the cast: Dustin Hoffman (Harvey Shine); Emma Thompson (Kate Walker); Kathy Baker (Jean); James Brolin (Brian)
the plot: Harvey is about to lose his unfulfilling dead-end job writing jingles when he boards a plane to attend his daughter's wedding in London. Upon arriving in London, Harvey is devastated to learn that his daughter has opted to have her stepfather walk her down the aisle instead of him. Harvey realizes that he won't be able to suppress his sadness through the whole reception, and makes a quick getaway in hopes of catching a plane back home. Later, at the airport bar, Harvey is drowning his sorrows when he strikes up a conversation with no-nonsense Office of National Statistics employee Kate.
don't miss: Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson - both great actors and it's fun to watch them work!
listen for: "I'm gonna dance your socks off."
extra bonus points: if you know how Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson came to be co-stars in this movie.
the cast: Dustin Hoffman (Mr. Edward Magorium, Avid Shoe-Wearer); Natalie Portman (Molly Mahoney, Composer); Zach Mills (Eric Applebaum, Hat Collector); Jason Bateman (Henry "Mutant" Weston)
the plot: Molly Mahoney is the manager of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, the awesome toy store owned by Mr. Edward Magorium. Molly was a promising composer and piano player when she was a girl, and now she is a twenty-three year-old insecure woman that feels stuck in her job. Among the costumers of the Emporium is the lonely hat collector, Eric Applebaum, who has only Molly and Mr. Magorium for friends. When the last pair of shoes that Mr. Magorium bought in Toscana is worn, he hires the accountant, Henry Weston to adjust the accounts of the Emporium. Furthermore, he claims that he is two hundred and forty-three years old and his time to go has come; he gives a block of wood called Congreve cube to Molly and asks Henry to transfer the Emporium to her name. Molly tries to convince Mr. Magorium to stay in his magical toy store instead of "going".
don't miss: Eric's skill in building with Lincoln Logs.
listen for:"Mortimer, fetch!" "Stupid zebra."
also listen for: "Your life is an occasion. Rise to it."
extra bonus points: Mahoney and Mr. Magorium choose to start jumping on the mattresses in the mattress store on the count of "triscadecaphobia." What is triscadecaphobia?
the cast: Will Farrell (Harold Crick); Dustin Hoffman (Professor Julius Hilbert); Emma Thompson (Karen Eiffel); Maggie Gyllenhaal (Ana Pascal)
the plot: After ten years of painstaking work, novelist Karen Eiffel is nearing completion on her latest, and potentially finest, book. Her only remaining challenge is to figure out how to kill off her main character, Harold Crick. Little does she know that Harold Crick is inexplicably alive-and-well in the real world, and suddenly aware of her words. Fiction and reality collide when the bewildered and hilariously resistant Harold hears what she has in mind and realizes he must find a way to change her (and his) ending. Desperate to take control of his destiny and avoid an untimely demise, Harold seeks help from literary theorist Jules Hilbert, who suggests that Harold try to follow one of comedy's most elemental formulas: a love story between two people who hate each other. His suggestion leads Harold to initiate an unlikely romance with a free-spirited baker named Ana Pascal.
count: how many times Harold brushes each of his thirty two teeth – every weekday, for twelve years.
don’t miss: the guys from the Sonic commercials.
check out: the materials one should take to one’s weekly evil-conspiracy and needlepoint group.
listen for: “Harold, if you pause to think, you'd realize that that answer is inextricably contingent upon the type of life being led... and, of course, the quality of the pancakes.”
also listen for: “I brought you flours.”
did you know: The last names of all the characters (and the bus line and publishing firm names) are the names of mathematicians, scientists, engineers, artists, etc. (Harold) Francis Crick: with Watson and Wilkins found the structure of DNA; (Ana) Blaise Pascal: French mathematician and philosopher; (Karen) Gustave Eiffel: engineer and designer of the Eiffel Tower; (Penny) M.C. Escher: Dutch graphic artist; (Dr.) Magnus Gustaf Mittag-Leffler: Swedish mathematician; (Professor Jules) David Hilbert: German mathematician; (Doctor) Gerardus Mercator: 16th century Flemish cartographer; (Kronecker Bus Line) Leopold Kronecker: German-born mathematician and logician; (Banneker Press) Benjamin Banneker: free African American mathematician, astronomer, clockmaker, and publisher; (Dr. Cayly) Arthur Cayley, 19th century British mathematician. Even Dave (no last name) seems to be a reference to the main character from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).
disclaimer: this is a quirky movie. You'll probably either love it or hate it. I really liked the underlying message AND it's imminently quotable, that's why I'm recommending it. And for those who need to know (*spoiler alert*) I think you'll like the ending.
also listen for: "Meeting an insurance agent the day your policy runs out is coincidence. Getting a letter from the Emperor saying he's visiting is plot. A wrecking ball... is something else entirely."
I'm a collector of 1940s-60s just-about-anything, I have enough old snapshots to wallpaper a small house, and I'm saving my pennies so that one day I can have my very own roller rink.
Some of the images are from screenshots I've made and some have been collected from several years of net trolling. If one of them is yours and you would like to be credited, please let me know and I'll take care of it!
