Station Eleven - Goodbye My Damaged Home (2021) (Episode 7)

 

MIMDB score: 9.0

Current IMDB score: 9.1

Director: Lucy Tcherniak

Main Actors you care about: Mackenzie Davis, Himesh Patel

Why I liked it: The first time I watched it I just thought it was good enough episode.  In context as I kept thinking and rewatching the series I noticed that this episode can be viewed on multiple levels making it in my opinion the best episode in the series and probably one of the better episodes in any tv show.  It's hard for me to say since I watched all the previous episodes, but I think you could watch this one episode by itself and understand most everything important anyway.  So even as a one-off episode you could just watch it and be entertained, I think.

Without seeing the rest of the series, you could just view this as a coming-of-age story.  Where the girl wants to put on a play during some type of post-apocalyptic event while they are couped up in some high-rise apartment.  She naively is living in a family-like setting and then a stranger comes in tearing up her world where she then takes up arms (the stranger's knife) and grows up almost instantly considering she has to now live in a post-apocalyptic world.  Her older self or imaginary friend could leave her at the same time she has to now instantly grow up.

With seeing the rest of the series, you can interrupt a bit differently.  I think this is the episode where you could make the jump that none of this happening.  It could all be an internal story to Mackenzie's character.  Station Eleven could just be a book that she is using to cope with just regular life and she could be viewing everything in a post-apocalyptic way.  Maybe her parents died at the same time as she saw Arthur die and she came up with virus/flu that knocked out most of her world but in reality, it's just her way of dealing with it.  Her troupe is doing Hamlet which is one of the best examples of a play within a play.  The year before they were doing Romeo and Juliet which could easily explain the love she actually had before all the deaths.

Thing(s) I would change:

I don't understand why the apartment door wasn't locked?  The stranger seems to just come in through an unlocked door?  I think that needs to be fixed a bit for that to make more sense.  Most high-rise apartments have automatic locking doors but also since Himesh seems to be thinking through almost everything it's hard to believe he wouldn't have locked it.  The stranger could knock down the door but the surprise of him just being there wouldn't be as impactful so you'd have to fix it another way which I think could easily be done.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:

Somehow, I kind of like the rap scene.  When Frank starts surprisingly rapping and they all start dancing it's quite happy inducing in an episode of unhappiness.

Similar Movies/TV Shows:

Probably only The Leftovers.  Maybe Contagion?

"Side" note:

It's a book.  It was filmed before, during, and after Covid was big.

Normal People (2020)

MIMDB score: 8.8
Current IMDB score: 6.9?

Director: Lenny Abrahamson, Hettie Macdonald

Main Actors you care about: n/a, you haven't heard of these actors yet.  I think the main girl will be in more things that will be good.

Why I liked it: It made me rethink my established thoughts on love.  Movies and TV shows have been few and far between on new thoughts (hence why this is the first blog post in awhile).  It's kind of crazy anytime anything makes me think differently about a subject that I've thought a lot about.

The biggest thought is I was given from this show is whether life is about the pursuit of happiness or just happiness.  I haven't fully figured out if it's better to be in the pursuit of happiness or just soak in the happiness.  My understanding before this show was pursuit of happiness > happiness.  This was because every time I've been happy in life it just leads to a loss of happiness.  Compared to the pursuit of happiness which leads to happiness.  It goes back to my GRE essay question of "can you know true happiness with true sadness".  I argued at the time that you could but nowadays I'd argue you cannot.  I think this show points out that you need both for things to matter.  It seems pretty obvious now really.  I mean I've been quoted as saying "take the good with the bad and learn to be ok with both".  That's basically this show.

I think a lot of effort was put into the shots.  Like a lot of shots will switch to focus on hands or focus on faces will be handled a way that seems correct.  I know other movies and tv shows do this well so it's nothing overly unique but I'd say this show did above average on it.  A lot of times I would say "you better not switch focus onto that other character" and it wouldn't.  This sounds bias so don't know if this is worth saying.

The music was great really.  The music choices really helped me make it past the first two episodes to think that this show had potential and I should keep watching.  It's melancholy which unfortunately is how I see good relationships.  How good it feels to be with someone should be equal to how much it hurts to be a part.  I think this tv show nails the feeling bad part when they are a part.

Thing(s) I would change:
They could maybe put a little more into the good feeling they should have when they are together.  I think the show relies too much on sex compatibility when they are together.  I understand it's 2020 and sex is way more out in the open but relationships are more than just good sex.

I don't know.  I was really turned off by the first two episodes.  I didn't really fully understand why these people where treating each other like they were and it didn't really seem like they had chemistry.  Sadly I think they had to go through that and us as viewers had to go through that same experience of why the hell are they acting like that.  Later in the season the characters basically said the same thing about how they don't know why they did the things they did in the first few episodes.  It's hard to see starting out in a show of why things are happening.  I think by the end it makes sense but it doesn't negate having the first few episodes being hard to get through.

Oh!, less nudity would have helped me to be able to recommend it to others.  Nudity for me has become just a cheap way to make things seem more intense.  Unfortunately, the amount of times I felt like this was porn leads to a 6.9 instead of a 7 or even an 8.  I feel like the only nude scene really needed to be when the main guy asks for a nude picture and she can't stop crying to take it.  I feel like that scene would have been ever more powerful with it being the only nude scene.  Nudity just in the abusive relationship scenes would have been powerful as well.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:
Nothing really stands out.  I love every scene where when they are a part and that it hurts.

I think I should start eating meals with my fork upside down.  It just seems like a much more interesting way to eat.

