"The Imitation Game"

Yesterday afternoon, I went over to the AMC 24 at Stonebriar mall.  I had bought a ticket to see The Imitation Game this Sunday before seeing The Hobbit:  Battle of the Five Armies on Monday.  At the time, it stated that the theater room was 18, but when I got there, not only had the time changed, but even the room.  I was glad I had arrived early, so that I could look around the whole theater for where the movie was actually going to be showing.

Why such interest in this movie?  I was channel surfing and landed on KERA (PBS).  The channel had been showing The Bletchley Circle, a show about a group of women who worked at the code breaking center in the UK.  Seems that the popularity of the show stirred up an interest in documentaries about cryptology and spying.  This particular evening, the documentary was about Alan Turing and how he and his team broke the Enigma machine during WWII from his design of the Turing machine, a very early computer.  Computers today are considered modern day Turning machines.

I watched the movie with a lot of interest.  I do not feel I can say enough about how much I loved this movie.  The movie is based about how Alan Turing came to be hired at Bletchley to work on breaking the Enigma machine.  Also, the movie describes Alan's past and how such a gifted man was a bit quirky and not very social.  It reminded me a bit of Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory.  I felt the pain he had for being someone with a bit of OCD and due to not being very social, it caused him to always be alone and co-workers hated working for him.  

The movie begins in 1951, when Alan is being interviewed for having paid a man for a sexual encounter.  The investigator, as you learn, is interested in what Alan did during the war as he finds that there is no information on Alan.  As Alan tells his tale of what he did during the war, the movie goes from 1939, when he goes to the interview for the position, and further back to Alan's school years to provide a bit more background.

When Joan Clarke enters the scene, you see how Alan and Joan help each other.  He helps Joan to leave her parents home to work at Bletchley Circle and help him with deciphering the code.  Joan, in turn, helps him with his social skills - allowing the team to come together and support Alan when Alan is about to be fired as the Turing machine had not made much progress.

I won't go into much more detail as I do not wish to ruin the movie.  I cannot recommend seeing this movie enough.  It is a very touching tale about Alan Turing.  There are funny moments as well as sad.  This will definitely be a movie I will be purchasing on-line to watch over and over.  It is just that damn good.

And see, no mention of Benedict Cumberbatch...until now.  Benedict and Kiera Knightley gave outstanding performances.  I would like to see them win an Oscar for their roles.

In other movie news, I see that a sequel will be out in March for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.  Seems like a second hotel is started up and the same cast of characters are back with a few extras.  I loved the first one so much.  

Another movie I would love to see is The Woman in Gold.  It has Helen Mirren and it is about a woman who had to leave Austria during WWII and the painting done of her aunt was captured by the Nazis.  The Austria goverment recovers it and wishes to keep it, but she wants to fight for what is rightfully hers.  Looks to be a really good movie as well.

Paddington Bear seems to be a really cute movie from the trailer. 

Perhaps, 2015 will be the year I attend more movies than I have done in the past.