The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) – Movie Review

, , , I Like It, Reviews, Slice of Life1 Comment on The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) – Movie Review

I’ve wanted to see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty for a long time, ever since seeing the trailer, but it hasn’t been streaming on Netflix and I missed my RedBox window. Well, I was happy to find the DVD at my local library yesterday (the librarian even said it was a great movie) so I borrowed it and watched it immediately. Loved it! It grabbed me from the very start… the cinematography and graphic style are amazing. I thought the opening sequence (before the title of the movie shows) was fantastic… like a Bond movie. Not in the action sense, but in the level of detail and imagination. Very polished.

I love the emphasis on photography… the large LIFE posters, the film archival room, Sean’s Nikon film camera, the graphics from film strips making it into the title sequence… it is so cool. And there are a lot of epic shots of amazing views and locations. I especially like the helicopter shots in the North Atlantic.

The movie makes for a wonderful second-viewing as well because there are many small details that take on a lot of significance which you might miss the first time around. The character Cheryl talks about a mystery’s clues all connecting at the end, and that is how the movie unfolds as well. If you rent the movie, make sure to watch it a second time – you’ll know what I mean when you see it!

The reviews on Rotten Tomatoes were mixed (50% critics, 70% audience) and I read one review that pans the movie… saying something like the movie is a “‘Just do it’ ad for the middle-aged.” I can see the truth in that statement… but really, what’s wrong with that? Is inspiration an awful thing? I was moved by The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, moved even to tears a few times I’ll admit. The reviewers on Amazon seem to love the movie as much as I do… it’s got 4.3 stars!

I guess I really am the target-audience of this movie. Lots of the references are really aimed at my generation… Stretch Armstrong, the cassette tape, Major Tom… speaking of that… BOWIE! The scene where Cheryl sings and Walter decides to run for the helicopter was awesome! Best scene! By the way, the soundtrack is great as well.

This will be in my Blu-ray collection soon, along with my other all-time favorites.

So many quotable lines from the movie, but here’s my favorite:

To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other, and to feel. That is the purpose of life.

My rating: 9/10

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Movie Poster)
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Movie Poster)

A boy and his dog

, , , Slice of Life2 Comments on A boy and his dog
Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/30 sec, ISO3200
 Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！ Hi, how’s it going?

I am doing ok. I worked from home today, and tried to take it easy, but I ended up working hard as usual these days. It’s weird but I spend so much time planning and coordinating projects and sending emails these days that I don’t spend as much time in Illustrator or InDesign actually producing stuff. But it is interesting because it is still creative, and maybe because it’s also new and something I am not used to. A new experience!

Today’s photo is of my son (14) who is waiting for me to take him and his brother out to get a bite to eat. I thought this photo worked better in black and white, so I used Nik Silver Effects to convert it. In the original color version, there is a pink folder in the bottom left that was really distracting so the black and white simplifies this image so the focus is on Bay and Lani.

Well, I hope you had a nice Monday. I am going to get some rest… it’s early… only 9:30pm but I am so tired! 😴

おやすみなさい！ -B Barron Fujimoto

Sunday

, Food, Slice of LifeLeave a Comment on Sunday
Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO1250
 Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！ Good evening!

Did you have a nice Easter? Our was nice and relaxing… now that the kids are getting bigger, they aren’t interested in egg hunting but they did enjoy receiving an Easter gift bag this morning. It was filled with candy and customized rubber stamps with their names on them. I remember when they were little, they would enjoy looking for the Easter baskets as soon as they woke up! This morning, Koa wasn’t even at home! He spent the night at a friends house and I picked him up at 10am. Apparently they stayed up until 3am, which is to be expected, but what was a surprise to me was that Koa was able to stay awake all day today.

Before I picked him up, though, I woke up at my usual time (before 6am), and was on my laptop deleting old bookmarks when I came across an old link to a pizza recipe. This one calls for tortillas in a cast-iron skilled for quick and easy quasi-pizza. So I made a couple little pizzas for myself, actually putting an egg on one of them to make a breakfast-style pizza. It was yummy! These were pretty small pizzas, using the smallest sized flour tortillas you can find in the supermarket. Later, when Mariko and the kids were hungry, I made them some more pizzas and they gobbled them up. The pizzas were a huge hit! I must have made about 6 pizzas for them. 🍕

This afternoon cleaned our aquarium, did some laundry, and then had a beer and watched a few episodes of an anime that I was interested in called “The Pilot’s Love Song”. I enjoyed the first 4 episodes a lot and am looking forward to watching the rest of them. I am not a huge anime fan, but maybe that will change… there are some really cool shows out there!

For dinner, we didn’t have a traditional Easter meal (we’re not big on ham), but rather a dim-sum inspired feast as you can see in the photo. It was delicious! No chance for leftovers either, it was so tasty. Then after dinner, we watched Zoolander for the first time. It was so bad but good and fun. We enjoyed it a lot!

I hope you had a nice weekend. Let’s have a great week!

おやすみなさい！

-バロン Barron Fujimoto

Screen time

, , Slice of LifeLeave a Comment on Screen time
Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO1600
 Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！

Today was a lazy Saturday, in which I spent several hours in front of the TV. This evening I watched a Japanese movie from 2006, Hana. From the very start, it wasn’t very good and I felt like I was wasting my time… but I kept watching in hopes that it would get better. The reviews on the DVD case were pretty good, so I was optimistic. But no, it stayed on its slow, plodding course until the end. Holy cow, it was so boring… and it was over two hours long! I cannot recommend this one. 😞 Avoid!

Well, tomorrow is Easter. 🐰 We don’t have any plans this year, like we used to when the kids were small. I’m sure we’ll have some yummy food, though! We always do. 🍴

おやすみなさい！

-B Barron Fujimoto