One of the most important things to know about me is I LOVE MOVIES! Obsessed is an understatement. We all have a loop of websites and applications we check weekly or daily. Mine includes IMDb.com and YouTube, where I subscribe to 'MovieclipsTRAILERS', who upload trailers both domestic and international as soon as they're released so I'm normally in-the-know when it comes to movies. I don't know what it is about movies that get me so hyped and I have to give them credit because I know they play a part in my love of writing and the child-like imagination I've carried with me into adulthood.
When I was younger, movies were a 'thing' at my house. It was a very cheap way to keep the whole family occupied. I remember many a Saturday, piling into the family Windstar and making the trip to Mr. Movies where old movies were only a buck each and I'm talking VHS movies. We'd get half a dozen movies and spend the whole weekend vegging on the couch. Paradise!
And don't even get me started on the theater-going experience, my favorite pastime. I live in a small town, but we do have a movie theater as well as a movie store. The Palace Theater has the cheapest movie tickets ANYWHERE! Regular 2D movies are only $3 and the newly upgraded 3D system only boasts a $4 ticket! $4 3D movie? Dare you to beat that. The only downfall of the Palace Theater is they only show one movie a week which plays once a day and that means that not every movie comes through our little town (but the owner makes a point to have all of the Best Picture nominations shown at the theater before the Oscars, thankfully). Aside from that, their box office opens an hour before the movie starts and you can buy 'seat savers' for $.50 each and save your seat in the theater before movie time! Ridiculous! The popcorn, best in the state, hands down. They use, wait for it, REAL butter (imagine Homer Simpson drooling and mumbling 'mmmmmm buuutttterrr', that's me right now)! Their concession prices are so affordable and they have a great selection. And I almost forgot to mention the brand new $35,000 seating that was recently installed in the theater. The theater doubles as a performing arts theater for locals. It's heaven for me. Absolute heaven.
Don't ask me what it is about actually going to the movies that gets me as excited as a four-year-old at Disneyland because I can't put my finger on it. I normally don't even care what movie I'm going to (my husband and I don't often agree on movies...they say opposites attract) as long as I'm going. I give everything a chance, include Adam Sandler's bomb, Zohan, which I fell asleep to and will never watch again. I gave it a chance.
Now, the reason for my post. My husband was such a doll and took me out for a movie date (thanks to the in-laws for watching little man for us). Jack Reacher was playing at the Palace and I've been itching to see it since I saw the first trailer. I've read a Jack Reacher book from Lee Childs' series. It was not the one they made the movie out of (Last Shot), and I can't remember which one I read because it was back in high school. There's something about reading a book that becomes a movie that's even more attractive to me. I have to see it, period. Yes, I read all the Harry Potter books when I was younger as well as the Twilight saga and saw all 13 of those movies in the theater. I've never read Hunger Games, but I did see the first movie (I've gotten mixed reviews on the second and third books in the series so I think I'll just see the movies).
Reading a book creates a relationship between me and the characters, mentally. I can see them in my mind. I can see the places depicted and the scenes played out in my head. When those fictional, made-up scenes in my mind become 'real' on the silver screen, I crave that affirmation of my own mental creations. I've never been disappointed in a book-to-movie transformation. I've been annoyed when certain parts of the book haven't been included in the movie, but that's about it.
Jack Reacher is not an exception. It doesn't matter how long it's been since I've read a book. I can remember the character I've created in my mind for any book I've read, like revisiting an old friend. I had an idea of who Jack Reacher was in my mind. Lee Childs writes him as a 6'5 military man and then the movie releases Tom Cruise as Reacher. *sigh* This is what I have a problem with. Kristen Stewart, as much as I dislike her acting, she was as close to perfect for Bella as you can get. Tom Cruise is not the Jack Reacher I imagined in my mind. Not a lot of people like Tom Cruise as an actor, but I have a soft spot for him. He's a maniac. He likes to do his own stunts and does those kinds of freakish adrenaline-packed activities (bungee jumping, snow boarding, and base jumping to name a few) in his free time and I think that reflects in the character when he's in an action film like Jack Reacher and the Mission Impossible franchise. He's type-cast as an action hero because he's good at that, and pretty much only that. He is a true badass, on and off screen, but he is nowhere near 6'5. That's a fail in my eyes.
Aside from that sad note, the best part of the movie is one of my Hollywood crushes was cast as the diabolical villain, orchestrating the trail of frames for Jack and the man he's trying to prove innocent. Jai Courtney played Charlie in the movie. You may be asking yourself, 'who the hell is Jai Courtney?' and I would have said the same thing if it hadn't been for Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Jai played Varro, Spartacus' bestie in the first (and best) season of the Starz show. Jai is also set to play Jack McClane along side veteran Bruce Willis in the latest installment to the Die Hard series, A Good Day to Die Hard. Other than that, Jai isn't well known, but I know who he is and I'm a fan.
But, I haven't been on YouTube all weekend so I need to get my fill of trailers yet this morning. Until next time,
- Jess
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