Life Sucks (Then a Guardian Angel Shows up to Tell You You're Wrong), Then you Die Happy.

     After viewing two movies, It's a Wonderful Life and The Family Man, I conclude that the two have many some similarities. Some of the similarities are told up-front and some are going to need explaining. Let us begin with The Family Man. (SPOILERS AHEAD!)

     In The Family Man, Jack Campbell is a stock broker at a big firm in NYC and has tons of money. He also has a Ferrari and a fancy apartment. Jack believes that he has everything, but it all changes when he has a run in with a mysterious man at a convenience store. The mysterious man, named Cash, questions Jack on his life views and Jack tells him he is wrong. When Jack falls asleep that same night, he wakes up in a whole other life. His new life has himself married to his college girlfriend Kate, living in a townhouse in New Jersey, working at his father-in-laws tire store, and with two kids. Jack is scared and demands his old life back which he knows Cash took from him, but has to deal with this "Glimpse" of what could have been until he learns his lesson. After awhile, Jack learns to love his new life and wishes it could stay, but Cash has to send him back and when Jack gets back to his old life, he immediately goes to find Kate. Jack and Kate then go out for coffee and begin to rekindle their old relationship.

     This movie teaches you that money isn't everything. Though that is a corny and typical lesson, this movie takes it farther. It says that money is good, but it isn't everything in life. You must also have love and friends and not obsess over your work. Jack told himself that he didn't need Kate and all was good. Wrong! Jack needed Kate because he still loved her. One other thing, Cash. He doesn't say this, but he was an angel. That sounds dumb, but how else do you explain the things he could do? This is the biggest similarity between these two movies and it's the angel that gives the main character's their life "Glimpses". Next film.

     In It's a Wonderful Life, George Baily leads a life of adventure. He plans to go around the world for The National Geographic Society and ends up canceling due to his Father's death. As a result of said death, George takes control of his father's savings & loan building for the local town. Everyone is happy with the work George does and so is George. The job grows and George and eventually he meets Mary. Mary is a girl from George's childhood and she has always loved him. After some rough moments (non-sexual) she and George fall in love and get married. The local Nazi, I mean business man Mr. Potter has been trying to take the savings & loan for years and steps up his game after George starts a family because of the wealth needs George suddenly has. George puts up a good fight but after having some kids, things don't look so good. It's George's Uncle Billy who ruins it all after losing the bank payments. George says to himself "FML" and contemplates suicide. Suddenly, George's guardian angel, Clarence, saves George and shows him what life would be like without him. George sees the error of his ways and goes home. Upon returning home, the town's people lend help with the financial problems of the Baily Family and evryone has a good time.

     This movie teaches you that no matter how bad life seems, you are important to all those who matter in your life in some way. A life without you would be a different place altogether and you are needed for some good reason. Obviously a more powerful message but a important one non the less. This movie is considered The Fmily Man's predecessor and I agree. Both have strong messages and teach you things. I prefer It's a wonderful Life. I prefer it because it has more to it and is deeper in meaning. Plus, it's the original and you can't fight that. I still like The Family Man though so don't get mad.



Merry Christmas and enjoy my picture!

Film and 9/11: Making Sense of it! (conspiracies not included)

     9/11 has always been a terrible tragedy. Many mourned and asked "Why?". Even after more than a decade, people still feel the aftermath (which confuses me because Pearl Harbor was worse and we don't mark that on our calendars every year, but I digress). Two movies that show the effects of 9/11 well are Reign Over Me and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Let's begin with the first one. Spoilers will be everywhere so read at your own risk.

     In Reign Over Me, Alan Johnson (Don Cheadle) is a dentist who tries to help his old collage friend Charlie Fineman (Adam Sandler)overcome his unhealthy grief. The grief is caused by Charlie losing his whole family (Wife and 3 Daughters ages 5, 7 and 9) in 9/11. They were passengers on one of the planes that hit.

     Alan begins to rekindle his friendship with Charlie because he needs friends, but starts to see Charlie's problem. Afterwards, Alan does all he can to help him. Charlie's condition however is so bad that whenever you attempt (or Charlie thinks you attempted) to talk about his family or 9/11, he loses it. Charlie proceeds to yell and break things because he doesn't want to talk about his family. He claims to "not remember" in an attempt to push it away. Eventually, Alan's psychologist friend Angela Oakhurst(Liv Tyler)attempt to help Charlie and in time got Charlie to tell his story, to Alan.

