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The Age of Adaline (2015)

Director: Lee Toland Krieger
Cast: Blake Lively, Michiel Huisman, Harrison Ford, Anthony Ingruber
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Romance

About: Adaline Bowman is a young woman born at the start of the 20th century. At age 29 a freak accident stops her aging process, keeping her forever young. But she pays a heavy price for eternal beauty.

Review: I love films that cover this type of subject matter: a person who's apart from the world and seemingly has it all and yet doesn't. This type of story gives the director a chance to explore a wealth of emotions, from loneliness and regret, to altruism and wisdom. All that which makes up humanity can be revealed with a finely crafted fantasy story.

In The Age of Adeline the director had the opportunity to hold up to the lens a beautiful, never aging woman named Adaline and through her show us something of ourselves. This movie is so ripe for the sublime and the important. It's possibility are limitless. So why in the hell did the director piddle away his chance with an uninspired script, that takes no chances and explores next to nothing.

I kept waiting for something important to happen. I thought for sure a revelation or a goose bump moment would occur. But instead the majority of the movie is padded out with inane small talk as we follow Adeline and see if she will fall in love or not. I have nothing against a good romantic movie. Pair romance with an existential movie and you could have a rare film that speaks volumes.

The Age of Adeline ain't that film. The romance part bombs in part because Adeline is wooed by a creepy, rich stalker guy. OK sure he's suppose to be handsome and altruistic with his wealth...but he freakin stalks her. He stakes out where she'll be and shows up in advance and won't take no for an answer. He won't leave her alone and that ain't romantic. And to make the romance part worse, the two have zero on screen chemistry.


Blake Lively isn't a well known name. She's certainly a beauty and in a classy unique way. She has great screen presences and with a different director could have shined. But the director gives us a vision of a woman who is stilted and non too personable and that's too bad because she's our window into what it would be like to never age while never being able to tell anyone or form lasting relationships. The movie tells us these things about her, but only in a cursory way. We never experience them vicariously. Blake needed to bear her soul, instead she looks maniquesque. It's probably the directors fault for not getting her to open up more.


Michiel Huisman is not well known either. Here he's just lack luster, more goofy than charismatic. Which makes the romance part unworkable. The audience needs to fall in love with the couple as they fall in love themselves. In the movie The Time Traveler's Wife, a similar theme occurs of a troubled, unrequited love, but in that movie the romance works. Here it doesn't.


On the bright side is Harrison Ford. Even though Harrison's screen time is limited he make the most of it by giving the only inspired performance in the movie. I could feel his pain, his loss and his joy at seeing Adeline. It's too bad the story wasn't focused on Harrison Ford, Blake Lively (Adeline) and Anthony Ingruber. Anthony Ingruber is the young actor who knocked it out of the ball park with one helluva good impressionistic acting as the young Harrison Ford. I'd like to see more of him on the screen.

Another plus is, there's no gratuitous violence, no foul language and the film looks stunning. But the voice over narration is gawd awful and intrusive, and unnecessary.

It's a shame that you didn't like The Age of Adaline. It's quickly becoming one of my favorite movies.

I didn't think of Ellis as a stalker. He was just a guy who liked her, and wanted to get to know her better. And while the movie starts off kind of slow, it picks up quickly once we meet his parents, and see the relationship between her and William. And I love the ending.

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OPEN FLOOR.

I actually liked the premise and the casting choice Blake Lively, Harrison Ford and the young Harrison Ford actor... but I didn't like the director and he's choices.

There's a lot of reviews that think he's a stalker. As soon as he wouldn't take no for an answer, I started thinking stalker guy! I think the movie could have been a 5/5 but it's just too weak in too many areas.

There are a lot of movies where the guy won't give up and he keeps trying to win the heart of his "dream girl". They're not all stalkers. Sometimes they're just determined. It's all about perception.

I loved Anthony Ingruber, who played the young William. I thought he should have been cast as the young Han Solo.

I don't mean he's a real stalker, just a stalker acting type that I guess is suppose to be appealing. I don't know who wrote the reviews men or women but here's just a sampling of what I read, just for fun:

This is my favorite one and no I didn't write it on another account:

"FRANKENHUNK".

I didn't read any of the reviews for the movie before I watched it, and now I'm glad that I didn't. It allowed me to form my own opinion without having the "stalker" comments in my mind when I saw the movie.

Hopefully it won't change my opinion of him or the movie the next time I watch it.

GBG, I hope you took my post in the spirit I meant it. I thought those quotes were kind of funny and showed I wasn't the only person who felt that way about the movie....BUT...I know you love that film and if you posted a bunch of bad comments about Blade Runner, I might not think it was so funny So sorry if that was a bit to much. I meant it in good fun, but like a lot of internet humor it might have only been funny to me. And just to be fair there are many, many reviews that love The Age of Adeline and it has a high IMDB rating. Oh and I am glad I watched it.

Director: Jon Turteltaub
Cast: John Candy, Leon, Doug E. Doug Rawle D. Lewis, Malik Yoba
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Family

I loved this 1993 Disney comedy-drama about the real life struggle for the Jamaican Bobsled team to make it to the 1988 Olympic Games. The story is of course not a documentary but a fictionalized story that captures the spirit and joy behind the Jamaicans as they try to do the impossible. Is it impossible?....No problem, mon.

John Candy is the big name that will stand out here, but it's not a John Candy movie. He doesn't play his usually lovable goof here, his character is more surly, more serious. He's a former Gold Medal Olympian who lost his gold medals due to cheating and so is the outcast coach. Candy is in a supportive role here, though he has plenty of screen time. I liked him in this!

The four actors who play the Jamaican bobsledders are very good, each has his own well defined character with issues that each must resolve. They're a likable bunch, funny at times, but never over the top stupid...and that makes the film work so well. Cool Runnings is more reserved than you might expect from a John Candy Disney pairing...it's interesting, enjoyable and never gets too silly.

