There is something magical about going to the movie theater. And when movies capture that on the screen, it’s something to behold.

“The Odd Life of Timothy Green” is one of those movies. This Disney movie was left slightly in the dust when it came out on Aug. 15. Typically, studios are pretty hesitant to release non-franchise, original movies like this. And Disney picked a good one.

This movie is about a married couple played by Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton, whom you will remember from last year’s movie “Warrior.” They cannot have kids.

On the day they are told this, they fill a box with all of their wishes and dreams for what their kid would be like: he would be kind, gentle, musical inclined and would score the winning goal in a game at school. And they bury this box, filled with these pieces of paper, in the garden outside of their home.

That’s when the magic happens. Soon, a child is born — Timothy Green. He has leaves on his ankles and is about 10 years old. They are not quite sure what to make of him but it appears their dreams have come true. They finally have a kid, one with all the qualities they wrote down on paper.

In short, he will change their lives, as most parents would attest their children do.

Magic and fantasy rule and drive this movie. Timothy (CJ Adams) is wonderful, innocent and great to watch on screen.

As with most movies, there is the suspension of disbelief. “Odd Life” utilizes that perfectly. And great movies, like last summer’s “Super 8,” tell ordinary tales with extraordinary circumstances.

The plot is not quite perfect but this is a great family movie, thanks to director Peter Hedges (“What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”). Audiences will laugh and cry. There is also a wonderful performance by Shohreh Aghdashloo (“House of Sand and Fog”).

/ 5

Official trailer:

Rated PG for mild thematic elements and brief language.

Read more: STAR @ the movies

Toledo Free Press Lead Designer and Film Editor James A. Molnar blogs about all things Oscar at TheGoldKnight.com. Watch him discuss movies on “WNWO Today” around 5:50 a.m. on Fridays.

Tags: Disney, fall, Film, James A. Molnar, jennifer garner, Joel Edgerton, Magic, Movies, odd life of timothy green, review, The Gold Knight

This entry was posted on Friday, September 14th, 2012 at 7:36 am and is filed under Arts and Life, Film, Star, The Gold Knight.
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Magician Andrew Martin started teaching his son, Eli Portala, magic tricks at the age of 2. Now 14, Eli is competing against Martin in the “Toledo’s Got Talent” contest. Both have made it to the top eight, prior to the Oct. 16 show where two more contestants will be eliminated.

Eli chose to compete with his newly developed knife juggling act instead of his traditional magic show.

“Three years and no social life — you can do things like that,” Eli said in his audition tape, where he deftly handled three large knives the size of his arm.

“Toledo’s Got Talent” airs on WNWO at 7:30 p.m. Saturdays. The winner will be announced on the Nov. 13 show.

No stranger to the spotlight, Eli began performing as soon as he started learning tricks.

“My father sat me in front of the TV and played magic videos and that got me started,” Eli said. “And then after that, when I was 3, I did a magic trick onstage and everybody loved it … and now I’m here.”

Eli performed his first magic shows on his front porch at the age of 4. Mom Melissa Portala recalled how her son would wave to cars driving by so he could show off his tricks.

“One day I looked out and there were these teenagers in the yard, a car stopped and they got out. They were probably college students and I just freaked,” Portala said. “My neighbor wanted him to come over and do a show for her friends, and I was like, ‘He’s 4!’ Eli said he’d charge $2.02 for the show. And that was really his first paid show.”

“I learned from video tapes, and then my dad helped me, told me if I was doing it right or not,” Eli said. “Sometimes if I want to learn a trick I’ll go downstairs and he’ll direct me to the right book, because we have a massive bookshelf with tons of magic books. He’s helped me a lot.”

Locally, Eli performs magic tricks at restaurants with his dad and does birthday parties. Eli explained the different levels of magic tricks that he’s progressed through, from doing rope and card tricks to making a box of doves disappear.

“My first trick was making a cane disappear,” Eli said. “I came home one day from preschool and it was my birthday and they got me [the cane]. I was excited, because I saw it on TV.”

His first big show was in August 2002 at the age of 6, when he won first place at the world famous Abbott’s Magic Get-Together in Colon, Mich.

“We put together all the tricks that he was good at, one of which was the disappearing canes, which is a very difficult trick because it requires a lot of manual dexterity and he could do it two-handed, with two,” Portala said. “We were so shocked. They called his name, and we just went crazy.”

Eli has transformed his six-minute act into a 30-minute show, both of which have received national awards. Because of his age, Eli has a hard time remembering some of his earliest and biggest performances.

“I remember them announcing my name at Abbott’s when I was sitting in the back,” Eli said. “I was 7! All I remember is big rooms with lots of people.”

“It’s been kind of sad, because a few years ago he still remembered his first huge wins and Vegas show,” Portala said. “He got a standing ovation.”

The International Brotherhood of Magicians lowered its age limit from 12 to 10 so that Eli could compete among adults, which he also went on to win.

Tags: Andrew Martin, Eli Portala, Entertainment, Magic

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 17th, 2010 at 1:05 pm and is filed under Arts and Life, Family Fun.
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