Mama Mia

Mama Mia had been well-liked by others so we went to it with moderately high expectations. Audrey liked it well enough, and made comments like "It was cute..." and "It was a little bit silly, but fun."

Steve and Audrey both agreed that the music was fun to listen to. It was also fun to see Meryl Streep looking happy on-screen and hearing her sing surprisingly well. On the other hand, it was a little shocking to hear how poor was the singing of her co-star, Pierce Brosnon. Another shock was the homeliness of Streeps two sidekicks. They obviously were cast to present the star in a more favorable light by the ineveitable comparisons that occur through close juxtopositioning.

Steve thought that the movie was okay, but not really worth seeing except as a favor to his wife. While the more popular songs were entertaining, there were many obscure songs that will not be familiar to most viewers. It did have the effect of reminding Steve that he should re-watch Across The Universe.

Tropic Thunder

This movie is not a chick-flick by a long shot. It was Steve's choice and he found the movie to be filled with enough humor, explosions, cursing, and sarcastic humor to get his attention. Mercifully, the violence was all pretty much the Hollywood-clean-implied variety. Audrey reluctantly agrees that it is a funny movie. She laughed a few times and never complained about the cussing. There is one very graphic description of a sex act that is rather tasteless (in a very funny way) and many people will find it offensive.

Most everyone that sees this movie will agree that the quality of the actors' performances is superb. The cast is talented and they are fun to watch as they play wildly bizarre characters. the movie does a good job at laughing at itself and the stars in the movie (and there are some big ones) join along by not taking themselves too seriously. In that sense the movie is better than many.

Good job, Ben Stiller!