The Descendants (Movie Review)

 

Matt King is a lawyer based in Honolulu and the sole trustee of a family trust of 25,000 acres of pristine land on island of Kauai that has been handed down from generation to generation.  The trust will expire in seven years so the KIng family has been taking offers in from developers.  Just before the family is about to endorse the deal, Matt’s wife, Elizabeth, is in a jet ski accident that leaves her in a coma.

Matt and Elizabeth have two daughters, 10-year-old Scottie and the rebellious 17-year-old Alex.  Matt has been a “back up” parent throughout the girls lives and now he is thrust into the driver’s seat as things are not looking good for Elizabeth. 

When Matt is told that Elizabeth will not be waking up from her coma he has to tell his daughters, and an angry Alex blurts out that Elizabeth has been having an affair.  Matt confronts close family friends who confirm this.

As Matt tries to make sense of all that is happening he is left to deal with his daughters who are hurt and feel betrayed, his own family that is waiting for Matt to get the papers in order to sell the land, his wife’s family who think if Matt had been a better husband Elizabeth would not have been such a  thrill seeker and of course, now this mystery man who has been seeing his wife.

 

I received a preview screening of this movie from Fox and after seeing it was up for awards this year, I was curious about it. 

Starring George Clooney as Matt, there is a lot going on in this movie.  With beautiful scenes of Hawaii, this is a story of love, and family, and hard decisions.  While on the outside Matt’s life looks like the life to have, this whole movie is about a closer look… a painfully close look into a family’s life.

One of my favorite quotes comes from Matt King:

My friends on the mainland think just because I leave in Hawaii, I live in paradise, like a permanent vacation. We’re all just out here, sipping Mai Tais, shaking our hips, catching waves. Are they insane? Do they think we are immune to life? How can they possibly think our families are less screwed up, our cancers less fatal, our heartache less painful?

 

In the end, The Descendants is not a high action movie like I am normally drawn to, instead this is an emotional drama that will leave you once again in wonder of what the human heart can withstand.

 

It is Bloggiesta weekend and as promised…. I was going to have giveaways!  I have a bonus copy of this screening to give away (full movie!) Just leave a comment here and I will enter you into the drawing.  Using random.org I will choose a winner on Tuesday morning.

Moneyball

Billy Beane (played by Brad Pitt), is the general manager of the Oakland A’s, who has just had his best players poached by teams that can afford to pay a lot more. Fed up with how money twists the game, he listens to Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), who persuades him that certain players are being undervalued for trivial reasons, such as age, ability to catch, ability to hit the ball hard enough to run all the bases… Statistics revealed hidden strengths that could, when used in the right combinations, produce a winning season. Beane takes Brand’s advice going for the more “bang for our buck” strategy, then has to fight everyone else around him to follow it through.  His job is at stake but Billy Beane hangs tight, believing that this formula could change the way people think about baseball, and the value of players.

I am not a big sports movie fan and at first sight, this movie for me would have been (and was) a pass for me.  It was not until the night of the Oscars when I listened to the awards it was up for, and seen a few clips of the movie that it started to peek my interest.

What sealed the deal?

It is a true story.  Always one to cheer for the underdog, I do like true stories of triumph against all odds.  When I did rent Moneyball for Al (hubby) and I to watch, in my head, it was more for him.  As busy as he is, it is hard to engage him in a movie, any movie, without him falling asleep.  

He fell asleep.

But here is the kicker, or I guess the hitter, in this case… instead of turning it off at that point and seeing if he wanted to finish it the next evening, I kept on watching. Billy Beane sets out to beat the budget, and the big wigs who have far more years and experience than he, fight him all the way to the field.
I was invested, connected to Billy Beane and his vision of taking several lesser valued players, benched in some cases, and giving them back their dream, or at least the chance to reach for the stars again.   And the magic of this?  Is that they do just that, and the rest is history at its finest.

As for Al, well… he did finish the next night, which is not always the case, and when out with friends I heard him asking the guys if they had seen Moneyball as it was an incredible movie.

Highly recommended for anyone who likes true stories, great goals, Brad Pitt (or not), baseball (or not), an excellent drama that is easily family friendly.

What’s Your Number? Movie Review

Ally thinks she is just your average woman looking for the right guy.  When a magazine (think Cosmo) tells her that the average amount of men women are with is much (MUCH) lower than her own score, she starts to panic.  Perhaps she had the right one and let him get away!  So Ally, not wanting to add to her number, cuts a deal to have her neighbor Collin help her locate the men of her past.

 

 

I received this movie for review from Think Jam Publicity.  I was excited to give it a try as it sounded like a cute story – and for the most part it was. 

Anna Faris is a funny actress (think Hot Chick, The Scary Movie spoofs…).  When I seen she was in this movie I was thrilled.   Add Chris Evans to this mix (Cellular, Puncture, Captain America) and you have a fun couple of main actors. 

The story line as I mentioned above is Ally (Anna) decided there is no way she is going to add to her already significant number of men so she is going to instead go back through the men of her past to make sure “the one” did not slip through her fingers.  By recruiting cute neighbor guy Collin to assist her, while she helps him escape his own messes in life, the outcome is pretty funny.

While over all the movie is predictable, it was also funny.

 

The movie is rated R for a reason – there are a few sexual references and a couple racier moments in the movie. 

 

Thank you to Think Jam Publicity for sending me a copy of this movie to reveiw