Little Manhatten (2005)

(I couldn't find a poster I liked)

MIMDB score: 6.8
Current IMDB score: 7.6
Director: Mark Levin
Main Actors you care about: Josh Hutcherson, the red-head from Sex and City.

Why I liked it: The boy's inner thoughts are too exact to my own life not to review this movie.  I don't like admitting that I think like this boy but I do. An adult wrote it so it's not exactly like I think like a little boy.  Too many times in the movie I said to myself "Yep, that's what it feels like."

What stands out: It's in New York?  That's cool if you like New York.  It's not a great movie.  I doubt it should be as high as 7.6.  It's just a cute, interesting, and child-likeish view on love.  Then again I don't believe children think childish thoughts.  Children just don't have the experience or wisdom adults do.  They can be just as smart (and smarter) as adults in some cases.

What I Would Change (if anything): It is what it is.  Child acting isn't great so don't focus on that.  You just have to view this is a nice little romantic comedy since that's what it is (Little Manhattan).

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:
Gabe: Where's the whole wish you can come to the wedding? Where's that Rosemary? The Rosemary i loved? Not this alien with her crazy weekend. You're new sparing partner is he coming to the wedding?
Rosemary: What Tim?
Gabe: Oh is that what you call him? Are you calling him after you call me?
Rosemary: What are you talking about?
Gabe: I'm talking about you and Tim Staples sitting in a tree K.I.S.S.I.N.G first comes love then comes marriage then comes Tim Staples in a baby carriage.
Rosemary: You sound crazy you know that?
Gabe: Why don't you have time this weekend?
Rosemary: I'm sorry Gabe i haven't even started packing.
Gabe: You know what? I hate you!
Rosemary: What?
Gabe: I hate you! Why do you even care? I hate you!
Rosemary: Well i hate you too!
Gabe: I hate you more!
Rosemary: How can you say something so mean? I hate you!

It pains me to realize more often than not I'm acting like a child in love whenever I'm in love.  It's really hard when your feelings are on the line.  It's so hard to start a romantic relationship.  So many things have to be in place I feel like.  Really it should be easy but the start never is.  It's always easy in my mind anyway.  It just never comes out or ends up that way.  There's too many things to think about and mess me up and too many unknowns in the other person.

Rosemary: But I thought you hate me.
Gabe: I don't. I lied.
Gabe: [thinking] I wasn't gonna be like my father. I wasn't gonna let all these things left unsaid smother me.
Gabe: Rosemary, I love you.
Rosemary: You what?
Gabe: I do. I'm sorry, but I love you more than anyone's ever loved. I love you, I love you, I love you.
Gabe: [thinking] How's that for letting it all hang out there? And hang, and hang, and hang.
Gabe: You think you might wanna love me, too?
Rosemary: I don't know what I think, Gabe, I'm only 11. I don't think I'm ready to be in love.
Gabe: I'm not ready and I'm doing it!
Rosemary: Maybe I was wrong, maybe girls don't mature faster.
Gabe: No they do, they do, you know they do. You even said so at the park. We at least mature at the same rate.
Rosemary: I don't know what mature is anymore, but I'm really happy you came. Do you want to dance, Gabe?
Gabe: Sure, what the hell.

"I do. I'm sorry. but I love you . . . ."  I hate having to apologize that you are in love with someone.  The person on the other end of it should be so freaking happy that they could inspire anyone to love them.  It doesn't happen often from my experience.  Cherish it when you can inspire it in others.   Even if you don't feel it back.  It's still a rare event in your life.

"I don't know what mature is anymore"  Yea thinking and having opinions on things seems so stupid.  Things change way to fast in life. Things are so grey it's insane.  What happens in one case won't happen in another.  Love is not like physics.  There's no laws in love, only theories.  Theories that don't even hold up for every person on Earth.  It's crazy.

"I've been in love for two and half weeks and it's a pain I wouldn't wish on my worst enemies."
Unfortunately that's how you sure fire way know you are or were in love.

Leslie: Maybe not everything is supposed to last forever. Certain things are like... like... skywriting. Like, like, like a really beautiful thing that lasts for a couple moments and then... You know?
Gabe: [cries] Mommy!
Leslie: I know, honey. Love sucks.
Gabe: Yeah.

Anything people say when you are in "love pain" doesn't really help I feel like.

Gabe: [practicing in the mirror] Hey Rosemary. Hey there, pretty lady. How's it goin, girl? Hey, Rosemary Telesco.
This scene is pretty funny and cute.

All of the following quotes I've thought before in every relationship I've been in (or close to have been in):
Gabe: What choice did I have but to return to my old, miserable life? Wait a minute. You were happy. Oh, please! I was miserable. I just didn't know how miserable I was.
____
Gabe: Look at me. I can bounce back. I don't need some girl in my life for me to happy.
____
Gabe: There are very few things more painful than watching the woman you love grapple with another man. Actually, I take that back. There are no things more painful.
____
Gabe: See, life is about so much more than Rosemary. I had my family, my health, my kicking career. I really had no room for a woman in my life.
____
Gabe: [thinking] My first date. The big spender. Häagen-Dazs all the way, baby. So, how come I have nothing to say to her. Why isn't she looking at me? Am I that hideous? Do I Smell?
Gabe: You um come here often?
Rosemary: Central Park?
Gabe: Um, yeah.
Gabe: [thinking] What kind of question is that? I hate myself.
____
Gabe: This was no time for small talk. It was time to lay things on the table. To reach through the phone line and dig deep into that woman's soul.
____
Gabe: I had no idea what she was thinking she was this total mystery to me. Did I want to kiss Rosemary Telesco? Yes I guess I did. I wanted to more than anything on Earth.
Gabe: Do you want some Gatorade?
Gabe: Who was I kidding anyway? Was I really going to kiss her? I mean come on she's eleven, I'm ten well ten and three quarters actually.

Similar Movies/TV Shows: Flipped, Bridge to Terabithia, and My Girl maybe?

"Side" note: I think it's safe to say girls develop faster than boys.  They hit puberty earlier which is proven and that's in general of course. Maturity is probably about even.  There are articles like this though that will say girls mature up to ten years faster than boys.  Maybe like the worst boy compared to the best girl.  I'm guessing if you do the same comparison the other way you probably will find a similar difference in age.  Either way it's probably not that big of a deal that one sex matures faster than another because "we are all fools in love."