     This movie shows a perfect representation of an average 9/11 victim who needs more help that you might think. It shows how outside sources attempt to get involved, and fail. It even gives an example of when they give up and want suicide. Next, another good 9/11 film.

     In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn) goes on a quest to find the lock that fits a key he found in his father's old belongings. His father, Thomas Schell(Tom Hanks), died in the World Trade Center during 9/11 and Oskar never got over it. When the key was found, however, all that changed. Oskar felt closer to his father that ever after his death because he felt that when he found the matching lock, he will feel closure. Oskar has only the name "Black" to go on for his hunt.

     With the help of an old man known only to Oskar as "The Renter"(Max Von Sydow), who later turns out to be Oskar's Grandfather, Oskar goes on a quest for over 3 months to find the owner but fails. When Oskar does learn of the owner, who was William Black(Jeffrey Wright), Oskar gives him the key but is disappointed beyond relief due to there being no real closure at the end. Oskar does open up to William about some things that bothered him about his father's death (including how Oskar didn't answer the phone when his father called). When Oskar gets home, he is full of sadness over how pointless his quest seemed. Thanks to his mom, Linda Schell(Sandra Bullock), Oskar learned that his mom could do the same cool adventures that he did with his father and that his mom was secretly helping him the whole time.

     In my opinion, both movies were amazing. Both showed great and strong sides of 9/11 and how victims coped with their losses. I liked Reign Over Me more due to it being a little more accurate in showing the typical 9/11 victim and having a slightly more powerful story. Again, my opinion so don't hate. I suggest that you watch both films though. Goodnight Everybody!

WWII and Steven Spielberg: The Points and Meanings from a Great Dude!

     Two of Spielberg's World War Two films, 1941 and Saving Private Ryan, are renowned and convey interesting points with each of them. However, both have totally different points because they are completely different movies but each does a great job of carrying them out. I'll start with 1941 because it is the most out there in terms of Spielberg WWII films and Spielberg film in general. Oh yeah, no Schindler's List today. Sorry!

     In the movie 1941, Spielberg exposes people to the Japanese scare in California during 1941 following the Pearl Harbor attack. Although the scare was real, Spielberg takes a comedic turn with his movie. But, did that make the message muddied and inaccurate? I don't believe it did! I think it exaggerates it to make the message clearer for the viewer. Spielberg exaggerates how Americans acted during that time to show us how we actually damage ourselves during times of fear and crisis almost more than those we are afraid of probably ever could. In real life, people were afraid and were worried that they would be attacked at any moment by Japan when Japan wasn't anywhere near California. In 1941, people feel the same but are represented as freaking out at every little thing and over reacting to all "possible" scenarios. One man turned his family car into a make-shift tank which his wife yells at him for. At a clothing store, two guys play an air raid siren in the bathroom and convince the customers at the store that the Japanese are attacking. Though people didn't do these things in the real life scare, it just goes to show that Spielberg's 1941 can give us a good idea of what we look like when fear takes control.

     (SPOILERS EVERYWHERE!!)In the movie Saving Private Ryan, Spielberg exposes people to an incredibly accurate WW2 Europe experience, starting with D-Day. Spielberg's message with this movie is more heart wrenching and easier to notice. Eight US Army Rangers embark on a priority mission to rescue a lone paratrooper named Pvt. James Francis Ryan. Ryan lost all three of his brothers(two of them in D-Day, one a few weeks before in the Pacific) and has been given a ticket home. (SPOILER!)The Rangers are mad that they have to risk their lives for one man but their Captain assures them that if saving Ryan and sending him home gets he himself[Captain Miller] one step closer to going home then that's his mission. And when they find Ryan(SPOILER!)after the Rangers had lost 2 men, Ryan chooses to stay saying that even though he lost his three brothers he isn't ready to abandon the brothers he has left. That moment is when Spielberg tells you about the strong brotherhood and devotion that came with soldiers in WW2 and how no matter what they didn't ever abandon each other.(SPOILER!) One more thing, as Miller is dying, he tells Ryan "earn this". When Ryan is at the age of about 70, he visits Miller's grave in Arlington and tells him all he has done and shows him his family. (SPOILER!) Ryan's wife asks him about Miller and Ryan responds with a question. He asks if he lived a great life and if he is a good man. His wife responds yes giving Ryan satisfaction that he achieved Miller's final order. Spielberg literally created a meaningful tear jerker with this scene. Ryan fulfilled devoted his life to ensuring that those Rangers didn't die in vain and towards his end, he earned it. The message of this film is that every life counts and another point, which was once said by Private Upham, "Theirs is not to reason why, theirs is but to do or die" (your duty as a soldier).

