The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Rating: PG

Time: 114 minutes

Genre: Adventure/Comedy

Year: 2013

My Rating: 5

I obviously haven't seen any new movies recently. But I have seen a few in the past couple of weeks so hooray for more posting!

My husband was very excited to see this movie. I was not so thrilled about it. Hence, we waited until we could borrow it from my parents and not have to spend money to see it. Ya, we're cheap. Well, this movie met my expectations of being entertaining, yet not really that great of a movie.

Walter Mitty is a photo analyst for the LIFE magazine. And the magazine is getting ready to go completely online so a lot of people are going to lose their jobs. Mitty has a wild imagination and often zones out to some strange and adventurous daydream. When a picture goes missing, (or does it?), that was supposed to be used for the last magazine, Mitty goes on an adventure very much like those he dreams of. He is on the search for an adventurer/photographer who supposedly sent Mitty the lost picture.

So then we are here with Ben Stiller, who plays Mitty, who is a comedic actor. Yet, this movie isn't really much of a comedy at all. It has its moments, but really, Stiller is just a bland actor when he isn't doing pure comedic acting. 

Needless to say, the picture is eventually found, though not where it was expected. The final cover of the LIFE magazine in the film is heartwarming. And that was the end of the movie. The movie just seemed to keep going without any real idea of a plot. It was as though the writers were like: "Let's make an awesome movie with cool special effects that are all in someone's imagination and don't have anything to do with the plot!" And then they did. 

I give this movie a 5 out of 10. See it if you are interested, but don't go expecting to be impressed.

Saving Mr. Banks

Saving Mr. Banks

Rating: PG-13

Time: 215 Minutes

Genre: Biography/Drama

Year: 2013

My Rating: 8

In all honesty, this movie was not my type of movie. I like films with action and that are fast paced. This film had absolutely no action and was paced incredibly slowly. Nonetheless, as far as movies go, it was spectacular. 

The acting in this movie was spectacular. Tom Hanks was awesome as always. Emma Thompson also did a fantastic job. The movie was about the author P. L. Travers who met with Walt Disney. Walt wanted to make a movie of Mary Poppins, a book written by Travers. There were a lot of disputes between the two as Walt tried to get the movie made and Travers stopped him whenever she could. It flashes back to Travers' childhood throughout the film to give a background to her rough exterior. These flashbacks were put in at excellent points in the movie and really helped the story. 

It was beautifully done, and a fun film, but not one that I particularly care to see again because it just seemed really long. This is, however, a movie I think everyone should see at least once. I give this movie an 8 our of ten because it really was a great movie.

Thor: The Dark World

Thor: The Dark World

Rating: PG-13

Time: 112 Minutes

Genre: Action/Fantasy

Year: 2013

My Rating: 7

This movie was so much better than the first one. That one, although a fun one to watch, wasn't really that great of a movie. Thor: The Dark World had a lot more character development and a much better villain.

Christopher Eccleston did a fantastic job as the dark elf Malekith. I didn't even recognize him, he did such a great job. (I recognized his face, but his voice was so different, as well as the way he carried himself.) Chris Hemsworth was a fantastic Thor as always. I think he was pretty much born to play Thor. He was awesome. Tom Hiddleston continues to do a phenomenal job as Loki, the God of Mischief. The acting all around was quite spectacular. 

The fantasy factor in this film was great. This is definitely a fantasy film. I do enjoy me a good fantasy. It was also very action packed. The plot was very strong and made for some great development of the characters and the story. There were some new characters added that helped bring some new flair to the film that there wasn't in the first one. 

This was a fun movie and I could see myself owning it, but that wouldn't be particularly necessary. I give the movie a 7 out of 10. 

Ender's Game

Ender's Game

Rating: PG-13

Time: 114 Minutes

Genre: Action/Adventure

Year: 2013

My Rating: 8.5

Orson Scott Card wrote the book Ender's Game, and it came out in 1985. I first read the book three years ago. It is one of those books that is pretty hard to put down. Card wrote so well that it was easy to have a picture of what was happening, even though he didn't  go into ridiculous amounts of detail. Even though I am a huge fan of science fiction in movies and tv, this was the first science fiction book I had ever read. And it was incredible.

The book was so fantastic and had so much information that happened, I was scared about how the movie would turn out. With the Harry Potter films, they left out characters and important things that happened to make the movies short enough. This book is amazing, and I really wanted the movie to be amazing, too. I was very impressed and pleased at how well the movie turned out.

