Moonrise Kingdom

My rating:

Yesterday, I saw the movie Moonrise Kingdom with my grandmother. We both really enjoyed the movie. It was pure pleasure and we both felt like we didn’t want it to end. Set in the summer of 1965 on an island called New Penzance, the protagonists are two 12-year old kids, Sam and Suzy. Sam is an orphan raised by foster parents and attending a scout summer camp. Suzy is a somewhat sad girl, living with her parents and her 3 brothers in a house called Summer’s End. Sam is rejected by everyone, including his foster parents and fellow scouts, while Suzy’s parents are constantly fighting and are showing no affection for their children and for each other. Sam and Suzy had met a year earlier at a church performance, became pen pals, and finally decided to run away together and leave on a remote beach away from everyone else. When their absence is discovered, everyone on the island begins to search for them, including the scout master, Sam’s fellow scouts, the local police captain, and Suzy’s parents. Sam and Suzy soon realize that they are soul mates,very much in love and won’t live without each other. Their love touches the hearts of Suzy’s parents, the police captain, the scout master and even Sam’s fellow scouts, and when Sam and Suzy are found, they all decide to help them stay together and the police captain decides to become Sam’s foster parent.

The setting of the movie felt like a fairy tale. It was partly funny and partly sad and touching and the drama was intensified by the forces of nature (flood, hurricane and lightning storm). The main idea which I found extremely touching, that the love between Sam and Suzy changed their lives and the lives of everyone around them. Sam and Suzy were both loveless children, but the love between them made all the difference and changed everyone’s lives.

The cast of the movie includes Bruce Willis as the police captain, Edward Norton as the scout master, Bill Murray and Frances McDormand as Suzy’s parents, Jared Gilman as Sam and Kara Hayward as Suzy. Moonrise Kingdom will be available on DVD and Blu-ray starting October 16.

Also, here is the Moonrise Kingdom trailer.

The Magic of Belle Isle

My rating: 

Yesterday, I saw the movie The Magic of Belle Isle with my grandfather. It is about a handicapped novelist named Monte Wildhorn, who has lost his intrest in writing after his struggle with alchololism. He takes a cabin in a place called Belle Isle for the summer, where he befriends a single mom who lives next door with her three daughters, who help him find inspiration again.  In the beginning of the movie, Morgan Freeman’s characher, Monte Wildhorn, feels like he wants to commit suicide: his wife, Mary, had died 6 years ago, he has stopped writing, and he can no longer walk or use his left arm. But after meeting Charlette O’Neil, the woman next door, he begins to soften a little, and also starts telling the girls the secrets of being an author. In one scene, after reading a eulogy written by someone else, Wildhorn hands the paper back to the author, telling him,”Don’t change a word.” That tells us that he had liked how the author wrote the speech. Virginia Madsen’s character, Charlette O’Neil, is a very pleasing woman. She wants to serve everyone and wants everything to be fine. Her character helps to build the relationship between the miserable Wildhorn and herself. I think it is a movie about friendship, family and love and I also think it is a little funny. I would reccomend this movie for everyone, including adults.

Also, here is the trailer of The Magic of Belle Isle.

Zambezia

My rating: 

Today, I went to see the movie Zambezia with my grandmother and my brother. The movie was in Hebrew, but we still enjoyed it. It is about a young falcon named Kai, who lives with his father, Tendai. One day, Kai flies away from his home to a huge bird city called Zambezia, where he tries to join a group of professional flying birds known as the Hurricanes, but he is only accepted as a trainee. In Zambezia, he meets Sekhuru, the founder and head of Zambezia(also a falcon), and his daughter, Zoe. However, when his father follows him to Zambezia, he gets caught by a lizard! Now Kai must rescue his father and Zoe and save Zambezia from the lizard which threatens its existence. Kai puts his own life in danger, jumps down from the cliff after the lizard, rescues his father and Zoe, and becomes Zambezia’s hero and a full Hurricane. I liked the idea that Kai, as he grows up, is trying to find his identity and become indepentent. At the same time, he remains a good and devoted son to his father and a loyal friend to his newly acquired mates and doesn’t hesitate to risk his life to save them from evil.

Also, here is the Zambezia trailer.