Divergent

Anthony went to see the movie based on the book, "Divergent".  I know a lot of you read and enjoyed the book (as did Anthony and I).  He was pretty disappointed in the movie.  It left out a lot of the stuff that he thought was good.  Does it ruin the experience to have read the book first?  I never want to see a movie based on a book I love.  I remember the first time Anthony had this experience -- he was little and loved the book, The Indian in the Cupboard.  Then he saw the movie and was horribly disappointed because they had changed things without any apparent reason.

I saw "American Hustle" (I know -- it's old -- my friend and I were the only people in the theatre!  It felt like we were in Hollywood and somebody like Bradley Cooper had called us up and asked us to his private studio theatre to watch his movie.)  Anyway, I really enjoyed it.  All the actors were great.  Christian Bale certainly didn't bring "Batman" to mind.  (Apparently Robert de Niro didn't even recognize him when they met on the set -- I certainly didn't recognize him.  Although I don't really think it's necessary to gain a whole bunch of weight or shave your head to create a character.  It reminds me of that great story about Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier on the set of "Marathon Man".  Dustin Hoffman arrives on the set and they're going to film the dentist scene in which Laurence Olivier is supposed to be torturing him and asking him over and over "is it safe?"  Olivier says that he looks dreadful and Dustin Hoffman says he's stayed up all night so he can get into character for the scene, and Olivier says, "my dear boy, have you ever tried acting?")  I found myself chortling with enjoyment throughout the whole movie.  You've got to love a good heist.