On a sad note, this is the last movie John Candy made that was released while he was alive. He would die of a heart attack only five months later at age 43.

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Director: Steven Hilliard Stern
Writers: Charles Jarrott, Deborah Raffin
Cast: Christopher Reeve, Deborah Raffin, Lloyd Bochner
Genre: Drama

About: In 1941 an ex convict (Christopher Reeve) drifts into a small rural town an answers a newspaper ad by a woman (Deborah Raffin) who wants a husband. He travels to her remote farm and begins to make a life for himself, but the town's sheriff won't let him be.

Review: I doubt many have heard of this film, but I enjoyed it. I was quickly pulled into the story as soon as I seen the drifter (Christopher Reeve) come into a small town. It was intriguing as he seemed like a good guy and yet he had this very quiet manner about him, somewhat mysterious...and he had a cloud over his head, as he had just gotten out of prison. So it was fascination to watch his story unfold.

I liked that this was told from a traditional linear fashion. No flashbacks, no secondary stories to speak of. The film follows the drifter as he meets the widow who's seeking a husband to work her run down farm. I must say, they made the farm and all the abandoned vehicles and weather beaten house, look really cool....and authentic.

Both Christopher Reeve and Deborah Raffin did an excellent job at immersing themselves into their roles. Latter on in the movie when the tension from the sheriff takes place, it gets somewhat predictable but still a rewarding watch.

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This sounds like fun, I may have to add it to my watcglist...Helen Mirren is almost always worth watching.

Calendar Girls is fun. It's funny that if you look for posters of that movie some of them have Helen Mirren so photoshopped that she looks 20!

Director: Benh Zeitlin
Writers: Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin
Cast: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry, Levy Easterly
Genre: Drama, Fantasy

Beast of the Southern Wilds is one of the most interesting films I've seen in a long time. I would give a large portion of the film a 5/5 rating! The qualms I have with the film comes out of my awe for the film and my desire to have it be the film I would have wanted to see. The more I'm amazed by a film, the more critical I tend to be of it.

I was blown away by the voice over narrative by the little girl. IMO this is the best part of the film. The things she said and the way she perceived her fractured world, was a thing of sheer beauty. Whoever wrote those lines is a genius and an artist.

One special moment is when her daddy Wink, passes out in the woods. Latter when Hushpuppy returns with medicine he's gone and she thinks out loud.

HUSHPUPPY (V.O.) 'Daddy could have turned into a tree, or a bug. There wasn't any way to know.'

After the big flood she's traveling down the river in a boat made out of a truck bed and she thinks out loud.

HUSHPUPPY (V.O.) ' For every animal that didn't have a Dad to put it in a boat, the end of the world already happened. They're all down below, trying to breathe through water.'

The other element I loved, was the sights of the bayou. Even the poverty in it's own way, was beautiful, and fascinating to look at. I can't explain it but the film had a realistic quality that seemed like I was actually there. The trailer on huge piles of blocks was very cool, and the inside was so unique. I wish we would have had more time there. I love universe building and this film does it well! And all I needed in this film was to see the sights of the Bathtub area, through the eyes of Hushpuppy. That's my 5/5!

But the film made what I think is a mistake when it introduced the fantasy element of the large ice age beast. I disliked those parts.

I also didn't care about the adventure when they left the bayou to blow up the levy. That felt tacked on, like some story element troupe. Same with the rescue center scenes, tacked on and unnecessary. And I could have cared less about the touchy feely ending with the dying dad. Hadn't the film shown him as some mental case that makes his daughter live in her trailer by herself. The film didn't need to redeem him and go for a Hollywood ending.

In a way Beast of the Southern Wild reminded me of Life of Pi as both protagonist faced a tragedy so devastating that they invited an alternative fantasy to deal with the emotional impact of it.

Helen Mirren is still hot!

Ha! I think you've been popping too much Viagra lately

https://www.google.com/search?q=hele...n+mirren+young

I think Helen really likes to appear topless, no wonder she did Calendar Girls

Yes, I took your post the way you meant it. I wasn't offended or upset by it at all.

When I saw that you were reviewing a movie called Morning Glory, I thought it was going to be the 2010 movie with Harrison Ford. I never even heard of the 1993 movie before, but it has Christopher Reeve, so I'll definitely add it to my watchlist.

No matter the thing you liked less, a 4/5 rating is more than acceptable. I'm so glad you liked this.

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Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Cast: Toshirô Mifune, Yôko Tsukasa, Gô Katô
Genre: Historical Drama, Romance, Action

About: A samurai swordsman enters into an arraigned marriage with a harsh, loveless woman from an aristocratic family. After enduring 20 years of being hen pecked by his overbearing wife, he has to decide if family honor or love is more important, even at the risk of losing his own life.

Review: I liked this! Even though there's some sword fighting towards the end of the film, this is essentially a melodrama.

What I thought was interesting is how this Japanese film from 1967 seemed to take it's cues from late 1950s American melodrama films. There's some resemblances here between Douglas Sirk's earlier films and this one by director Masaki Kobayashi.

The samurai for all his status, is dominated by his strong willed wife. A woman who was forced on him by an arranged marriage. In some ways this is Japan's version of a feminist film. As the earlier Japanese films showed woman as being subservient. Here, the woman are full of will power and determination and make bold statements.

This film looks beautiful, I watched a restored version on Criterion DVD. The sets of the Japanese house and country side looked great and the camera work was artistic. The director really did a find job here of bringing humanity with a personal view into Japan's Edo period during Shogun rule.

Glad you enjoyed it! I think it's a movie that would surprise a lot of people by what kind of movie it actually is.