Five to Watch - Movies About Pursuing Your Dreams

“A Star is Born” has just hit the theaters and I can’t wait to see it. This movie gave me the idea for this theme: movies were characters chase their dreams. These films are a true inspiration to those who want to pursue their dreams. I picked films I find very good and somehow they flew under the radar, are underrated or seriously overlooked. Here are my five picks for movies about pursuing your dreams.

Big Fish
Throughout his life, Edward Bloom has been a man of fierce passion and tall tales. In his later years, he remains a huge mystery to his son William. In an effort to get to know the real man, Will begins piecing together a true picture of his father from flashbacks of his amazing adventures. Edward is a man who did everything to have a happy life.

Under the Tuscan Sun
Frances is a writer who just saw her marriage fall apart. She goes on a trip to Tuscany and impulsively decides to buy a villa and build her new life there. Secretly, this would be a life I want to live. It’s such a dreamy place to live. .

Warrior
This is an amazin sports drama that supassed all expectations. The film isn’t about touch fighters who can crash all those who stand in their way. It’s about relationship between fathers and sons, brotherhood, fighting for your family, making dreams reality and second chances. .

The Pursuit of Happyness
It’s based on the real life of Chris Gardner, a single father struggling with homelessness while raisin a toddler. It’s one of the most heartwarming and motivational movies ever. The struggles of the father-son duo and his perseverance to follos his dream, even during the toughest of times. It will motivate you to keep pursuing your own.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
So often we dream about changing our life and take a 180-degree turn for one step forward. This is a story about a little man who pulled himself together and decided to change his life for the better. Walter Mitty is a hero of a real life fairytale, a tale which miracles are possible and can be found right under your nose.

Top 5 Thursday: Movies I Watched for My Challenge (November 2014)

Damn, this month I saw some good movies. There was only one movie I gave less than 3 stars, so it was really difficult for me to make this month’s top 5. But here are the best movies I saw this month for my challenge.

5. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

I’m a huge fan of the books and I was really looking forward to seeing this. If you read the books, you like this movie too. But for the people who didn’t read the novels, it might be a disappointment. There isn’t as much action in it. It’s also my least favourite so far, but it was still an amazing cinema experience.

 

 

4. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

I loved this movie. I really liked Walter and his vivid imagination. Ben Stiller really did a wonderful job both with directing it and playing the lead role.

 

 

3. The Guest

This came as a surprise. I never expected it to be this good. And that soundtrack, so awesome. I can recommend this movie to anyone.

 

 

2. Rushmore

Wes Anderson has become one of my favourite directors and I especially love the way he tells his stories. This was one of his first films and I loved every minute of it.

 

 

1. Begin Again

This movie is about music, the love for music and the passion of sharing music with other people. After seeing it, I starting listening to the soundtrack and I actually still have some of the songs in my head. This movie was better than I initially thought it would be. It’s on my favourites list now.

 

 

They Almost Made the Top 5: Fruitvale Station, Dallas Buyers Club, The Expendables 2, Pitch Perfect, Napoleon Dynamite, Snowpiercer

100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 127: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Director: Ben Stiller

Genre: Drama/ Comedy/ Fantasy/ Adventure

Runtime: 115 minutes

Year: 2014

Starring: Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Adam Scott, Sean Penn, Patton Oswalt, Katherine Hahn, Shirley Maclaine

Description: When his job along with that of his co-worker are threatened, Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller) takes action in the real world embarking on a global journey that turns into an adventure more extraordinary than anything he could have ever imagined.

Review: It started as a short story in The New Yorker in 1939 and this is the second movie based on this story. The first adaptation dates from 1947, so it’s not strange to see “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” with a more modern touch.

Ben Stiller plays the leading role, but also directed the film. Walter Mitty leads an unremarkable life. He has been working for LIFE magazine as a photo developer. He is a daydreamer, where he sees himself as a mountain climber and a hero. Collegue Cheryl is often the leading lady in his day dreams. Walter’s secure life is about to collapse when the magazine decides to only publish digitally. With that he also has to find the negative of the photo that’s supposed to go on the last issue of LIFE. From that moment on Walter is determined to find its photographer Sean O’Connell.

