The Notebook (Limited Edition Gift Set)

Every once in a while, a movie comes along that should be schmaltzy and beneath you, but ends up being a totally, surprisingly, guilty pleasure (I WILL review Titanic one of these days, when I get up the nerve). The Notebook is my very wonderful, totally guilty pleasure. I will also make a case for it being possibly the movie of a generation and possibly a movie headed to becoming a classic in film.To go over the story once again at this point, would be boringly redundant. I'm doing this review many years after its release. But as I was going through my recommendations for ratings, I stopped here and decided it was time to give this beautiful movie its due.First of all, I am not a fan of Nicholas Sparks' books. No offense intended here because opinions are all relative and I know he has a huge fan following. I have read several of his books and have found them to be just a bit too simple and in need of a grammar lesson for me. The movies made from many of his books are worse and maybe eventually I will review one of them. But it is so much more fun, for me, to give the good reviews. I never read the book this movie is based on, so this review is strictly on the movie as it stands.The Notebook, as a story, is brilliant. From the moment it starts with Duke, played with a heartbreaking sensitivity I'm not sure I've ever seen from the wonderful James Garner, wandering around in his nursing home, smiling at his friends and joking with the staff. It's a little confusing because we aren't let in on the depth of his suffering and the center of the story yet. *SPOILER ALERT* There will be spoiler alerts from here on out, but if you haven't seen or read this yet, get out from under your rock AND DO SO! I think the beauty of this movie starts at the beginning because we love Duke immediately. There is no building of a relationship. It just is. We also learn pretty much right out the door that his beloved wife also lives in the nursing home with him, but in another room because she is in the end stages of Alzheimer's Disease, the 5th largest killer of the world's population. That this movie shows explicitly the horror and agony of Alzheimer's for both the caretaker/lifetime partner, and the family surrounding them is an incredible bit of public service very necessary and appreciated by those touched by this evil disease. However, the beauty of this story is that at the center of it, is a love story so powerful, so touching, and, as we learn, so surprising, that the disease, while an evil villain, is only a facet of the story.For me, the movie starts when the story becomes about Noah Calhoun, played by Ryan Gosling in, to me, one of his best acting parts (and I've seen too many of his movies), who meets the young and beautiful Allie, played by Rachel McAdams in, to me, one of HER best acting parts. Their romance is wonderful, fun, funny, lighthearted, everything most women dream about who want love, have loved, or have love in their lives. The love story isn't atypical of most love stories written and acted for centuries. But this one is touching in its portrayal of the depth and breadth of its intensity. Most love stories today, include a plethora of sex scenes to punctuate the depth of feeling. This story doesn't need it. It is implied as well as portrayed, but manages to show decades of love as a reality and not a fantasy. We do learn, of course, that this is the life love story of Duke and his beloved Allie, but not right away. And I think that lag is a brilliant part of the story woven here that attracted me and so many people.The Notebook is as beautiful in story as a breathtaking painting is to those who gaze upon it. Each stroke is carefully placed, each color chosen to accentuate what are the most important aspects the artist wants portrayed. From the moment The Notebook opens to the closing scene, I cannot find one stroke out of place. One color that doesn't blend in perfectly with the scenery on the canvas.I am a person who does not like sad endings to any story. But in The Notebook, once again, the portrait of the relationship between Duke and his Allie is perfect. No other ending would do. Yes, it is sad. But as a painting can also be excruciating in it's honesty and painfulness, so, too, is the ending of this movie.The Notebook is simply not just a love story. Love stories abound in the world of fiction told in many shapes and forms. I have to make a little observation here that today, we see the proliferation of what is called erotic romance. Fantasy romance. Supernatural romance. And while I am not normally a fan of romance books, preferring thrillers and a good mystery, there are few stories today that can compare with The Notebook. I believe it will enter the realm of a classic romance along with the Bronte sisters who wrote so few books, but each one was like a portrait described above. These stories are rare and beautiful and are meant to expand our hearts and souls. They are meant not to titillate to read and be forgotten within minutes, but to savor for a lifetime. I haven't seen The Notebook in at least 7 years and yet, what I have written has been from memory. A book, a movie, a portrait that stays with you, that you will remember for a lifetime. I would encourage all of you to watch this movie, even the men here, if you have not already done so. It wouldn't hurt to watch or read Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights as well. For those who might not understand why these stories resonate - all of them - even today, it wouldn't hurt you to do some research. While contemporary romance is exciting and sexual, I doubt they will hold up for centuries. I believe The Notebook, as movie or book, will be around far longer and will stand up with Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights as a beautiful portrait does, for many, many years. DO please watch this movie and keep your mind and especially your heart open because beauty, while being in the eye of the beholder, can move even the hardest of hearts.

