Category Archives: Saturday Matinee

The Dressmaker

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Saturday Matinee

The Dressmaker

Have you ever had a childhood experience that haunted your life?

When Tilly returns to her childhood home in the secluded Australian outback, she’s changed…a lot. She’s now a successful dressmaker and the ladies in town are clamoring for her to make them a new dress. The town has little access to fashionable clothes and Tilly is their ticket to looking beautiful for their beaus.

But, Tilly is not in town to make dresses. She approaches her mom, desperate to recall the details to a murder which she’s forgotten. Perhaps being back in this God-forsaken town will jog her memory.

Tilly also connects with Teddy, a sympathetic childhood friend who develops a soft spot for her.

I really enjoyed this movie. The movie showed how rotten and unforgiving people can be, but, also you saw people jump to Tilly’s defense to help solve the details of the murder mystery. There were so many emotions packed in this movie: love, hate, fear. A tragic event happens that I was NOT expecting. It’s difficult to talk more about the emotions without giving spoilers.

This movie had me mesmerized from the beginning and the acting and the scenery was AMAZING! Such a treat to watch this film and I highly recommend it.

Kate Winslet is one of my favorite actresses – due in part to her acting in Titanic (my all-time favorite movie). Kate and the rest of the cast did great in this movie.

So, have you ever had a childhood experience that haunted your life?

Saturday Matinee – The Shack

Image result for the shack movie

Have you read the novel, The Shack? Have you seen the movie? Which do you prefer?

I reviewed The Shack, the novel, years ago!

I enjoyed the movie MUCH MORE than the book. Seriously. I think I enjoyed the movie more because I believe it gave some background information about Mack, the main character. I don’t recall there being any information about Mack’s childhood and his dysfunctional relationship with his father in the book?

***Spoiler alert!

 

 

When Mack goes on a camping trip with his family, sans his wife, his little girl (Missy), goes missing. Turns out she’s been murdered. Mack’s wife refers to God as Papa, and Missy uses the same term of endearment for God. The murder happens in a secluded Shack and when Mack receives a mysterious note in his mailbox, telling him to come to the Shack to meet Papa (God), he thinks it’s a joke.

The movie is about Mack meeting Papa, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in the Shack. He has conversations with each of them, working through his grief. I believe the movie makers added the part of Wisdom. I don’t recall Wisdom in the novel, but, I could be mistaken since I read it so long ago.

I really enjoyed this movie. It shows how hard it’d be to work through grief when losing a child. I know if I were to lose my child, I’d struggle with forgiveness. I’d have been a lot like Mack in the movie (and the book).

Oh, another thing they did in the movie, which they did not do in the book, Mack gets accidentally hit by a semi-truck. The movie indicates in the beginning that he escaped the on-coming truck, then goes to the Shack to meet Papa. But, at the end, after he leaves Papa and the rest of the Holy Trinity, the movie backtracks and he’s then hit by the truck.

When he awakens in the hospital, he tells his friend that he’d gone to the Shack. The friend says it’s impossible – the accident occurred shortly after he left his home to go to the Shack. Apparently, Mack had been in a coma all weekend. The movie indicated the Shack visit occurred in his mind in dreamlike state – kind of like Dorothy waking up at the end of The Wizard of Oz.

So, have you ever read the book The Shack? If so, how do you think it compares to the movie?

Noah – The Movie – I Hated It! :-(

Is Hollywood in need of scriptwriters? Can I quit my job and be a scriptwriter for Hollywood??

When one of the publicists for the movie, NOAH, contacted me last year, asking if I’d help promote this movie, I eagerly said YES! I thought the movie trailer looked AWESOME and the special effects looked utterly AMAZING!

BUT…I honestly thought I could’ve written a better script than the one I saw performed yesterday when I saw NOAH.

****SPOILER ALERT – I’m going to talk about the entire movie.

There was so much stuff in this movie that I hated that I don’t know where to begin! First off, only one of Noah’s sons had a wife. It was some girl they rescued in the barren, forsaken land. They found her amidst a bunch of dead people. She was wounded and and her injuries barred her from having children. So, fast forward about ten years and one of Noah’s sons has taken her as his mate. His other son (I believe it was Ham?) was jealous that his brother had a wife, his dad Noah has a wife…all of the animals are in twos…he’s like, Dad, what about me, where’s my mate? Noah’s response: the Creator’s given us all we need. So basically his son was supposed to be left without a mate??