Similar Movies/TV Shows:
Like Crazy but Normal People is much better.  A Lot Like Love.  A modern When Harry Met Sally.  Love (tv show).  Modern Love (tv show, mainly episode 5).  Normal People is not a romantic comedy.  It's a romantic drama.  You will not laugh once but you may smile or better yet smirk.

"Side" note:
I've been to Trinity College in Dublin.  It is an amazing main quad which is where he walks into when he first gets there.  I think it helped me start enjoying the show past the first few episodes a bit more.  It is interesting that being to foreign places make things seem so much more real.

The show is based on a book with the same name.

Clara (2018)

MIMDB score: 8.5
Current IMDB score: 6.9
Director: Akash Sherman
Main Actors you care about: n/a, you haven't heard of these actors yet.

Why I liked it: This movie could be considered very troupe-y but the feeling by the end of the movie that this movie gave me is what I'm looking for in an entertaining movie.  I want to watch a movie, get to the end, and then think, holy crap, I didn't watch that movie close enough.  That means to me that it's a well-crafted movie.  It has stereo-types in regular sci-fi/philosophical movies but it doesn't really matter.  It's still all well done, and the plot and execution of that plot is well done.  It (I won't say perfectly but) near perfectly rides the line of feeling/faith vs. fact-based thought.  You can either conclude that Clara is an alien that helps the main character make contact with her species, that Clara is a manifestation of the main character's son, or just a whimsical human that just randomly comes across the main character.  This is exactly what an entertaining movie wants to do.  It gives you multiple ways to think about what is happening so that you expand your mind critically.  It's great and few movies do this and even fewer do it with the simplistic, quiet style that this movie uses.

This movie glorifies astronomy in a clever, interesting, and entertaining way which I haven't overly seen before.

Thing(s) I would change:
There's a scene where the friend character says "it looks like you haven't slept" which the main character looks the same as any other scene.  Maybe the movie is saying he never sleeps but he should look more deprived of sleep I felt like.  It just took me out of the movie during that scene.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:
The conversation they have while walking near a river is something out of Before Sunset for me.
Clara:  Can I ask you something?
Isaac: Yea
Clara: Why is finding life out there so important to you?
Isaac: You know what people are scared of most?
Clara: Death?
Isaac: (shakes head) The unknown which unfortunately this universe is chock full of.  Sure, we've been chipping away at it for thousands of years but we still basically know nothing.  So how do we process that?  We do what we've always done.  We make things up. Create these elaborate bedtime stories to explain it all.  But if we found something, I mean even smallest clue that something else exists out there.  Something entirely different, well we wouldn't be in the dark anymore.  We wouldn't have to be scared.
Clara: So you think the only reason we tell stories is because we're scared?
Isaac: Terrified.
Clara: Ok, but what if telling stories is just a part of human nature?
Isaac: I'm done playing pretend, I think we all should be.
Clara: Ok, Ok, What about this?  Let's say there's a scientist who is brilliant and very well respected who makes game changing, world altering advancements in his field but he's also religious, his driving force is his faith, his belief in god a bedtime story, but the result of his work is science and progress.  What would you say to him?
Isaac: What would I say?
Clara: Yes
Isaac: I'd say skip church and get back to work.  You'd get more done faster.
Clara: Well I think he did just fine.
Isaac: What?
Clara: Sir Issac Newton, I think he did just fine.
Isaac: (laughs), Alright, we've got work to do.

The projector scene of TESS images is quite interesting.  It made me want to buy a projector and do the same thing on my wall.

Having a couch outside on a roof-like place has always been a dream of mine.

I've barely hit on the music which I want to hit on more as this movie is wonderfully scored.  Classical music in the right places to give you time to think and the original version of Girl from the North Country by Bob Dylan.  The transition scenes showcasing telescope imagery of space is great.  It adds to the immersion into astronomy.  This movie makes me want to by a telescope and join an astronomy club (which if you live in a major city I bet has one)

Similar Movies/TV Shows: The Fountain, Cloud Atlas, Contact, The Arrival, Before Sunset (reminded me a few times)

"Side" note: There's a review (that I hate) on IMDB saying that the plot is great except for the "textbook manic pixie dream girl story".  I think this misses what the movie is trying to express.  If they made the girl a non-manic-pixie-dream-girl-type, then she couldn't be seen as an alien I don't feel like.  If she had more of a back-story or even grew as a character then I think you could miss that she could be "an alien that helps the main character make contact with her species, that Clara is a manifestation of the main characters son, or just a whimsical human that just randomly comes across the main character".  In general the "manic pixie dream girl" troupe really overlooks what's going on in the movie and over simplifies the point the movie is making with that character.

The actors that play Clara and Isaac are (currently) married in real life.

Life Itself (2018)

MIMDB score: 6.3
Current IMDB score: 7.9
Director: Dan Fogelman
Main Actors you care about: Olivia Wild, Oscar Isaac, Antonio Banderas

Why I liked it: My Eighth grade teacher once said she only goes to see one movie a year.  I thought to myself at the time that she was crazy.  In 2018 I only saw maybe 2-3 movies in theaters.  This movie I did not see in theaters but I'm sad that I didn't.  The trailer was astounding.  When it came out I got busy.  I read the reviews in anticipation and they were super negative so I didn't watch it till it came out in my home theater.  Most people complained about the ending which I was scared to watch when I was halfway through it.  Halfway through it I had actually felt something unlike most movies of the year.  Movies that actually make me feel something are few and far between for me this late in my understanding of life.  There's a lot of things this movie does that I like and that should make you feel something in a sea of movies that are feelingless.

