One Day

I read this book right before I went to see the movie.

I felt quite moved by the beginning few years of the book. When Emma was in her 20's. I am also in my twenties and feel as though I am not living my full potential and I think she did not start doing what she loved until she was at least 30. A little side note to how I related to this book.

Anyway back to the movie. I loved the book, found that it was refreshing and a great way to span nearly forty years. The movie I also thought did a great job at hitting the important points of the book. There a few discrepancies that I noticed. In the book Ian is not funny at all, actually quite annoying as he tries to make every moment a stand-up moment. In the movie he made me a laugh more than once.

I also found that the chemistry between the Emma and Dexter was quite palpable in the movie where as in the book they were great friends and really needed each other a lot of the time, but I found that I only would have seen the chemistry in their thoughts. Which is maybe why they needed to show it more in the movie because we do not have the luxury of reading their thoughts.

I thought that Anne Hathaway did a great job, her accent (as she would probably attest to) was a bit shaky at times I almost thought that she was Irish.

I give it an 8/10

The Help

I was visiting some family in Minnesota this weekend and my aunt really wanted to see this movie. I also have been desiring to watch this, but was not sure if I wanted to see it without reading the book first. I caved and went to the movie. The theater was huge by the way and quite packed. But we were able to sit in the middle toward the back which is where I like to sit.

I found this movie amazing. The acting was spot on. I fell in love with Viola Davis in Doubt and here she delivered as well. Amazing emotional portrayal. Octavia Spencer did gave an amazing performance. Emma Stone is for sure growing on me with this one.

I found myself baffled by how, throughout history, humans have treated their own kind. This is simply because of differences and fear. It is crazy what fear can lead people to do.

I loved this movie and the fact that Emma's character, Skeeter, was quite alone at the top, which is what normally happens when you are either doing the right thing. When you are standing up for something you believe in, often you can be standing alone.

There were funny parts and parts that made me cry, parts that made me proud and times that I was ashamed. The movie created quite a dense feeling, most did not leave the theater until well after the movie was finished.

Every good performance ends with an applause as did this one, even though that is one of my pet peeves. Clapping in a theater after a movie, it can ruin the moment.

I give it an 8.5/10

The Company Men

So I got this movie from Netflix. I saw the trailer and thought that it looked very intriguing. I also found it very relevant to the state of our country.

Ultimately it displayed the love of material possessions that our country seems to have a problem with. It also showed the desire for us give off the impression that we are successful. That we have it all together and we are the happiest we could ever be.

People lost their 6 figure jobs and were still trying to go to the club and play golf, make payments on their Porsche and their huge home. They live beyond their means even with their 6 figure salary and then they lose that, they will be going down really quickly.

It was awesome to see the character development in Ben Affleck's character. I hated him and then I loved him. He did a great job. I really liked this movie and would recommend it.

I give it a 7/10

Crazy, Stupid, Love

I went to see Crazy, Stupid, Love today and have been desiring to see it for some time now. For one I was drawn by the title, that it is a string of adjectives describing the last word. I also was drawn to the idea of finding someone and them indirectly changing you, making you want to be a better person. The humor in the previews was an enticing factor as well. Oh and lets not forget also did not hurt that Ryan Gosling was in it.

I found that this movie was quite raw in emotion. I enjoyed the easy banter and laughter between the characters, which shows the comfort level between them. Watching the effortless dialogue makes you also comfortable. It is good when watching a movie that you begin to feel what the characters are feeling. I found that throughout this movie I was laughing, cringing, hiding my face because of what the characters were going through. I find that to be a good movie.

I have not been the biggest fan of Emma Stone, but this movie made me a believer. I found that she was quite quirky and thought that some of that cannot be taught. Some of her facial expressions or reactions were very natural and not always completely beautiful, which made them believable.

Ryan Gosling was beautiful in this movie and I loved his confidence. I do not think that any woman, or man to be honest, watching this movie did not fall victim to his beauty, charm, one-liners, and wardrobe style.

Julianne Moore and Steve Carell had amazing chemistry and showed to us that marriage, if left idle, can become something that no-one ever desired for it to be.

I loved this movie and I want to own it when it comes out on DVD, I do not say that very often.

I give it a 8/10

Temple Grandin

I first heard about this movie when I went to my friends house and she was watching the Emmys. She had just watched Claire Danes accept her award for Beast Leading Actress in a miniseries or made for TV movie (or something like that). My friend makes a comment about it and we watch the acceptance speech and it moved me to tears. I had seen this movie at rental stores before. After I watched the trailer it was very quickly added to my must see movie list.

I just watched it over the weekend and have had many conversations about it since. It was fantastic and is a must see. The movie is about an autistic child in the 60's and 70's when autism was very misunderstood. Temple Grandin did not speak until she was four and then her mother continued to put her in different social situations. I have a feeling that was pivotal in Temple's success. This is a true story about a girl who had many things stacked against her, not only was she different in how she reasoned and interacted, but also she was woman. She has a special way with connecting to animals and uses that to do some amazing things in the world of slaughter houses. She also opens up a window into the life of an autistic person. She is able to communicate about it.

The film maker also did a great job on bringing in the viewer into the mind of an autistic person. It is not perfect by any means. But the noise amplifications and photographic memory snip-its really add to the overall viewing experience.

I give this a 9.5/10

Super 8

I really liked this movie. It was not my first choice when we went to the theater that night, but I am quite glad that I went to see it. It centered around a group of 13 or 14 year old boys and 1 15 year old girl. They were the primary cast and most of them were not well known before this movie, with exception to Elle Fanning I knew of her before I watched this film.

The movie was not out right scary, but I jumped a fair amount of times. I am quite a jumpy person in general. It was maybe a bit more suspenseful, but I was very surprised by the amount of humor that they packed into this movie.

I have worked with kids for the past few years and one thing that amazes me is how funny they are. This movie was spot on for good early teenage humor, it was not raunchy with the young actors desiring to be older and more mature, but it was quite spot on with the young boy sarcasm and humor. The comic relief from edge of your seat, hiding your face suspense, was very well balanced.

It was also nice to see some great camera work with angles and night exposure. The movie was original among a sea of remakes, sequels, and comic book heroes. The cast did not sell the movie, the movie sold the movie and that is what I like to see.

I give this movie an 8.5 out of 10.

for sure recommend seeing this one.

Movies I want to see

These are movies that I have watched trailers for or just simply desire to see.

-The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

-Between Notes

-Transformers 3

-Harry Potter 7 part2

-Cedar Rapids

-Captain America

-Sarah's Key-read book first-

-Cowboys and Aliens-not sure how I feel about this one-

-Crazy, Stupid, Love

-The Help-read book first-

-One Day- Read book First

-Terri

-Bad Teacher-wait for DVD

-Green Lantern-wait for DVD

-The Art of Getting By