The very least they could do was have the three sons to be married like in the Bible. Also, before the ark was built and when Noah receives his vision of the flood, he’s not sure what he’s supposed to do. He is going to visit his wise grandfather, Methuselah, when they find this barren girl (mentioned in the previous paragraph). The bad people come after Noah and his family. They run into the valley of the rock people. Yes, the rock people, people made out of rocks. The rock people throw Noah and his family, plus the barren girl into a pit to die.

A sympathetic rock person rescues Noah and his family and becomes their protector. The protector tells Noah that the rock people are fallen angels. These angels came down from heaven as beams of light, feeling sympathetic toward the plight of Adam and Eve. God didn’t appreciate their allegiance toward Adam’s and Eve’s plight, so, He changed them from beams of light into beams of mud – mud and rocks.

After finding his grandfather, Methuselah, and drinking some magical tea, Noah realizes he must build an ark! Meanwhile, the rock people want to seek forgiveness from the Creator. So, they decide to help Noah build the ark. So, while Noah and his family are building this ark, these rock creatures are helping them – it looks pretty ridiculous.

Then you have some guy named Tubal-Cain(sp?) who is the king of Cain’s descendents. This line of descendents are the bad people in the movie. Lots of evil lurking among these people. Ham finds himself sympathetic to Tubal Cain, since he feels that Noah has turned against him.

Tubal-Cain wants to get onto the ark once the flood waters come. He chops his way into the ark and is a stowaway. Yes, there’s a stowaway on the ark. Ham secretly gives Tubal-Cain nourishment since he’s still mad at Noah. Ham had met a girl among Tubal-Cain’s people, and he wanted to bring her onto the ark. While running amidst the rain to catch the ark before it left, her foot is caught in a trap. Ham tries to rescue her, but Noah refuses to help and the girl gets trampled to death.

Oh, the rock people. After the rain starts, the rock people help protect Noah and his family from the Tubal-Cain evil people who are trying to take over the ark. The rock people (the Watchers) are then granted forgiveness from the Creator and miraculously go back up into the sky as beams of light.

Meanwhile, after the rain has stopped, Noah now feels (or I believe the Creator has told him?) that all mankind must perish, including all of those on the ark.

The barren girl who Noah’s son has taken as a wife? Sometime before boarding the ark, Methuselah has healed her womb and she’s pregnant. Noah says since man is supposed to perish forever then, if she has a son, then he’ll be the last man to die on this earth – then mankind will be gone forever. If she births a girl, then Noah is supposed to kill her child, since a girl can give birth to babies. The girl (Noah’s son’s wife) tries to escape the ark, with her husband (Noah’s son). They build a raft (again, the rains have stopped by this time). Noah throws some fire onto their raft, burning it, preventing them from leaving so that he can kill the baby if she births a female. She gives birth to female twins. Noah is about to plunge a knife into one of the twins, but, he finds he can’t do it.

They finally land on solid earthly ground. Ham goes off by himself. I mean, he’s by himself since he has no mate, and he doesn’t want to stay with his family. I mean, come on, he has no mate. Maybe he should’ve stayed around and gotten together with one of the twins after they grew up??

Also, Noah blesses the twin grandchildren that he was about to kill awhile back. It appears he has snakeskin – I believe it was from the original snakeskin from the Garden of Eden? I might be wrong about that, though. He uses this snakeskin during his blessing ceremony.

A HUGE plot hole that I saw was – well, Noah wanted to kill his grandchildren because he thought all mankind was supposed to die. If he killed his grandchildren then, afterwards, maybe going into years later, each one of his family would die, his youngest son being the last one to die. Then, mankind would no longer exist??

