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