Our first movie is Rachel Getting Married starring Anne Hathaway. I loved Hathaway in the original Princess Diaries, Get Smart, Becoming Jane and the Devil Wears Prada. In Rachel Getting Married - not so much, although it was more the script than her acting.

Hathaway stars as Kym, a young woman who has been in and out of rehab since she had a car accident that killed her younger brother. She has been released from rehab to attend her sister's wedding and then the fun really begins. I have always said the cliche "We put the fun in dysfunctional" applies to our family. After watching this movie I have a new found knowledge of what dysfunctional really is and it's not us anymore.

Debra Winger played a small role as Kym and Rachel's self-centered, emotionally barren and distant mother. It was good to see her acting again. My critique of the her character might be a bit harsh because you would have to put yourself in her character's shoes and wonder how you would react to the situations she was put in. Unfortunately, I am afraid if I had such a problem child who's reckless actions killed one of the other children...well, I am not sure how I would react but I know it wouldn't be a scene from Donna Reed.

Hathaway received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her performance as Kym. This should have been the first red flag about the movie. It seems more often than not if a film receives 'critical' acclaim, it isn't something I want to watch. Case in point: The Aviator. I watch movies for the entertainment value. I really do not like watching depressing movies that are real life based. I live a real life based movie, I want escapism in my entertainment and not 'there by the grace of God go I" entertainment.

Using Butter's movie rating scale with 1 star being I want to pluck my eyeballs out and 5 stars being any movie starring Johnny Depp; I would give Rachel getting married 2.5 stars. It was ok to watch but I wouldn't want to revisit the movie and to me, a good movie, like a good book, is something you want to see over and over again.

Our second movie is Taken starring Liam Neeson. I have been a Neeson fan since he starred with Cher in Suspect back in 1986 but I much rather prefer the softer Neeson we saw in Love Actually versus the Billy Bad Butt that he portrayed in this movie.

Neeson stars as Bryan Mills an ex-CIA type who finds his teenage daughter kidnapped during a European U2 trip. He sets out to find and rescue his daughter and her friend who were put into the human trafficking market.

The movie is fast paced and filled with car chases, fight scenes and gun fire. I told Frodo I didn't like this beat em up role for Neeson and he reminded me Neeson used to be a boxer before he became an actor. Still, I prefer a kinder, gentler Neeson especially following the tragic death of his wife Natasha Richardson.

The one thing that really bothered me about this movie was how they dealt with the friend of Mill's daughter. In tracking down the kidnappers, Mill's found the friend first, drugged out and dead. When Mill's finally rescues his daughter from the kidnappers, she never asks about her friend. I think that would have been one of my first questions: where's Bitsy or whatever her name was.

I give this movie 3 out of 5 stars based on the pluck your eyes out versus anything Johnny scale. However, if I ever get kidnapped following the Clay Walker tour around the world, please call Liam to rescue me.

~ame