The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

MIMDB score: 8.1
Current IMDB score: 7.9
Director: Gabriele Muccino
Main Actors you care about: Will Smith, Thandie Newton, Jaden Smith

Why I liked it: It's just another person to look up to in life.  Will Smith's character struggles like most people dream they do.  Whenever he says things like "this part of my life, this part right here" I get really happy.  I do that so often in my life since watching the movie.  "This part of my life, this part right here is called going to weddings." That's currently where I'm at in my life.  I'm sure whenever the next step starts, I'll say something similar to myself.  It's a good way to zoom out and view my life in the third person.

What stands out: Will Smith.  He did fantastic.

What I Would Change (if anything): I wish the mom wouldn't have left.  I get it, life is hard and you aren't strong enough to handle it.  That's lame though.  Every life has good in it.  You really need to see that by the time you have kids.  Maybe she was going through something but I don't think he was being that awful of a person or that the situation was that awful before she left.  It got worse after she left of course partly because she left.  Maybe I'm being too hard on her but I feel like she should have stayed with the family but I wasn't in her shoes so I guess I can't be too hard on her.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:
"It was right then that I started thinking about Thomas Jefferson on the Declaration of Independence and the part about our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And I remember thinking how did he know to put the pursuit part in there? That maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue and maybe we can actually never have it. No matter what. How did he know that?"
Fantastic.  Most people are never fully happy.  They are always not quite there and always in pursuit of it though.  This might just be personal bias but I believe that is true.  You might get there for a short period of time but then time will go by and things will change and you won't be fully happy again.  What the quote is getting at is you will always be in pursuit of happiness.  The title's misspelling indicates this.  Happyness is in the title but it's supposed to be spelled: happiness.  It's so close but it's still pursing to become happiness.  I maybe reading into it but I like to think that's what they intended to do with that misspelling.

I think it's okay not be truly happy because it's like perfection.  Perfection is great to think about but it's not obtainable.  It is unequivocally healthy to pursue perfection.  Giving up pursuit because you know perfection is not going to be obtained by you doesn't make sense.  

Christopher Gardner: Hey. Don't ever let somebody tell you... You can't do something. Not even me. All right?
Christopher: All right.
Christopher Gardner: You got a dream... You gotta protect it. People can't do somethin' themselves, they wanna tell you you can't do it. If you want somethin', go get it. Period.

I actually find this moment a little cheesy.  Mostly because I've heard something like this thousands of times.  Chase your dreams.  It's sad when good quotes don't do anything for you because you've already thought through or heard the idea a few dozen times.  I mentioned it because it's considered a really good moment in the movie and it kind of is.

Christopher: Hey dad, you wanna hear something funny? There was a man who was drowning, and a boat came, and the man on the boat said "Do you need help?" and the man said "God will save me". Then another boat came and he tried to help him, but he said "God will save me", then he drowned and went to Heaven. Then the man told God, "God, why didn't you save me?" and God said "I sent you two boats, you dummy!"

See if you've heard that before you won't like it as much.  It's well done in the movie because the kid delivers it well and the placement of it I think is great.

Similar Movies/TV Shows: Seven Pounds, Similar feeling from What Dreams May Come

"Side" note:  The world's current largest rubic's cube is 17x17x17.  I'm sure many people know the movie is based on the real life of Chris Gardner.  Less known is the real Chris Gardner walks past the fake Chris Gardner at the end of the movie.

Pride & Prejudice (2005)

MIMDB score: 7.8
Current IMDB score: 7.8
Director: Joe Wright
Main Actors you care about: Keira Knightly, Rosamund Pike, Jena Malone, Carey Mulligan, Donald Sutherland, Matthew Macfadyen

Why I liked it:
One of the few movies I could watch on repeat.  I would love to say this is higher than a 7.8 but I can't do it.  I don't think everyone lives in a world where love is the most important thing in life.  If you don't find stories of the agony of falling in love insanely interesting then you'll find this movie boring.  If you do find love insanely interesting then you'll find this this movie fantastic.  The book is one of the best books written about the loveliness of falling in love. This version of the movie is in my opinion the best version.

What stands out: It's beautiful.  The music is perfect.  The scenes are spectacular.  The acting is spectacular.  The cast was fantastic.  It is so very good.

I can not stress enough that I love the witty banter between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth.  That might be my favorite part of love.  It's well done in this movie and makes me smile every time it happens in the movie.

What I Would Change (if anything): Sorry, I can't think of anything.  It's so very meaningful.  It makes me feel so good just watching the opening credits.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:
Hmmmm, where to begin.  I want to watch the first proposal scene over and over.  It's so wonderful.  That's where I'd like to propose if I ever propose to someone and it was up to me where it happened.  I know Elizabeth said no there but doesn't matter because the setting is so amazing.  The second proposal scene is just a regular scene for me.  It's nice and all and the lighting is fantastic and his words are fantastic but it doesn't have the extreme emotion that's in the first proposal.

The dance scene where everyone else fades away and it's just Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth.  I think that's been done before even in dancing scenes but it was the first time I saw it in a movie and it added to the scene a lot.  Reminds of The Fountain scene where he is walking down the street and doesn't hear anything besides his own footsteps.  The moments when everything else fads away and it's just you and maybe one other person are what life is about I feel like.

There is a tracking scene at a dance where Wickham is suppose to show up.  It's just one camera shot the whole time and you see what everyone is doing.  I really like that way shooting in general.  Especially when you have to show a lot of what people are doing in one scene.  This movie does that well.  There always seems to be a few things going on in one scene like this that you have to pay attention more than you would a normal scene.

Mr. Darcy: "I... do not have the talent of conversing easily with people I have never met before."
Elizabeth Bennet: "Perhaps you should take your aunt's advice and practice?"
One of my more favorite witty banter between the two.  I don't have the talent of conversing easily with people in general.

Elizabeth Bennet: I'm very fond of walking.
Mr. Darcy: Yes . . . yes I know.
These aren't thought provoking but they make me happy when I think about them.  He's so in love when he says his line here.

Elizabeth Bennet: "Only the deepest love will persuade me into matrimony, which is why I will end up an old maid."  Same with me except an old bachelor?  What's a old bachelor called? An old bastard probably.

Charlotte Lucas: "Not all of us can afford to be romantic, Lizzy."
This line kills me.  I understand in the past that Charlotte wouldn't have the ability to refuse a man per say but today I would hope no one would settle.  Settling is a hard thing to understand.  Do people know they are settling?  Is settling the same as what other people think it is.  Is that a rule that everyone should abide by?  Anytime you get married you probably settling in some format.  No one is perfect.  No relationship is perfect.  No two people line up like soul mates or whatever. Also your life isn't over until it's over.  You will not meet everyone you are going to meet till the end of your life.  You could meet someone better.  You don't know.  Because of that marriage is settling.  Marriage is not a terrible thing though.  How could settling be a terrible thing then?

