Weekend movies

Shockingly, I didn't see a single movie during the week that we were on vacation (in theaters or on video!), but I saw one in the theater and one on video over each of the two weekends:

The Help - terrific movie with a wonderful cast; I liked the book so much, and I felt the adaptation was excellent (even if they left out a few moments I thought were important, and rather inexplicably altered some details in Constantine's story); the 3 people I went with all loved it (and none of them had read the book)

Glee (concert movie) - (I took Alana to see this while Matt and Cal went to see HP7, Pt 2) Not bad, though I though the editing sucked - it would have been much better to just film the whole concert in order, instead of jumping around and cutting off bits here and there; also the film makers did a poor job of locating the cameras - there were so many times when the singers and dancers were not shown to best effect; and speaking of effects, there was no reason for this film to be in 3D, other than to charge more for each ticket.  I liked the fan stories that were included, but again, the film makers didn't seem to understand how to include them to best effect (for example, having the stories precede or follow the songs most relevant to their content!) I wasn't disappointed, because my expectations weren't that high, but I was surprised how amateurish it seemed - it could have been so much better.

The Other Boleyn Girl (2003) - I had no idea that the BBC had done an adaptation of this popular book, but I came across it at the library and thought I would check it out for comparison (even though I didn't adore the Natalie Portman/Scarlett Johannson/Eric Bana version from 2008).  It was a tad odd and arty, with the characters addressing the audience and other contrivances.  The cast was excellent of course, but I thought it was a bit of a snooze, considering the lurid storyline, and I thought the actresses were miscast - Jodhi May should have been Mary and Natascha McElhone should have been Anne instead of the other way round (and I missed Kristen Scott Thomas as the mother). Not a waste of 90 minutes, but nothing special either.

Donkey Xote (2007) - I sort of insisted we watch this for Family Movie Night because I love the Don Quixote story and this seemed cute; it was sort of a sequel to the Cervantes story, and it wasn't bad, but not memorable either; sort of uneven and odd (it's Spanish);  Alana loved it, Cal got bored