The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012)

“Please don't ask about my leaves.”

            There have been a ton of movies and TV shows (or episodes of TV shows) about couples who cannot have children. They try and try and nothing works. The final thing they do is turn to adoption and to make things more dramatic sometimes the adoption story does not go over well. Since I do not have children nor do I ever plan on having any I find these stories not that enjoyable to sit through. I find them boring as hell. Then why, you may be wondering, have I sat through The Odd Life of Timothy Green when the story is just the kind about a couple not being able to have children? I will give you the one and only reason: Jennifer Garner (if any of you know me you will know I adore Jennifer Garner to no end, she is my hero).

            The story begins with Cindy (Garner) and Jim Green (Joel Edgerton) sitting in the meeting of an adoption agency. The adoption agent is curious about their answer to one of their questions which was just the name Timothy. To explain why they just simply put down the name they tell their story of what happened to them the previous year.

            Cindy and Jim are told they cannot conceive a child. They are beyond devastated. To try to get their minds off of their heartache they write down on pieces of paper all the qualities they would want their child to have such as honest to a fault, artistic, kind, loving, etc. Jim and Cindy take the pieces of paper and burry them in their garden. That night a massive rain storm comes down. Jim and Cindy see something running out of the corner of their eyes. They think someone has broken into their home. When they run upstairs they find a young boy covered in dirt with no clothes on. Cindy has the boy jump in the bath to get the dirt off him and Jim goes downstairs to call the police to report a missing child. As he is on the phone Jim looks out the window and sees a hold in the ground in their garden where they had buried the pieces of paper. At the same time upstairs Cindy notices that Timothy has leaves growing around his ankles. The couple realize that Timothy is the child they had dreamed of.

            Timothy brings joy and happiness into the lives of his parents and everyone around him. He encourages Jim and Cindy to be braver in their lives and more creative. Unfortunately, Timothy does not have a lot of time with his parents. Every time he completes a dream that Cindy and Jim have for him a leaf falls off his leg just as it would on a tree. After the family arrives home at the beginning of a storm Timothy tells his parents that he has to go. The storm knocks out the power and with that Timothy disappears.

            In the end the agents that heard Jim and Cindy’s story bring a little girl to them.

            Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton were great. Garner was beyond adorable in this. I am so used to seeing her kick ass and be a tough chick from her show Alias and her movie Elektra that whenever I see her playing a sweet character she just makes my heart melt. Edgerton was excellent. I have not seen too many movies with him in it but whatever I have seen him in I have enjoyed his talent. The kid who played Timothy was fabulous he was perfect.

            The Odd Life of Timothy Green was a very good movie. I always thought it would be a sad movie since I knew the kid would have to leave his parents but it turns out that it was not sad at all. As I mentioned at the beginning I usually hate plots that deal with couples desperately wanting a kid but I am happy to say that I finally found one that did not annoy the hell out of me. I did not find the story too sappy or mushy and sweet I found it enjoyable to watch. The Odd Life of Timothy Green is definitely not for everyone. As I also mentioned I watched the movie for Jennifer Garner otherwise I never would have seen this at all. The Odd Life of Timothy Green is a good movie to watch with the whole family. 

Butter (2011)

“My name is Laura Dean Pickler, and this is the cut-throat story of greed, blackmail, sex, and butter.”

            No offense to anyone out in the Midwestern United States but how bored are you guys out there that you hold contests to sculpt butter? Is sculpting butter something you do out there in some states? I am only asking because the 2011 movie Butter is about bored pure white Midwestern people who take the contest of sculpting butter super seriously. (Forgive my assumption I am from the NY/NJ area we can be pretty rude and presumptuous people).

            Laura Dean Pickler (Jennifer Garner) is the wife of the Bob Pickler (Ty Burrell) the champion of butter sculpting in Iowa. She enjoys her husband’s success and attention it brings to both of them. Since Bob has won the contest for fifteen years in a row he is asked to step down out of the contest to give someone else a chance. Bob has no issues with stepping down he is just worried that Laura will go out of her mind, which is of course does. Laura goes so far as to go to the house of the head judge of the contest to speak to him, well not so much speak to him as to yell at him. Bob needs to get away so he goes to the local strip club where he is given a lap dance and some more by Brooke (Olivia Wilde). Laura somehow finds out that Bob is at the strip club and rams her SUV in their van where Bob and Brooke are having sex.

            Since Bob cannot compete in the butter sculpting contest Laura decides to enter herself. When she goes to enter she is the only one there until a young girl named Destiny walks in and also a woman who is a fan of Bob and also Brooke the stripper. Brooke is determined to kick Laura’s ass in some form after she hit the van and Bob has not paid her for the rest of the night they spent together.

            Destiny, for years, has bounced around from foster home to foster home. One year while at the Iowa State Fair she sees Bob’s butter sculpture of The Last Supper. She goes into the room and finishes sculpting the small grail. Bob sees Destiny doing this and he is impressed by her art work. After that Bob helps to place Destiny in a nice home with a very white couple. When they ask if she has any hobbies she replies that she does not have one but she decides to go into sculpting butter.