     Well, that's that. Goodnight everybody, my fingers are a little tired. Not really I am just tired. If I bored you then look at this...

               

Black Directors and White Directors: Same Intention, Different Outcome!

     Movies about race are highly detailed and intended to get the viewer to be moved. Common sense would say, "A movie about African Americans had to have been made by an African Director". That is not true.

     For example, let's look at the movie Glory by Edward Zwick. Zwick is white and the movie is about an all black army regiment, the 54th Massachusetts. The colonel of the regiment is white and it is told through his point of view. The movie touched well on the treatment of blacks in the army and how well of fighters they turned out to be. But would it be a better story if told by a black director?

     In my opinion, it would be different, to an extent. The central focus would likely change depending on the directors ethnicity but the general idea would be the same. It's all about why the movie is being made that sets up how the movie will play out. If you look at Spike Lee's film Do the Right Thing, It looks at the life of a Brooklyn street corner and the people living there. There are racial issues, culture aspects, the lifestyle of the lower class and many other things in the movie. Would it be the same if done by a white director? Possibly, if that director was from Brooklyn. Lee is from Brooklyn and I think that is what made the movie so powerful, not race.

     Race isn't the only thing that determines how a movie can turn out. Where they are from, how were they raised, political views, even gender can play a role on how a movie turns out.

     Anyway the point is this, race can play a role in this area and so can other little details. But, as long as the director has good intentions and motivation to get things right, then the movie will be greatly accurate and just as good at representing whatever it is that is being represented if the other guy had made it.

     Sadly that isn't the case with most Hollywood directors because things end up twisted and inaccurate just for the sake of $money$. I hate people sometimes...

Why so Racist? It's Just a Game!

     Sports play a big role in racism. This should be obviously shown in history. With integration and segregation making its way to the field or court many famous events ended up conjuring. Jackie Robinson, the legendary Titans, Texas Western, all resulted from sports and racism crossing paths. In the end sports ended up winning and I'll say why. Let's slow down a second and look back. First a question, Do sports help with racism?

     Yes, sports help with racism. Why? because they break down the barriers between races by establishing common ground. The common ground here is to play the game. Baseball, Football, Basketball, whatever. The love of the sport and the goal to win is what eventually got whites and blacks to put aside their differences and accept each other as teammates and players rather than white-guy and black-guy. Some people didn't completely end their racial prejudice in sports after this idea though. Some merely tucked it away for the sake of the game and when the game is done, they are back to racism. However, players like that wouldn't last long and would either be kicked off the team or scolded by their teammates for so long they left on their own. One movie, 42 about Jackie Robinson, showed most of Jackie's teammates not being prejudiced at all. The ones who were got traded almost in no time. Some players would even warm up to their black teammates and renounce their racist ideals. This is seen in the movie Remember the Titans between the black team captain and the white captain who were at each other's throats and after awhile became best friends. Sports were one of the best methods out there to kill away racism.

     Another big question is "Do sports have a responsibility to establish a moral high ground?" Absolutely! When being on a team with others, you have an obligation to love and respect each other like a second family with the coaches as your parents. And when the players get out of line and begin to be an issue, the coach gets strict and punishes. In the movie Glory Road, the coach was really hard on his players, both black and white. When they felt prejudiced or wanted to quit for having to be with blacks, he would get on them and discipline. He wouldn't be physical but would instead motivate and remind them of what they are giving up for doing something so dumb.

     Racism and sports have a strong love-hate relationship. Their marriage has lasted a long time and there were many divorce scares, but together they stand to this day. Movies do a good job of showing the relationship and remind us of the great things that we can all accomplish if we just end racism. We are all human first and there should be no second or third on skin color or sex. Sports tell us all that and many need to listen, or we all might as well give up living.

     Man that was depressing! Just don't be racist people. Come on now when the aliens come we will all have to unite anyway. Let's get a head start and unite as one!

Holding Out for a Hero, with a bowl of popcorn !

     Movies and the hero archetype, oh how they never go away. There will always be a guy going on a quest to save his lover (imagine a creepy old guy with a scruffy beard and a comb over and a hoarse voice say that word slowly, it's funny). Maybe he's trying to save his home, or to get revenge, or even trying to find knowledge, etc.. We have watched many movies that cover these ideas mainly because it is seen so much and it is a great theme. An incredible movie that fits this archetype (that we watched in class) is Star Wars: A New Hope.

