# The new 'Secret Life of Walter Mitty'



## The_Traveler (Dec 26, 2013)

Saw this,
Don't bother.

Ben Stiller is head of negative management at Life magazine - Sean Penn is famous, infinitely cool photographer.

Plus - beautiful scenic photography in Greenland and Iceland.
Cons- ridiculous plot and in order to make it partially plausible, there were so many distortions of reality that it became annoying.

What I did learn from this movie:

1) Good Photographers need to take only one exposure of a particular scene to get it perfect.
2) Large magazines that depend for the function on pictures don't log in any rolls of negatives they receive, they just sort of throw the stuff around. 
3) Photographers can tell editors which image to use.
4) Flights overseas are never sold out, leave right away and get there almost instantly.
5) Photographers use old equipment, don't have cell phones or emails because they are old-fashioned.  
6) If you are Ben Stiller, you can walk up an open mountain hillside in a bright jacket, fall and scramble around a bit and a snow leopard, an animal who is rarely seen just because it is no averse to humans and who seems to be quite close, won't notice.
7) If you get an opportunity to take the image you've traveled 10,000 miles to take, sometimes a really cool photographer doesn't even take the shot but enjoys the moment and then goes to play soccer at 18,000 feet.
8) If you are a really cool photographer, the 200 mm lens you use (no lens hood), will magnify the same as an 800 mm lens for the average guy.
9) "     "            "             "               , rather than using a gymbal that will allow you to pan with the target, you lock the camera down on a tripod next to a rock and the animal will walk right into the field of view and stay there.

Ugh


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## oldhippy (Dec 26, 2013)

Witty review. Good humor. Have you ever read   The Snow Leopard. Loved this one.  Ed

The Snow Leopard (Penguin Classics): Peter Matthiessen, Pico Iyer: 9780143105510: Amazon.com: Books


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## robbins.photo (Dec 26, 2013)

The_Traveler said:


> Saw this, Don't bother.



Good enough for me - I'll put it on the "maybe when there is nothing else on and it happens to be on cable" category.



> Cons- ridiculous plot and in order to make it partially plausible, there were so many distortions of reality that it became annoying.



Curiously enough that sounds like my last marriage.. lol


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## leighthal (Dec 26, 2013)

I'm worried about seeing this. The secret life is my favorite short story. I first read it in grade five for a school lesson. Nothing was more magical. Not even my daily trips to the library for a new Nancy Drew book. I read it numerous times throughout the year. It's my non calorie comfort food. Of course I will go see the movie, how could I not? Will I be disappointed? Pretty much 100% chance.


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## kundalini (Dec 26, 2013)

The_Traveler said:


> Saw this,
> Don't bother.


Ben Stiller is in the lead role, so it goes without saying.

However, the new Hobbit film was pretty cool.  The ending was so good, that there was a resounding "That Sucks" in the audience.


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## tirediron (Dec 26, 2013)

It's in colour... it has to be true!!!!  Hollywood wouldn't lie or take liberties!!!!


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## beachrat (Dec 26, 2013)

The_Traveler said:


> Saw this,
> Don't bother.
> 
> Ben Stiller is head of negative management at Life magazine - Sean Penn is famous, infinitely cool photographer.
> ...



But Lew,it's *Sean Penn*!
He used to spend his days and nights duking it out with photographers,so of course he'd try to make their job look easy!
Spicoli with a camera. Too funny.



edit:Wait,Ben Stiller has the camera?
Forget it.


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## Derrel (Dec 26, 2013)

If anybody wants to see a really funny, offbeat, and usual comedy that showcases the dramatic acting chops of Ms. Kristen Wiig, check out the 2012 film titled *Girl Most Likely*. It's one of those films that the mass audience will just not "get". I saw the movie and really enjoyed it. Just yesterday, I happened to be browsing an Entertainment Weekly roundup of movies under the title of something like "Movies that The Critics and Audiences Just Missed", and it's on the list of fine films that were simply overlooked, but which despite low ratings or poor box office ticket sales, were actually very good, entertaining films.


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## rexbobcat (Dec 26, 2013)

Derrel said:


> If anybody wants to see a really funny, offbeat, and usual comedy that showcases the dramatic acting chops of Ms. Kristen Wiig, check out the 2012 film titled Girl Most Likely. It's one of those films that the mass audience will just not "get". I saw the movie and really enjoyed it. Just yesterday, I happened to be browsing an Entertainment Weekly roundup of movies under the title of something like "Movies that The Critics and Audiences Just Missed", and it's on the list of fine films that were simply overlooked, but which despite low ratings or poor box office ticket sales, were actually very good, entertaining films.



