Wow.  What a great film…  and I don’t think I’ve been able to say that since I saw The Orphanage months ago.  We ventured over to the Toledo suburbs yesterday for date night to see Changeling at the nice theater since we still had a free pass leftover from a movie where they had technical issues.  It was a long drive (saw 3 overturned semis in the ditches of the Ohio turnpike just in the almost 40 miles we use it, what’s up with that?  Has it really been that windy the past few days?), but well worth the long drive since our local theaters didn’t have anything good playing.  There’s also great food in the Toledo area, and we went out to dinner at Ruby Tuesday’s…  that is good food for us – you should try moving to Bufu; it really makes you appreciate places like Ruby Tuesday’s, Olive Garden, etc. in a whole new light when you don’t get to have them very often.  We wanted to try a place that has Mediterranean food which was recommended by justj, a fellow tangents.org blogger, but we figured we’d wait until a time when he could join us.

Changeling is a “period thriller”; the period being 1928-1935.  The movie is based on the true story of Christine Collins, a single working mom whose 9-year-old son goes missing.  What follows is the tale of one woman’s plight as she seeks justice in an unjust world where women don’t even really have a voice.  I’m going to have to stop giving the plot synopsis there, however, because it was so great for me to watch the film only knowing about it what I’ve shared with you – I recommend you don’t research the story until after you see the movie.  I didn’t know the course the events would take, even though it’s really easy to find out since it’s based on a true story – it probably stays closer to the actual events than do most movies based upon true stories.  After you watch the movie, you can look up the real story and see how close they were, and if you’re like me, you’ll wonder why they changed and left out the things they did in the movie.

The acting is great, the cinematography is breathtaking, and the direction (Clint Eastwood) is incredible.  The movie really gives you a vision of what everyday life might have been like in 1928.  Angelina Jolie is a really good actress – I can’t stand all of the publicity stunts she pulls over in her personal life, but as an actress, she’s proven herself with this film alone.  Amy Ryan (you might recognize her as Holly from The Office – need her back in the Office though!) is also amazing in this movie, and I’ll say the same for John Malkovich and Jeffrey Donovan, who played the villian you loved to hate.  The movie is lengthy at 2 hours and 20 minutes, but the time flies by as the plot unravels.  I was never bored, never lost, and thoroughly entertained the entire time.  Changeling has a story to tell, and its story is riveting, as is the movie.  I highly recommend this movie!!!

My favorite shows are on tv Thursday nights, and last week’s episodes of both shows were really good.  The Lost episode and the Office were up to par for sure, if not even a little better than usual.  And some great news we got while watching ABC – it seems we won’t be entirely without tv this summer since they’re bringing back our favorite reality show, the best one ever in my opinion, The Mole!  This show revolves around 12 contestants who perform various tasks.  In past seasons the tasks have involved navigating around strange countries and scavenger hunt-type things.  The contestants work together to try to add money to the “pot”; except for the twist: one of the players is a saboteur, the Mole, who tries to work against the other players, trying NOT to get money added to the pot.  Obviously the Mole cannot be obvious about his or her identity because if he or she is the last one left, then the Mole wins the game.  Each week, the contestants take a quiz about the Mole, and the person with the fewest correct answers gets eliminated.  There has been 4 seasons of the Mole, the first 2 being hosted by Anderson Cooper, the CNN anchor, and the next 2 being celebrity editions hosted by Ahmad Rashad.  The show has not aired since 2004, and I have missed it!  It is very entertaining, and I am VERY excited it’s coming back to tv, especially since I will be going into Lost and especially Office withdrawl this summer!

Especially compounding the tv withdrawl this summer is that the episodes of my favorite shows were extra good last Thursday!  Lost actually answered more questions than it asked, they actually continuted some of the hanging plot lines instead of giving us new ones to ponder, and no new characters were introduced!  Part 2 of the season finale airs in 2 weeks, and last night’s episode really whet my appetite for this season’s cliffhanger!

The Office was back to being utterly hilarious this week.  The plot line with Toby’s replacement being under the impression that Kevin is “special” was my favorite.  I was also glad to see the return of Jan, though part of me was disappointed to discover it wasn’t Michael’s baby (according to Jan anyway – maybe a twist to look for next season?).  Michael’s new “love” for Holly was sweet and intense, but he actually might not be too far off this time – she seems like she might be a good match for him.  I loved the part where he breaks into a Yoda impression after she says yoga, she just stares at him like he’s bizarre, but then she breaks into a Yoda impression of her own.  This might be a match made in heaven!  But then again, Michael had to be an idiot and gloss over Holly’s invitation to get dessert…  typical Michael Scott behavior!  I can’t believe we’re back to waiting months for the show to come back on again!  At least The Mole will keep me busy with tv – I highly recommend it!