     In star wars, Luke Skywalker is the hero and he's on a journey with his friend Obi-Wan Kenobi, the droids C-3PO and R2-D2, and their guides Han Solo and Chewbacca. The journey was to bring the droids to Alderaan along with Obi-Wan for Princess Leia. However they get captured and brought to the Death Star because the Empire destroyed Alderaan. Turns out the Princess is a prisoner on the space station and Luke, Han, and Chewbacca decide to free her and escape. Later Obi-Wan gets killed(though it was more lie suicide as you learn in Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back) and everybody flees to the moon of Yavin 4 where there is a rebel base. Luke and a bunch of Rebel fighter pilots attack the station and eventually blow it up(with  help from Han and Chewbacca who do a drive-by on Darth Vader with the Millennium Falcon).

     As you can see from my half-assed summery of star wars 4 you can make connections between the archetype of heroes and the movie. Luke is the hero, Leia is the damsel in distress, Darth Vader is your villain, destroying the Death Star is the mission and the droids are the comic relief. There are more connections but I am tired so I will stop here. Have a nice day and prepare the ship for LUDACRIS SPEED! Aw crap that's a parody my bad, gotta love Spaceballs.

Someone has some Daddy issues!

     Upon watching several movies about Fathers and their sons longing for their love (holy crap this makes me sound like a sissy), I have been tasked with writing about what two movies connect with the types of fathers out there. Shall we begin?[SPOILER ALERT]

     The movie Smoke Signals had a strong Father-Son aura emitting from it. The protagonist Victor Joseph lost his dad when he was a boy because he left after being a total drunk and abusive(for lack of a term capable of grasping the type of person)douche. Now, Victor is a self loathing punk who upon learning of his fathers death goes to get his stuff in Arizona with his want to be homie Thomas who is so obnoxious he makes me want to watch The View. The type of issue Victor faces is FATHER HUNGER. Victor doesn't really realize it but he wants his fathers love(if your head is in the gutter then that last part sounds hilarious!)and his mom knows it too. When he was a kid he would wait for his father to come home, even though he was gone forever. Luckily he and Thomas become bros and the need of a father is replaced with a makeshift brother. Not an improvement if you ask me because Thomas is a weirdo and a 1/2.

     Another good movie was Click. This one was flipped and it was more of a Son-Father ordeal. However there was still issues between Michael and his kids. The issue here was FATHER THE PROVIDER. Michael is so focused on getting his work done and getting his promotion that he has no time for his family. Later he realizes that by neglecting his kids they became semi-deviant and he loses his wife but that's irrelevant. Thanks to the "universal remote" Michael gets from Morty, a.k.a. The Angel of Death, Michael can see the errors of his ways and get better as a father.

     Father-Son movies are alright and can be kind of entertaining. They are decent guides for men who want to be better fathers and for kids looking for assistance. And people have the nerve to say you can't learn from movies!

Road to Perdition: Much Noire, So Wow!

     Road to Perdition is modern film noire, case closed. What? Confused that I didn't give an argument? I shouldn't have to because you should all realize this. To be noire you need to have a dark eerie feeling to the film, deadly ladies, death, smoking, booze, and fedoras. That may not be the exact definition of film noire but it is mine. Don't like it, too biased? Well that's too bad I'm sticking to it!

     Road to Perdition has a great dark feeling, that is obvious. It rains for at least 30% of the film and at key parts where rain would make the moment more intense. Another thing that adds to the dark feeling of the film is the title. Perdition means "Eternal Damnation" and almost every one who dies in this film in someway deserves damnation for what they did.

     Those who die in Road to Perdition that deserve damnation are everybody except Annie Sullivan and Peter Sullivan who died to signal the beginning of the journey. When they died Mike Sullivan and Michael Sullivan had to leave and run because they were no longer safe and their time on the road was their time on the road to perdition. Everyone else who died was damned from the start because they were killers, fraudsters, druggies, criminal masterminds and full on psychopaths. This includes (not chronologically seen) Mr. Rooney, Conner Rooney, that guy in the gentleman's club, gentleman's club guy's guard, those dudes in the warehouse full of barrels of booze, freaky camera assassin, feminine bank guy in bridal suite, Mr. Rooney's body guards,  and that's all I can remember. However, there is one more person I didn't mention, Mike Sullivan himself! After all he has done he deserves to die right? He fulfilled his mission to keep his son out of the gang life and died doing it because that was the icing on the please-don't-be-a-dirty-killer-like-your-old-man cake. Such a touching film.