There are a lot of things not in the movie. For example, in the books it goes through so many different games that Ender and his team played in the room without gravity. They only showed two of these battle games in the movie. But it was enough to show the information that the story needed to continue. In the book, Ender starts out as 5 years old. The book spans many years. It would be impossible to have filmed the movie over so many years, so in the movie, Ender is close to the same age at the beginning and at the end of the film. And that is ok, I understand why they had to do that.

Asa Butterfield played Ender. I had only seen this kid in 'The Boy in Striped Pajamas' and 'Hugo.' He did a good job in both, but children tend not to be the best of actors simply because they are still learning. I was really impressed with his performance as Ender. He did a spectacular job and I loved it. I was also pleased with Harrison Ford in the film. I feel like he is really only good at playing one type of character, and he did really well with this one even though it was a little different than his norm. 

I want to own this movie! It was so greatly done and so fun to watch. I give it an 8.5 out of 10. I hope you enjoy this movie as much as I did!

Divergent

Divergent

Rating: PG-13

Time: 139 Minutes

Genre: Action/Adventure

Year: 2014

My Rating: 7.5

I had a lot of fun seeing this movie. My sister and I went to an 11:00 PM 'pre-show' because there were no midnight showings in the valley. I was really excited to see it because I really love the book. But as with most movies made from books, I was pretty scared that they would ruin the story. 

This movie was really great! I was happy with how well it followed the book. There were a few additions that I was like, "What? That wasn't in the book!" However, when I really thought about it, they helped make it a better movie and will also help with explanations of things that happen in the second and third book. 

As far as acting goes, I was very happy with Shailene Woodley. I had watched the tv show Secret Life of the American Teenager, where she is the main character, and wasn't sure how she would do as the main character of this story. She did amazing! I was really impressed with her acting ability in this movie. And Theo James, who I had never heard of, did a fantastic job as well. The acting was very successful all around. My one complaint as far as acting is concerned is that Miles Teller, who played Peter, wasn't angry enough. He's such an angry, grumpy, and violent guy in the book, and didn't meet that criteria in the movie. 

The filming was really great for the most part, but there were parts where the camera was shaky or just moved really fast around people and it gave me a headache. 

I really had fun seeing this movie. The action parts were done really well. I give this movie a 7.5 out of 10. I am thinking that it is one I would like to own, but I won't be majorly upset if I don't. 

RED 2

RED 2

Rating: PG-13

Time: 116 Minutes

Genre: Action/Comedy

Year: 2013

My Rating: 4.5

This movie was such a letdown. I LOVED the first one, as you can see in the previous post, but this was just lacing. As far as action films go, it did have a lot of action. This just wasn't as funny of a movie as the last one. The action scenes were way over the top.
One large complaint is the characters. The personalities of characters changed a lot from how they were in the first film. The character Martin, for example, was ridiculous and weird and hilarious in the first movie. In this one he was pretty serious and dull. He did some weird things, but it seemed like the movie makers were just like, "Oh, I guess we need to add some weirdness to make him seem like he was in the last movie." But they didn't make him like the last movie, in which he was fantastic.
I am also bothered by the fact that there were at least four different bad guys. By the end of the movie, all of them had switched sides. Some started good and ended bad, some started bad but ended good. It was just repetitive. I don't like repetition in movies.
This movie was one that felt like a waste of my time. I'm happy I just checked it out from the library instead of paying to see it. I am rating it at a 4.5 out of 10.

RED

RED

Rating: PG-13

Time: 111 Minutes

Genre: Action/Comedy

Year: 2010

My Rating: 9

I loved this movie! I first saw parts of it when I was donating plasma. I missed the beginning, so I ignored it so I could watch it later with my husband, but I was thinking that it looked like a fantastic movie. And it was! 

RED stands for 'Retired Extremely Dangerous.' It's about some retired CIA agents, and some others from around the world, who get put on a hit list and nobody knows why. So these older folks go about trying to solve the mystery, kicking butt along the way. It is, after all, a Bruce Willis movie.

The actors are wonderful in this movie. We have Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, and Karl Urban to name a few. Each actor brings his or her own flair to the movie and really makes it unique and fun to watch.

This movie is also a comedy, because basically older people are hilarious. Even when they are being hunted down, they are hilarious. That really made this my kind of movie. I love humor and I love action. This movie had a ton of action and fighting scenes, and no two were much alike. It was fresh and original and I loved it!

This is a movie that I really need to own, and I rate it at a 9 out of 10. So go see it! And the sequel is out now so I'll post about that one after I see it.