The Descendants

I loved this movie!  It was hard to watch in some spots, but I couldn’t turn away, either.  George Clooney’s character, Matt, a lawyer in Hawaii, is taking care of his daughters after his wife has been in a horrible boating accident and is clinging to life in the hospital.  He hasn’t really been a big part of their lives up to this point and seems to have a hard time relating to them.  As he does, there are also new revelations about his life that come to light for him.  Besides dealing with all of this, he is the sole trustee to a huge plot of land that he and his cousins are planning on selling because the trust for it will be dissolving before long.  I just felt like Matt was getting hit from all sides the whole movie and having to deal with everyone and everything and just trying to do the “right” thing as much as possible.  Nothing ever seemed to let up for him!  And it was like I could “feel” every emotion he was going though.  I can’t stop thinking about it!  I want to watch it again right now, but then again, I don’t…  Yeah, I think I do.

The Descendants

It’s funny how everyone sees the same movie and comes away with totally different views of it.  I saw The Descendants and didn’t “love” it the way Eric did – but I liked it.  George Clooney was charming in this role – he can play any role and make the character come to life.  In this, he plays a frazzled husband and father who has to deal with some very altering life decisions as his wife is dying.  His two daughters don’t make life any easier as they are mouthy and very obstinate to any kind of parental control in their lives.  But during the whole process of dealing with being the main parent and figuring out how to say goodbye to his wife, he finds out that his wife had an affair.   That is the story of the movie – the complexity of our lives.  Nothing is ever easy, ever simple, and as we try to do our lives – we are interwoven in the lives of so many others.  The movie is about family – the heartache, the moments that take our breath away, and then those quiet, still moments when we might find a moment of peace.  It is graced with humor, wit and heartfelt emotions and a solid movie worth watching.

The Switch

This movie was nothing like I expected it to be and was pleasantly surprised at the warmness and sentiment of it.  Jason Bateman plays Wally, the best friend to Jennifer Aniston’s character, Kassie.  It all starts out at a party that Kassie is having.  She is ready to have a baby and with the help of a stranger, she is planning on getting artificially inseminated.  Well, after a night of drinking, Wally decides to go into the bathroom where the guy, played by Patrick Wilson, has left his “ingredient” in a specimen cup.  Wally accidently knocks over the container and spills everything out.  He then feels he needs to replace it with his “ingredient” – and doesn’t think about that night until 7 years later – when Kassie returns to her home town with her son – who happens to look just like him.  This movie is a romantic comedy but what I really enjoyed about it is the character that Jason Bateman plays.  This guy with no attachments in life finds out the impact a child can make on his life and how love can change him.  It was a fun, heart warming movie and I would watch it again!

Footloose

Can you believe it’s been almost 30 years since the original Footloose movie???  I’m not a fan of remakes and don’t feel like people should mess with a “classic” when it comes to movies, music or anything, really.  That being said, I did like this movie.  Kevin Bacon really was classic in the original's title role, but newcomer Kenny Wormald wasn’t bad!  Julianne Hough, Dennis Quaid, and Andie MacDowell also held up their roles as the love interest and the overbearing parents.  It’s the same story as the first one – rebel kid moves to a small town where there are laws against anything fun.  The kids decide they want to fight the system.  It’s just a fun movie with a lot of dancing and good music – and a decent remake.

Tower Heist

I was expecting a lot more from this movie than what I got!  With Eddie Murphy, Ben Stiller, Matthew Broderick, Casey Affleck, and Alan Alda, among others, I thought it would be MUCH funnier.  I'd say it was just "OK" – it started out really slow and was pretty unrealistic all the way through.  The jokes were flat, the lines were flat - to me, it all just really “fell flat.”  Alan Alda plays a wealthy business man that has used a Ponzi scheme to cheat workers out of their savings.  To get back at him and get their money back, they decide to rob his apartment where they believe the money is hidden.  Eddie Murphy is their streetwise friend that’s going to help them break in and get past all of the security in the building.  There were “some” funny lines and it did get better toward the end, but I wanted the whole movie to be that way! 

Hugo

Before watching this movie, I didn’t see much of anything that really told me about it – everything said things like “a magical world of spectacular adventure” or “unlocks a mystery and embarks on a quest” and things like that.  After watching it, I can kind of see why.  If you know too much, it might “ruin” it.  The feel of the movie reminded me a lot of the movie The Polar Express.  It’s definitely a visual masterpiece – it’s easy to see why it won Oscars for sound and cinematography!  Basically, the story is about an orphan living in the walls of a train station in Paris that seems to be searching for his “place” in life.  He encounters all kinds of people in his daily life, and eventually, they lead him to a girl who may have the key to the answers he’s been looking for ever since his father died.  While discovering where he belongs, he’s also able to help others along the way – in ways none of them could ever have imagined!  I would have to agree with the descriptions I’d seen - he really does find “a magical world of spectacular adventure!”