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Mom, housewife & life hacker! Corporate drudge escapee writing recipes, tips & discount alerts. Still bring home the bacon & cook it up in 101 healthy way. You’re also going to find out that I’m a total Disney geek. I don’t know if it started with the Read-Along records (“When Tinker Bell waves her wand – bbblllliiiinnnggg – turn the page!”) or the Disneyland book my grandfather gave me around age 3, but however the innoculation happened, it was very effective. I’m happy that my kids share my passion, and I’m even happier that Portland has one of the fancy-shmancy new Imagination Park Disney Stores!

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Archive for movies

Jul 30,
2015

If the Summer’s Too Hot, Check out These Cool Movies!

by Jeannette Tomanka

Yes, I am all about spending time outdoors in the summer, but some days are just made for indoor activities – ’cause, you know, it does occasionally rain or get really hot in Portland. And occasionally there’s a movie that just demands you see it on the big screen.

imgres-1Like Jurassic World. Even if you have a 60-inch TV screen at home, dinosaurs are best viewed on a theater screen (so is Chris Pratt – sorry, hubby, but it’s true). My kids have only seen Jurassic Park on the TV screen, so we were concerned about the intensity of these beasties on such a large scale. While my youngest did wrap around Daddy’s arm for some of the action, overall they were fine, and jabbered happily about the film all the way home. I would caution parents with children under 10, but for older children and adults, this movie is great fun. And by the way, it’s not necessary – and actually not recommended since they were not very good – to have seen the two sequels to Jurassic Park before seeing Jurassic World, but seeing the original is a good idea.

For all ages, Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out is a must-see. The characters and visuals will appeal to all imagesages, thought the intricacies of the plot might go over the heads of viewers under the age of 13. It is quite complex as far as plots go, but handled well. I personally thought a few minutes could have been cut out to move matters along a little faster, but in all fairness, the added footage just made you love the characters more.

We haven’t made it to The Minion Movie or Pixels yet – have you? What did you think?

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Ok, this guy isn’t actually in the movie, but we love love love Lego people!

Categories : Disney movies, Movie Reviews, Portland Fun Things To Do, Summer
Tags : Chris Pratt, dinosaurs, Disney/Pixar movies, Inside Out, Jurassic Park, Jurassic World, movies, rainy day activities
Dec 25,
2014

Twelve Days of Christmas Movies

by Jeannette

Whew! What happened to December?? This time of year always seems to go in fast-forward, but this year seems to have been in a particular hurry. We try to slow it down a little by watching a movie every night, kind of a “movie advent.” We put the names of our favorite holiday movies in a hat, then draw one every night that the kids are out of school. Here are the ones in the hat this year:

* Santa Claus is Coming to Town – This is my personal favorite of the stop-motion classics. More to follow….

imgres-2* Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer – This one has to be on the list. It just has to be.

* Last Holiday (Queen Latifah, LL Cool J) – This is a surprisingly sweet and funny story about a woman who’s told she’s dying, so she takes a trip of a lifetime. My kids always giggle when she arrives at the Hotel Pupp (pronounced “poop”).

* White Christmas (Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye) – Fun fact about this one: Vera-Ellen wasn’t much of a singer (her parts were actually sung by Rosemary Clooney or Trudy Stevens), and Rosemary Clooney wasn’t much of a dancer. Knowing that, it’s easy to see how they worked around this, but until I read this, I never noticed how little Rosemary Clooney danced in the film.

* The Santa Clause and The Santa Clause 2 (Tim Allen) – This is a case of the sequel being at least as good as the first one. We don’t care for the third installment, though.

* A Christmas Story – My kids haven’t reached a full appreciation of this oneimgres-1 yet, but they love the leg lamp.

* Muppet Christmas Carol – It just wouldn’t be Christmas without Kermie!

* National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation – Another one that is appreciated more as you get older.

* While You Were Sleeping – A sweet movie that is completely unrealistic, but nice to watch.

* Miracle on 34th Street (either one) – This is another one that just must be on the list. Believe!!

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* Scrooged (Bill Murray) – One of the best version of A Christmas Carol, and classic Bill Murray.

 

* It’s a Wonderful Life – My kids haven’t reached a full appreciation of this one either, but I think it definitely resonates more with adults. It’s still full of good lessons for kids: every time you do the right thing, it reaches further than you’ll ever know.

Hot cocoa recommended – “Cocoa is superior!” (Robot Santa, The Santa Clause 2).

images-1

Categories : Christmas, Movie Reviews
Tags : Christmas, Christmas Carol, movies, Rudolph, Santa Claus, Santa Clause, Scrooge, White Christmas
Oct 31,
2014

Our Favorite Halloween Movies

by Jeannette

imagesWe are so excited that Halloween is on a Friday this year!! We like to make scary snacks and watch a movie, but we usually have to limit it to one movie because it’s a school night. But this year, with it being on Friday, we’re planning a marathon that could last all weekend!

I don’t really like the typical Halloween movies that top the internet lists – like Halloween and all its sequels, or the equally cliche Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street. My whole family has contributed to this list, so it’s pretty varied. And here we go!

The Family Titles (in no particular order)

1. Night on Bald Mountain segment of Fantasia, which to me is the perfect telling of Hallow’s Eve and the following All Saints Day

2. The Ghost and Mr Chicken, a Don Knotts classic

3. Arsenic and Old Lace, which makes this list because it’s set on Halloween and stars the perfectly terrifying Raymond Massey, but it’s one of our favorite movies of all time

4. Tower of Terror, based on the awesome Disney attraction of the same name

5. Beetlejuice, a modern classic whose “Day-O” scene still almost makes me wet my pants laughing

6. The Others, perhaps the creepiest of the family movies, but my kids love it

7. Nosferatu, the original silent film that’s just macabre – as is the film Shadow of the Vampire about the making of the film, starring the goosebump-inducing John Malkovich

imgres-1After the Kids are in Bed

1. Any Vincent Price movie, but especially House of Wax or House on Haunted Hill

2. Young Frankenstein (“that’s ‘Fronkensteen'”), which never gets old

3. Little Shop of Horrors, the 1986 Rick Moranis version

4. Sleepy Hollow, the Johnny Depp one, because it has the ever-terrifying Christopher Walken as the Headless Horseman

5. Fright Night, the Chris Sarandon version, although I love David Tennant as Peter Vincent in the remake, and I adore Anton Yelchin, who plays Charlie Brewster

6. Odd Thomas, speaking of Anton Yelchin. This is a new addition to the list, since the movie just came out in 2013.

Do you have any Halloween favorites that don’t usually make “The List”? Please share – we’re always looking for good movies!images-1

Categories : Movie Reviews, Seasonal (Fall)
Tags : family movies, Halloween, movies, scary movies
Jun 05,
2014

Maleficent is Magnificent!

by Jeannette

MaleficentThe most recent Disney film, Maleficent, brought in $90 million its opening weekend. My husband and I contributed to that when we went to “preview” it before taking the kids. While my kids don’t spook easily, the trailers make the movie look very dark and intense, and when we read the story about how Brad and Angelina’s daughter had to play Aurora as a young child because no other child would come near “Maleficent,” we just wanted to take a look for ourselves. We took the kids the next day.

This is another clever film by Disney. I’m not going to include spoilers, but I will say it’s not Read More→

Categories : Events, Movie Reviews
Tags : Disney films, movie reviews, movies

About Me

Author-Jeannette-Tomanka-AvatarHousewife and DIY mommy blogger! Corporate drudge escapee writing recipes, tips & discount alerts. Still bring home the bacon & cook it up in 101 healthy ways. 🙂

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