This Beautiful Fantastic will make you dig in your garden again

Movie Title:  This Beautiful Fantastic

Grade:  B

Rating: PG, 1 hour 32 minutes

In a Nutshell: Garden metaphors about life and friendship grow as this quirky "modern fairy tale" develops in this limited release.  

Uplifting theme: 

• “Today I’m going to make a difference.” – Bella Brown (Jessica Brown Findlay)
• Responsibility
• Friendship
• Everything that matters takes time.” – Alfie Stephenson (Tom Wilkinson)

Things I liked:

• I loved the magical score throughout the film.
• Jessica Brown Findlay does a great job as the odd protagonist who has a Keira Knightly quality about her.
• The Nazi librarian, her signs, and her garden name (Bramble) were hilarious, played by Anna Chancellor.
• Andrew Scott was entertaining as Vernon.
• You’re probably going to want to go outside and work in your garden or create one.
• Luna was lovely.
• I loved the last scene.
• Clever, witty dialogue.

Things I didn’t like:

• So, the title….ummm
• As a landlord, I wasn’t amused by Bella’s lack of interest in taking care of the property she was renting.
• As a former employer, I also wasn’t amused by how Bella was shocked about being fired after showing up late for work every day.
• Pretty predictable.

Funny lines:

• “I’m not a religious man, but I believe someone sent her here to test us.” – Alfie
• “Don’t worry, tea is on its way.” – Milly (Eileen Davies) Such a British thing to say.
• “Slavery was abolished in 1834, just so you know.” – Vernon (Andrew Scott)

“This country has been going down the drain ever since.” – Alfie

• “I was just trying to tidy up a bit.” – Bella

“I think that’s what Hitler said about Europe.” – Alfie

• “I’m speechless.” – Bella

“If only that were true.” – Alfie

Interesting lines:

• “You should doubt only a man who changes his story.  I only repeat myself in vague hope that one day somebody will actually hear me.” – Alfie
• “Look!  These monkwoods, so beautiful and poisonous they’ll kill a man.  That’s an interesting contradiction, isn’t it?” – Alfie 

Tips for parents: 

• Most kids will be pretty bored.
• Clean language

MOVIE REVIEW MOM

@trinaboice 

Winter's Tale movie review

Movie Title:   Winter's Tale

PG-13, 2 hours 9 minutes

Grade:  B-

In a Nutshell:   Not to be confused with Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale , this time-traveling tale is filled with a wonderfully talented cast: Colin Farrell (Total Recall ), Jessica Brown Findlay (“Downton Abbey”), Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind ), William Hurt (Kiss of the Spider Woman ), Eva Marie Saint (On The Waterfront ), Russell Crowe (Gladiator ), and Matt Bomer (White Collar: The Complete First Season).  Will Smith surprises in an evil role as Lucifer.

This chick flick has a little touch of Somewhere in Time romantic magic, but with even more fantastical whimsy that requires a suspension of belief to enjoy and sometimes to understand.  The cinematography is visually stunning, but the film is a bit of a slushy mess, like a New York winter.  Still, there are some profound moments of truth in a film that tries very hard to inspire and dream.

Uplifting theme:   We are told at the beginning of the movie “What if the stars are not what we think?  What if the light from afar doesn’t come from the rays of distant suns, but from our wings as we turn into angels?  Destiny calls to each of us and there is a world behind the worlds where we are all connected, all part of a great and moving plan. Magic is everywhere around us.  You just have to look.  Look, look closely.  For even time and distance are not what they appear to be.”

One of the demons says to Lucifer “No matter how far we tip the scales our way, no matter how many of them we turn dark, nothing seems to break their capacity for hope.  They pass it back and forth like the flu at a pre-school fair.  We’re losing, Lucifer.”

Things I liked:

• I love movies about hope.  Hope is a powerful thing.
• I love movies with twists.
• Absolutely beautiful movie score by Hans Zimmer and Rupert Gregson-Williams.

Things I didn’t like:

• The film is written, produced and directed by one person: Akiva Goldsman.  Perhaps a few more perspectives could have helped the movie flow better and clean up the plot holes and narrative problems.
• I felt like I was missing something by not having read the book first.
• The idea that we go through life with all of its hardships, pains and sorrows only to become a star in the end seemed unsatisfying when what you really want is for the star-crossed lovers to be reunited.

Inspiring lines:

•  “Is this why we love at all, to save?”  - Peter Lake
• “What if we are all unique and the universe loves us equally, so much so that it bends over backwards across the centuries for each and every one of us and sometimes we are just lucky enough to see it?”  - Beverly Penn
• “No life is more important than another and nothing has been without purpose.  Nothing. What if we are all part of a great pattern that we may some day understand?  And one day, when we have done what we, alone, are capable of doing, we get to rise up and reunite with those we have loved the most forever embraced?”  - Beverly Penn

Tips for parents:   Premarital relations, fight scenes, a few scary demon moments.