There's the person-butterfly-effect as I call it.  It's the idea that everything effects everything.  It's the idea that everything is connected, very loosely, but still connected.  It's what gives meaning to good things people do that no one will ever find out were done.  It's what gives meaning to lives of lonely people that don't think most things they do matter.  It gives life meaning.  Unfortunately a lot of critics and reviewers that say this movie is too sad miss this wonderful portrait of everything you do mattering in an otherwise meaningless existence.

Thing(s) I would change: Most people say this movie is way too pretentious to be worth a watch.  They are crazy.  The movie is pretentious at times which should have been caught and edited out but it's nothing too bad.  It's a mild distraction from the monologues that make you think and feel something.  There's like 2-3 bad pretentious moments where the diagloue is trying too hard but other than that it shouldn't distract too much at all.

I really don't fully understand Rodrigo's dad left the family.  Maybe if I actually believed Rodrigo's mom loved "Rodrigo's uncle" I might see how a good person like Rodrigo's dad would have left but no, it doesn't make sense for Rodrigo's dad to leave.  Either show Rodrigo's mom actually falling in love with Antonio Bandera's character or have him die in a olive oil accident or something.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:
"When critics reviewed . . . Bob Dylan's 1997 release, "Time Out of Mind," the song "Make You Feel My Love" was a source of much criticism. Every track on the album brimmed with unrelenting melancholy and sadness. But there, smack in the middle of it all, sat an unbashedly populist hit song, a love song . . . a song that in years to come would be covered by Garth Brooks, of all people. Critics argued that putting an on-the-nose love song in the middle of an album about despair and tragedy was Dylan's only misstep. Others argued that was his point."  This nails what I think is the main point of the movie.  In the sea of sad things happening, love is the only thing that makes it bearable.


"Unreliable Narrator! . . . Unreliable Narrators are considered a device, right? Don't answer. They are. They are and they don't get a lot of literary analysis because it's a gimmick. It's a trick. I mean Canterbury Tales gets a shoutout because, you know, it's good but typically it's used for popcorn crime novels and thriller movies (Agatha Christie, Usual Suspects, so on and so forth). But I'm going to argue that every narrator by its very definition is unreliable because when you tell a story there's always an essential distance between the story itself and the telling of said story, right? So therefore every story that has ever been told has an Unreliable Narrator. The only truly reliable narrator would be someone hypothetically telling a story that unfolds before our very eyes which is obviously very impossible SO what does that tell us? That the only truly reliable narrator is life itself. But life itself is also completely unreliable because it is constantly misdirecting and misleading us and taking us on this journey where it is literally impossible to predict where it is going to go next. . . . Life as the ultimate Unreliable Narrator."

The final conversation of Rodrigo and his mother gives a good thought that's probably overdone but the idea that parents pass on themselves and never die if there family tree is still alive (and in this case, loving someone).

Similar Movies/TV Shows: Cloud Atlas, The Road, Stranger than Fiction, Love Actually?, This is Us (because of the feels)

"Side" note:
I don't get it.

The Shop Around the Croner (1940)

MIMDB score: 7.0
Current IMDB score: 8.1
Director: Ernest Lubitsch
Main Actors you care about: James Stewart, Margaret Sullavan, Frank Morgan

Why I liked it: I've seen You've Got Mail a few dozen times and knew of this movie from that movie but never sat down and watched it.  I like this much better than You've Got Mail.  This movie gives a slightly different perspective on love.  In college I came up with the statement "People find the similarities in the people they like and the differences in the people they don't like."  This is a form of bias which is wonderfully displayed in this movie.  At first meeting (in person) the girl and the guy don't care for each other.  They find small things that they bother them about each other and make up their minds that this just not a great person.  The in real life relationship they find things that that make them prejudice to each other so they look for differences they have.  The pen-pal relationship they don't have the prejudice and are able find the similarities in each other.  Maybe love is just a bias and "true love" is being in love with that bias when you realize it.

What stands out: It gave me something to think about and is pretty fantastic for a movie made in 1940.  I don't even remember if it was in black and white or not which is pretty good for a movie.  (Hint: (After checking) It is in black and white.)

Thing(s) I would change: I would want to hear more about what's in their letters.  You've Got Mail read us what they wrote in there "secret" correspondence and I think this movie would have benefited from that.  I would want the "secret" relationship to make us somehow fall in love with their "secret" relationship before making us know that it's really both them.  Maybe just show the whole time from her point of view or something.  I think that would made it go up to an 8 because you'd want to rewatch it with the knowledege that he knew by the cafe scene.  It would be slightly more interesting I feel like.

There is a scene where she says something like "in first few weeks you could have swept me off my feet".  I didn't feel that.  That was either poorly acted or put in after they filmed those scenes.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:

I just found it funny:
Woman Customer: How much is that belt in the window, the one that says "2.95?"
Alfred Kralik: $2.95
Woman Customer: Oh, no!

Alfred Kralik: Pirovitch, did you ever get a bonus?
Pirovitch: Yes, once.
Alfred Kralik: Yeah. The boss hands you the envelope. You wonder how much is in it, and you don't want to open it. As long as the envelope's closed, you're a millionaire.
Whenever I used to get letters/messages from girls I loved I would think much like this.

Similar Movies/TV Shows: You've Got Mail, When Harry Met Sally, Love Actually?, It's a Wonderful Life?

"Side" note:
Apparently all the scenes were shot in sequence.