Settling is just a mentality.  It's challenging to think about whether some one else is really settling or just looks like it.  I think with yourself that it's easy to feel if you are settling.  Therefore I trust people are not actually settling.  They could be settling in love because they want something else in life more.  For instance some people want kids more than they want love of a husband or wife.  Settling in love has to be okay because of that line of thought.  I just don't see myself settling in love.

Charlotte Lucas: "We are all fools in love."  Amen Charlotte.  I might even extend it to "We are all fools in life".  I haven't met anyone who knows what they were doing in life, let alone love.  People just get lucky and some people don't in life (and love).

Similar Movies/TV Shows: All the other Pride and Prejudice versions and remakes.  None of them are as good as this one though in my opinion.  Bronte sister movies: Jane Eyre (2006 version is best), Wuthering Heights.  Jane Austin's other novels that are decent movies: Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Mansfield Park.  Downtown Abbey probably.  None of these are as lovely as this version of Pride and Prejudice though.

"Side" note:  I think it's subtle in the movie but the youngest (Mary Bennet) is in love with Mr. Collins.  I didn't pick that up till I listened to the commentary.  They don't even mentioned it in this diagram.

Moneyball (2011)

MIMDB score: 7.7
Current IMDB score: 7.6
Director: Bennett Miller
Main Actors you care about: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright, Chris Pratt

Why I liked it:
I had a friend that once said you can't find anything meaningful in some sports like golf.  There's meaning in everything including boring sports.  This movie isn't about golf but it is about a boring sport like golf.  Baseball just like any other facet of life has meaning in it if you look for it.  There's a beautiful scene that I'll explain later that shows this.  There's meaning in everything.  You just need to look for it.

What stands out: Brad Pitt does fantastic.  That's not a surprise though.  Jonah Hill does really well here.  That is somewhat surprising since he hasn't done a role like this. Hats off to him.

What I Would Change (if anything): Sorry, I can't think of anything.  The movie is about baseball so it could be considered boring if you don't like baseball or sports.  You should really learn to enjoy as much as you can in life though.  Try not to have bias towards things and you'll find more things in life (like this movie) are amazing.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:
This scene is amazing.  Just watch it.  If you don't feel anything then you shouldn't be reading anything I'm writing.

The last scene of the movie is really meaningful as well. He's leaving Oakland to work for another team.  He's leaving his daughter behind who he loves a lot and she sang him this song earlier in the movie but he wanted her to record it for her.  As he's essentially leaving Oakland he plays the recording.  You can see he's just fighting tears the whole time.  "Life is a maze and love is a riddle."  It's just a really good moment for the end of a movie.  This guy struggled the whole time to do what he believed in and it kind of paid off but kind of didn't.  I don't know.  I just really like it and it made me feel good.

Billy Beane: "I know these guys. I know the way they think, and they will erase us. And everything we've done here, none of it'll matter. Any other team wins the World Series, good for them. They're drinking champagne, they get a ring. But if we win, on our budget, with this team... we'll have changed the game. And that's what I want. I want it to mean something."
That's what we should all be looking for in our own lives.  For things we are doing to mean something.

Similar Movies/TV Shows: Trouble with the Curve, Field of Dreams, Rudy, The Sandlot, and maybe even Cool Runnings.

"Side" note:
The girl that played the main character's daughter sang the song at the end of the movie during her audition.  The director liked it so much he put it in the movie.  The song was written in 2008 and the movie is set in 2001 so it threw off historical correctness.  He probably didn't care because it was so good.

What Dreams May Come (1998)

MIMDB score: 7.9
Current IMDB score: 7.0
Director: Vincent Ward
Main Actors you care about: Robin Williams and Cuba Gooding Jr.

Why I liked it:
I don't know why this movie doesn't have more than a 7.0.  It really should.  It's a highly thought provoking movie.  Heaven is such a insane topic and this movie's view on it is beautiful.  There's so many artistic scenic shots in this movie.  It also takes you a little bit through hell.

What stands out: Robing Williams did amazing.  He's good in most things he did around this time.  Robin's heaven is amazing.  Half paint and half reality is such a fantastic heaven.  I hope he's in something like this right now.

What I Would Change (if anything): Nothing comes to mind.  It's kind of slow which might be a turn off to some but it's fine.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:
Chris: "Thank you for every kindness. Thank you for our children. For the first time I saw them. Thank you for being someone I was always proud to be with. For your guts, for your sweetness. For how you always looked, for how I always wanted to touch you. God, you were my life. I apologize for every time I ever failed you. Especially this one..."
Anytime someone is being so loving it hurts it makes me feel so good.  I love this scene. For some reason sitting in a row of trees makes the scene that much better.

Albert: So what is the "me"?
Chris Nielsen: My brain I suppose.
Albert: Your brain ? Your brain is a body part. Like your fingernail or your heart. Why is that the part that's you?
Chris Nielsen: Because I have sort of a voice in my head, the part of me that thinks, that feels, that is aware that I exist at all.
Albert: So if you're aware you exist, then you do. That's why you're still here.
Everyone should take a philosophy class to better understand how to think.

Annie Nielsen: "A whole family lost to car crashes. Enough to make a person buy a bike."
I've always liked this line.

Annie Nielsen: "Dear Diary, I am writing in your bullshit pages because my shrink is crazier then I am. He thinks you're therapy. He figures if two babies can hammer me into a Psycho ward, what will I do with this? He is so stupid. He's so stupid that he thinks he pulled me through the breakdown when it was Christy. Always. Only Chris. I was looking through his postcards. Paintings were his obsession. He used art as another way to love me, to help me. To keep us always together."
I don't think I will ever go to a psychiatrist.  If you are at rock bottom it makes sense but I feel like most people just need a really good friend in life to make it through.  Just find someone that listens to you and helps you clarify your ideals and thoughts.  That's all talking to a psychiatrist will really do.  Everyone deals with similar bullshit.  Some people deal with more but however much bullshit you have to deal with you will make it seem worse than it is.  This will make it seem like your bullshit is just as bad as people going through real bullshit.  There are exceptions like people that need medication and those people should go to a psychiatrist.  I'm not talking to about people with real mental disorders.  If you are just going because you are really sad you just need to find a friend that will let you talk for hours and just talk all night.

