“THE GIVER” OPENS TONIGHT!

Jonas is a young man who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Yet as he begins to spend time with The Giver, who is the sole keeper of all the community’s memories, Jonas quickly begins to discover the dark and deadly truths of his community’s secret past. With this newfound power of knowledge, he realized that the stakes a higher than imagined – a matter of life and death for himself and those he loves the most. At extreme odds, Jonas knows that he must escape their world to protect them all – a challenge that no one has ever succeeded at before. Based on the young adult novel of the same name by Lois Lowry.

(This is our date night movie. We can’t wait to see it. This is a movie in which I have read the book before hand. I am looking forward to it.)

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Three Masters

We are watching 3 masters of the big screen. Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci and Amy Adams in “Julie and Julia”. It’s the perfect pairing of food and blogging.

This is playing in our Blu Ray player.

Love me some Meryl Streep and Colin Firth.

Mamma Mia is a great flick.

Meryl Streep

There is not a better actor working today than Meryl Streep. She makes everything look flawless and effortless. She disappears into every role she takes. Her talent is awe inspiring.

“The Iron Lady” Simple Brilliance

Our Friday night movie was a historical and dramatic depiction of the life of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Played by Meryl Streep we are taken back in time to Lady Thatcher’s childhood and rise to political prominence. If you are a Britphile and political junkie (like me) this is a fantastic film. Streep’s performance is awesome and she makes it look effortless. Jim Broadbent is one of the better actors out there and does a great performance as Dennis Thatcher. There are a few people you will recognize such as Anthony Head, Iain Glen and Richard E. Grant who have been in “Doctor Who”. You must see this film.

“Julie and Julia” – This movie is a perfect recipe of writing, blogging, food, relationships and love. Meryl Streep and Amy Adams are awesome in this movie. I love blogging and food so for me this movie is one of my favorites. Its kind of in the same genre as “You’ve Got Mail”.  If you haven’t seen it, do so it will give you food for thought and soul.

Love Finds Hope

Last year I took my wife to see a movie called “Hope Springs” it featured Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones. They played a couple who had been married for a long time, maybe 30 plus years and they seemed to go through the motions day after day. Streep’s character would cook him breakfast, then Jones character would go to work, he would come home to a hot dinner cooked for him and he would crash in front of the TV. They also slept in separate beds….Then she wanted something more, something different so she sought out the counsel of a marriage therapist played by Steve Carell to see if their marriage could be saved. Well there was a happy ending to the story and they worked things out after putting some work into it. 

A lot of couples go through this sort of thing. Life becomes more routine and there is no joy in their relationship. Some couples become more like roommates than lovers or partners. We take things for granted and it ends up making our lives miserable. Now there are times when one side of the partnership has no clue what’s going on. Certain assumptions from one side or the other can make things very difficult. You might think physical touch is what your partner wants when its something completely different.

Paying attention to your spouse or partner can help clue you in. Admittedly I am not always good at that. All you have to do is ask. Your partner is there and its good to ask. Even when you think you know, ask again.

Sometimes you need help in this area so counseling is a way to restructure and get advice. Love will find a way and sometimes it takes a third person. Once things are back on track you can find yourself happy and motivated to work on your relationship.

Thank you Amy Poehler

The Devil Wears Prada – Day two of our Meryl Streep film fest. She is good in this one and every other movie she has been in, she’s sublime. We also like Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, Emily Blunt and Simon Baker. 

Hope Springs, A Movie About Real, Adult Relationships – This afternoon to celebrate her birthday, I took my wife Laura to see the movie Hope Springs which stars Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carrell. 

In this movie Streep and Jones play a couple who have been married for 31 years and have serious intimacy and communications issues. Streep’s character desperately wants to make the marriage better so she buys a book written by a relationship expert played by Carrell’s character After reading the book and much research she decides to book a intensive marital counseling session for them. Jones character was not happy but decides to go with her. Well after several sessions they realize there was more problems than they realized and were given exercises to reconnect their relationship. Eventually through some painful trials and error they got back together. 

The movie helped me realize how complacent we can get with spouses and even other relationships we have. As time goes we take things for granted with people in our lives. Time in a marriage or relationship does not make it solid. Our reasons for doing things become habit and after awhile we forget why we did them in the first place. Its great that Hollywood made a movie where mature people have complex problems that are real problems with their marriages and they are taking it seriously instead of just splitting up. Everyone can gain some wisdom from this movie in how to deal with their relationship issues. This is a movie with mature subject matter but its issues that we all will face at some times in our lives.