Socal Stuff: Reviews by Donna Schwartz Mills

Movies and Popcorn - And a Giveaway to Make it Happen

APRIL 12: We have a winner! Congratulations to Amy L., who was selected at random to receive the Popcorn Popper, courtesy of Collective Bias for Blockbuster Express. Comments have now been closed on this post.

We celebrated my daughter's birthday on Saturday with a quiet family meal, followed by a couple of movies on TV. It may not have been as cheap a date as last month's Blockbuster Express night... but thanks to $1 DVD rentals, it came pretty close.

I'm still obtaining free movies from Blockbuster Express, thanks to signing up for deal notices via email when I opened my free account. I can reserve up to three movies at a time and pick them up at my local Blockbuster Express kiosk. I am finding that this is working out better for me than the Netflix account that's been costing me close to $10 per month (for a total of about three movies per year, thanks to my inability to watch the DVD's in a timely manner. I think I need the pressure of a deadline to get things done).

I'm so pleased with the way this is working out for me that I volunteered to host a Blockbuster themed giveaway here this week. The prize is this handy Orville Redenbacher Hot Air Popcorn Popper, so you can enjoy theater-quality, freshly popped corn (no more of that microwave stuff!) with your movie selections.

Features:
•    Makes up to 18 cups of popcorn with air, not oil (THIS IS IMPORTANT if you're a dieter, like me)
•    Butter melter doubles as a handy measuring cup
•    1-year limited warranty
•    1440 watts of power
•    14''h x 9''w x 6.5''d

I'm all about simplicity, so we'll make it easy to enter. Just peruse the available DVD's at Blockbuster Express and let me know in comments which three you would like to rent. (Make sure you include an email address where I can reach you!)

You can enter a second and third time by following Blockbuster Express on Twitter and becoming a Facebook Fan. Note that in your comment(s) too.

You can also enter by tweeting: Win an Orville Redenbacher Hot Air Popcorn Popper from @BlockbusterExp & @socalmom http://su.pr/8tw69G

I'll be running the giveaway from April 4 through April 11 and will select one entry at random the following day. The prize is offered courtesy of Collective Bias on behalf of Blockbuster Express.

Can't wait to see your movie choices!

DISCLOSURE: I will receive a gift card from Collective Bias in exchange for running this Giveaway.

UPDATE: A number of other sites are participating in this same giveaway - visit these to increase your chances of winning:

Mom of 2 Boys; Wife of 1

Superdumb Supervillain

Moms Favorite Stuff

MomCentric

My Home Sweet Home Online

Saving Dollars and Sense

A Nut in a Shell

The Budge Bunch

Blockbuster's $25 Cheap Date Challenge

More check-ins at 99 Cents Only Stores Powered by Whrrl

So here was the challenge: Dinner and a movie for under $25. The folks at Blockbuster Express helped out with a free DVD rental. The rest was up to me. "Blockbuster? Are they still in business?" my husband asked. Yes, they are. New technologies may have forced a change in their business model (i.e., all of the retail stores in our area have shut down over the last year), but the company is still around. They've quietly shifted their business to a subscription plan... ...and a new network of kiosks, allowing you to pick up a DVD in the same store where you're already shopping.

My daughter didn't understand.

"Why are you renting a DVD when you haven't watched the one you already have?"

She had a point. We do subscribe to a DVD rental service and I have a bad habit of keeping the titles around for months before I get around to seeing them. I'm afraid I waste more money with the DVD subscription than I ever did in late fees. Perhaps I should go back to renting my movies one at a time. Maybe finding a nice, convenient, store-based kiosk would be the answer.

I just wasn't sure I would like using a kiosk. For one thing, I didn't trust that I'd find a good selection at one. How do I know it will have the movies I want?

Those questions were answered with a quick visit to the Blockbuster Express website, where I was able to view the entire available inventory at my own local kiosk (with plenty of new and popular movies). I reserved my film ahead of time and then picked it up with a swipe of a credit card. Easy Peasy.

I noted that the cost of a DVD rental for new customers is only $1. And if that's not enough, I have a code that will allow anyone to rent two DVD's for the price of one (through the end of this month): 145G13B*.

So that part of the challenge was pretty easy. Coming up with a special date night dinner was a little bit tougher, especially since I wanted to be able to sit back and enjoy the film...

...and the fact that my husband and I have foodie tendencies. We don't consider a meal special unless it's accompanied with a glass of wine.

I took care of the latter issue by picking up a bottle of "Two Buck Chuck" at Trader Joe's. And I started feeling downright smug when I settled on a meal of roasted chicken, potatoes and broccoli - which meant all I had to do was stick the food in the oven and wait for the timer to go off. (We love Jamie Oliver's recipe for roast chicken and potatoes - it's simple and tastes just as good as what you'd be served in a fine restaurant.)

But I blew it when I made the decision to purchase organic chicken and vegetables. Along with the wine, the cost of my cheap date came to $25.88 - just over the $25 limit.