Suicide doesn't make sense in non terminal cases.  Life can be really shitty at times.  By shitty I mean terrible.  It can also be pretty good at times.  By pretty good I mean amazing.  You have to get to the point where you can take the good and the bad and learn to be ok with both.  If you get really good at life you should be able to enjoy the terrible moments as well as the amazing ones.  They are both better than death.  Yes, I would be messed up for awhile if my family died.  Then after awhile I'd join the Peace Corps, a non-profit, or start a foster home. That way I could spend the rest of my life helping other people because I would believe my chance at happiness was gone.  Helping others get to happiness is a good plan B.  There's always something you can do with the hand you are dealt.  Folding should not be an option.

Similar Movies/TV Shows: The Lovely Bones, Although these are books: Dante's Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.

"Side" note:
When Robin Williams goes to the city in Heaven where people are flying around, watch for characters from Peter Pan and Mary Poppins.

Closer (2004)

MIMDB score: 7.1
Current IMDB score: 7.3
Director: Mike Nichols
Main Actors you care about: Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Julia Roberts, Clive Owen

Disclaimer: This is not a wholesome movie and therefore will not be a wholesome review.

Why I liked it:
This movie, along with a few other things, opened me up to the idea that there are wolves and there are sheep when it comes to relationships.  This movie is the world of the wolves.  As this movie shows wolves can't really control themselves.  Some can in Natalie Portman's case but most can't like in the other three main characters' cases.

If you are wolf I'm sorry.  I think you are more likely to have a life full of pain.  People can't help that they are wolves or sheep though so good luck with whatever you are.  I really don't know though how you could want to live in a world like Closer if given a choice.  These people treat each other so poorly it's absurd.  By the end of it I want to turn it off and not have to think about this world.  It's important though to see things differently than my own experience. Unfortunately this is probably more like life than what I believe life is and you have to be prepared for it.

What stands out: Natalie Portman is seductive in this movie.  That's the wolf in her.  I really liked Natalie Portman in this movie as well as anything she did before Black Swan.  After Black Swan it's like she was just taking jobs to pay the bills.  Hopefully that changes soon.

What I Would Change (if anything): I think Julia Roberts is a bad casting choice.  She didn't seem to fit I don't think.  All the rest played there part but I don't think she did that well.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:  "And so it is. Just like you said it would be."  I love the ending and beginning scenes. Damien Rice's song is perfect. It reminds me of a quote from What Dreams May Come.  “It’s just that when everybody’s dancing I feel like … I’m all alone … in a sea of faces.”

Dan: "This will hurt" . . . . Alice: "How? How does it work? How do you do this to someone?" Agreed.  Answer that question well and I'll give you a bajillion dollars.  How do you cheat on people?  It blows my mind every time I see it in movies and books or hear about it in real life.  How can anyone do that to someone they are suppose to be in total love with?

These are the reasons that google gave me.  The person they are cheating on is abusive and the cheater doesn't want to deal with more abuse, they are married and don't want to lose half of their stuff and/or kids, or having a big ego and needing people to love them outside of just there significant other.  I'll address all three of these.  Abusive: You are picking short term happiness over long term happiness.  If the person is abusive then fix that first, if it can't be fixed, leave before cheating.  You don't even need someone to cheat on to get out of that relationship.  If you get caught cheating think about about how much more abusive they would be than just leaving.  Marriage: I don't know, I can't comment too much on this as I'm not married.  I'd say stuff are just things.  If you can't do without material things you have right now then you need to re-evaluate your life.  Things are mostly meaningless.  Losing your kids though?  That can be really hard.  I don't know what to say in that situation.  Don't have kids if you have a wandering eye I guess.  That doesn't really help though as you can't control your feelings ten years down the road.  You just have to believe in commitment and your choice you have made of marrying that person.  Wait longer to get married?  That might be an understandable reason to cheat but it's still not a good reason because you should still not cheat.  You should wait until you are for sure you want to leave your spouse and eventually do that before cheating.  If you aren't a piece of shit you should still get to see your child(ren).  Your children can turn out fine even when you get divorced.  Cheating and then having your spouse hate you the rest of life might actually make the kids not fine.  Ego: This is not a good reason at all.  Learn to like yourself for other reasons than how many people you can have sex with in a given day. Sex is not everything in life.

Maybe it's just the sheep in me but I will never understand why cheating is acceptable.  Cheating means you don't care about the person.  It means you care less about the other person and more about your own selfish desires.  It's not like sheep don't have the same urge or same opportunity.  I don't want to hear that argument.  Sheep do have the same urge and opportunity but most sheep are able to control there actions.  Alice: "Oh, as if you had no choice? There's a moment, there's always a moment, 'I can do this, I can give into this, or I can resist it', and I don't know when your moment was, but I bet you there was one".  Most wolves give in and that makes them weak even though sheep are considered weak.  Maybe the only difference in a sheep and a wolf is a sheep can control their actions whereas a wolf weakly says he or she cannot.

I'm not talking about feelings here, You can't control feelings.  You can control actions for the most part.  Nobody accidentally has sex.  Maybe on super mind altering drugs but I don't really count that. You choose to be on a drug that could potentially lead to you cheating if you want to get technical.   The majority of the time it's a choice.  Love is not really a choice.  It's fine that you love someone else more than your current lover because you didn't have control over that really.  Break up with your current lover before having sex with the new one.  I'm over-simplifying but really I'm not.  As stated in a previous post this advice is a waste of Blogger.com's data because people will cheat if they want to no matter of how much anyone explains to them not to.

Larry: "You're leaving me because you believe you don't deserve happiness but you do Anna."  I never noticed this quote before.  It's very similar to the Perks of Being a Wallflower quote.  Probably because in this movie it's odd because he isn't treating her very well considering he admits to soliciting a prostitute right before this line is delivered.  I've gone through this idea enough in the Perk's post though. I won't dwell on this much here.

(New Section)
Things I still don't understand: Why did Natalie Portman tell her real name to Clive Owen and not to Jude Law?  She loved Jude Law more right?  She said she did and it looked like it?  She kind of leaves England after that relationship so maybe she just wanted to have an adventure in England?  Maybe the movie is trying to say love is just an illusion?

Similar Movies/TV Shows: I've never come across a movie that gave me the same type of awful feeling about relationships and people.  Maybe Requiem for a Dream?  I don't really understand the decisions made in that movie either so that's a possibility.  Oh Anna Karenina.  That shows the life of a wolf and a sheep.

