Looking for a Rental?

Are you in the movie mood? I haven't been impressed with the offerings at the box office this year but we've hit some winners with the rentals lately. Earlier this summer I talked with Rob Reiner about his new movie Flipped (based on the book by the same name) and wanted to see it but it never made it to the theaters here in Anchorage for some reason.

However, we did pick it up at Blockbusters this weekend and it was a huge hit.  I can't remember the last movie I enjoyed so much that was appropriate for the whole family to see.  From Lillian to Andrew we all enjoyed this coming-of-age flick told from the alternating perspectives of the boy (Bryce) and the girl (Julie).  With a great supporting cast, it also has plenty of good messages without being didactic or maudlin (vocab words for the day) and at the end there were things you could discuss that enforced the themes.

Yes, a good movie--and how often do you get something of quality coming along?

Well, as it turns out, the answer is: the next day.  Because the next night we watched The Nativity, which came out several years ago but we never got around to seeing it. It was a matter of me wanting to see it and watching it by myself at first and then everyone slowly joining me until the whole family was watching and enjoying it. Which is saying quite a bit, given that I have two boys who think that high drama means nuclear-sized explosions and car chases.

Perfect for Christmas and for families, it's PG for a bit of the evil-Herod violence against the babies at the beginning which might be tense for small children but not offensively so. We checked it out of the library and thought it was great.