Skip to main content

Movie Review: The Words

    Hey, everyone. We went to see a new movie today, called The Words. I found it to be excellent and would rate it as 4.5 stars out of 5. Carley rates it as 5 stars out of 5. Here's the recipe.
    Bradley Cooper stars as Rory Jansen, a young man who dreams of being an author. He writes a novel and it is a good one. Of course, all he receives is rejection slips. Years pass. He gets a regular job, to pay his bills, and goes on with his life.
    When he gets married to Dora (played by Zoe Saldana), they honeymoon in Paris. In an old curio store, Dora finds a very old briefcase and buys it for Rory. When Rory is transferring his papers into this case, he finds a yellowed old manuscript. He starts reading it and is spellbound; it is that good. It is the story of a young soldier who falls in love with a French girl, during World War 2.
    Rory publishes the novel as his own work. In his defense, I must say that he didn't know whose work it was, or even if the author was alive. He is an overnight success and the new 'rock star' of the literary world. He receives awards, the respect of the masses and all the wealth he needs. Things are rosy until an old man, played by Jeremy Irons, strikes up a conversation with him on a park bench. The old man reveals that the book was his, the true story of his younger life, and that the briefcase was left on a train by the woman he loved.
     My first thought was that the oldster was going to expose Rory, or blackmail him or even kill him in a fit of jealous rage. No, the old timer just wanted him to hear the full story. Well, Rory is tormented by the whole scenario and intends to expose himself. (No, not like that).
    What happens next is open to a little bit of conjecture. You say, how can that be? Well, I can't tell you the rest. Suffice it to say that Carley and I talked about it all the way home and still are not sure what the real deal was. I'll leave it at that, rather than play the spoiler. I asked a couple what the meaning of the story was, as we walked out, and the lady replied cryptically, "It means what you think it means."  ????????
    During this movie, which was sparsely attended, there was not a single sound from the audience. When the end came, people just sat and watched the credits. There were no explosions in the film, nor shooting, nor nudity that I remember. It was just a good, well-written, well-acted show and I recommend it. By the way, Dennis Quaid has a central role in the last half of the show as an author named Clay Hammond. His romantic interest is played by Olivia Wilde.
    From the author's green retreat, this is CE Wills.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The White Chicken Mystery

    The other night I happened to come home very late. It was the middle of the night and I was driving up a steep mountain road. Near the top I saw something white in my headlights. It was standing in the other lane, standing very still. It was a large white chicken. It was probably a rooster because I thought I could see his comb as I whizzed by at my customary pace. He never moved a muscle. This is weird, don't you think?      After a couple of days to consider this phenomenon, I have come up with some plausible answers for his bizarre behavior. 1. He was conflicted whether or not he should cross the road. 2. He was feeling cocky and decided to play chicken with the traffic. 3.He was being hen-pecked at home and had decided to end it all. 4. Someone had egged him on to do it. 5. He had just watched the movie Fantastic Four and decided to try to stop a truck the way that Ben Grimm did on the bridge. 6. He had driven himself crazy wondering if ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cake Is Better Than Swords

Hey, everyone. On Thanksgiving, we had a get-together here at The Author's Green Retreat. One lady brought a cake which I wanted to show you. It had the look of a Roman Coliseum about it. Inside it was just as decadent...and fun, as ancient Rome. When I cut it open, homemade marshmallow cream began to ooze out in several spots, running over the chocolate cake and peanut butter icing. It is best served warm so the cream is fluid. Very tasty. The same lady, and her children, are people who have played a lot of Skyrim. They gave me some pointers on the game because I am having problems with it. They taught me how to fast travel, and a ton of other things, but the main thing was the armor and clothing problem. This is a little embarrassing, but let me explain. Okay. For several weeks when I played, I would enter towns and everyone I met would comment on my nakedness. I would select a tunic and shoes, whatever, go back around people and they would say something about it. I guess I w...
Post a Comment
Read more

Egg Art

     Hey, everyone. One of the odd customs in America is the Easter Egg Hunt. Here at the Green Retreat, we do a hunt every Spring. I just ran across some of the pictures from this years hunt and it is obvious that an artist had sneaked into our midst. The orange egg is a rendering of one of the Angry Birds of gaming lore. If I were a bird and had to pass an egg that size, I would be angry too. Ha, ha.      We typically will dye about 10 dozen eggs and people get quite creative with their quotes and colors, as you can see. Many of the eggs are a bit risque for these pages. After having a few laughs, we hide the eggs. All of them are never found, which is cool. It is amusing to see old men (me) and all ages of folks, walking around with a basket on their arm. Some of the hiding spots are dastardly. Like eggs hidden in the guttering downspouts and ten foot up a tree. The kids are perhaps the most devious at hiding the colorful orbs, goi...
Post a Comment
Read more