"Side" note:
Natalie Portman was nude in her club scene with Clive Owen originally.  She talked the director out of it as not needed.  I agree, nudity isn't overly needed in movies ever.  For instance had she been nude in that scene it wouldn't have added anything to the plot of the movie.  It was just as good without it.  There are some exceptions but normally it's a cheap way to get people to like the movie more.  I respected her for it.  Later though she was nude in Darjeeling Limited (excuse me, Hotel Chevalier) which her character could have not been in at all and been just the same movie.  Why did she try so hard to not be nude in a movie that was saying a lot more like Closer than a ironic comedy movie like Darjeeling Limited?  I don't really know.

The park Alice and Dan go to in the beginning of the movie is an actual park.  They do have a memorial to ordinary people that died saving others.  It's called Postman's Park and is in London if you are ever there.  I'm sure it's a fantastic place to be.  Here is a list of all the people at the memorial.

Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

MIMDB score: 8.7
Current IMDB score: 8.1
Director: Stephen Chbosky
Main Actors you care about: Emma Watson, Logan Miller, Paul Rudd

Why I liked it:
I'm going to be bias in this movie review because I love this movie more than I should.  I feel like it matches reality more than most movies.  Although in real life Sam would probably have never dated Charlie.  I feel like most of this story happened in Stephen Chbosky's life except the part where he started dating the girl.  It could have happened but it's rare to ever really like someone for a long time and have them like you back after a long period of time.  If it was going to happen it would have probably happened a year into knowing someone.  It can happen but overall that doesn't happen often.  It's needed to have them end up together at the end of the movie because there's a lot of bad things that happen in the movie.  I don't think the audience would respond as well if they didn't end up together.  Too much sadness in the a movie really turns people off.  The sadness that is in this movie probably turns a lot of people off.  It's such a sad movie.  It's such a meaningful movie.  It's such a loving movie.  Sorry but this movie really deserves to be higher than a 8.1.  This movie gave me a lot to think about in relationships.  After watching it I immediately wanted to watch it again.

What stands out:
The way this movie looks at life is what stands out the most.  Most things said by Charlie are what would come out a friend's or my mouth.  It's real.  Some of the other characters don't say things a normal person would say but Charlie I think does.  I might be bias here though.

What I Would Change (if anything): I kind of don't like the scene where Patrick tries to kiss Charlie.  That whole little part where he's only hanging out with Patrick seems like filler.  I would have done something else.  I understand Patrick being that hurt by a relationship will mess up his sense of judgement because he just wants to feel good again but I think it distracts from the story of Charlie.  Patrick should know by then that Charlie is in love with Sam.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:  Ok here we go.  I think this will be a long section.  Hopefully it will be.

First off the most important lines:
Charlie: Why do nice people choose the wrong people to date?
Bill: Are we talking about anyone specific?
[Charlie nods]
Bill: Well, we accept the love we think we deserve.
Charlie: Can we make them know that they deserve more?
Bill: We can try.

There so much to say here.  Lets start with, so many times in life people choose to love people without looking at an important part of a person.  How well they are being treated.  I say that but it's really hard to judge that in someone when you are head over heels in love.  It's hard when your feelings are involved.  It's hard because you put so much effort into love that when you have to think about whether or not you are being loved back it gets really hard to be unbiased.  I think that's because being in love with some one is embracing your bias.  Everyone is mostly the same.  Most people love the same way.  Most people will love you (in some way) after being around you for a certain amount of time.  That's kind of my experience for the most part.  They say the number one indicator of love is proximity.  Picking one person to love the rest of your life can only, (repeating) only be done with embracing bias.  Because of this bias it's hard, if not impossible, to look objectively at your significant other that you are in mainly only in love with because of said bias.  It's such a Catch-22.  You want to be in love, but being in love makes you overlook flaws in that love that could make you fall out of love over time.  It's such an odd thing to think about really.

"We accept the love we think we deserve."  This took awhile to think through.  Is this really true?  For me, I never really had a problem.  I don't overly put up with bullshit when it comes to girls I'm actually dating.  I have put up with the runaround from girls I'm not dating but that doesn't really count as dating I don't think.  If a girl is doing some bull crap I'll usually call her out on it and talk through it with her.  It might take me awhile but I still do it and don't really put up with it.  Does that mean I think I deserve no bull crap?  I don't really know.  Maybe so.  I don't put up with bullcrap because I don't believe in bullcrap.  No one should be treated poorly and I don't understand when when we treat someone poorly.  I think that because that makes sense.  Treat others as you like to be treated.  If I treat others well then I will be treated well back.  If I don't get treated well back that doesn't make sense and I will call them out.  In a way that means I don't think I deserve bull crap.  That's my own perspective though.

The rest of this will be for the other people I see in my life picking people that end up being wrong for them.  I don't really know if they do that because they don't think they deserve more.  I think they pick bad people because they aren't really picking.  If you think you choose the person you love then I think you are crazy.  I've never been able to force myself to love someone.  I can fake love someone.  Faking love though is easy to see through and doesn't really mean anything.  Fake loving is commonly refereed to as settling.  People know you love someone without you having to say it usually. You can't control it.  I'm sorry but you can't.  If you could then people would pick the person that treats them the best.  That doesn't happen.  Wait a minute.  Sometimes that does happen but not in any relationship I admire or feel is fantastic.  Persistence should not pay off when it comes to love.  That's why I don't really believe timing is everything.  Anyway you have to like more than just the way someone treats you.  After a lot of thought I think this quote is just for people that want to date people that date poorly (and think they should be dating them).  Like Charlie with Sam.  Granted Charlie has a sister who is dating poorly and he wishes she would not date ponytail Derrick anymore but Charlie is really thinking about Sam here.  After thinking about it I don't overly like this quote but I'm leaving it here because it's a important thought to think about.

(Rethinking) It does have some merit though.  If you are putting up with bullcrap from your lover then it might be because you don't think you deserve better.  Like people that go back to physically abusive lovers.  Like people that go back to people that cheat on them. You could look at it like those people don't think they deserve better or you can think of it as they don't have control over who they love and want it to work out so badly that they will risk being treated bad in the short term for long term happiness.  I don't really know though.  It seems I'm thinking in circles on this point.

Light quote next:
(at a high school dance)
Sam: "Oh my God they are playing good music!"
Yea good lord, high school dances were awful.  The last one I remember going to was just a bunch of rap music of the day, people grinding on each other, and me just laughing at the whole thing.  It's like a club scene in high school where you know everyone that's grinding on each other.  It's kind of hilarious to see.