Donnie Darko (2001)

MIMDB score: 9
Current IMDB score: 8.1
Director: Richard Kelly
Main Actors you care about: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Patrick Swayze, Drew Barrymore, probably a few others.

Why I liked it: This was like a precursor to understanding movies on a deeper level.  At the time this came out it was like the gateway movie into better movies.  I found this movie randomly and had no idea what it was about when I started watching.  After I watched it the first time I felt different.  This movie made me think about free will, time traveling, sacrifice, society, and many other things.  This movie is filled with thoughts if you haven't already had them.  It's a good like freshman year of college movie.  If you watch it after that then you've probably already explored a lot of the thoughts this movie can produce.

What stands out: I think the style is what stands out the most.  The weird parts could have been a big turn off.  I think the style was of being thought provoking made the weird parts seem not so weird.

Thing(s) I would change: I don't know.  The only thing that sticks out to me was the "Go back to China, bitch" line was so harsh.  I'd say it wasn't needed but kids were that harsh in high school when I was there at times so I guess it's okay.  Maybe it just seens out of character for his friends to say that.  They don't do anything else that mean.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:
"Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion" -> hilarious line.  This line is so funny because it's coming from such a crazy person.  If you keep going though this line is rather interesting.  It's showing the ridiculous of caring so much about something that matters so little.  But life is mainly about figuring out what matters and then doing the crap out of that thing that matters.  So maybe this ridiculous woman is crazy for caring about her daughter's dance troupe so much but also maybe she's living life to the fullest with full passion?  It's hard for me to get upset with people that care about such stupid and mundane things (to me) when life is all about finding this "stupid and mundane" things.  One woman's Sparkle Motion is another person's Cellar Door.

The bubble out of his chest scene was pretty crazy.  Mostly because I didn't fully understand it later until I remembered the scene that said "Not if you travel within God's channel."  It's really a scene about free will and he's seeing other people's free will through God's channel and then starts seeing his own.  Really interesting scene.  It's during a party scene so you could just take it as Darko being on drugs or drunk if you wanted to though.

Similar Movies/TV Shows: The Fountain, Mr. Nobody, Back to the Future? Predenstation

"Side" note: This youtube article explains most of the movie.

Your Name. (2016)

(Yea it's Anime. Usually I don't like Anime either.)

MIMDB score: 7.5
Current IMDB score: 8.6
Director: Makoto Shinkai
Main Actors you care about: none

Why I liked it: This is an anime movie meaning it's a Japanese animation movie.  That means it's going to be weird to people that don't understand Japanese culture or movies.  Even if you do it's still weird usually.  I think that's the defining characteristic to anime in my opinion.  It's weird.  I used to like the Spirit Away but when I re-watched it I can't stop cringing at how weird it is.

Your Name. (with the period) is a decent story.  It might even be a good story but the what stands out is the music.  The music really adds a layer to the movie like music should.  I found myself wanting to have the movie on just to hear the music in the background.  Then I found a lot of the songs have been redone in English and started listening to those.  Even the music without English lyrics are very catchy.  They seem like pop songs but really meaningful pop songs.  You can kind of tell it from the Japanese version that it's meaningful without even hearing or seeing the English lyrics.  Violin + soft piano + meaningful lyrics = magic in my book.

If you can get past the weirdness though this movie is quite a gem for science fiction, romantic comedy, violin-piano music lover like myself.  Time traveling or multi-verse is a really popular idea right now.  I think it's a very easily coping way of looking at the your life.  If you believe that there is another version of your life out there where another you is doing the things you wish you were doing it kind of makes not being able to do those things ok.  Like I might not be an astronaut in this life but there is a version of me out there in another universe doing that.  It kind of lets you imagine that some version of you can do anything so you can do anything.  This movie doesn't get too much into multi-verse thoughts but the same thing for time traveling.  The thought is a little different but same thing kind of holds.  If I could go back in time I could teach myself how to be at the right place at the right time with the right skills to be an astronaut.

What stands out: Music as stated earlier.  This is a science-fiction romantic comedy amine movie.  Probably all those genre's in one movie is what makes it stand out as well.

Thing(s) I would change: Pretty easy.  Don't be so freaking weird in the beginning.  I know a lot people will turn this off before it gets interesting because the movie does some weird stuff in the beginning.  This girl is rubbing her boobs? which turns into a montage of random city-life and country life shots while really fast electric Japanese music plays?  Just watch the first ten minutes and tell me what the heck is happening.  That's normally good but with the backdrop of anime it makes for people that don't get the culture to give up on it.  I don't like a lot of anime because of things like that.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene: "I Love You" "I can't remember your name with this!"

Similar Movies/TV Shows: The Secret, any body switching movie, Back to the Future, probably any other good anime but only if you can handle weirdness. This is probably the least weird anime I've seen.

"Side" note: Mitsuha's name means "three leaves" and follows a family trait. Her grandmother's name, Hitoha, means "one leaf," her mother's name Futaba, means "two leaves," and her little sister's name Yotsuha, means "four leaves.

Serendipity (2001)

(This is an awful poster but I couldn't find a better one.  I think a poster with the elevator buttons and 23 is lit would have been a better poster)

MIMDB score: 7.1
Current IMDB score: 6.9
Director: Peter Chelsom
Main Actors you care about: John Cusack, Kate Beckinsale, Jeremy Piven

Why I liked it: I'm about to head to New York and I was going back through all the New York movies and I when I saw this movie I thought well I surely have reviewed this movie.  I hadn't apparently.  This movie is quite good.  I think it captures a lot of about life and love very well.  When a movie can put into "life" what you are feeling but haven't fully figured out I think it easily makes the movie good.  It kind of questions if fate exists but I guess concludes that it does.

