Tag Archives: Paula Halifax

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The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Movie Review – HaliPawz

Last night I had an opportunity to attend the screening of the movie, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel at the Glenwood Arts Theater in Leawood, Kansas.  You can read my review about the theater here.

I received the passes the night prior and did not know anything about the movie.  I invited a friend to go with me and as we were sitting, waiting for the movie to start, I asked her if she had looked the movie up?  She had, but only briefly and was surprised I had not.  I quickly googled it from my phone and saw, what appeared to be a strong cast, a very British cast, and they were older.  Richard Gere was in it, Maggie Smith, Judy Dench.  It shouldn’t be bad, I thought.  Probably won’t be an award winner from the plot outline, but not bad.

As I was listening to the other movie goers around me, I heard one talk about the first one.  Oh no!  It’s a sequel and I have no idea what happened in the first one!  Fun!  The other thing I noticed about the group around me was that I felt young.  It was quite packed with an older crowd.

The movie starts and right away, Maggie Smith is winning with her lines.  She quips a few lines and everyone laughs.  A great way to start a movie when I have no clue what to expect.

While Smith’s character continues to win you over throughout the movie, both with her lines, her personality, and her delivery, I cannot say the same for the rest of the movie.  It was confusing in parts, but kept your attention.  It moved from character to character rather quickly.  Most of the story was quite predictable from beginning to end, with only one or two surprises. The characters won you over though.  They were charming, and you felt like you were part of the movie, not just an outsider watching it.

I loved Judy Dench’s character, Evelyn in as much as she admitted she was older, but she was embracing a new career doing something she loved to do.  What started as a hobby for her evolved into something so much more.  I think it reminded everyone to never stop doing what you love and follow the path it leads you.

As Sonny (Dev Patel) bumbly (yes, not sure if that is a word, but I’m using it!) goes between trying to make his dream of expansion a reality and prepare for his wedding, you cannot help but like him and it makes it believable why all of the characters formed a family here at the Marigold Hotel.

Speaking of weddings…..I LOVED LOVED LOVED the wedding scene.  I think Indian weddings are so beautiful and I hope to go to at least one in my lifetime.  The director and actors did a wonderful job portraying it and you couldn’t help but be happy and celebratory during the scene.  I had watched a documentary on Indian weddings and preparations once and was fascinated by it.  It was a great “feel good” part of the movie.

Overall, did I love it?  No.  Did I like it?  Yes.  I can see why it would be liked by those categorized as “active boomers”.  It was filled with love, life, romance, and clear to all that age really is JUST a number!

If you liked this and want to stay up to date with me, follow me on Twitter @HaliPawz  or Like me on Facebook.com/HaliPawz 

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Glenwood Arts Theater, My Review – HaliPawz

Last night I had an opportunity to go see a movie screening at Glenwood Arts Theater 3707 West 95th St, Leawood, KS 66206.  It was my first time ever being there, so I didn’t know what to expect.  I had actually never heard of it.  As we were driving there, my friend thought it was at another location.  Come to find it, it had JUST moved to Leawood from Overland Park about two weeks ago, so it was a good think Google had updated their directions already because I just asked “Siri” to find Glenwood Arts Theater Leawood, Kansas.  As we were already running late, it could have been a disastrous!

My phone was telling us we had arrived, but there was NOTHING resembling a movie theater.  I was familiar with this shopping center because I go there at least once or twice a year with my mom so she can get her S.A.S. shoes when she is down visiting.  I’ve been in the ACE store.  I could not imagine where there was a movie theater.  After some discussion and looking at the sign, which did indicate there was a movie theater, we decided to go in the main doors and look around.

The minute we opened the doors, we knew we were close because you could smell the popcorn.  There is NOTHING like the smell of movie theater popcorn.  We went down the stairs and saw the entrance.  I am hoping they plan on marking it better for people to find, but, in talking to some of the other attendees, they remember going there as a child, so perhaps it is not marked to keep those who are not from the area away!

The theater had an old style charm about it.  You could tell it was not new at all.  The seats, while comfortable, were extremely narrow and leaned back quite a bit, whether you wanted to lean back or not.  The aisles were quite close together, so if someone was walking down the aisle behind you, it was very easy for you to get bumped with their hand or their coat.  One lady managed to hit my head at least three times trying to get to her seat!  Normally I would just lean forward, but remember what I was saying about the seats?  It was almost impossible to get away without actually leaning all the way forward in the seat, which I did after the second hit, but she still managed to connect with her coat one final time before passing and me leaning.

Because we were late, we ended up sitting up front.  Normally, in newer movie theaters, I would hate it, because it’s too close.  In this one, it was OK.  Perhaps it was due to leaning so far back!  Seriously though, it wasn’t bad, I was able to see the whole movie without feeling like I was IN the movie.

I went to get popcorn and have to commend the theater on the experience.  The two gentlemen behind the counter were extremely friendly.  They worked together.  They joked around with the customers.  It truly made me feel like I had gone back in time.  The prices were average, for a large popcorn and large drink, it was about $10, too much? Yes.  Normal pricing for a movie theater?  I would say so.  The nice thing is, the popcorn was good.  I cannot say what they do differently than the bigger theaters, other than it was popped fresh and the ingredients were put in all separate instead of a package?  I’m not sure, but even my friend commented on the taste of the popcorn.  They didn’t skimp on the butter either.  When you ask for extra butter, they give it to you.

My real complaint, other than the seats but I could live with them, was the sound from the other theaters.  When it was a quiet moment in our movie, you could hear the sounds from the other ones pretty bad.  At one point, before I realized it wasn’t our movie, I was trying to listen because I thought I was missing something.  I understand it is an older theater and the sound in newer movies probably overpower the walls, but it was a little distracting at first.

Overall, I would go see a movie there again, I loved the charm of the theater, you felt like you had walked back in time a little.  I wouldn’t make it my “go to” Movie Theater though.