I absolutely love this movie! its always been a favorite and when my tv platforms don't have it I just have to watch it! its like my comfort movie XD the movie had all the same scenes and its exactly how I remember it!

Have to watch this movie it is got so much caring in it and how people should care in the world and love each other. There’s so much violence in the world and people does not how to love that they should for each other and marriage is just stink like they should be is sad. I’ve seen a lot over the years. I am 80 years old and this is the Way American should be. You can learn a lot watching it.

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS MOVIE, however, THE BOOK IS BETTER!!!!

The Notebook combines Persuasion by Jane Austen and Sweet Home Alabama: teens falling in love, separation by parental interference, then re-meeting 7 years later. The Notebook is richer than these premature tales of falling in love by concluding the narrative of the rest of their 70years together, sharing dance, Walt Whitman poetry, journaling, painting, building furniture, mutual respect for their unique differences and creating a sanctuary, a home in each other.The Notebook's rich deeply meaningful romance is a true story, that of author Nicholas Sparks' wife's grandparents. The year after their death, Sparks felt he needed to tell the simple story of this couple's enduring affection despite aging. The grandparents were not able to attend the Sparks' wedding day due to frailty.The next morning, the Sparks redressed in Tuxedo and Wedding gown, drove to the grandparents' home bringing the grandparents' gift flowers sent for boutonniere and wrist corsage and surprised the elderly lovers.The grandparents formally dressed and took Wedding pictures with the newlyweds, then watched the wedding video together.The delicate quiet story of the grandparents mutual affection is detailed in author Nicholas Spark's full film commentary on The Notebook disc. In addition, Director Nick Cassavetes offers a second commentary about his experiences directing his mother Gena Rowlands as Allie Calhoun opposite James Garner as the solid consistently loving supportive accepting and dependable Noah.Are we willing to risk giving our heart, knowing we may be disappointed by loss? For some, as Robert Duval's character Print in Broken Trail, a true story of a 500 horse muster from John Day Oregon to Sheridan Wyoming, the answer is no.A wedding is just another party which lasts a day or so. Marriage is a lifetime of sacrifice, conflict fighting, compromise cooperation, teamwork to save for an uncertain future, plan together for parenting children, financial difficulties, shared joy, personal aspirations, like Allie's passion for oil painting, Noah's for reading poetry aloud and woodworking, and their joint commitment to do whatever it takes to help both become honest truthful compassionate whole, different and distinct human beings.Whatever it takes: quote from Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld 21st century update of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.Growing into maturity is a choice to risk going where we are afraid, doing what we are loathe to attempt whether it is financial self-discipline, self-aware honesty about our failures and fears, anxieties and hesitations, or generously giving our heart and being willing to have it broken by loss.Love is a conscious choice. The inverted It's a Wonderful Life Christmas story (what if you HAD been there?) The Family Man with Nicholas Cage offers a poignant line by Tea Leoni: I choose us.The Notebook offers the ambience of uniquely American Southern percussive music, the rhythm of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, tap ballroom and waltz as human communication, and the restraint and sacrificing devotion of caring and caregiving.We were in Tajikistan when a man asked what we most missed about home as we gifted macadamia nuts from Hawaii. We replied: wherever we are together is home.Tom Hanks as he takes Meg Ryan's hand in his, at the end of Sleepless in Seattle: I felt I had come home.Being safely at home in one another is the message of The Notebook. 5*English subtitles for the hearing impaired. Bonus deleted scenes.

Best romance movie ever!

I consider this movie to be one of my favorites of all time, and I have watched it several times. I think it is so sweet, just like every other Nicolas Sparks books/movies. So many plot twists, so many tears of sadness and happiness, this is a film you can watch and FEEL the emotions. Ryan Gosling is too handsome, and Rachel McAdams is looking beautiful as ever- especially with that hairstyle. They played the role perfectly. Two lovers who fought constantly, but were so stubborn they got through everything together. With a twist in between of course. A ton of em. MUST WATCH. "If you're a bird, I'm a bird!"

A good love story