Unfortunately I don't think it's amazing movie which is why I'm only giving it a 7.1.  I just really like it for bias reasons I'm sure.

What stands out: John Cusack might be the best romantic comedy comedian lead in my lifetime.  Sorry if you were born in the 90s and don't understand that.  Between this and like High Fidelity and Say Anything and Sixteen Candles and Better off Dead . . . .

Thing(s) I would change:  I don't know if they really had a strong enough connection to warrant doubting there love for there fiances.  They met once (maybe twice if you count having to go back to the restaurant) and didn't show as having all that much in common.  They didn't really get to know each other and kind of just thought each other were good looking I assume.  I think I might like it better if they spent more time there to establish a better starting connection and not just a one day (and brief) meeting.  Like the movie Before Sunrise spent the whole move on their day they met and wanted to come back to met each other.  It's much more believable in Before Sunset that they think about each other based on that one day meeting.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:
"Maybe we're lying here because you don't wanna be standing somewhere else."  I love this line.  Hopefully it's self explanatory.

There is a deleted scene on the DVD version in the Serendipity restaurant called "cubing".  She walks John Cusack through a sort of Rorschach thought experiment that is suppose to tell you about the person.  It's rather interesting.  Also in that deleted scene you can see that the devil that later pushes all the elevator buttons is at the restaurant as well.  Makes me wonder if they really needed to take that scene out.

Lars! He's a funny character.  He's like the perfect OK boyfriend.  Girls stereotypically love musicians right.  Oh, he's a flutist though (shehnai to be exact)? His ring doesn't fit. His box proposal.

Similar Movies/TV Shows: A Lot Like Love, When Harry Met Sally, Before Sunrise/Sunset, Forrest Gump but only a little, 500 days of Summer.

"Side" note: "Oh my GAWD this frozen hot chocolate is so good."  Bullcrap!  If you go to Serendipity's in New York DO NOT GET THE HOT CHOCOLATE!  It's rubbish!  The sundae's are where it's at for desserts.  The frozen hot chocolates tastes like a Frosty which you can get from Wendy's at anytime.  The sundae's have a piece of pie stuck in them.  They are amazing compared to the frozen hot chocolate.  Humble pie sundae is my favorite.  Also the High heel pump is my favorite thing to eat there for non-desserts.

Back to the Future 1-3 (1985-1990)

MIMDB score: 8.8, 8.0, 7.1
Current IMDB score: 8.5, 7.8, 7.4
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Main Actors you care about: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson

Why I liked it: Maybe one of the most entertaining portrayals of time travel.  I think if backwards time travel existed it wouldn't exactly work like this but I think it's one of if not the most entertaining portrayals of it.  I think all the movies in the "similar" section besides Time Machine needed Back to the Future to exist for people to think of there plot.  A future movie has yet to provide the amount of entertainment for me that these movies gave me.  John Williams's theme is way too good.  On par with the feeling you get from the Star Wars theme.

What stands out: The plot for sure.  The music for sure.  The acting is good enough.  The small jokes like "heavy" are awesome.  The recurrent events like manure on the Biff character is great.  I guess if you didn't like the movies they would seem repetitive but I think it gets at the underlying message about change maybe.  Maybe it's the movie's way of saying you can only change so many things when time traveling.  Maybe it's the movie's way of saying you can only change so many things in your own life and that some things don't change no matter what you do.


Thing(s) I would change: I don't get the chicken thing.  It's like Marty gets called a chicken and then all hell breaks loose in his mind and he can't think correctly.  In real life that probably be his down fall.  In the last one the address it and he changes which I guess is his character growth but I think it's lame.  I think there is a better way of showing character growth in Marty.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:
Younger Dr. Emmett Brown: [running out of the room] 1.21 gigawatts! 1.21 gigawatts. Great Scott!
(Of course)

Marty McFly: Whoa. Wait a minute, Doc. Are you trying to tell me that my mother has got the hots for me?
Dr. Emmett Brown: Precisely.
Marty McFly: Whoa. This is heavy.
Dr. Emmett Brown: There's that word again. "Heavy." Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the Earth's gravitational pull?

Marty McFly: [to Uncle Joey as a baby, playing in his playpen] So you're my Uncle Joey. Better get used to these bars, kid.

Dr. Emmett Brown: Then tell me, future boy, who's President of the United States in 1985?
Marty McFly: Ronald Reagan.
Dr. Emmett Brown: Ronald Reagan? The actor?

Stella Baines: You know, Marty, you look so familiar to me. Do I know your mother?
Marty McFly: [turning to look at Lorraine, his mother in the future] Yeah, I think maybe you do...

Dr. Emmett Brown: It's gonna be really hard waiting 30 years before I can talk to you about everything that's happened in the past few days. I'm really gonna miss you, Marty.
I didn't notice this but I guess that's hopefully how Doc choice Marty to be the one to go back in time.  It's not like they ever really explain there relationship besides he just kind hangs out with some old science guy.

Doc: The time-traveling is just too dangerous. Better that I devote myself to study the other great mystery of the universe: women!
True Dat!

Young Biff: Why don't you make like a tree and get out of here?
Old Biff: It's *leave*, you idiot! "Make like a tree, and leave." You sound like a damn fool when you say it wrong.
I feel like without this joke the Boondock Saints wouldn't have made its joke.

