Our Valentine's Night Out

We honestly thought we weren't going to have a real date night for Valentine's Day. Even though we have had a sitter lined up since the end of January, one of my clients threw us for a loop when he cancelled work for February and another client didn't have much work. However, we were blessed with having gift cards and a couple other bills being lower. Date night was still on!
Our sitter came over at 6pm and brought her sister so Peanut could have a sleepover. Hubby and I left and went to join the masses at Red Lobster. Santa brought me gift cards for Christmas and we had used the first one shortly after. We were saving this one for Valentine's Day since we go to Red Lobster once a year! Our wait was just under 90 minutes. I thought that was pretty good considering it was Valentine's Day.

Our food was divine, but both Jeremy and I barely touched our main meal after being full with the soup & salad. Thankfully it was cold outside so we just left the food in the car when we went to the movie. We had some money left on a gift card we got a year ago (see how often we go to the movies) and we chose to watch Winter's Tale.

Source - IMDB

Ok, so ... many people were wondering how the movie was. I can tell you a few things without giving it away.
1. I have NOT read the book but want to now.
2. It has the feel of Dr. Who meets Snow White meets the Bible.
3. One scene with Will Smith was a little ... rough.
4. It was a PERFECT movie for Valentine's Day.

It made me tear up several times and the horse is gorgeous. There were definitely scene that I felt were forced. I was trying to put my finger on what my problem was with Russell Crowe and my husband mentioned Michael Keaton. He reminded me of Beetlejuice. It isn't bad, necessarily ... just different.

For those who do not know what the movie is about (maybe you are just as out of touch as we were), here is the snopsis:
A family attempts to immigrate to the United States but are turned away. They have a son that they send back to the US in model ship they stole from Ellis Island. That baby grows up to be Peter Lake (Colin Farrell). He is a thief that has left the "mob" run by Pearly (Russell Crowe) and that has put a death warrant out for him. He escapes riding a white horse who leads him to the house of Isaac Penn. While attempting to rob the place, Isaac's daughter is home. Beverly (Jessica Brown Findlay) has Consumption (TB) and invites Peter to stay for tea. Peter falls madly in love with her and hopes to save her. Beverly's younger sister, Willa, has made a place in the garden that she believes will save her sister. Unfortunately, it does not and Beverly dies from Consumption. When she is buried, Peter leaves and is attacked by Pearly. After being tossed into the river, he lives in a fog for 90 years and can only remember the drawing of a girl. His memory starts to come back as he is walking in Central Park. The remainder of the movie is about his search for his memory and finding  out why he had not aged.

The movie was just under 2 hours and I REALLY think that it could have been SO much better with an additional 20-30 minutes. I think there could have been some more background information in a lot of areas to give it some depth.

Reviews I have seen say that it ruins the book, which makes me eager to read the book. I didn't realize there was a story first (again, way out of touch). I would give this movie 4 out of 5 stars (again, coming from a person who has NOT read the novel first). It is not a movie that I necessarily want to own, but I am not upset that I spent the money to see it in the theaters. Besides, it really did make for an excellent Valentine's Day movie.