We had dinner at Oodles (a favorite new restaurant of ours we frequent almost weekly here in Gainesvegas) and then went to see Shoot ‘Em Up. I will try not to reveal any spoilers, but I make no promises.

This movie starts with a bang- seriously. Our dark, reluctant, troubled hero- type is very well played by Clive Owen and juxtaposed perfectly with bad guy Paul Giamatti (didn’t you just LOVE him in Lady in the Water?) Shoot ‘Em Up was unbelievably, disgustingly, almost comically, violent. Chock full of ridiculous gun-battle scenarios, cheesy lines and blood, blood, blood.

I can summarize this movie with one word. Spectacular. I slapped my forehead more than once and laughed my fanny off because I just couldn’t decide if I was offended or if it was possibly the best movie I had ever seen in my entire life. Got to save a baby from an army of gunmen? Okay. Barely escaping with your life with a newborn in tow even though there are over fifty armed men hot on your tail? Sure. Kill someone with a vegetable? Whatever, Clive, you had me at the opening scene. I don’t know what the recipe is for something like this or how it just works- but this one simply does just that. When movies go wrong, it happens most inexplicably when you (the audience) suddenly know that you were taken on a wrong turn and are now careening uncontrollably into suckville.

This did not happen in Shoot ‘Em Up. I think in this case the film had a certain irreverence that made you just buy into it almost immediately. But in saying that, I also have to mention that it was a textbook action movie- almost hyper-formulaic – at the same time. But you take any single aspect and try to recreate it in any other movie (possibly with any other director) and you lose the audience immediately and they are laughing at you instead of with you. I think that the novelty here is that this movie was so over the top – the director (Michael Davis) couldn’t possibly be taking himself too seriously- a fatal mistake- and that is where the magic happened and then there you were, along for the ride, not questioning a damn thing.

I would not recommend this movie to the following people: my Mom, my friends with children, just about anyone from my knitting group (but not maybe not their husbands) and anyone that is squeamish at the sight of blood and/or gun violence. It is definitely a great flick for a man- date (my term for a guy’s night out.)

Unfortunately DR Boy had the flu on Friday night and had to miss out on what was a fun (albeit late) evening- I like to go to bed between ideally between 9:30 and 10:00, so the drive home was a little exhausting for me too and WAY past my bedtime. But I got my book! Like a fool, I didn’t pre-order, and initial reports had claimed that the bookstore was completely sold out of their first two shipments. I pouted most of the evening, particularly when the kiddies were clutching their books- but alas! Salvation! The store owner had some people not show at the midnight release and there were a few copies left!

I started reading the book early Saturday morning when I got home only to realize that the 6th book must not have made much of an impression- I was mostly clueless as to what was going on. So I re-read the last 4 chapters of book 6 (I should probably re-read the whole thing- but I’m afraid to delay the 7th book too long as it might be spoiled somewhere along the way by some evil, loud-mouthed child.)

DRBoy fully recovered by Sunday and took me to see the Harry Potter movie. It was fantastic. I don’t care what people say about Harry Potter, anything that generates this kind of hype is something worth paying attention to. Particularly if it gets kids to put down their playstation and get to the reading. Do you remember books that had power and meaning when you were a child? I wept and laughed and lived Laura Ingalls Wilder for an entire summer. Does anyone else remember Ramona Quimby? Or Anastasia Krupnik? Even now, I can become so enraptured in Jane Austen’s heroines, just opening a book can make me feel like I’m going home.

So it is with Harry Potter. I think when I finish the book, which could quite possibly be very soon, I might just have a gaping void left behind when he is gone. Will J.K. Rowling kill off her main character? A boy we have watched grow up – longing for a father figure and a place to call home? Yeah, I think she will.