Doc: Marty, you're going to have to do something about those clothes. You walk around town dressed like that, you're liable to get shot.
Marty McFly: [gesturing a rope around his neck, weakly] Or hanged.
Doc: What idiot dressed you in that outfit?
Marty McFly: [smiles weakly] You did.

Marty McFly: Mr. Strickland! Mr. Strickland. It- it- it's me, sir. It's Marty!
S. S. Strickland: Who?
Marty McFly: [terrified] Marty McFly! Marty McFly! Don't you know me, sir? From school, sir!
S. S. Strickland: I've never seen you before in my life, but you look to me like a slacker!
See, these jokes never get old. . . .

Doc: Sometime today, old Biff will show up to give young Biff the Almanac. Above all, you must not interfere with that event. We must let Old Biff believe he succeeded, so that he'll leave 1955 and bring the DeLorean back to the future.
Good time thinking.

Doc: And in the future, we don't need horses. We have motorized carriages called automobiles.
Saloon Old Timer #3: If everybody's got one of these auto-whatsits, does anybody walk or run anymore?
Doc: Of course we run. But for recreation. For fun.
Saloon Old Timer #3: Run for fun? What the hell kind of fun is that?
Amen Saloon Old Timer #3

Man the hover board scene.  I'm not talking about the first one in the future but the second one in the past in the tunnel.  That amazed me when I first watched it.  I feel like this is amazing.  This type of scene where the protagonist needs something in the car happens in a bunch of movies and this one does it near perfectly.

Similar Movies/TV Shows: Donnie Darko, any time traveling movie really, so Time Machine, Looper, Predestination, Terminator 1 and 2, Butterfly Effect, Interstellar, and even Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.  There's a bunch more but those were entertaining to me.  I feel like Back to the Future was a time travel genre staple which is why I'm reviewing it.

"Side" note:
Marty McFly: [showing the two boys how to play the shoot 'em up video game] I'll show you, kid. I'm a crack shot at this.
[shoots a perfect score with the electronic gun]
Video Game Boy #1: You mean you have to use your hands?
Video Game Boy #2: That's like a baby's toy!
Video Game Boy #1 is Elijah Wood

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

MIMDB score: 8.7
Current IMDB score: 9.3
Director: Frank Darabont
Main Actors you care about: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman

Why I liked it: Why does everyone like this movie?  Is it really the best movie ever rated?  Is it overrated?  I kind of think not.  It's one of the few movies I'm at least ok watching at any time.  There some movies you have to be in the mood for but this I don't think is one. It's just good and not in a mood way.  I think that's what makes it rated so highly.  Other movies that require a mood to be in because the genre is only when you feel happy, sad, nostalgic, Christmasy, comedy time, scary time, etc.  It's just an amazing drama that you could watch in near any mood because it's so appealing to the mind.  It has a loner main character who isn't really a loner which I feel a lot of people are like that or think they are like that.

I think this movie is about how life is better when you have hope.  Most of the movie aligns with that except kind of the kid who wants to get his high school diploma.  I guess as with Brooks who killed himself he didn't fully have hope in his test taking skills?   Just like Brooks he didn't have hope?  I guess the old guy didn't have as much hope as Freeman did about life outside of prison even though Freeman seems to be the advocate of not having hope.  So I don't know about the consistency of the theme of hope but never the less it's the main theme.

Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins do amazingly.  Everyone does really well really.  That probably adds to the success.  This movie also seals Freeman's success as a narrator.  There no part where I think "oh this is a movie" instead of oh this is a documentary about Andy Dufresne.

Another thing that shows up in universally well-liked movies is the position the movie places you.  Being in prison is something foreign yet everyone can put themsleves in the position of a prisoner and think through what they would do in the that position.  Titanic does the same thing.  The movie asks you to be in the place of one of the actors and what would you do in that position.  This type of feeling you can get from that is universal in my opinion and what makes movies like Shawshank and Titanic universally appealing.

Thing(s) I would change: Escape from prison was awesome.  I love that stuff for some reason.  What I don't get is I feel like it would taken a lot longer than it took him to dig that far.  As well as he would have broken that stone sharpener a few times I feel like digging that much.  He also would have been way more tired than the movie made him out to be if he spent most nights digging.  It's a movie though I don't think it's a big deal that these were overlooked.  Some of them are nit picky as well.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:
"Get busy livin or get busy dyin'"  I don't know if this movie coined the phrase but definitely not the idea.  It much like "Carpe Diem" but has more impact I feel like.  This quote can apply to many different parts of your life than just your overall direction.

"I've been known to locate certain things from time to time"  I think that makes people smile in a sly way but not too sly way.  It's a Goldie-locks amount of sly.  I think it makes them smile in a good way which leads to this movie success.  That's the type of smile you should get from this movie and should really be what all good movies try to achieve.

"Andy Dufresne - who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side."  Same kind of smile.

"Sometimes it makes me sad, though... Andy being gone. I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up DOES rejoice. But still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they're gone. I guess I just miss my friend."  Different kind of smile but on the same general idea.

"I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don't want to know. Some things are best left unsaid. I'd like to think they were singing about something so beautiful, it can't be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free."

"Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane."
"Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."  I don't know who is more right but I like to think Andy was when it comes to hope.  I understand Red's point and it's a cynical point.  It's better though to still have hope and be hopeful all those years and not get something good near the end of life than be miserable throughout life and then get nothing at the end of life.  Right?  It's nice to realize that but that doesn't effect whether you or I really have hope in anything though.