            On the day of the contest Destiny is declared the winner and Laura comes in second place. Laura is infuriated. She decides to manipulate a former boyfriend Boyd Bolton (Hugh Jackman) who is dumb as a stick, to say that he helped Destiny to carve her sculpture. The idea is so stupid because everyone could see that Destiny made the sculpture herself but Laura has such weight and made such a fuss the committee decides to let Destiny and Laura duke it out again at the Fair. Destiny’s sculpture is of her real mother holding her as a baby in a rocking chair. Laura’s is the moments after JFK is shot in the head in the car with Jackie Kennedy reaching out for the Secret Service member. That night Boyd decides to sabotage Destiny’s sculpture for Laura without her knowing. He melts the face of the baby. Destiny’s foster parents are totally upset that something happened to the sculpture the following day. Despite the melted part Destiny’s sculpture wins the contest.

            The cast of Butter was awesome. I am a HUGE GIGANTIC Jennifer Garner fan so of course I had to watch this movie. I have actually had the DVD for years and only just today finally watch it. Garner is hilarious. She has not really played outrageous, fake, uptight women before so seeing her as Laura Dean Pickler was a panic. I died laughing hearing Garner yell out “mother fucker!” in one part! (also have to say that I was dying her character’s name was Laura… it’s an Alias thing). Olivia Wilde is insane with the types of characters she plays in movies. She was so good as Brooke! Her character was pissed off and out for revenge. She did not do the revenge aspect that well but she tried her best and it was so funny.  Ty Burrell was alright. He was not like his character on Modern Family (am I the only one who has watched that show and totally hated it?) which I liked. Kristen Schaal plays the huge Bob fan. I cannot hear her voice and not want to immediately watch Bob’s Burgers! Rob Corddry and Alicia Silverstone play Destiny’s foster parents. The girl who played Destiny was fantastic! She was excellent acting with all these awesome seasoned actors. Hugh Jackman was alright as Boyd Bolton. Boyd was an idiot which is not a character I think we’re really used to seeing Jackman play.

            Butter was one of the most hilarious, ridiculous comedies I have ever watched. I enjoyed it from beginning to end. Trust me when I say I did not just like it because Jennifer Garner is in it, I would totally admit if a movie she was in was awful. Butter was just so good. I am so happy I bought it all those years ago. Definitely check out Butter if you are in need of a good laugh. 

Joy (2015)

“Don't ever think that the world owes you anything, because it doesn't. The world doesn't owe you a thing.”

            It is amazing how much money people can make when they invent something and it takes off and possibly even gets bought by a larger company. I keep crying hearing how much money some companies pay for certain apps. They pay millions and millions and the app’s creators are living a very nice life. Besides apps and technology there are many simple inventions that have been developed over hundreds of years especially in the 20^th century. Some of these simple inventions are taken advantage of today. Before the invention of the self-wringing mop mops would have been wrung out by hand. Mops are gross and could even be dangerous. In the movie Joy we get to see how the invention of the self-wringing came to be and how much it changed the life of the inventor.

            Joy Mangano (Jennifer Lawrence) is a divorced mother of two living in upstate New York. She can barely afford to pay the mortgage on her house, her mother just stays in her room watching soap operas all day, her grandmother Mi-Mi has been the only one who told Joy she could be anyone she wanted to be, her father has been married countless of times and comes back to her house after he latest wife divorces him, and her ex-husband lives in the basement.

            Her father, Rudy (Robert De Niro), almost right away begins seeing this wealthy woman Trudy (Isabella Rossellini). Rudy and Trudy take the whole family out on her late husband’s boat. Wine gets spilled and because Joy is walked all over she is the one left with cleaning up the spilled wine. She winds up cutting her hands on the broken wine glass as she is wringing out the mop. Joy soon gets the idea to invent a self-wringing mop. Rudy has a warehouse where he does his business from and Trudy has a lot of money so she asks them to help back her invention.

            Joy soon meet with Neil Walker (Bradley Cooper) the head of the QVC channel. She gets Walker to put her invention on the show with her showing it how it works and not a washed up celebrity the channel has on hand. With Joy explaining and showing the product herself it starts to sell.

            Unfortunately, there is an issue. Before she began production Joy had Trudy’s lawyer look into any copyright issues with the product. It was found out that a Japanese man had invented something similar and created parts. Joy uses the man’s parts in her product which she gets through a company out in California. The company starts messing with her and charging her ridiculous amounts. Rudy and her step-sister Peggy blow up any deal that could have been made by paying the company. Joy finds out the manufacturer has been fraudulently charging her for the patent. She winds up going to the manufacturer out in Texas and gets his ass good and owns her product outright.

            Several years later Joy is a very successful business woman and also invests in other people’s inventions.

            Joy was a good movie. It was not that great, I found the story a bit boring. The cast was great. I always enjoy seeing Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence together in a movie they work so well together. I adore Isabella Rossellini and I had no idea she was in this movie before I started watching it and I got so excited when she came on screen. Joy is worth watching at least once because of the cast and also because it is a bit inspiring to never give up on what you believe in no matter what life throws at you.