A milestone of my life was fulfilled this weekend. For the first time I went to a movie by myself. There are many who have embarked on this journey before, but I have put it off for a while. There are times where I have wanted to see a movie in the theater, but no one could go. And then I never see the movie. Those times are long gone. The adventure was a success and was not awkward at all. I was chatting with a friend about it today and he has rules for when you go solo to a movie. And I pretty much fulfilled all of them.

1. No evenings-especially on the weekend. Try and go to earliest showing possible-CHECK-I went to the 12:50 showing on Saturday.

2. Sit in the back-CHECK-I usually sit near the back anyways.

3. Have a drink to keep yourself occupied-CHECK-instead of a drink I have an iPhone to keep me amused until the movie starts.

4. Do not laugh loud-CHECK-I saw “The Lovely Bones,” so no worries about laughing in this movie.

I look forward to going to the movies on my own again soon. Hopefully this week to the dollar theater to see “Where the Wild Things Are.” If you haven’t tried it, I highly recommend it.

Now, the movies. I did not read the book “The Lovely Bones,” so I was coming into the movie with no bias’. My expectations were solely based on what the trailer showed. And I really enjoyed it. Maybe enjoyed is not the right word, but I thought it was a solid film.

The story follows a young girl, set in the 70’s who has been brutally murdered by her neighbor. It shows her caught in the “in-between” of earth and heaven because she is not ready to move on until her murder is solved. Her father and sister fight to figure out what actually happened.

Some of the acting fell a little short. I was hoping for more from Mark Wahlberg. Young Saoirse Ronan did a great job. Her emotion filled scenes were very believable. And her porcelain like face only causes the audience to feel more of her pain.  But the actor who blew everyone out of the water is the incomparable Stanley Tucci. I have loved him in everything, “Devil Wears Prada,” “Julie & Julia,” “ER,” “The Terminal,” “Road To Perdition,” etc. For the most part Tucci plays lovable characters, but in Bones he is far from that. This role shows what amazing acting chops he really has. He completely embodied the creepy killer that makes your skin crawl.

The next day I sat down to watch “Inglourious Basterds.” I came into the movie hoping for an enjoyable 2 hours. Everyone who has seen it has said it was great. I had one hesitation. I don’t like Quentin Tarantino. So, its kind of big deal when you don’t really like the director of the film. Well, not so much that I don’t like him, I just really do not enjoy the types of films he does.

Anything about WWII peeks my interest. I love anything during that time.  So, the story itself was really intriguing. The movie was entertaining the entire time. The violent killings didn’t bother me (I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing), I just tried not to focus on it. I was enjoying the movie and really excited for how I thought the film was going to end and when a character died that I really liked. I was cheering for her the entire time. That is when I began to hate it. Does everyone have to die? The only saving grace was Brad Pitt’s character in the end. If he was not there or did not end the film the way he did I would have definitely hated it.

All around the acting was great. And I definitely got to see why Christoph Waltz is sweeping the awards for supporting actor. He deserves it.

One thing I don’t understand is, for the most part I have seen Diane Kruger getting publicity for her role in the movie. While I do thing Kruger did a good job I think Melanie Laurent was better and should get more kudos. But maybe I am just not reading the right reviews.

It’s getting late, so I’m going to call it a night. Until next time…PEACE OUT!

PS Watched the SAG awards…not too much to talk about since they did not differ at all from the Globes, but so excited for Glee and Sandra Bullock.