[stargazer99]

I finally saw this movie tonight. It was every bit as incredible as I've heard.

I have to admit, I had a little trouble getting into it at first. It does move slow at the beginning. But once I got into it, I was totally sucked in.

I thought all four of the young actors (Heath, Jake, Michelle and Anne) were incredible! I haven't been able to get out to the movies much the past couple years, and haven't seen any of the other Oscar nominated actors' performances. So I have nothing to compare Heath's performance to. But he was absolutely incredible in this movie. I really could feel what his character was going through. Michelle Williams was really good as well. What I wasn't expecting though was how good Anne Hathaway was. I loved her character! She didn't have a huge part in the movie, but when she was on screen, I thought she did an incredible job.

I also didn't know, going in, how believable I'd find the aging of the characters. But it was very well done. As they got older, I never felt like I was watching young actors playing older characters.

Sparky mentioned in his original post that the makeup bothered him. But I actually thought the makeup was very well done. They gave Heath a weathered look as he aged... like his skin was getting more leathery from working out in the sun and wind. And there was a scene late in the movie where Anne's character is on the phone. I started noticing that her front teeth had red in between. I was wondering what was up with that. Then I realized her red nail polish was very chipped, and she had some little red spots that almost looked like blood on her fingers. It dawned on me that the character had been biting her nails, and the red on her fingers and teeth was the nail polish! I know this all sounds kind of irrelevent to even mention, but, without giving too much away to those who haven't seen the movie yet, I thought that bit of detail added something to that particular scene.

While I was really drawn into the movie, I was pretty composed through most of it. The part where I started to get a teary eyed was when they got into the fight about November and Mexico. (Again, don't want to give too much away to those who haven't seen it yet.) That scene really grabbed my gut. Then, of course, the shirt. That's when I totally lost it.

It was a very beautiful movie, and incredibly emotional. I'm glad I finally got to see it.