House Broken husband

Two and a half weeks ago, I shut off my television and satellite subscription. The reason for doing so is not important. What is important is that I discovered that I really do have a TV addiction.

The first week off television, I read books, did yard work and walked around the house looking for anything to eat. The books were okay, but the yard work just exhausted me. I needed something more to get me through the tough times.

That is when I had an intervention by my daughter. She gave me a Netflix subscription and said it would help me through my television withdrawal symptoms.

I call it my movie methadone. I'm off TV, but now I am addicted to movies. The good news is that my self-worth has improved.  I don't feel nearly as guilty wasting time watching flicks as I did watching television.

I didn't know that you could choose movies from such an enormous selection and catalog and you no longer have to wait for a DVD to arrive by mail. Now you can just click on your computer and be watching instantly.

With so many movies to choose from, it was hard to decide what to watch. I decided to choose a movie the same way I read the Old Testament. With Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Numbers etc, I just read the chapter headings until I find a story I can understand and people I have heard of. Same with movies. I just read a quick synopsis of the story and plot. If it catches my interest, grabs my attention and meets my parameters of prudish principles, I click and watch.

My tastes in movies is a little left of eclectic. That said, I am recommending two movies I watched in withdrawal.

Mr. Keane is a baker and he drives a bread truck. His wife died. She committed suicide. Jumped off a bridge. He is down and depressed. He randomly comes across a car accident and is introduced to the Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing and Charm School. You'll have to watch the movie to see how a car wreck eventually leads to the Cha Cha. While learning to dance he meets a woman. As a child, the woman's stepfather used to throw her out of his boat and then try to run over her. It should come as no surprise then that she has a wooden leg. It adds to the irony of a bread truck driver and peg-leg dancer finding romance at a ballroom dance studio.

Speaking of peg legs, I am including a gratuitous photo of Peg-Leg Pete. You can see him on Mt. Timpanogas from my front porch. He will be the subject of a future blog.

Back to the movie. My favorite line was uttered by Marianne Hotchkiss when she told Mr. Keane, the bread maker, "Dance is a very powerful drug Mr. Keane. If embraced judiciously, it can exorcise demons, access deep seated emotions and color your life in joyous shades of brilliant magenta that you never knew existed. But, one must shoulder its challenges with intrepid countenance if one is ever to reap its rewards."  Click Here, Dance and Charm School  to see previews of this film.

This next movie, Kinamand, was made in Denmark but features a Chinese family. It makes the English subtitles a little interesting. I think there might be a little swearing in this film, but because it is done in Danish and or Mandarin, I am not sure and don't care.

Here is the basic plot. A Danish plumber is leading a mundane life. He refuses to go on a cruise with his wife of 25 years. She leaves him. They eventually divorce. The plumber closes his business, sells his wife's furniture and starts eating dinner every evening at a Chinese restaurant.

The owner of the restaurant asks the plumber if he will marry his sister so she can get a permanent Danish visa. He does. He eventually falls in love with his pseudo immigration wife, only to have his ex-wife reappear and want to re-unite.

This movie is billed as a comedy, but it actually is a decent romance and becomes a tear-jerker when the Chinese wife dies suddenly from a pre-existing heart condition.

This is not my usual Bruce Willis Die Hard fare, but I liked it. I give it a rating of three out of four doses of methadone.

The best sub-title line of this movie was, "Do you want egg rolls?" I did mention that my movies tastes are just a touch eclectic, didn't I?

Click Here for the Kinamand trailer. For those who are subtitle challenged, don't watch. In this trailer, they are speaking Danish and Chinese, but the subtitles are in Spanish. Good Luck.