Kristen Wiig is awesome. I'll check it out.

Yeah I wasn't expecting much from Walter Mitty. I mean, it was really hyped up, but I just couldn't imagine anything with Ben Stiller being much better than "It was OK." 

Zoolander is the exception, of course.


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## robbins.photo (Dec 26, 2013)

Derrel said:


> If anybody wants to see a really funny, offbeat, and usual comedy that showcases the dramatic acting chops of Ms. Kristen Wiig, check out the 2012 film titled *Girl Most Likely*. It's one of those films that the mass audience will just not "get". I saw the movie and really enjoyed it. Just yesterday, I happened to be browsing an Entertainment Weekly roundup of movies under the title of something like "Movies that The Critics and Audiences Just Missed", and it's on the list of fine films that were simply overlooked, but which despite low ratings or poor box office ticket sales, were actually very good, entertaining films.



I don't really watch many movies in the theater anymore - it's a real rarity for me these days.  I've just been suckered into forking over the ridiculous ticket prices one too many times on films that looked like they would be pretty good after watching the previews only to find out that the only worthwhile scenes in the whole movie were the ones they used for the previews and the rest of the movie sucked.  So about the only time I hit the movie theater anymore is when it's one of those movies that you just really need to see on the big screen, and one that I have a pretty high confidence level in to begin with that it will actually be worth watching.  Granted the system doesn't always work, such as Iron Man III - wow, did that stink on ice.  But for the most part it works fairly well.

Other than that I generally stick to stuff that comes out on Netflix or Cable, mostly netflix.


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## IceCanAm (Dec 27, 2013)

Well i have to correct one thing, Iceland was used for the Greenland scenes as well 

Walter Mitty gives Iceland its first leading role in a Hollywood blockbuster | Travel | theguardian.com


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## The_Traveler (Dec 27, 2013)

For a landscape/nature photographer, Iceland looks like a Paradise.


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## SnappingShark (Dec 27, 2013)

I just read this and instantly felt deflated as I was looking forward to watching it.

However, The Wolf of Wall Street is an amazing movie with a pretty good cast.
I think there may even be a Sharon Stone moment in there for all you DVD/Blu ray pause button enthusiasts.

If you're in recovery or something, you might want to either avoid this for fear of trigger, or watch it to reminisce about your wilder days


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## bentonton (Jan 12, 2014)

Registered just to post this here...

Found it totally strange that after climbing 15,000 feet into the Himalayas wearing mountaineering gear, Ben Stiller changes into a Baja style poncho to play soccer with Sean Penn. Then it hit me that this was a deliberate Easter Egg to pay tribute to Jeff Spicoli.

Come on, guys, the movie was fun. It wasn't meant to be taken seriously enough to accurately portray a pro photographer's work, or the accuracy of a 40 year-old white collar desk jockey climbing the Himalayas and changing clothes.


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## Derrel (Jan 12, 2014)

I watched it last night. Somebody needs to work on his "*willful suspension of disbelief*" the next time he goes to the movies. It's that little concept that makes enjoying plays and movies and books so enjoyable. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a modern-day fantasy. It's not a documentary about Life Magazine, or photo gear...it's much more than that.

Suspension of disbelief - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## Tiller (Jan 12, 2014)

Walter Mitty was one of my favorite movies of 2013.


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## The_Traveler (Jan 12, 2014)

One should not have such an open mind that one's brain falls out.
I am perfectly happy to accept improbable possibilities to make a plot go forward - for example, actually finding someone in the vast ranges of the Himalayas.  Not likely but possible. That makes the plot, any plot, go forward. 
What does puncture the balloon of 'willing suspension of disbelief' is when, in sequences that are meant to be reality and not a dream, someone relies on an artifice that we all know is impossible to make the plot go forward, like for example, flying on a commercial aircraft from Iceland to the foot of the Himalayas in one day. 
Once that happens, to me the rest of the artifices are revealed, like greasepaint, to be just that. 

That being said, it is not up to me to do anything about my own taste, if you like the movie, like it and don't denigrate my opinion in order to justify yours.


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## Steve5D (Jan 13, 2014)

The_Traveler said:


> Cons- ridiculous plot and in order to make it partially plausible, _*there were so many distortions of reality*_ that it became annoying.



That movie should never have been made. It's just to unrealistic. None of that stuff could ever happen.

Whoops, gotta' run! Avatar, Thor and Star Wars are running back to back to back on A&E!


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## runnah (Jan 13, 2014)

Lew only enjoys documentaries about the spawning habits of Atlantic salmon.


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