Back to intense:
Charlie: [voice-over] "I don't know if I will have the time to write any more letters because I might be too busy trying to participate. So if this does end up being the last letter, I just want you to know that I was in a bad place before I started high school, and you helped me. Even if you didn't know what I was talking about or know someone who's gone through it, you made me not feel alone. Because I know there are people who say all these things don't happen. And there are people who forget what it's like to be 16 when they turn 17. I know these will all be stories someday. And our pictures will become old photographs. We'll all become somebody's mom or dad. But right now these moments are not stories. This is happening. I am here and I am looking at her. And she is so beautiful. I can see it. This one moment when you know you're not a sad story. You are alive, and you stand up and see the lights on the buildings and everything that makes you wonder. And you're listening to that song and that drive with the people you love most in this world. And in this moment I swear, we are infinite."

So a few things here.  I like the idea of living in the past.  I think in the past so often.  A paraphrased quote from my dad: "When you get to be my age you'll see you have a lot previous stuff to think about that you forget you are in the present sometimes."  Yep, I'm only halfway in my life and I already mostly live right now in the past.  It's hard to believe there are people that don't live in the past.  Most days pass by and are uneventful.  So most days I'm thinking about the past days that were eventful.  There are people that don't think about everything in the past though.  I don't know how they do it.

"This is happening"  and the car scene.  I love those moments in life.  I'm not talking about when people post things like "So this is happening."  I'm talking about the moments that you KNOW are eventful and they are happening right now and you realize it's going to be eventful and you soak in as much as you freaking can so that in the future you'll have all these things to think about that are going on right now.  It's awesome.  I love it, I love it, I love it when it happens.  It's why people get up in the morning.  God it feels so good.  It makes me happy just pointing this out.

Light quote:
Patrick: "I dare you to kiss the prettiest girl in the room. . . ."
(Charlie kisses Sam)
Patrick: "Oh that's fucked up."
Indeed, it is fucked up. I laughed pretty hard and still do when I watch it.

Back to intense:
Sam: You can't just sit there and put everybody's lives ahead of yours and think that counts as love.

Maybe because I like Charlie but is that not true?  Love in the like the non-romantic sense is caring about someone in a deeper way than most other people.  Putting someone's life ahead of yours is really caring about someone on a deeper level.  I would venture to say that putting someone's life ahead of yours does count as at least non-romantic love.  If though, she is talking about romantic love then she is kind of correct.  I don't know which way she is saying this though.  I don't think I fully understand this thought. I think I have a Charlie bias here or something that I can't see past.  Even in a romantic love, putting someone's life ahead of yours is a part of it.  You have to at least want to put their life ahead of yours I would think.  I don't fully understand this quote and having to think more on this is why I love this movie.

Light quote:
Charlie: Dad, can I have 30 dollars?
Father: 20 dollars? What do you need 10 dollars for?
Hilarious

Back to intense but not that intense:
Charlie: "And I know she would understand how I am both happy and sad, and I'm still trying to figure out how could that be."
I hate to say this but everyone is happy and sad at the same time.  We are humans.  We will die.  At the minimum you have loved someone that has died by now.  One of those thoughts has made you sad and you will remain sad about that until the day you die.  That doesn't stop you from being happy sometime later in life though.  Dying is just an example.  There is something in your life that has made you really sad and that you carry with you the rest of your life and think about from time to time when you are about to fall asleep.

Light:
Sam: Welcome to the island of misfit toys.
I just like it.

Last intense quote because this is getting too long:
Charlie: There is so much pain. And I-I-I don't know how to not notice it.
Dr. Burton: What's hurting you?
Charlie: No, not... not me. It's them! It's... it's everyone. It never stops. Do you understand?
This is the quote I relate to the most.  My life is very easy.  I get up, go to work which is fairly easy for me, get paid way higher than minimum wage while having very little stress. I go home, hang out with friends, watch movies and think about life and philosophy.  It's very easy.  I don't have a lot of problems.  I don't produce much pain in my life.  Everyone else is in so much pain around me.  It never stops.  It's always happening.  I can USUALLY deal with everything that happens to me but I can't deal with everything that happens to everyone else.  Empathy sucks sometimes.  Again I don't really have any problems and my life is fairly easy.  The things that happen to the people around me and people I don't even know are insanely complicated sometimes.  I don't know if they put themselves in those positions or what but why aren't those things happening to me?  Maybe I'm just the lucky one?  Never-the-less most pain in my life comes from others through things through empathy.  Not to say the happiness in my life doesn't come from others either.  It's definitely worth the happiness society gives me over the amount of pain that it gives me.  If I was to live in the woods by myself starting now (like Into the Wild), I think I would have a painless life.  I also would have a boring and not as happy of a life overall.

Sorry two more but not really intense:
Charlie: Sam, do you think if people knew how crazy you really were, no one would ever talk to you?
Sam: All the time.
I feel like everyone is acting all the time.  Some people are hard to see acting than others but they are still acting.  I know I'm acting.  Just about everyday I have to act to seem normal and for people not to worry.  Only a few times in life have I made it to the point with someone to really think that they aren't acting.  Those are generally the people I love.

Hooray last one (I can't believe you are still reading these):
Charlie: I know who you are, Sam. I know I'm quiet... and, and I know I should speak more. But if you knew the things that were in my head most of the time, you'd know what it really meant. How, how much we're alike, and how we've been through the same things... and you're not small. You're beautiful.

"I know who you are"  Never say that.  You never know anyone.  I know in the moment it feels like you do but you really don't.  "How, how much we're alike"  This is just a byproduct of loving someone I feel like.  Whenever you like someone (more than dislike) you will find the similarities between them and you.  If you don't like them you find differences.  As previously said loving someone can only be done with a bias.  You have things in common with your worst enemy and you have things not in common with the person you love most in the world.

Similar Movies/TV Shows: I don't know.  This movie gave me so much to think about as I hope I showed. Maybe the Wonder Years TV series.  That's probably a good comparison. Nostalgia of high school + Love + lots of thoughts.  It's Kind of a Funny Story is similar but much lighter than Perks.

"Side" note:
1210, the SAT score Sam gets was the same SAT score I received.  For some reason I like that.

I saw this movie alone in theaters in New York after being alone for about a year in New York.  It was before the movie came out anywhere else so "I was meant to watch it then".  This movie partly made me leave New York.  When I got back home I watched it again with friends.  When it came out online I watched it twice more.  I didn't even know it was a book.  I should probably read the book sometime.  Always read the book after watching the movie.  Never the other way around.  I've never heard anyone say the movie was better than the book.  Maybe once I have but the general rule would be to read the book after watching the movie.