If I'd gone with a conventionally raised bird and produce, there would have been enough in the budget for dessert. But then again - I'm better off without those calories. Dinner and a movie for just over $25 isn't bad at all.

DISCLOSURE: This was a compensated post. In addition to the free DVD rental, I received a gift card from Collective Bias. There were no guarantees made regarding what I would write. The experience recounted in this post is true and the opinions are my own. The rent one, get one free code in this post is valid until 3/31/10 - more information is below.

*Rental Code is valid thru 3/31/2010. When you rent a movie at the regular price, you'll receive the first night's rental on a second movie FREE. Extra night charges and taxes apply. May not be combined with any other offer. Rental terms and conditions apply. Not valid at Blockbuster store locations.

Quick Film Notes: 27 Dresses

I was sheepish about suggesting this fluffy chick flick for this week's meeting of our Mom's Movie Club. After all, the last few films we saw were serious Oscar contenders -- so serious, that we were all in agreement that this time, we wanted something light for a change.

But I haven't seen a decent romantic comedy since Love, Actually and have been wondering if filmmakers have lost their ability to create charming love stories. And sure enough, the reviews of 27 Dresses have been so mediocre, that I was certain it wouldn't be worth our time.

This time, the critics are wrong. Sure, the film is formulaic -- it's a Romantic Comedy, so it follows the timeworn formula of Boy Meets Girl, Boy Loses Girl, Boy Gets Girl. That's the whole point. The question is, how do the filmmakers execute the formula? And the truth is, in 27 Dresses, they've done it very well, beginning with the opening scenes, where we are introduced to Jane (Katherine Heigl), a woman who loves weddings so much that she agrees to be a bridesmaid 27 times (hence all those frilly dresses hanging in her closet)... but she's so shy and afraid of a relationship that she's never revealed her true feelings for the man she's secretly loved for years.

That's an absurd proposition, and the filmmakers are smart enough to know we know that -- but they give her a backstory that makes it almost believable. The only part I can't wrap myself around is the notion that a knockout like Heigl would go unnoticed by her clueless boss (Ed Burns). Then again, since no one makes movies like this with unattractive people, it goes without saying that this genre requires a certain amount of suspension of disbelief.

It's also hard to understand how Jane can't seem to notice how attractive James Marsden is as Kevin Doyle, the Boy who meets her, loses her and gets her in the end. As it is, I'm trying to figure out how I never noticed him until this year, as Corny Collins in Hairspray and the Prince in Enchanted. With his first real star turn in this film, I don't think anyone will fail to notice him again. He is perfect as a cynical reporter who is stuck writing romantic dreck for his paper's "Commitments" page, and his scenes with Heigl sizzle with true chemistry. (He even gets to demonstrate some of those singing chops he exhibited in his last two movies.)

Forget the professional critics. If you, like me, have been starved for a good rom-com, this is the movie you've been waiting for.

Quick Film Notes - Atonement

It has taken me over a week to write this short review of "Atonement." It's not because I didn't like the movie. On the contrary: The film boasts two beautiful, charismatic leads in Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, a terrific Christopher Hamptom script (based on the Ian McEwan novel), Joe Wright's smart direction, lush locations in England, gorgeous costumes, and a plot that encompasses romance, war, sex and lies. What's not to like?

The story begins in 1935 and is narrated by Briony Tallis (Saiorse Ronan), the imaginative youngest child of a wealthy English family. One day, Briony looks out her bedroom window and witnesses a confrontation between her glamorous older sister (Knightley) and the handsome son of the family housekeeper (McAvoy). We see the incident through Briony's eyes and understand what she's thinking. We then see it again as it actually occurred, and discover that the child got it all wrong. Unfortunately, the plot that is set in motion moves in a direction that can end only in heartbreak.

Knightley's classic beauty makes her perfect for this kind of period drama. Dressed in the styles of the 30's and wartime 1940, she looks like an Erte painting come to life. She and McAvoy make an enormously attractive couple, and you root for them to be together.

But it is the supporting players who really impress. Young Saiorse Ronan is a revelation as 13-year-old Briony. This is the kind of performance that impresses Academy voters, and she very well could become one of the rare child nominees for Best Supporting Actress. If so, she very well could be competing for that honor with Vanessa Redgrave, who plays the same character as an old woman. Redgrave is on screen for under seven minutes -- but her scenes bring the story to its tragic -- yet satisfying -- conclusion.

The problem with "Atonement" is that the movie is so relentlessly sad. I had done my research going in, I pretty much knew how it would end. That's not the same as seeing it unfold, becoming involved with the characters, getting seduced by the winning performances, and seeing Vanessa Redgrave's heartbreaking turn as the grown-up Briony. When it was over, I felt like I'd been hit in the gut. I wanted to cry. I wanted to drink. And the ending haunted me for the next couple of days.