NOTE: The movies I'm going to be talking about are: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Seabiscuit, Shrek 2, Brother Bear, Kill Bill, Eurotrip, and Mean Girls. These are just my general impressions of the movies. ***SPOILERS for Brother Bear and Kill Bill only.***

Tonight, Joe and I saw Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in the theater. I am so excited! I'd been looking forward to it for a long time. I thought it was really good. I loved the way they made Buckbeak look, as well as the Marauder's Map. It's always fun to see a story I've read unfold on the movie screen. Now I need to go finish the books. I have read them all except Order of the Phoenix. I'm still in the first few chapters of that one! I got distracted by some other books, but I'll start reading it again this weekend.

I'm also really grateful the moviegoers watching the movie with us didn't turn out to be as awful as Joe and I feared. The whole time the little pictures flashed on the screen before the house lights went down, people talked very loudly around us. There was the majorly nerdy girl in front of us with her friend and her parents. Then there was the group of nearly 30-something women who looked preppy and extremely out of place. Just goes to show you really can't judge a book by its cover -- I never would have pegged those ladies as Harry Potter fans. There were a bunch of teenagers to my right, and a large group of people all sitting together behind us. Almost everyone was in their 20s or 30s. There were a few children in the theater, some wearing headgear. There were even some adolescent girls who all ran into the theater, wearing capes and flopped into the front row seats. It was very weird.

Like I said, though, despite the loud pre-movie talking, obnoxious shouting across the theater, and generally irritating chatter going on, once the lights went out, everyone was quiet and polite, just taking it all in. It was awesome, and so was the movie! I'm really glad we went!

We've seen several other movies over the past few weeks, too.

First there was Seabiscuit. I'd been told I'd really love it, since it was about horses and all. I was surprised to find that I didn't, really. I liked it okay, I guess, but I didn't think there was anything very remarkable about the story. It didn't even make me cry. That's saying something, because I'm kind of a crier when it comes to movies. It usually doesn't take much. Oh, well. It was an okay movie, but if you've never seen it, there's no need to rush out and view it.

Then we saw Shrek 2. I'd gotten kind of interested in seeing it, especially after seeing previews with Puss in Boots, and hearing all the great reviews. Well, Puss in Boots did not disappoint. Unfortunately, the scenes with the cat were the only ones that made me laugh! There was a lot of filler, a lot of unnecessary and boring references to other movies (I guess those were supposed to be funny?), and I didn't like the soundtrack, either. A lot of pop music in a fairy tale? It was weird. All in all, I thought it was sort of lame.

Brother Bear was okay. It was kind of strange, because the animation style and the entire feel of the movie drastically changes partway through. It becomes all cutesy and weird out of nowhere! Very bizarre transition. The bear cub was sort of obnoxious, too. But, the general story was a good one, and I did like it a little bit. I just didn't love it. Joe thought the only worthwhile part was the deformed bear in the "bloopers" during the end credits. That really was so bizarre, and made us both laugh enough that we rewound it and watched it a few times in a row!

Kill Bill vol. 1 was really strange. I liked it, but I didn't love it or anything. I didn't think it was super remarkable, but the fight scenes were okay. However, there were a few things that I thought were really odd. For instance, if she's been in a coma for four years and can't move her legs, then how in the hell did she get so much upper body strength that she could do all that?! And the woman who shot through the cereal box? She's a trained assassin. How did she miss?! Anyway. Now I want to see vol. 2, just to see how it ends.

We also saw Eurotrip, which is incredibly silly and very funny. I found it pretty entertaining, and I do recommend that one.

Last but not least, we saw Mean Girls. This movie surprised me. I expected only to like it a little bit, but instead, I really enjoyed it. Joe said it's very predictable, very paint-by-numbers, and I see what he means. It's the kind of movie where you can pretty much expect what's going to happen and aren't surprised by the ending. Still, it has some incredibly funny moments, and it's a good movie, all around. I definitely liked it.

Well, I guess that about sums up our recent movie watching! I'm not sure that we have any plans to see any other movies in the near future. But, I saw a trailer tonight for the Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events movie, coming out in December, I think. That looks pretty entertaining! I might have to check it out. I only read the first book in the series and wasn't terribly impressed, but Jim Carrey looks pretty funny in the trailers, so I think I'll check it out.

Anyway, that's all from me today. Happy movie watching, everyone!