Three Good Things and Three Movies

I’m now working on a weekly blog theme focusing on Positive Psychology exercises, which include gratitude, affirmation, signature strengths, etc. The founding father of Positive Psychology and current specialist in the field, Dr. Martin Seligman, opened up a delish can of worms back in 1999. It’s a baby field, really, but it’s growing and learning at the speed of light. 

The focus of Positive Psychology is to help people enhance their general well-being by looking at life from the positive side by taking it as it comes, counting one’s blessings, developing optimistic habits, etc. And isn’t this the key to success in so many self-help books? Granted, I am sick and tired of ‘professionals’ telling me what I should do with my life to make it better, but they do have a point sometimes. Trust me, I know everything there is to know about Positive Psychology and I think it's worth the shot.

Too bad I don’t take more time to appreciate the good things and sometimes flat-out forget to do it altogether, but that’s why I am cooking up this blog theme. I’ll get back to you when I’ve chosen a specific day but for now, I’ll briefly present to you one of those positive exercises I talked about.

THREE GOOD THINGS requires that you list three good things that have happened to you during the day and why they occurred. I wrote my dissertation on this subject and lots of studies have shown that this exercise does make a difference for well-being, including decreasing depression and anxiety, improving mood and happiness, etc. I might reveal more about this in the future.

For now, I’m just going to do my daily dose of 3GT. Feel free to follow suit.

1. I saw my best friend for the first time in six months. We talked about the future and I felt like a little girl again, though in reality, we spoke as grown-ups now. It’s unbelievable how quickly life takes you places you’d never imagine to be at.

2. I finally watched Red Riding Hood (2011) and LOVED it. I’ll even give you guys an impromptu review in this post because I feel like talking about movies today. It makes me happy when I watch a good movie because it takes me to a different life. I don’t know how other people experience the film art, but to me, it’s like a long-winded adventure into someone else’s mind. I don’t want to say that I prefer watching a movie to reading a book, but I often miss the visual effects when I read.

3. I ate my favorite chocolate which is made in Bulgaria and therefore cannot always make its way to the UK, so I enjoy it to the max every time I come home. I already feel fattened, jeez. But there’s nothing like food that reminds you of home when you’re old and nostalgic. All right, I’m not that old yet, but I am getting soft in my young age.

But that’s not all. For the past week, I watched THREE movies (all released this year), which I am willing to share with you today and try not to give out any spoilers, but no promises okay?

1. Red Riding Hood:

I had very low expectations because I wasn’t crazy about Seyfried’s last movies (Letters to Juliet and Dear John). It seems that she’s everywhere lately and that’s okay, except she keeps choosing those sappy teenage movies devoid of substance, so every time I see her name in the cast, I automatically think the movie’s gonna be a dud. This time, however, I was proved wrong.

The one thing that had me very impressed was the music. It was very subtle and ever-present throughout the whole movie, which is much better than the more silent films, which employ music to emphasize key scenes instead of implementing them. It was so wonderfully creepy that I must commend Brian Reitzell and Alex Heffes for their combined efforts. It was even more creesty (tasty + creepy) than Steve Jablonsky’s score for Nightmare on Elm Street (2010).

For those who love romantic stories, I think this movie will not disappoint. Vallery’s passion and devotion to Peter is inspiring, not to mention her having two very cute men save her ass from the big bad wolf all the time. Speaking of whom, you’d think that it’s easy to determine who the werewolf is exactly, but you’ll probably not know until the very end, which is a real feat nowadays. The clues were smartly veiled as Vallery looked for the werewolf in every pair of dark brown eyes she saw. Everyone was a suspect, even family and friends. Scratch that, especially family and friends.

To sum up, the movie is a rather smart spin-off of the well-known fairytale with hints of witch-hunting. It has suspense, action, romance, and mystery, all wrapped into one delicious cinematic treat that should appeal to a large audience. This movie at least did its trailer proud.

2. Sucker Punch:

There is a reason why they put the word ‘sucker’ in the title. You know where I’m going with this, don’t you? It started with an interesting backstory with rather satisfying effects and a bizarre choice of pacing, all the while some cheeky music was playing in the background. So far so good.

Then came the confusion, the ridicule, and finally, the tacky super chick outfits and computer game landscapes. Granted, I knew what the movie was about, I’d watched the trailer, and was mentally prepared for the semi-original idea. However, as far as I saw, the story was not even linked to the gaming elements and the most powerful weapon of the heroine was her killer dance routine that we never get to see!

The one thing that was good was the soundtrack, actually. The songs matched the kick-ass outfits and sweaty action, as well as the dragons and zombies, and finally, the whole subconscious element of the movie. The quote: ‘If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything’ was nice too.

Other than that, it was a big fat smelly dud.

3. Hanna:

It makes me sad when I look forward to a movie only to watch it and say ‘meh’. I mean, Saoirse Ronan is one of them good ones. I loved her in City of Ember (2008) and The Lovely Bones (2010). She’s a regular Dakota Fanning, next generation. Still, the movie… not so good.

The idea was great, but the whole genetic engineering part was vague at best. Sure, who doesn’t want to create the perfect soldiers who are low on the fear and pity departments, AND are capable of learning a gazillion languages and fight like hell. But shouldn’t there be more than that? The film was basically an action-laden account of an ‘abnormal’ girl who’d never been properly socialized and likes to stick her hands in dead animals’’ innards. Great, who doesn’t like that magic?

As for the music front, there was none. Where did the music go? Enough said.