Weekend Four Movie Marathon

After a whirlwind Christmas holiday with lots of company, the husband/lover/hot date and I decided we needed some "us" time.  So, armed with a gift card to the movie theater, we watched four movies over the span of Friday evening and Saturday.

First we saw the Japanese samurai movie "47 Ronin" in 3-D.

Why did I wish to see this movie?  Because Keanu Reeves is so handsome and I enjoy seeing movies that have anything to do with the martial arts.

There was history.
There were traditions.
There was magic.
There was Keanu Reeves.
There were shapeshifting creatures.
There were epic sword battles.
There was treachery.
There was Keanu Reeves.
There was harikari.
There was romance.
There was Keanu Reeves.

I doubt if this movie will get any great awards, but it was a fun two hour escape into another land and time, and we enjoyed it.

Back to the theater we went on Saturday to continue our marathon.  The first movie we saw then was the highly publicized movie, "Saving Mr. Banks," starring Tom Hanks as Walt Disney, Emma Thompson as Mrs. Travers, the author of the children's book Mary Poppins, and Colin Farrell as her father in the flashbacks to her childhood.

Walt Disney had quite a fight on his hands, extracting the film rights for "Mary Poppins" from the carmudgeonly, uptight Mrs. Travers.  Ultimately, after 20 years, he does finally get to the heart of what has fueled her reluctance to release her Mary Poppins character to the world of Hollywood filmmaking, and together Disney and Mrs. Travers come to some understandings.

Young Travers with her father (Colin Farrell)

We had about a one hour break until our next selected film, so we headed into the nearby mall and found a place to get a quick bite to eat - an Aunt Annie's pretzel for me and a Cinnabon for Bob.  It was shaping out to be a great day.

Our next movie, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," was an artsy fartsy, strange flick that started slow but really got rolling after the first 30 minutes or so.  Ben Stiller starred as a ho-hum employee in the photo department of the Life Magazine building who lapses regularly into daydreams. Filled with action, heroics, and romance, his daydreams are an escape into the life he dreams of having.

An opportunity comes along for Walter, though, in which his experiences far outshadow anything he could have ever dreamed.  For me, his adventures in those other (very real) lands were the best parts of the movie.

Afterwards, in discussing our reactions to this movie, we both decided that we had enjoyed it.  Seeing the segments that took place in Greenland and Iceland increased our resolve to someday see those countries.

I wouldn't recommend seeing this movie on the big screen, though.  Save your money and wait until you can rent it.  Who knows?  Perhaps this will be one of those movies that surprises us all and wins awards.  Who picks those lists of academy award contenders anyway?

Our final movie of the weekend four movie marathon was the very funny "Grudge Match," starring two of my favorite actors, Sylvester Stallone and Robert DeNiro.

We all knew Stallone wasn't done making boxing movies, and this flick gave him yet another chance to put on his gloves, flex some muscles, and get into the ring.

Watching two older rivals preparing to fight just one more match, the grudge match that will forever settle things, was a delightful smorgasboard of geriatric jokes, jiggling old people fat, and hilarious one liners.

Yes, we really did see Stallone's trainer make him swallow six raw eggs.
Yes, DeNiro was really jumping rope, bouncing boobs and all.

I love those two actors, and they really put themselves out there.  As fun as this movie was to watch, I can only imagine how much fun they had making it.

If you go, make sure you don't miss the funny skydiving disaster.  Almost peed myself laughing, but then I'm a geezer, too.