Warden Samuel Norton: [as he hands Andy's bible back to him] "Salvation lies within."  These lines are so good.   These type of lines are in other movies but then don't have ALL the other things this movie has going for it.  It takes a whole lot to make a whole movie good.

Similar Movies/TV Shows: Last Castle, The Counte of Monte Cristo, Prison Break season 1 but that's not that great of a show.

"Side" note: This movie makes me want to spend time in jail despite a lot of the negative things it points out about jail.

Matilda (1996)

MIMDB score: 7.2
Current IMDB score: 6.8
Director: Daney DeVito
Main Actors you care about: Danny DeVito, Mara Wilson, Rhea Perlman

Why I liked it: For some reason most people believe kids have nothing of value when it comes to thinking.   I kind of understand it but movies like this should open the mind to thinking that all people (including children) have valid idea/thoughts that should be thought about just like if the thought/idea is coming from a more experienced adult.

Thing(s) I would change: There's a few slow motion scenes that don't need to be slow motion.  I don't get why they are there?  Maybe it's just the TV version I keep watching that has it in there.

The movie puts books on a pedestal.  Yea books can be helpful but book reading is outdated I think.  I understand that's were knowledge used to come from and imagination use to excel with the weapon of books but I think we moved past them.  They are currently a slow way of learning things and things can be learned faster I think now with the internet.  Also some people are visual learners and not textbook learners.  Just because they are visual learners doesn't mean they are any less intelligent I would think.  I understand it's not a popular statement about books not being great but I'm making it.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene: The Trunchbull actress was spot on to her character. She did quite well.  Matilda (Mara Wilson) did well enough but I don't know if she did outstanding by any means.  I think Danny Devito did as well as Trunchbull as well.  He probably really enjoyed the book considering he directed the movie as well as acted in it.

Harry Wormwood/Trunchbull: "I'm smart, you're dumb; I'm big, you're little; I'm right, you're wrong, and there's nothing you can do about it."  This is the stuff I'm talking about.  Too many people believe they are better than children.

Trunchbull: "I cannot for the life of me understand why small children take so long to grow up. I think they do it deliberately, just to annoy me."  Piggybacking on the last quote this is how people think and I don't get it.  Kids get a bad wrap.  People really don't understand that they were just as annoying or time consuming when they were kids and yet they can not get past that kids have a less time to experience the world and will be slightly slower for a little bit.  They can't get over that time that they will need help learning and thinking.  It's just an inconvenience for them to deal with the younger person.  I wonder if they that kind of person would be friends with themselves in five years.  Five years ago they were probably in a different thought place and probably couldn't deal with how slow at thought they used to be.  It just doesn't make sense to treat people worse or complain about someone who is at the same place in their own thoughts.

Agatha Trunchbull: "They're all mistakes, children! Filthy, nasty things. Glad I never was one."  Like that.

Harry Wormwood: "To read? Why would you want to read when you got the television set sitting right in front of you? There's nothing you can get from a book that you can't get from a television faster."  I understand this sort of contradicts my statements but there is good TV out there that will challenge you just as much as books.   There are some books that will be a harmful to your mind just like some TV.  TV doesn't rot your mind.  You rot your mind.

This scene always makes me smile:
Harry Wormwood: SHUT UP AND LEAVE US ALONE!
Matilda: Yell at me again!
Harry Wormwood: [in a rage] Yell at ya?
[storming towards her]
Harry Wormwood: I'll come in there and pound your miserable hide! What do I have to do to gain respect around here? I'm gonna give you a tanning like you never had in your life! My word is my law!

The cake eating scene always makes me smile as well.

Similar Movies/TV Shows: All the Roald Dahl movies: Witches, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory, James and the Giant Peach, the BFG.

"Side" note: Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman are actually married in real life.  At least they were married in real life at one time.  They are divorced now unfortunately.

Eating that much cake like that boy did is so impossible.  I tried eating a whole batch of brownies one time and got sick 3/4's of the way through and that was equivalent to 3-4 slices of that cake probably.

I feel like this plot was the precursor for Harry Potter.  I'm just guessing though.

Captain Fantastic (2016)

MIMDB score: 7.9
Current IMDB score: 8.1
Director: Matt Ross
Main Actors you care about: Viggo Mortensen, George MacKay

Why I liked it: Yet again another movie that made me feel good about life.  The Sweet Child of Mine scene had me in tear (not tears).  It made me feel sad and good at the same time.  If I ever have kids I feel like that's the way I would want to raise them.  I don't think I would go that far with the sex stuff though.  I feel like a little older is better to explain that stuff but everything I feel like kids can grasp if you take enough time to explain it to them.  I think it makes them smarter earlier in life which makes them smarter later in life.

Thing(s) I would change:  The scene where the oldest child Bo proposes doesn't make too much sense.  With how open Viggo is with his kids it's hard to believe he wouldn't have gone through marriage with him.  With the number of books they are mandated to read I'm surprised the book Pride and Prejudice wasn't one of the books.  That book would have made him easily see to not propose in two seconds and that waiting and thinking about it is generally better.  I feel like a better example could have been brought up of them not having real world experience/street smarts.

The digging up scene is cringe-worthy but perfectly fine for what they did with it after.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:
Viggo: "And (How is the book?)"
Kielyr: "It's interesting."
The family: "It's interesting! Illegal word!  Dad she said interesting!"
Viggo: "Interesting is a non-word.  You know you are suppose to avoid it.  Be specific."
Kielyr: (Explains the plot)
Viggo:  "That's the plot, (Tell me how the book made you feel.)"

