Dinner and a Movie: The Conspirator

A couple of weeks ago we were at a loss for what to do on date night.  I had really wanted to go see the Bloch exhibit at BYU, but it had been out of tickets for weeks.  What to do, what to do?  There were no new blockbuster movies out, truthfully we hadn't even heard of any of the movies playing.

So, we rolled the dice.  We watched the trailers on YouTube, and Jeff told me to pick one.  These are the two we were choosing from:




I picked The Conspirator, knowing it might not be Jeff's pick, but unable to resist the pull of a historical tale.  I LOVE history.  I find the stories of our past fascinating.  I love understanding what drove people to make the choices they made, and how ordinary lives and everyday choices shaped our past and present.

History gets a bad rap, people complain it's boring, it's just a lot of memorization of dates and facts.   That's not the subject, that's just a poor teacher.  If you've ever had a talented, passionate History teacher you know what I'm talking about.  History lives and breathes, history fascinates me.  Enough, this isn't a post about why History is better than English or Math, it's a movie review-or at least it is supposed to be.

This is the story of Mary Surrat, who was charged as one of the conspirators in the murder of President Abraham Lincoln. It is her boarding house where Booth met with his co-conspirators to plan the assassinations of President Lincoln, the Vice President, and the Secretary of State.  Her son escapes capture, and the government arrests her when they can not find him, hoping to draw the son out of hiding.  She is tried by a military tribunal, with a lawyer who takes the case under duress, and with little to no chance to prepare a defense.

It is directed by Robert Redford, and I'm sure was meant to bring political parallels to some current events.  I didn't care, I loved the characters and the story they told.

It fascinated me.  It bored my husband to tears.  So, this one gets a mixed review-if you don't love history you  may not love this movie.  It moved too slowly for him, and had little excitement or drama that he felt drawn to.  I couldn't get enough, it could have gone on for another hour.  Yes, I'm a nerd.  I know. I don't care.

Dinner and a Movie

We watched this movie  

 Source Code

Here is the official synopsis: Helicopter pilot Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) is part of a top-secret military operation that enables him to experience the last few minutes in the life of Sean Fentress, a man who died in a commuter-train explosion. The purpose of Colter's mission is to learn the identity of the bomber and prevent a similar catastrophe. As Colter lives Sean's final moments, he becomes more certain that he can prevent the first tragedy from occurring -- as long as he doesn't run out of time.


It is rated PG-13 and has repeated violence (the train blows up repeatedly, there are shots fired, and some blood ensues), it has some disturbing images, and there is mild language-relatively mild that is-with only 1 use I can remember of strong language.


And it was fabulous! The best movie I've seen all year.  It made me think-not in a hurt my head kind of thinking, but a really good, life is meaningful kind of way.  At least for me, this movie was about more than the possiblities (or impossibilities) of science and technology in the future.  I've spoken with some people and read some reviews where  they just didn't follow me in this line of thought, but it doesn't really matter in the big picture.  


What matters is this is a good movie, and if you like science fiction-not the alien encounters or the robot zombie kind-but the where is technology taking us kind- you will like this movie.  If you don't agree, I'd love to hear your review.



For me, this was an amazing journey into the possibilities of the mind, and what one person can do.  It's also a really great twist of science fiction and action, I think these may be my favorite genre of movie-if that is a genre!  It keeps my mind engaged trying to figure out the twists and plot lines while entertaining me at the same time.


Take a peek at the trailer if you haven't seen it yet: 


So, what's on your list of must see movies?

Dinner and a Movie

The husband and I love to get out on a date at least once a week.  We have 4 of  our 5 kids old enough to be in charge while we're gone, so there's no shortage of "bosses" around here.  It's a great stage of parenting for us, after years of diapers, clingy babies, and tiny kids we're finally at a place where we can take a break and just be together every week.  

What do we do? Well, we're plain and simple folk, just getting out of the house, without kids is enough to make it a date.  Add a fun stop for dinner and it's a bonus.  Add a movie and it's a real treat!

Luckily Jeff and I are easy to please when it comes to our entertainment, honestly-we'll see just about any genre of movie.  Horror is the only one we both agree is off the table.  I like the suspenseful/scary movies more than he does, and he likes the action movies a little more than I do, but we're both happy to go and watch almost anything.

For a good long while there was a real lack of  movies worth the price of a ticket-even with our willingness to give *almost* anything a chance.  Thankfully, the tides are changing and some fun movies have hit the screen lately.  I thought I'd share a few we've seen over the past few weeks.


First we saw "I Am Number Four."  I wasn't expecting much, but we hadn't been to the movies in a long time, and thought we'd give it a shot.  It was much better than either of us expected.  I didn't love Dianna Agron (from GLEE) so much, but we both really enjoyed the pace of the film and the story itself.

This movie is a little sci-fi, part action, with a side story of romance, and a lot of fun.  It was exciting, and made me jump in my seat a few times (but not from anything gross or scary-just surprise).

The book the movie is based on has done quite well, and it's on my list to read.  I'm really hoping they have more of the story coming down the pipes, because we'd definitely go see them.

There was some swearing, and medium levels of violence.  Teenage sex is alluded to, but not shown, there are teenagers drinking alcohol in the movie.  Check out the trailer here if you're not familiar with the movie.





Here are some others we've seen---maybe I'll post my thoughts on them...if I remember!  What have you seen lately?  Recommendations?