Hello…Noah, what about your son, the one who’s married to the girl who just gave birth to twins??? Is it not possible for her to get pregnant, again, and have other children??? Would you continue killing each female birth??? I’d think that you have two sons who stayed behind, plus the previously barren mom, plus your wife. Can’t all of them overtake you, imprison you, prevent you from killing future kids from this human race???? Maybe something was referenced and explained about this, that I somehow missed it?? I was trying to remember so many things to reference in this blog post that it’s possible that I missed a few details.

Also, sending the bird out to see if there was land onto which they could dock their ark? Noah’s son sends this bird out instead of Noah. Noah’s wife is hoping the bird will come back with evidence of dry land so that her son and daughter-in-law can leave before she births her baby since Noah is determined to kill a female newborn infant.

Also, you don’t see the Lord speaking directly to Noah, like He does in the Bible. Noah receives these visions he must interpret. Something to do with a seed from the Garden of Eden.

Oh, another thing I hated, they would put the animals to sleep on the ark by waving around this smoky incense. It made the animals tired. Wonder why that smoke stuff doesn’t work on the humans? So dumb….

If you were going to write a script about Noah, how would you do it?

What would I have done?

I realize you’d have to use artistic license to write a Noah script since there’s only a few chapters in the Bible referencing this event. But, I would’ve filled in the blanks with things that could have happened instead of making up such off the wall stuff and changing the Biblical text. If you’re going to write a book (or script) based upon a Biblical event, at least put the correct facts in the Biblical text into the scripted event. Then, realistically, fill in the blanks.

1. I’d have all three of Noah’s sons to be married when the boarded the ark. In the movie, the youngest son is around ten or twelve?? Too young to be married and the middle son has no one – yes no one – which made this a terrible movie. I might even show the three sons falling in love in my version of this movie.

2. Instead of the stupid-looking rock people, I’d have the Nephilim in my script. The Nephilim (or giants) were part of the evilness in the world and are mentioned in the Bible so, it’d only be logical to make them a part of the story.

I’d show the sons of God lusting after the daughters of men and then show how the Nephilim were born.

3. I wouldn’t have anybody (outside of Noah’s family) helping Noah to build the ark. I highly doubt he had any help.

4. My conflict in my script? Well, the conflict would somehow be played out between the Sons of God, Daughters of Men, Nephilim, and all the other bad people living during that time. I’d think of something. But, I tell ya, I wouldn’t have a villain stowaway on my ark. And I wouldn’t have fallen angels made out of rocks, I wouldn’t have fallen angels made out of rocks, I wouldn’t have fallen angels made out of rocks….

5. In my version, Noah wouldn’t be acting a fool, trying to kill his grandchildren. His sons would be re-populating the earth with mankind, just as God intended.

Before you mention that the author of the NOAH movie is an atheist, I already know that. But, if you’re going to base a movie on a Biblical event, then you should at least show the key events as presented in the Bible. You can still have the freedom to write your story and fill in the blanks, but, do it in a manner that’s logical to the event that you’re referencing.

I  knew about most of these things in the movie before I went. Why’d I go? I’d mistakenly thought I’d wanted to see the special effects – after all they looked amazing in the movie trailer! But, the ridiculousness of the story soured the appeal of the amazing special effects. I didn’t care about the special effects after seeing the ridiculous story.

So, did you see this movie? If you haven’t, are you going to see it?

~Cecelia Dowdy~

 

 

 

 

Noah – Starring Russell Crowe and Anthony Hopkins

You have GOT to look at the NOAH movie trailer! This movie looks awesome! I can’t wait for to be released!

NOAH Synopsis:  After visions of an apocalyptic deluge, Noah, the world’s only righteous man, is chosen to undertake a divine mission to build a massive ark to save his family and all of creation before the impending rains fall and the flood waters rise. Cast: Russell Crowe, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Jennifer Connelly and Emma Watson

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Saturday Matinee! – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Curious case of benjamin button ver3.jpgCan you imagine living your life backwards? What would it be like to be born an old man, and physically get younger and younger as you grow older in age?

That’s the premise of this movie. Benjamin Button is a man whose life is tied to a clock. This strange clock is created by a blind man – the clock hangs in a train station. The clock runs backwards and that’s how Benjamin’s life starts. When Benjamin is born, he’s a baby who looks like an old man. Abandoned by his father on the steps of an old folks’ home, he’s taken in by a couple who raise him as their son.

