Alright, welcome everyone! This is a new setting, so please bear with me. I figured that I could open my site here this evening with a brief review from my regular Friday activity, the movies! Of course, I saw two films, both of which were enjoyable!
The first selection was Will Smith's latest release, Seven Pounds. This featured the shining superstar as Ben Thomas, a man committed to redeeming his prior misdeeds through random acts of kindness. Ben involves seven random people, with an initial connection through a blind man named Ezra (Woody Harrelson), and a need to find a lady named Emily Posa (Rosario Dawson).
Ben has family issues, dealing with his not-so trustworthy brother, Stuart (Michael Ealy). Also, he builds a relationship with Emily through actions that assist her with financial problems. Emily is attracted to Ben by this, yet he is curiously evasive of her advances.
We get flashbacks of something strange having happened to Ben, but do not find out until later in the story. Meanwhile, Ben continues visiting with strangers, including an abused lady named Connie. She is a pretty lady with two children whom she wants to be moved to a safer place.
Ben remains aloof with his brother, while doing deeds of kindness at an area hospital. Here, we find out that Ben has problems of his own which he opts to keep private, and that he is choosing to help seven random people. Yet, details come to light which tell that Ben had been involved in a serious accident where seven people, including his wife, were killed! This is what prompted Ben into actions that lead him to deliver random acts of kindness to seven random people.
It is after Ben has chosen these seven people, and he has built a relationship with Emily, when we learn that Emily has severe health problems. He leaves Emily one evening to go to an area hospital, trying to find out if he would be an acceptable candidate for a heart transplant. At this point, Ben apologizes to Ezra for a falling out that they had, then Ben makes a sudden disappearance.
Soon, Ben is alone in his hotel room, and he calls 911. Ben reports a suicide, and we see a flashback of the car wreck in which he was involved. Ben's wife, along with a family of five in another vehicle were killed while Ben was driving while text-messaging!
Ben fills a bathtub with water, then lays himself into it. He releases a live jellyfish that he had been keeping into this tub, which kills him automatically through it's bioelectrical emissions within the water. Yet, Ben has the water filled with ice so that is at an adequate temperature to keep his body preserved. He has his organs donated to the seven people that he met during his journeys, and his seven pound heart is given to Emily.
Our second film was The Tale of Desperaux! This was a very delightful animation beginning with a young mouse named Desperaux (Matthew Broderick) at sea. As well, there is a rat whom is friends with a chef named Andre aboard a seafaring vessel, which makes it's way to a land with a secret island kingdom.
Chef Andre, and persons on this ship, mean to get a magical vegetable off of this island. This is a special kingdom that is lead by a queen that dies from the shock of seeing the rat Roscuro (Dustin Hoffman) fall into her soup! From that point, all rats are illegal within the Kingdom of Dor!
As the rats go into seclusion in Ratworld, the mouse Desperaux wants to be an explorer. He is not the average mouse, and does not cohese readily with other mice. His off-the-norm actions lead Desperaux to be banished into Ratworld!
Here, Desperaux meets Roscuro, who wants to be forgiven for his actions that lead to the queen's death. This mouse and this rat bond, and they make a pact to save Princess Pea (Emma Watson) from a wicked rat queen. From here, Desperaux and his allies go through adventures througout the kingdom and the castle in order to get the princess to safety, and to create a sense of harmony between mice, rats, and people!
Desperaux was filled with celebrity voices! In addition to the afore mentioned names, the voices of Kevin Kline, William H. Macy, Frank Langella, and Tracy Ullman are featured in this fun animation! This likely would be a fun holiday treat for persons with young ones to take to the movies!
As always, more films are on the way! I am looking forward to seeing Angels and Demons, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Monsters vs. Aliens, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine! These are some of many films on the way. Meanwhile, if we do not speak beforehand, have a Very Merry Christmas!