“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” has some good dry humor. Here you see that Ben Stiller has a comedic background, but not of the silly category. The film often has a melancholic feel to it. The desire for the seemingly unattainable, lamenting missed opportunities, craving the past; all feelings that many people recognize. The visuals are stunning and that in combination with the music make “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” a true cinematic adventure. The film has a clean style, seamless transitions and beautiful graphics.

Ben Stiller is really good in this film both as Walter and as a director. Kristen Wiig was the perfect choice to play the natural charming Cheryl. Sean Penn is cool as ever and Adam Scott is a very convincing douchebag.

Even the biggest cynic would have trouble to keep that smile of his face while watching “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”.

Rating: 4,5/ 5

Movie Trailer Sunday (99)

Here are this weeks trailers.

American Hustle
Description: Brilliant con man Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), who along with his equally cunning and seductive British partner Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) is forced to work for a wild FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). DiMaso pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia that's as dangerous as it is enchanting. Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner) is the passionate, volatile, New Jersey political operator caught between the con-artists and Feds. Irving's unpredictable wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) could be the one to pull the thread that brings the entire world crashing down.
Director: David O. Russell
Starring: Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner
Trailer: Trailer "American Hustle"
Comment: Threen of my favorite, being Bale, Adams and Lawrence, are in this. I want to see it!

Lone Survivor
Description: Four Navy SEALs are on an ill-fated covert mission to neutralize a high-level Taliban operative when they are ambushed by enemy forces in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan
Director: Peter Berg
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsh, Ben Foster, Emile Hirsch, Eric Bana
Trailer: Trailer "Lone Survivor"

Jayne Mansfield's Car
Description: A look at three generations of fathers and sons in the South during the tumultuous '60s. It follows the family's heartfelt and sometimes hilarious struggles with long-held resentments, secrets, the memories of war, and how life, death and loss shaped them all.
Director: Billy Bob Thornton
Starring: Kevin Bacon, Robert Duvall, Billy Bob Thornton, John Hurt, Shawnee Smith, Ray Stevenson, Robert Patrick, Frances O'Connor, Katherine LaNasa
Trailer: Trailer "Jayne Mansfield's Car"
Comment: Great cast, looks good.

Bad Milo
Description: Duncan's (Ken Marino) life is a real pain in the ass. Tormented by a manipulative, crooked boss (Patrick Warburton), a nagging mother (Mary Kay Place), a deadbeat new age dad (Stephen Root), and a sweet, yet pressuring, wife (Gillian Jacobs), his mounting stress starts to trigger an insufferable gastrointestinal reaction. Out of ideas and at the end of his rope, Duncan seeks the help of a hypnotherapist (Peter Stormare), who helps him discover the root of his unusual stomach pain: a pintsized demon living in his intestine that, triggered by excessive anxiety, forces its way out and slaughters the people who have angered him. Out of fear that his intestinal gremlin may target its wrath on the wrong person, Duncan attempts to befriend it, naming it Milo and indulging it to keep its seemingly insatiable appetite at bay.
Director: Jacob Vaughn
Starring: Ken Marino, Gillian Jacobs, Patrick Warburton, Mary Kay Place, Stephen Root, Peter Stormare
Trailer: Trailer "Bad Milo"
Comment: This looks weirdly hilarious!

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Description: Walter Mitty is a day-dreamer who escapes his anonymous life by disappearing into a world of fantasies filled with heroism, romance and action. When his job along with that of his co-worker (Kristen Wiig) are threatened, Walter takes action in the real world embarking on a global journey that turns into an adventure more extraordinary than anything he could have ever imagined.
Director: Ben Stiller
Starring: Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Adam Scott, Sean Penn, Shirley MacClaine, Kathryn Hahn
Trailer: Trailer "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"
Comment: Kind of a strange movie I think, but somehow I'm drawn to it.