     Sadly, I can't think of any deadly ladies in Road to Perdition, but there are plenty of booze and smoking. Many gangsters in the film have cigars and drink whiskey. Lastly, fedoras! 96% of men in this film have a fedora on and dress in  snazzy coats and suits. The ladies even have snazzy clothes from the swaggin 1930s.

     I think I've proved this movie is film noire and if I didn't, well it still is because any person in the right mind can see it. I suddenly have a craving for bacon; I want bacon, bye bye!

Deeds on Deeds Action!

     I have just watched two movies, one a remake of the other. Though it isn't a direct remake of the other. These movies are Mr. Deeds goes to town and Adam Sandler's Mr. Deeds. I am a big Adam Sandler fan and I have never seen the original Mr. Deeds so I may be biased but I'll try to put my personal feelings aside. I will take a look at the differences and similarities and see which movie was just better, though I think the outcome will be obvious.

     Lets take a look at the older Deeds first. For an old movie I kind of liked it. It had exceptional humor, good acting and overall feel to the movie. It seemed longer than the Sandler version as well. It was more serious than the Sandler version meaning the humor was more dry. This was anticipated though because the movie was made in 1932 which is a whole different era. The general story is that Deeds inherited a ton of money fro his dead uncle and a company that is very big. While in the big city Deeds meets this girl who he likes but is an undercover reporter publishing bad stories about him. While trying to enjoy New York City he ends up doing some unlikable things which only make him look worse such as hopping onto fire engines and punching popular figures and feeding donuts to a horse.

     Now for the Adam Sandler version. This movie is from 1998 which is  more modern. This version has a story that is simply a reskinned version of the old one while retaining the intended feel. Deeds inherits a ton of money and a big company from his uncle and goes to New York city and meets  girl.  Deeds in this movie also does some bad things that make him look bad but they were much more worse in here. He still hopped on a fire engine, egged cars, and partied with random people. Sandler also punched some popular people in this movie too but also through them into tables and beat way harder than Cooper did. The girl in this version was still an undercover reporter but was with a news station rather than a newspaper (difference in era). She still published bad stories on Deeds though. Any way Sandler's comedy is much more modern which ends up creating a different style of movie while still keeping the old movie feel by retaining much of the old story.

     Which do I like better? Adam Sandler because of my own reasons but just to seem unbiased I'll toss so e things out. I grew up on Sandler, his form of comedy is more my style being from the late 90s  and not the early 30s, and it had a more enjoyable take on a good story. Don't get me wrong I still like the old one but I just like the newer one more. And Winona Ryder is good looking but that's beside the point, I'm a 90s guy!

Altering Time, in a DeLorean!

     Today, we're discussing time travel, specifically from the classic movie Back to the Future. Marty altered some stuff like an idiot, but made things better in the end. What did he change? Well he changed his parents and siblings, Biff, Hill Valley, his home, Doc, a lot really. Lets start things off shall we?


     When Marty first arrives in 1955 he is in Old Man Peabody's tree farm. He is here because Twin Pines Mall will someday be built there in the future. When Marty is being shot at by Mr. Peabody because his kid convinced him Marty is an alien (stupid hillbilly), he flees in the DeLorean and runs over one of Peabody's Pine trees. When Marty goes back to 1985, he runs to Twin Pines Mall to stop the Libyans and what do we see? The Twin Pines Mall sign, but changed! It now says Lone Pines Mall because Marty killed one of the trees fleeing at the beginning of the film.


     Marty's family was super broken and poor and down right boring at first. Once Marty goes back to 1955, he begins to change his parent's personalities. Marty's Dad, George, was a complete sissy until Marty slowly raised his self-esteem by teaching him to talk to chicks, to defend himself, to publish his novels because they're good. Then his dad goes Super Saiyan and hits Biff! Now he's a happy, wealthy, good father and husband. Same goes for his mom, Loraine. Marty convinces her that she shouldn't drink and smoke while in 1955. Then when Marty goes back to 1985, she isn't fat and an alcoholic but is thin, good looking and doesn't drink or smoke. These changes even slightly alter Marty's siblings. His brother goes from a fast food worker to business man and his sister goes from plain nerd to popular chick.


     Two more things, Doc and Biff. Biff was the guy who walked all over George and made him his slave. Once Marty changes the future, Biff goes from the big guy to working for George by waxing his car. Doc also changes by, well, not dying because he heeded Marty warnings.


     That's all I hope this was fun because I love Back to the Future and its fun to talk about. Oh I almost forgot, SPOILER ALERT! Is it too late?