[Arwen]

Wildcat, I used to belong to Netflix but switched to the Blockbuster version because I had a store close by. That way I could take the movies mailed to me and return them at the store for MORE movies. Loved it.

I watched a ton of movies when I did that.

Just saw Sunshine Cleaning with Amy Adams, Alan Arkin and Emily Blunt. Would never have heard of it if not for my friend, OrganicButch. Hy heard about it from another friend.

Whoa. A really intriguing little film that made me stop and think. The premise is that an ex-cheerleader (head cheerleader even) [Amy Adams] who dated the captain of the football team is now cleaning houses trying to make ends meet. She's also a single mom of a very precocious, intelligent little boy. I think he's around 8 or 9 in the movie. Her sister[Emily Blunt] is pretty much useless and a royal screw-up who just can't do anything right.

Alan Arkin is the dad who is constantly onto his next big money-maker. He constantly promises but rarely delivers. He raised the two girls after their mother's death when they were young. When Rose translates her cleaning skills into a bio-hazard cleaning company, his response is so subtle. You don't really know why until a bit later in the movie but I don't want to give that away.

The movie explored some really emotional themes for me including the loss of a parent and how death affects us in such different ways. There is a really small side lesbian part. It was interesting but not really that important to the movie in my opinion.

The Amy Adams character (Rose) has the bulk of the character arc but her dad (Arkin) and sister (Blunt) both do show growth and development. I found this movie to have emotional chops as well as some really funny comedic moments. And when they blended them together is when this movie really (sun)shined for me.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0862846/ is the IMDB page.