You're never too old to really live.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a movie of hope and dreams. It's a feel-good movie that demonstrates life doesn't end when we get older. Characters are challenged to follow their hearts and defy familial and social expectations. Others decide it's a great time to begin a whole new life...in India.

The story reminds us that change can be a good thing, and that making the best of a bad situation really is the preferably choice. For one, returning to India means fulfilling a life-long search for love and redemption. It is a heartwarming story full of great lines. Dev Patel's character as the young hotel manager says it best, "Everything will turn out fine in the end. If everything is not fine; it's not the end!"

The scenes in India made me realize that I am not interested in going there anytime soon. I don't know how that country really is, but the streets were crowded, noisy and chaotic. One character just could not adjust and had to get out. I don't know if I'd be like her if I were faced with living in that environment for the rest of my days. But the remaining characters found comfort and purpose amidst the chaos, and those discoveries made for a well-rounded, very sweet film. Larry and I both liked it very much. I don't consider it necessarily a "big screen" movie, so nothing would be lost by watching it through Pay-Per-View or Netflicks on the small screen. Do see it, though, if you haven't already. It will make you smile and feel good when you walk out of the theater.

One of the fun parts of seeing this movie for me was going to the Jane Pickens Theater in Newport, RI. This building has been around for over one hundred seventy years and has been a theater for over ninety of those years. Walking into the foyer was like returning to the movie theaters of my childhood: old buildings with one screen in a huge room full of comfy seats. By the end of the movie, I didn't even smell the mustiness anymore that so insulted my nose when we first sat down. I felt like we were sitting in Grandma's attic. It was charming.

There was only one preview of the soon-to-be-released movie, Moonrise Kingdom, shot in Rhode Island, specifically here in Tiverton and on Prudence Island off of Bristol. The rest were commercials about Newport and the America's Cup Race coming back here on June 23rd. We also learned that Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) has designed a complete renovation of this building; combining its historic features with a contemporary twist. I don't know the plan for this renovation or the timeframe, but if it happens, it will give a new facelift to an already wonderful old gal.