As Benjamin gets older, he starts to look younger. When he’s seven, he meets a girl named Daisy. Benjamin and Daisy remain connected during most of the movie.

When Benjamin goes out on his own at 17, he becomes the aide to a sailor on a ship. He has a mixed bag of adventures – since he looks like an old man, but he isn’t, it makes his life strange and unusual. The strangest adventure for him was being connected to Daisy – how can you love somebody as you get younger while they get older?

I liked this movie, but, it was so unusual, and weird, that I doubt I’d watch it again.

So, could you imagine living your life backwards? What would it be like to be born an old man, and physically get younger and younger as you get older in age? Can you think of any books or movies with a similar premise?

Saturday Matinee – My Best Friend’s Wedding – A Classic! :-)

My Best Friends Wedding.jpg

My Best Friend’s Wedding

Starring: Julia Roberts and Dermot Mulroney

Have you ever been in love with your best friend? If so, did you share you feelings with him/her?

I really enjoy this classic romance movie! I’ve seen it a number of times and decided to watch it again recently. Jules, a food critic, is devastated when her best friend and former beau, Michael, plans to marry the following weekend. He invites her to the wedding and she arrives and meets Michael’s fiance, Kimmy. Kimmy is a fast-driving, college-aged, daughter of a billionaire family.

Jules is determined to break up Michael and Kimmy – after all, she’s in love with Michael, but, has never had the courage to tell him. Michael loved Jules at one time, but, she never let him hug her in public, she always pulled away. Now that Michael has found somebody to love, Jules has decided that she wants him for herself.

A laughable series of events occur as Jule’s plots to steal Michael for herself.

This movie was so entertaining! If you’ve seen it, I’d like to know what you liked about it!
Have you ever been in love with your best friend? If so, did you tell him/her how you felt?

 

 

 

Saturday Matinee – Flipped!

Flipped

Do you remember your childhood sweetheart? How old were you? Who was the first boy or girl that caught your eye, making you believe you were in love?

This was an endearing, sweet young adult movie about first love. Juli is just a child when Bryce moves into her neighborhood. From the moment she sees him, she realizes he’s her one and only love. The story starts when they’re around seven (like a prologue) and then it jumps forward and they’re twelve years old. Juli is still in love with Bryce, and she’s courageous. She’s mesmerized by nature and when the county threatens to chop down her favorite tree, she climbs into the tree, refusing to leave, and is disheartened when Bryce does not help her with her tree-saving cause.

Juli believes that Bryce is her true love, but, is he really the right man for her? Her love for him falters when she discovers things about him, hears him say things about her family, making her doubt her love for him.

I highly recommend this movie for those who love a good romance. Even though the kids are twelve, it’s still a story that adults can enjoy.

So, did you have a childhood crush? Do you remember your first love? How old were you and who was the first boy or girl that caught your eye, making you believe you were in love?

 

Saturday Matinee! Avatar!

 

 

Avatar – A James Cameron film

If you were paralyzed, would you travel five years into space to live inside a mobile, alien body?

Jake Sulley’s identical twin brother is dead. His twin was supposed to go on an important mission in space, and it takes five years to get to the mission place (Pandora). Since Jake’s twin is no longer available, Jake is sent in his place. Upon arrival, his superiors don’t want Jake as part of their group – he’s had no training, and he doesn’t know a whole lot about what he needs to be accomplishing. When he spots his twin brother’s Avatar, Jake is intrigued, the Avatar looks just like him!

His superiors are after an important, rare mineral that’s kept in an inaccessible place, near a huge tree, in Pandora.

Jake “gets into” his Avatar when he’s asleep. While in this foreign body, Jake finds that he can walk, which is really cool since he’s paralyzed. His coworkers also incorporate their Avatars, while sleeping too. While in the bodies of these foreign blue creatures, they can talk and interact with the native people of this faraway space land. When the foreign people “choose” Jake as a “special person.” He finds that his role drastically changes in this special project.

