The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Saturday was date night.  We went to Cineopolis to see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.  I loved it.  It's one of those feel good movies that makes me feel enlightened and enriched in some way just from having watched it.  It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  I'm surprised I didn't cry. 

Walter Mitty is your average Joe like anyone else.  He's been working in the basement level of Life Magazine for 16 years in the negative assets department and stresses out about keeping the bills paid.  Life Magazine is transitioning from the print version of to Life Magazine Online.  He is the timid, worker bee who hope that he still has a job when it's all said and done who is belittled by the hot shot jerk of a younger guy in charge of overseeing the transition.  Day to day life is pretty mundane except when he goes into one of his trances and thinks of all the things he wishes he had the guts to say or the super human abilities to do.  I think we all kind of do that.  What if.  If only.  One day.  I wish.  Then suddenly he finds himself going to places and doing those things that he only dreamed about before.  He goes from underdog to trailblazer and with it comes a confidence that he didn't have before. 

In the movie the Life Magazine mission statement is: “To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other and to feel. That is the purpose of life.”  The words are vague and broad and yet so universally specific at the same time.  I think we can all find meaning in it.

One of my favorite quotes from the movie is when one of the characters says, "Beautiful things don't ask for attention."  It really stood out for me in it's simplicity.  In this day and age of me, me, me and a non stop social media attention seeking frenzy it's just a really refreshing way to look at things.  Like, just be yourself and who cares what people think or who is looking and that in itself is beautiful.

The movie definitely raises some questions in terms of how realistic it is.  Is there really a Papa John's in Greenland?  Is it really possible to get cell phone reception in Iceland?  Is e Harmony really $500 per year?  But it's a movie.  I loved the storyline so much that I really didn't care about the actual reality of such things.  The acting was great, the characters were touching and I loved the story.  I give it a thumbs up.

The Messenger

Starring:  Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster
Drama, Rated R (2009)

Will Montgomery (Foster) is a war vet recently returned from and injured in Iraq who has only three months remaining in his Army contract.  He is assigned the extremely difficult task of notifying soldier's families that they have died in combat.  He is put under the command of slightly off the wall, lonely, and recovering alcoholic Tony (Harrelson).  The two of them go about their duties and strike up an unexpected friendship in the process.

• This movie gives you an inside look at a job that you know someone has to have but maybe haven't given a whole lot of thought to.  It is certainly a job that I would NEVER want to have.
• The relationship between the two men goes through some ups and downs and they learn a lot more about each other as Will deals with a break up and Tony confronts his alcohol problem. 
• There are some slow moments.  The tone of the movie is very low key and mellow but overall it was good.

4 STARS

Middle Of Nowhere

Starring:  Susan Surandon, Eva Amurri, Anton Yelchin
Drama, Rated R (2010)

Amurri is Grace.  A teenager from a small town with a flaky undependable mom who is planning to go to College if only she can figure out a way to get the $12,000 it will cost to do that.  She spends her summer days working at the local water park but she knows that isn't going to earn her nearly enough.  She meets Dorian (Yelchin) a bad boy from a privileged family who has been sent to live with his disciplinarian uncle.  He approaches her with a business proposition that while illegal could earn her the money she needs.  Will she take the risk or spend the rest of her life in the middle of nowhere.

• This movie turned out better then I originally thought it would be.  The acting was good by all the lead roles.
• I really enjoyed watching the relationship develop between Grace and her sister Taylor.  It was also interesting to watch the relationship among all three grow which is something that I'm sure neither one of them expected.

4 STARS

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Starring:  Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton
Action/Adventure (2010)

Soon after invading a nearby city Dasdan (Gyllenhaal) is accused of murdering his father.  Forced to run, princess Tamina (Arterton) follows along as she discovers that Dasdan holds a dagger that holds incredible powers.  This dagger was taken during the invasion of her city and it's up to her to keep it out of the wrong hands or else risk destruction of the world as they know it.  Dasdan must now not only prove his innocence but keep the sands of time that give the dagger it's unique powers safe from the greedy man who covets it.

• Gyllenhaal obviously does not appear to be Persian by any stretch of the imagination but it's a movie so you just gotta roll with it.
• Arterton is every bit as beautiful as her character Tamina is supposed to be.  Excellent casting there. 
• There is plenty of action and adventure and a few laughs as well.  There were no slow moments and the story moved along nicely.

4 Stars

The Joneses

Starring:  Demi Moore, David Duchovny, Amber Heard
Comedy, 2009

A picture perfect family moves into an upper class neighborhood and immediately impresses their neighbors with everything from their clothes, their gadgets, their cars and physical appearance. Little do their neighbors know that this is a fictional family that has been discreetly hired to create desire for various products with the intent of increasing sales. And what happens when th fictitious husband would much rather be the real husband instead of a fake?

• I really liked this unique story line. We may not have a fictional family with everything anyone could every want living next door but mediums that create that kind of desire for material things are everywhere we look from TV to magazines to billboards.

4 STARS

Paranormal Activity

Starring:  Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat
Horror, Mystery & Suspense, Rated R (2007)

A young couple moves in together and so does a ghost.  Katie has been plagued over the years by a supernatural presence and after she moves in with her boyfriend this paranormal activity starts up again.  Her boyfriend sets up a video camera to document what happens and tries to find a solution that will make it go away.

• This movie starts out pretty slow.  We see the happy joking couple waking up, going about their day to day activity and sleeping in their room.
• As it goes on and the paranormal activity becomes increasingly more pronounced and frightening the couple becomes extremely agitated and night after night it builds to a very shocking conclusion.
• The format of this film is documentary style and set up to appear as if it is based on a true story.
• This movie is worth watching just for the ending alone.  I can't wait to see the next one!

4 Stars

Letter's To Juliet

Amanda Seyfried is sweet Sophie who is A fact checker for The New Yorker with dreams of being a writer.  She jets off to Verona with her fiance Victor (Bernal) for a pre honeymoon and instead of romantic time of togetherness that she envisioned the two end up on different paths and hardly spend any time together at all.  Instead, Sophie ends up on a little adventure where she helps Claire (Redgrave)  who still feels the sting of love lost find her long lost love whom she fell in love with and never saw again after a teenage summer romance.  Her and Claire hit it off immediately but she can't exactly say the same for her grandson Charlie (Egan).  The unlikely trio set out on their search and turn up all kinds of surprises.

• Amanda Seyfried is so sweet and gentle.  The face of an angel indeed as she pushes her disappointment over her absent fiance aside and embraces Claire and her search for Lorenzo.
• Bernal is quite obnoxious as the passionate foodie who seems to love food more then anything else in life including his fiance.  I knew right away that their relationship was doomed when he was more interested in Pasta then her.
• Such a sweet story.  The tears were rolling towards the end of the movie as the sounds of Taylor Swift's "Love Song" began sweloling in the background.  I'm in love and so moved by the very notion of soul mates and true love so this was right up my alley.  If that isn't your cup of tea then this movie probably won't be for you but I LOVED it

5 Stars