I saw Real Steel in theaters and wow.  It was awesome!  I was actually surprised at how much I enjoyed it – I originally went for my husband’s sake, not so sure it was something I wanted to see.  I’m so glad he made me go (ha), because it was very worth experiencing in theaters!  I wanted to see it again immediately after it was over – it was that good.

The main reasons I loved it:

• Hugh Jackman (He had me in X-Men as Wolverine!)
• It’s set in the not-too-far future, but the future nonetheless.  I love imaginative futuristic movies!
• Robots!  Way cool.
• The actors did an amazing job and the movie is very well-directed.  No complaints there!
• The movie has a lot of heart, plenty of action, and isn’t predictable.  That makes a great movie!

What it’s about…
Sometime in the not-too-distant future, boxing has been outlawed and replaced by fighting matches with robots. Big robots. Hulking, rock ‘em, sock ‘em mechanical robots. But if those machines are cutting edge, Real Steel sticks to an old-fashioned style of storytelling, with a tale of a down-and-out fight manager (Hugh Jackman) looking for a good ‘bot to get back in the game, and get back out of debt. Hearts are further tugged by the arrival of this guy’s 11-year-old son (Dakota Goyo), who hasn’t seen his dad in many years but now needs tending. There’s something endearing about the way nobody ever pauses to remark on the fact that they are in the presence of giant remote-controlled prizefighting robots; it’s taken for granted in this cockeyed universe.

I received a review copy of the Real Steel Blu-Ray + DVD combo pack and couldn’t wait to see it again!  It was just as good as I remembered, and I’m glad to have it on Blu-Ray – it looked amazing on our TV.  This pack also comes with a collection of special features that will tempt even those who don’t “do” extra features to watch: Bloopers, deleted and extended scenes, “Second Screen” (get interactive content on your iPad or computer while watching the movie), an audio commentary, and much more!

You MUST watch the trailer:

Real Steel Online!

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Disclosure: I was provided with a review copy of the movie in this post in order to share my own personal opinions on it. The opinions I have given are 100% mine.

The second season of Shaun the Sheep is finally available on DVD!  YES!  If you read my blog regularly, you know that my whole family adores this series.  My husband is the one who introduced me to Wallace and Gromit, and I in turn introduced him to Shaun and his sheep friends, pig enemies, and the farmer and his dog.  This really is an addictive show, and totally hilarious!  How the writers were able to come up with a show that has essentially no dialogue but is  so entertaining, I don’t know.  They must be geniuses.

This 2-DVD set includes all 40 episodes from season 2 in one set!  I really like this a lot better than buying DVDs separately, it’s nice to be able to have all of the episodes on these two DVDs.  And the special features are great, too!

Special Features:

Whack-A-Pig Game
Sheep-Shearing Game
Meet the Animals Video
Sing-Along With Shaun Video
Building A Pig Video
The Mini Making of Shaun
Timmy Time Sneak Peek
Timmy’s Tune
Behind-the-Scenes Gallery

Where to Buy:

You can find Shaun the Sheep Season 2 at Amazon.com, or it can be purchased in-store at Target, Fred Meyer, Walmart, and many more stores.

www.shaunthesheep.com

Disclosure: I was provided with a copy of the movie reviewed above at no cost in order to share my own personal opinions on it. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the free product provided.

I’m trying to keep the focus where it needs to be, so I’ve been reading Emma books, watching movies with her, and doing activities with her that teach her the story of Jesus’ birth.  This is one of the DVDs I pulled out to watch with her that I was excited about.  We’re fans of VeggieTales’ way of dealing with the problems we all face daily in a Godly manner without being too serious (LOVE their silly songs!) and I was interested in seeing how they presented the story of The Little Drummer Boy.

Here’s a short synopsis:

In this Veggie-version of a holiday classic, Junior Asparagus stars as The Little Drummer Boy, a lonely child who finds the true meaning of Christmas when he stumbles upon the birth of the baby Jesus. A story of generosity, hope and love, this timeless tale will warm the hearts of children everywhere!

Our Thoughts:

This is a very sweet version of The Little Drummer Boy!  Emma was absolutely glued to the story and the characters.  It begins with Junior Asparagus, who has been practicing drumming and is excited to be going caroling with his friends.  But he misses out because he didn’t hear them ring the doorbell and thinks they “ditched him!”.  (haha)  His grandfather then offers to tell the very angry and disappointed little… er… boy…asparagus… the story of The Little Drummer Boy. So we go to Aaron’s story, another little guy like Junior who deals with a lot of anger and disappointment.  He travels alone with his animals and meets up with the three wise men who are following a star.  In the end, he meets and drums for Jesus, and finds something he thought he lost forever.

In this touching story, there’s a lesson on anger and some very funny laugh-out-loud moments.  (My favorites were the puns on Star Wars!)  There are also a few songs (Emma LOVES the singing!), and one “music video break” in the middle of the show featuring a hilarious take on The Twelve Days of Christmas song – all with Polish dishes being brought to a Christmas party.  So cute!

This one is VERY worth adding to your Christmas movie/VeggieTales collection – I recommend it!

Trailer:

Buy It!

You can purchase VeggieTales: The Little Drummer Boy at Amazon.com or VeggieTales.com.  It retails for $14.99 but can be found at these sites on sale from $8.99 at the time of this post!

Don’t forget to follow VeggieTales on Facebook!

I received the product above so that I could share my thoughts on it with you. All opinions are 100% mine.