The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty - 白日夢冒險王

The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty (白日夢冒險王) is an 2013 film. The movie stars Ben Stiller. The supporting cast include Kristen Wiig, Shirley MacLaine, Adam Scott, Kathryn Hahn, and Sean Penn. The movie is a remake of a 1947 film of the same name. The story is modernized for the 2010s.



Walter Mitty is the head negative assets manager at Life magazine. Walter lives a pretty mundane life and day dreams a lot. So much so that he literally freezes up and people throw things at him. When a famous photographer sends a negative that he cannot find, the search is on to find it. However, the search takes Walter really really out of his comfort zone.

This movie was pretty amazing visually. The movie makes pit stops in Greenland, Iceland, and to the Himalayas. In all cases, the visual aspect of each location is amazing. I don't think they green screened those, but actually goes to those locations. The movie does have a lot of Ben Stiller. Even in your 40s, you can make a coming of age movie. The day dreaming parts are pretty ridiculous, but I think it could only happen in the movies.

If you're looking for a middle aged coming of age story with great acting and stunning locales, this movie is for you. I also like the translation of "Day Dream King".

The Watch - 巡邏驚很大

The Watch (巡邏驚很大) is an 2012 film. The movie stars Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, and Rosemarie DeWitt. The movie was originally named "The Neighborhood Watch" with a vague comedic premise. But the 2012 shooting of Trayvon Martin by a neighborhood-watch member not only forced the name change, but the delay of an late spring release to late summer.



Ben Stiller plays Evan Trautwig, a Costco store manager and all around good guy. A good guy for the neighborhood. A neighborhood watch is formed when some suspicious activity happens. A mix-match of people join with their own agendas. Along the way, they discover suspicious activities and its Aliens! That leads them on a wild goose chase around the normally quiet suburban town. In the end, all the main characters of The Watch have a mid life coming of age storyline.

This movie is ok. Funny and in my opinion, worth a watch. But that's it. Just watch it once for the laughs and move on. Vince Vaughn and to a lesser degree, Ben Stiller, are producing funny films that don't merit repeat watching. I am hoping for more Dodgeball than this. Maybe a Zoolander or Tropic Thunder to top off their careers before they start to play supporting dad roles.

Tropic Thunder - 開麥拉驚魂

Tropic Thunder (開麥拉驚魂) is a 2008 film starring Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey, and Tom Cruise.



The film is a mockumentary of the film industry. The premise is that real actors in a war film are dropped into a real war situation for the sake of making a film.

That war situation is the Golden Triangle with the Flaming Dragon gang as the main antagonist.

Some of the guys get captured by the Flaming Dragon gang who speak Mandarin Chinese.

There's a part of the movie where Robert Downey Jr. attempts to speak Chinese to the captors. The Chinese is barely decipherable. I had to read the subtitles and watch it over about 10 times. How the Flaming Dragon didn't just say, "what the heck are you saying?" is beyond me, they were understanding him. Got to give credit to RDJ for even getting all those Chinese words out of his mouth. I have a hard time these days and I am a native speaker.