Cinematical sick days

Here's what we've watched so far (in case it is not clear from what follows, the 14 year old is sick, too) since the plague struck on Saturday:

1. Atonement. Heard great things, was told I'd love it, right up my alley, etc., so I bought it without reading anything spoilerish.

SUCKED.

Note to self and others: the "happiest person" does not like getting her guts kicked in at the movies especially when at home with a fever and sore throat.

MAJOR SUCKFESTIVAL after the first 15-20 minutes, and use of the dreaded c-word came needlessly and outta nowhere, horrifying all of us. Our Little Therese came in to say goodnight at just the wrong moment - she has no idea what "it" is, but knew by our shock and collective gasps that it was the worst of the worst and so she was outta there for the duration. We are not gilded lilies by any stretch (case-in-point: same word used in Bridget Jones, which we loved despite ourselves, made us laugh out loud in shock), but this was just not a necessary device - other such descriptive words would have made the same point.

2. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Let's face it, it's a lesser Bronte novel. You know it's gonna tend toward the gothic, and that's fine. Overall, had some longish periods of SUCK, but it turned out right at the end.

3. North and South (BBC Elizabeth Gaskell adaptation, not the John Jakes saga).

LOVE. This is a sick-day staple, all 5 hours of it or whatever. LOVE.

4. Sense and Sensibility. (Emma Thompson/Kate Winslett/Hugh Grant)

LOVE LOTS. Unbelievably, we've had this on VHS forever and the kid had not seen it, or didn't remember it. I laughed watching her cry. :)

5. Pride & Prejudice. BBC and Kiera Knightley/Matthew MacFadyen versions. Again, sick staples. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!! (Even the new one, despite its many Austen-canon departures).

6. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. GOOD. Getting everyone ready to see Prince Caspian.

Finally....if any men are left reading this....the beloved was struck down in the night, too, so to appease him this morning:

7. Tombstone. Oh yeah.

"I'm yuh Huckleberry..." <-- Still not quite sure what that means,* but LOVE this one. Lots. 14 year old was a bit queasy over all the blood and gore (she was forewarned), 10 year old at school, baby laying down on floor in the next room surrounded by toys, covered in snot and a box of kleenex he managed to savage while no one was looking...Daddy in the grips of Theraflu and fever croaking out his approval of every single thing Val Kilmer and Kurt Russell said and did....AWESOME.


Now I must go make the tea and see if our latest movie-miniseries kill, Cranford, has arrived...


*UPDATE: Ok, I had to know, so here's the explanation from "World Wide Words":

To be one’s huckleberry — usually as the phrase "I’m your huckleberry" — is to be just the right person for a given job, or a willing executor of some commission.

Ohhhhhh yeah. Val Kilmer was just the right person for that role. LOVE LOVE LOVED him in this one!!!