If you live in Madison and like movies...

ith this card we can see movies at Star Cinema for 5 bucks.

After a particular film has played a certain number of weeks, usually two (2), but occasionally more, they offer you a discounted price, so that admission to those films will be available to registered club members for only $5. PLEASE NOTE: IMAX® FEATURES DO NOT QUALIFY FOR THE FIVE BUCK CLUB PROGRAM. DIGITAL 3-D FILMS AND LOCATIONS WITH RESERVED SEATING ARE SUBJECT TO ADDITIONAL FEES.

They send you an e-mail with your Five Buck Clubâ„¢ eligible films and show times every Thursday. And it looks like you can go anytime.

This applies to Kerasotes Theaters and they have them in other locations besides Madison.

Thanks for the tip Amber!

Yummy chairs & Sundance...

These yummy looking chairs are in the bathroom at the Sundance Cinema. Yes this is Robert Redford's Sundance Cinema. There are only 2 Sundance Cinemas, one is San Francisco and one here in Madison. There is nice food to eat and I got a pumpkin chi tea with rum (sounds awful as I type it but it was a cozy warm drink on a cool night) to drink during the movie. It is a lovely experience in that you can choose your seat when you buy your ticket. So you can go to the Sundance Restaurant, have dinner and rush in just before the movie as you already have your ticket and your seat.

I went with my friend Jane and we saw September Issue which was all about the making of the September 2007 issue of Vogue magazine. Jane and I had both worked for the same retailer and I had done photo shoots and headed the Advertising Dept. So we both found this movie really, really interesting. A great behind he scenes documentary. And my guess is that this was the prettiest part of the behind the scenes that they wanted to show.

Julie & Julia, the movie

I really enjoyed this movie. It was a nice feel good movie that had good actors and some lovely French visuals. What more could you ask for? It made me want to go home and cook. Plus both of the husbands in the movie were kind, good, loving men. Much like my sweet husband. I expected to like this movie because I had enjoyed the book. I was not a bit disappointed. Go see it, it is a great escape.

Two Days in October, a documentary

In October 1967, a U.S. regiment walked into a Vietcong ambush that killed 61 soldiers -- and raised doubts about whether the war was winnable. Meanwhile, University of Wisconsin students were protesting the presence of Dow Chemical recruiters on campus; the demonstration soon spun out of control, marking the first time a protest became violent. Told by those who took part in the events, the film offers a window into a defining American moment. - Netflix This documentary was based on the book, They Marched into Sunlight by journalist David Maranis. I need to get the book as the documentary did not go into the building on campus that was blown up. I wanted to see this PBS documentary because it takes place in Vietnam and in Madison. It was very powerful and certainly showed how the rioting started here. This was the first student protest that became violent. The actual footage of the police in full riot gear with clubs just beating the kids. Footage of soldiers in Vietnam, the Chancellor at the UW, the local police. Interesting for those who lived through that time and even more important for those who did not. Very chilling.

Mr. Deity

This is a must see. My Cedar Rapids friend Laurie showed me this. Mr. Deity is a semi-monthly video series (every two weeks) that looks at God and the Universe with a smile (and sometimes, a wink).

They are hoping to turn this into a half-hour series for television.

You can check it out at their web site www.mrdeity.com or at iTunes.

Enjoy.

Iron Man

Matt collected comic books as a kid. When the kids were little one of their favorite things to do was go see movies. When the guys get together they always see movies. Matt had told John to wait until he got here for Iron Man.

And then I read my friend Nancy's blog and noticed that Robert Downey Jr. was in this movie so I was IN. I'll see anything that he is in. He really stole my heart years ago when his was Ally McBeal's boyfriend.

Not having read comic books I am generally not into these comic book hero movies. But this one was worth seeing. Take a peek at the trailer.

Everything Is Illuminated, a movie

This was last weeks Netflix pick. Actually this was my second time seeing this. I just asked John how to describe this and he said it was a buddy pick. (Guys being buddies.) I don't know. I hate to use the work quirky again so let's say off beat.

Kind of like Indiana Jones but different... maybe if Indy was a vegetarian Jew.

It's a movie you almost need to see a second time for all the pieces to fit together. And I LOVED how it was shot. It was a visual treat. The shots were framed in a very balanced way. The above graphic give a feel.

A young American Jewish man begins an exhausting quest -- aided by a naïve Ukranian translator -- to find the righteous gentile woman who saved his grandfather when his small Ukranian village (along with most of the populace) was obliterated during the Nazi invasion of Russia in 1941. Elijah Wood is Jonathan. Based on the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer.

I intend to read the book which I can only assume will be quite different from the movie. It was serious subject matter but the look made it seem not so... of course now that I've seen the movie I am sure that those are the pictures I'll see in my head.

I highly recommend this one.

Amelie

I forgot how much I sincerely enjoy this movie. My cousin Alice came for a sleep over. We made homemade pizza and snuggled in before the fire and watched this movie. Amelie is all the things I really like in a movie. It is quirky. It is visually engaging. Not in the sweeping visas way. The colors are slanted towards greens, and yellow orange reds in a surreal way. And the detail of objects in all the rooms makes it hard for me to read the subtitles and absorb all the details. It is a French movie with English subtitles. It is an older movie, it came out in 2001. You can read about it here.

Amelie is a painfully shy waitress working at a tiny Paris cafe. Lots of shots of the metro and the Sacre Coeur Montmart area.

A very sweet story. A visual delight. A perfect snowy Winter night treat.