I am very good at throwing out grand promises. I promised you a long post about movies that included romantic memories of movies in Scotland. And then I got sick, and still am. And now I’m thinking, what WAS romantic about going to movies in Scotland, anyway? It made sense at the time. Hmmmmm. More on that later.

Movies. I’ll start with Curious George. Before going to see this film, Rachel wondered whether the movie was going to be similar to the book. She particularly wanted to know whether George would talk in the movie. He doesn’t, thank goodness. Generally, though, the movie was different than the book, and that was fine by me, not being a huge Curious George fan. I like the books, but they are definitely not up there in my top ten of children’s books.

The movie was delightful. It was sweet, and artistically fresh and warm. It was…well, yellow…in a good way. It glowed a brightly warm, or warmly bright yellow. On top of this, Jack Johnson’s soundtrack was hip and loving. It is a perfect movie for young children, from age two to at least seven, maybe even ten or so, depending on how cynical/innocent the child is.

My only complaint is that the plot was a little over the head of young children, who the movie is aimed at. Most won’t understand the politics of a failing museum, and the evil son of the museum director, was like a character out of a bad Saturday morning cartoon. I would have tinkered with the plot line, if given the opportunity.

But all in all, a refreshing family movie for the little ones. Hannah was so pleased with the ritual of being at the movies. She sat in her chair, put her drink in the cupholder, didn’t want to get up to go get snacks with me, and stayed there for about half of the movie, ending up in my lap by the end. Much improved from last year. Rachel gave the movie high marks, but she did think the film was different than the book.

Capote. We were not very enthusiastic about seeing this film. I had my heart on Walk the Line or Pride and Prejudice. We chose it because it was one of the few movies that matched our babysitting hours, and it got excellent reviews. I liked this movie, though, not having read “In Cold Blood,” or knowing much about Truman Capote going into it. The first thing I liked about the movie was having Nell Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird) show up in an early scene. She was a central character throughout the film. Harper Lee and Truman Capote were childhood friends. I learned after the film that Harper Lee modelled her character, Dill, after Capote. I was sick yesterday, and read To Kill a Mockingbird again. Such a clean, lovingly written book. I think the first fictional character I ever had a mature crush on was Atticus Finch, though I might not have realized it at the time. Now back to Capote. What I liked the movie were its subtleties. Capote was gay and the movie gently portrayed his relationship with his partner, but the movie was not about homosexuality. The Death Penalty plays a part in this movie, but the movie does not take a stand on the death penalty. Instead, this movie is about writing, I think, and the ethical choices we make when writing. And it is more specifically about Capote as a writer, his relationship with one of the murderers of “In Cold Blood,” and the ethics there. Very interesting. Very well done.

Now on Scotland….what did I want to say about that? It seems so silly now that I’ve advertised it as romantic. It’s just this. We were students in Scotland, living off student loans, and whatever we made in part-time jobs (I worked at a woolen-mill among other places.) We were on a budget, about 35 pounds a week (about $70) for the two of us. If we had enough money at the end of the week, we could go to a movie. There was one movie theater in town, and my husband would always let me know what was playing that week. That would build the excitement. We would get Cornetto ice-cream cones in the theater, if we had the money, and sit and watch the Cornetto ice cream ad before the movie started. I still remember the ad, “Just one Cornetto…give it to me” sung by an Italian opera singer to the tune of O Solo Mio. And then there was this really humorous public service ad about an old man and a condom. I guess you had to be there. The same ads played every week.

Why did I want to write about this? Because when we had a night out last week I was thinking we should do something more romantic than go to a movie,

But then I remembered our movie nights in St. Andrews, the town that will always have our hearts, and in many other places. Sometimes the simplest things make the most romantic memories.

That’s my story anyway.