The Painted Veil (2006)

MIMDB score: 7.0
Current IMDB score: 7.5
Director: Frank Capra
Main Actors you care about: Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber

Why I liked it:
I like the style a lot.  It's simple and contemplative and beautiful in a way.  I guess that's really the Asian style when I think about it.  I never really looked at it as an Asian film because I focus on the two English speaking  people's relationship more than anything else.  The style seems wholesome. The movie is centered around cheating but it still stays wholesome overall.

I wrote out a whole spiel about why cheating is bad and how to stop yourself.  I took it out because in the end anyone with the capacity to stop themselves wouldn't be cheating so that spiel is really just a waste of time.  Learn to control your actions and think in a broader sense than just the here and now.  That's all I can really say.  I hope everyone can get that out of this movie.

What stands out:
Edward Norton's character.  I like him a lot.  It's another character to look up to.  Maybe that's all I'm trying to do with this blog is point out the way to live life.  A combination of good characters like Edward Norton's is the perfection I look up to and strive to be. As stated before in another post, people see what they want in art though. That's kind of what makes art, art.

What I Would Change (if anything): Nothing really in the movie.  I wish I could change politics.  This movie makes me never want to deal with a mass amount of people.  The only way to deal with a mass amount of people is to consider them dumb and that you know what's best for them.  I've never liked that people in power treat the people they have power over like they are dumb.   I don't know if I could mentality be okay with doing it.  It would take a lot of out of me to tell people what to do knowing that my guess of what they should do is just my best guess.  Especially if it meant some people might die.  Granted in Edward Norton's case he very likely was going to save them and that would be easier but I'm talking more general.  What he dealt with in the movie makes me think politics are a lot harder than most people would think.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:
Walter Fane: I suppose I'm not used to speaking unless I have something to say.
Kitty Fane: If people only spoke when they had something to say, the human race would soon lose the power of speech.

Kitty Fane: As if a woman ever loved a man for his virtue.

There's a good amount of conversations between the two that are interesting thoughts about relationships.

Similar Movies/TV Shows: Anna Karenina, Take This Waltz, the book On Beauty

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

MIMDB score: 7.5
Current IMDB score: 8.7
Director: Frank Capra
Main Actors you care about: James Stewart, Donnie Reed

Why I liked it:
It's another one of those whole life movies.  I feel like I have a bias towards those because I think in the long term and very little in the short term.  Leads to a few problems in my life but also leads to a lot of good things.  As with most ways to live it's partly good and partly bad.  I'm getting sidetracked because I can't think of much of why I like this movie.

It's just good.  It's really only about this guy that puts everyone else before himself in life and doesn't ultimately get to do what he wants with his life.  Love gets him, helping others gets him, being a good person gets him, standing up to bad guys gets him, a lot of things just get him to not do exactly what he wants with his life.  I used to think that's how my life is but that's not true.  That's just how I want my life to be.  This movie gives you that sense that your life is really for everyone.  The ending scene makes you want to cry.  It's hard to watch the ending scene and not cry.  Everyone in the town that this guy has helped turns around and helps him when he is down.  It's beautiful in that way.  James Stewart is the golden rule personified in a person. In case you've never heard, this saying is considered the Golden Rule: "Treat others as you liked to be treated."

What stands out:
It's in black and white. It's old.  This is one of the first movies that every did the "what would life be like without you in it".  It interesting to think about whether you are a positive or negative influence on the people around you.

What I Would Change (if anything):  It could be done better I fell like.  Don't get me wrong it's good already.  I feel like modernization could be done to it and the story could really shine.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:  Ending Scene. Every time a person comes up to give him some money I tear up.  I start crying every time I see his wive's face when he looks at her at the end.  She seems so happy for him.  I'm sure after so many years of having a wife and having her do something like that would overwhelm me.  I'm usually staring at her face the whole scene because it's so good.

Similar Movies/TV Shows: Mr. Holland's Opus

"Side" note: They "remastered" the black and white version to make it in color.  It sounds like it will look terrible but it's actually pretty good looking.  I believe they painted (by computer hand) each object in the beginning of every scene and the computer was mostly able to keep that object the same color through a whole shot.  Pretty interesting.

Amélie (2001)

MIMDB score: 7.8
Current IMDB score: 8.4
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Main Actors you care about: Audrey Tautou

Why I liked it:
This movie is weird.  I'm not going to dance around that.  It's also weirdly interesting.  It's also not too weird. It's weird because the movie is about an introvert.  Most movies about introverts as the main character will be weird.  Most of the time weird is interesting though.  The introverted side of me loves this movie.

It makes you love life.  The idea that someone like Amélie is out there making things silently better is beautiful.  I look up to Amélie so much.  Mostly because silently making people's lives better makes myself happy as well as others.

What stands out:
French camera style of moving fast and being weird.  Some reason I really like the glass man.  I feel like everyone should have a glass man in their lives.

What I Would Change (if anything):  Somehow do all the sound in English using the actor's real voices and not a dubbed version.  A lot of English speakers will be turned off to watching it because they have to read.  I would be nice if I could causally watch it.  I should probably learn French though if I want to do that.  I gave it less than what IMDB has it because I wouldn't think so many people would be up for a weird subtitled movie.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:  Whenever they do the likes and dislikes of a character.  They are sweet little things about the characters that add a niceness to the character.
"It's better to help people than garden gnomes" This is an interesting quote.  What it makes me believe is I ever wanted to give up on life and either kill myself or just stay at home and do nothing I will instead (because of this quote) join like the peace core or a non-profit and just help people the rest of my life.  It's better to help make another person's life better than just sit at home and do nothing.

Similar Movies/TV Shows: Love Me If You Dare

"Side" note: The writer was collecting things that made up Amélie's character since 1974.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

MIMDB score: 8.1
Current IMDB score: 7.8
Director: David Fincher
Main Actors you care about: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Jared Harris (sea captain)

Why I liked it:
So this movie gets a bad rap but as you can see it has a 7.8 on IDMB.  It's good. It's very much like Forrest Gump.  Everyone loves Forrest Gump.  I guess the turn off is the odd novelty of aging backwards since that's not possible.  Really though it's about this guy's life.  I never overly focused on his aging thing.  That's just for an artistic twist to the movie which I actually like.  Same with the humming bird analogy and the sea captain.  I feel like a lot of people find that cheesy and it kind of is but it's just adds to the art the film was trying to achieve.  It isn't a terrible analogy it's just not as well done as the analogies in Forrest Gump.

What stands out:
I love Brad Pitt in this movie.  I think he does really well.  A lot of good, meaningful moments as well.

