Weekend Movie Recommendation #1

I have been watching movies quite regularly these past few weeks. Its become a sort of ritual for us to watch one every night after dinner, and although it makes it hard for me to sleep afterwards, its well worth it. I thought ill share with you my favorites so far. The list is long and I do not want to exhaust you with too many options, so here is the first lot!

The film opens with Edward Bloom telling everyone present for his son Will’s wedding party, the story of the Big Fish, which he caught on the day Will was born using his wedding ring as a bait. Now this story and many others as fantastical as this, have been told by Ed many times over the years. On his wedding day Will confronts Ed and tells him that his stories have been lies and he does not trust him. Father and son do not talk for three years until Will learns of his father’s failing heart. He decides to reconcile and wants his father to tell him the truth behind his fables.

This film which may seem like the plot for a children’s book, was a very endearing story of a man’s quest for the love of his life, his courage, and lack of fear of failure. One of his stories, has Ed meeting a witch who shows him how he’ll die. Ed merely does a “hmm” and with this knowledge, he knows there are no odds he cannot overcome. Watch it for Evan McGregor and his impeccable Alabama accent and a wonderful story!

Her 2013

Set in the future, its a lonely world where Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix), separated from his wife (Rooney Mara) gets an extremely advanced operating system (Scarlett Johansson’s voice) which can talk to him and take care of his needs. Theodore and the OS fall in love.

The movie depicts a highly evolved yet incredibly lonely world. I was moved by Theodore’s vulnerability and could not help but feel his pain. The movie is a comment on our future which is most likely will have lesser human interaction and in general isolation. The almost human like depiction of the OS is amusing and unnerving. You end up having a lot of “what if”s in the end and rightly so.

About Time 2013

Tim’s father tells him on his 21st birthday, that he can travel backwards in time. The only thing that Tim really wants right now is a girlfriend. Even for a time traveller, love isn’t so easy to get, as Tim realizes. This movie is his story and his life. Its not as sad as The Time Traveller’s Wife, but very touching nevertheless.

I absolutely loved this movie. Tim, his clumsiness, his love for his family, his “do-good” ways were very endearing. This will make for a lovely Sunday evening watch if you fancy a light hearted comedy with a lot of romance.

Adaptation 2002

A screenwriter trying desperately to adapt a book on orchids into a movie on orchids, ends up making anything but that. Its a comment on how movies are “made” in hollywood. For a large part of the film I didn’t quite know where it was going and then suddenly it started making sense. Lovelorn Nicolas Cage has more than one issues to battle including a failing or non existent love life. His desperate attempts at writing an “interesting” screenplay for a movie on flowers is frustrating. In a movie industry where everything needs to have a conspiracy and some sort of scandal to succeed, his efforts meet a dead end eventually and he has to resort to the usual hollywood ways. Watch it for an unrecognizable Chris Cooper, Nicolas Cage’s double role (oops) and of course Meryl Streep and her eternal charm!

I hope you enjoy these as much as I did! Let me know what you think :-)

Image Sources: About Time // Her // Big Fish // Adaptation