I really enjoyed this movie. Although I’m not much of a fantasy/sci-fi fan, I still thought this movie was good. The scenery was breathtaking and I loved seeing this foreign land and loved seeing the weird-looking beings who inhabit this place. I also liked how the Pandora beings interacted with plants and animals. The Pandora people could physically link themselves to their animals, mentally giving their animals commands.

If you were paralyzed, could you see yourself taking your twin’s place, in a special project, like Jake Sulley did in this movie?

If you’ve seen this movie, leave a comment – let me know what you thought about it.

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~Cecelia Dowdy~

 

Saturday Matinee! A Beautiful Mind

A Beautiful Mind starring Russell Crowe

Have you ever dealt with anybody who suffered from schizophrenia?

John Nash is brilliant math graduate student at Princeton University. He’s pressured into publishing works, however, he can’t think of a great idea for his paper. He finally comes up with a new concept which he publishes and garners him a spot at MIT. While at Princeton, he becomes friends with his roommate, Charles, and later, he meets Charles’ niece, Marcee.

He also dates his student, Alicia, and they fall in love. John also works for the secret service, trying to decipher cryptic codes in magazines and periodicals. He’s obsessed with breaking these codes and the walls of his office are covered with newspapers as he tries to decipher these messages while trying to escape from the Russians.

***SPOILER

 

Then, John has a breakdown and it’s discovered that he has schizophrenia. His wife, Alicia, wrongly believed that Charles and Marcee were real people since John spoke of them so often. John has to suffer through intense therapy and finally decides to stop his medication – although he still sees these “people” (Charles, Marcee, the government workers/agents, etc.) he realizes these people are not real and are figments of his imagination.

This movie really made me think about schizophrenia. I wondered about the human mind and the way it worked…how can you imagine somebody so hard that you actually see them, talk to them, think that they’re real over a number of years – not realizing that you were talking to no one? I wondered if the part of our brain that controls dreams and imaginations – well, if that part of our brain, goes haywire/wrong, then, maybe that would make your mind really “see” things/people who are not real?

John even shook hands with Charles and he hugged Marcee. He could touch these imaginary people, too?

Just knowing that you can see, touch, and feel people whom are not there blows my mind. When people witnessed John talking to his “friends” they just saw him talking to dead air.

Overall the movie was pretty good, but, I probably won’t watch it again anytime soon.

So, have you ever dealt with schizophrenia in your life – either yourself, or known someone with this illness? What happened? Did the treatment work?

Saturday Matinee! – Oz, The Great And Powerful

If you were held in bondage by someone wicked, could you rely on a mortal man to save you?

Well, the people of Oz were waiting for a real wizard to save them from the wicked witch. This movie was entertaining, and it contains some elements from the classic Judy Garland film. Also, there were elements taken from the novel, The Wizard Of Oz.

Oscar (Oz) is a con-man/magician in Kansas. He breaks ladies’ hearts, while doing magic tricks in a carnival. He jumps into a hot air balloon to escape the wrath of the carnival’s Strongman. He’s then swept away into the land of Oz in the midst of a cyclone.

The people in Oz have been waiting for him, they see him as their savior since it’s been prophesied that he would come. Of course there are witches, both good and evil, but, the movie had an strange twist with the witches. If I told you more about them, it would spoil the story.

The Wizard had some special people to accompany him while he searched for the wicked witch. One of his companions was a China doll who had broken legs. The China doll was not in the original Wizard of Oz film, but, I do recall in The Wizard of Oz novel, that Dorothy and her friends traveled through the land of China – where everything was made of China and the people and objects were breakable. The Wizard’s other companion was a winged, talking monkey.

The special effects for this movie were amazing, and it was the perfect prequel to the The Wizard of Oz classic. The film was also laced with a small amount of humor, too.

I kind of felt like the people of Oz: The Quadlings, The Tinkers, The Munchkins, etc. viewed The Wizard as if he were God, Jesus Christ himself, coming to save them from the throes of Satan (the Wicked Witch).

Overall, a good movie. Have you seen this movie? If not, are you planning on seeing it? How do you think this movie compares to the classic?

~Cecelia Dowdy~