What I Would Change (if anything):  I don't understand why he leaves at the end.  He could have been a father for a fairly long time it looked like.  For the story of Cate and her daughter it's needed for him to leave but I feel like they could have done something different.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:  This scene.
"For what it's worth it's never to late or in my case too early to be who ever you want to be. There's no time limit; start whenever you want. You can change or stay the same; there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live life your proud of and if you find that you're not I hope you have the strength to start all over again."
This moment reminds me of when Tom Hanks starts talking to the camera about Jenny dying in Forrest Gump.  This quote and scene is what makes me want to quit my job and run away to travel the world.  It's hard to figure out what is wasting life.  In the end I settle back and say that there's very little part of life that really could be considered a waste.  All experiences will effect your understanding of the world.  Even the experiences you have right outside your front door.

Also the ending scene.  Some people in life stand out at one thing.  It's wonderful when you see it in people.  They love being it and doing it whatever it is.  You can feel and see it in your own life I'm sure.  I think mine is computer programming.  It's so easy and makes so much sense when I'm doing it.  It's kind of a escape from all the other bull crap in life.  It's hard to have that bad of a life when "work" is what distracts you from life.

Similar Movies/TV Shows: You guessed it, Forrest Gump.

"Side" note: One of the many things I think this movie is overlooked for is the deep amount of time spent on analogies that seem to come up short.  I mentioned the humming bird analogy with the sea captain.  The humming bird was used in that analogy instead of other birds partly because it's the only bird in the world that can fly backwards (just like Benjamin).

Before Sunset (2004)

(I know this poster is for Sunrise but it's really good so I had to use it for Sunset)

MIMDB score: 7.2
Current IMDB score: 8.1
Director: Richard Linklater
Main Actors you care about:  Ethan Hawke, Juile Delpy

Why I liked it:
This movie is different than most movies you have seen.  It's just an hour+ of straight conversation between two people.  That's it.  It could be considered really boring in that regard.  It's not though.  If you enjoy good conversation then you should enjoy this movie.  There are a lot of real life thoughts that most people will connect with because they have had them and are unable to articulate them like this movie does.  This is the second movie in the current trilogy.  Before Sunrise is where they met, Before Sunset is where they fall in love, and Before Midnight is well, I won't spoil it.

What stands out:
Conversations

What I Would Change (if anything):  For this type of movie you can't change much.  People are either going to like or find it boring.  8.1 I think is a little high for most people's liking which is why my score is lower.  I don't understand when Julie gets kind of crazy near the end.  I don't know why she lied about remembering the first time they met.  Very odd in my opinion and I would change that.

I figured out one explanation as to why she might have lied.  An explanation I like anyway.  I think she was trying to downplay the night so that he would move on with his wife instead of doing anything with her.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:  There's a lot of good quotes in this movie.  This one I connected with the most.
"I always feel like a freak, because I'm never able to move on like... this! You know. People just have an affair, or even entire relationships... they break up and they forget! They move on like they would have changed brand of cereals! I feel I was never able to forget anyone I've been with. Because each person have... their own, specific qualities. You can never replace anyone. What is lost is lost. Each relationship, when it ends, really damages me. I never fully recover. That's why I'm very careful with getting involved, because... It hurts too much! Even getting laid! I actually don't do that... I will miss on the other person the most mundane things. Like I'm obsessed with little things. Maybe I'm crazy, but... when I was a little girl, my mom told me that I was always late to school. One day she followed me to see why. I was looking at chestnuts falling from the trees, rolling on the sidewalk, or... ants crossing the road, the way a leaf casts a shadow on a tree trunk... Little things. I think it's the same with people. I see in them little details, so specific to each of them, that move me, and that I miss, and... will always miss. You can never replace anyone, because everyone is made of such beautiful specific details."

Similar Movies/TV Shows: Before Sunrise, Before Midnight, My Dinner with Andre, and The Man from Earth.  Before Sunset is the best out of the three.  Before Midnight is the next best.  I watched them in this order: Sunset, Sunrise, Midnight.

"Side" note: Everything the characters do with their hands/body is scripted.  It looks very natural but it was mostly in the script which is kind of insane.  They have done a movie every nine years since the first movie, Before Sunrise, came out.  Nine year passes in real life and nine years passes in the movie time as well. Pretty cool.

Into the Wild (2007)

MIMDB score: 8.4
Current IMDB score: 8.2
Director: Sean Penn
Main Actors you care about:  Emile Hirsch, Jena Malone, Vince Vaughn, Hal Holbrook

Why I liked it:
This movie should make you think about your life and your place in society.  It's a movie I keep coming back to in my own thoughts.

When asked why I go camping I think of this movie.  This movie showcases the benefit of camping or hiking into the woods.  You can go to vacation to the beach and have a grand ole time.  There's still normal things you have to do on a regular beach vacation.  You still have to worry about x or y.  When your in the woods I feel like that goes away a bit.  Societal tribulations go away.  I think the movie captures this a lot in the music choices it makes.  Eddie Vedder's simple and calming songs bring you into that feeling that a beach vacation can not do.  It's wonderful.

To each his or her own though.

What stands out:
The main character.  He is very interesting and very interesting to think about.  He says most of the quotes worth thinking about.

What I Would Change (if anything):  Most people say it's stupid he dies in the end.  It kind of is.  Later this article came out that said he only died because of unknown consequence of eating potato root. If you eat the potato root while malnourished it causes the potato root to be a poison rather than giving nutritional value.  So he died because he ate a plant that his book told him would be ok to eat.  He also concluded that living alone in the woods isn't as good as if it was a shared experience.  I'm ok with that ending and think it's mostly good.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:  There's a lot of good quotes in this movie.  A bar scene between Chris and Wayne about society stands out the most.  "You know what I don't understand? I don't understand why people, why ever fucking person is so bad to each other so fucking often.  It doesn't make sense to me. Judgement, control, the whole spectrum."  Agreed good sir.  Everybody when in the moment gets pissed and treats people poorly.  You have to learn to realize that and not get too upset when it happens.  Getting upset at an upset person is no good.  It's hard not to sometimes because that's all the upset person is trying to get out of you.  It's awful.  There are so many reason we treat each other poorly and they don't make sense in a logical form.  They make you feel better in the moment and sometimes when life is really shitty you need that to not like kill yourself.  You need to treat others poorly sometimes to not go crazy.  It's not understandable of why that is but it's a part of life.  It's a sucky part of life.

Similar Movies/TV Shows: True Detective? Mostly because of the thinking.  127 Hours and Wild but it wasn't very good.

"Side" note: The article about the potato root.