well, time will tell. By the time the 3G version is available, something else may have… Squirrel!