Son: "Why can't we celebrate a normal holiday like Christmas instead of Noam Chomsky Day?!"
Viggo: (thinks for a sec) "Alright if you can come up with some good reasons as to why we should celebrate a made up holiday that celebrates buying things instead of one of the greatest humanitarians that was a major reason we have a lot of the human rights we have now.  We'll debate and if your argument is valid enough as a group we will celebrate Christmas instead."
This is the type of thing parents should be doing instead of just saying: "No, because daddy/mommy said so."  I don't like treating kids over the age of like eight like kids.  They should be treated with the idea that they could have more valid thoughts than us.  Somewhere around eight I feel like most kids can be smarter than some adults and should be treated accordingly.

Nai: "Let's dig.  Otherwise she has to lie under that bullshit forever."

I love that they named the bus Steve for no particular reason.  I love that they give the kids names that are unique. I love everyone's wardrobe at the first funeral.

I love the 2nd funeral scene.  Beautiful rendition of Sweet Child of Mine.  It wrapped up the feeling of the movie in a glorious last song/scene.  It made me want to be there, to participate in there discussions, and to be singing or playing an instrument in there song of life.

"If you assume that there is no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, that there are opportunities to change things, then there is a possibility that you can contribute to making a better world."

Similar Movies/TV Shows: Little Miss Sunshine, Into the Wild, The Room?

"Side" note: Hopefully one day I'll have a house in the woods I built myself.

Charlie Vs. Willy (and the chocolate factory) (1971, 2005)

I'm going to compare the two versions as I found it interesting to do so.

MIMDB score: Charlie: 6, Willy: 8
Current IMDB score: Charlie: 6.7, Willy: 7.8
Director: Charlie: Tim Burton, Willy: Mel Stuart
Main Actors you care about: Charlie: That guy that's in every Tim Burton movie - Johnny D, Freddie Highmore, that girl that's in every Tim Burton movie - no name needed. Willy: Gene Wilder

Why I liked it:  Willy: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is good.  It has a feeling of happiness, mystery, and caring.  It has some thought provoking quotes.  It has some good lessons for children to learn while still being fun I feel like.
Charlie: The Charlie one is weird.  There are still a few good quotes but nothing compared to what thoughts could come out of the first one.

Thing(s) I would change: Willy: Willy Wonka is SLIGHTLY too mean.  He should be just a little bit nicer I think.  He needs to only be a little conniving and mean.  He does not need to make me feel like he wants to kids to die which only slightly occurred in the Willy Wonka version.  It needs that but more under the covers than the movie let on I think.
I forgot that it was mostly a musical.  I think I get why they did that but it could do without it I think.  The Umpa Lumpa songs I think would have been good enough.  I don't need the "I want it now" song for instance.  It is a kids movie and kids like songs which is why Disney movies are littered with musical aspects but it's not needed for this movie to do well.
Charlie: Hmm a lot.  The main character was better casted I think.  Johnny Depp could have done better for sure.  They compare it to the late Michael Jackson and his playground place.  Johnny was toooooo weird.  He went to far with a lot of things and his statements that were suppose to make him look weird made him look TOOOOOO weird.  They didn't make sense.  Willy Wonka should be weird but yet still make sense in like a smart eccentric person sort of way.
I don't need Willy Wonka's back story.  That was unnecessary for the essence of the story.  It should focus more on the wonder of the chocolate factory and life lessons about how to act.  I think that's what the main theme of the story.  It is not to highlight how Willy became Willy Wonka.  It felt like it was just fluff and a waste of time.
The Umpa Lumpa was and an older man.  I don't think that fits with what an Umpa Lumpa represents.  They should be more like minions and not like the seven old dwarves from Sleeping Beauty with no personality-face.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:
Willy Lines/Scenes:
Willy Wonka: Try some more. The strawberries taste like strawberries, and the snozzberries taste like snozzberries.
Veruca Salt: Snozzberries? Who ever heard of a snozzberry?
Willy Wonka: [grabbing Veruca's mouth and pinching it a bit to hold it open] *We* are the music makers... and *we* are the dreamers of dreams.
Anything is possible.  Nothing is 100%ly true.  There are pluses and minuses to everything.

Willy Wonka: [singing] If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it. . . [singing] There is no life I know to compare with pure imagination. Living there, you'll be free if you truly wish to be."
This mindset it astonishing, an actual "game changer", and fantastic.  You need not be upset with your "position" in the world.  No matter how crappy your life is you are alive.  If you want to view better things then simply looking and view it.  It's just a mindset.  Even the worst of times has some good in it.  Even the best of times has some bad in it.  If you truly wish to be happy you will be.

FBI Agent: Mrs. Curtis, did you hear me? It's your husband's life, or your case of Wonka bars.
Mrs. Curtis: [after a brief pause] How long will they give me to think it over?
Most of these scenes are only slightly funny.  Just kind of makes your smirk.  That's exactly how this movie should make you feel.  Smirky.

Mike Teevee: Look at me, I'm gonna be be the first person in the world to be sent by television!
Mrs. Teevee: Mike, get away from that thing!
Willy Wonka: [unenthusiastically] Stop. Don't. Come back.
Perfect amount of sarcasm

Sam Beauregarde: Violet! You're turning violet, Violet!
Smirk

Willy Wonka: Oh, you should never, never doubt what nobody is sure about.
Example of an interesting thought.  I think he's just being silly here but also if you take out the off-double negative then it is how you should be thinking.  You should doubt what everybody is sure about.

Similar Movies/TV Shows: Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium, Seven?  each kid could be a deadly sin persay with not all sins being represented but I think the connection could be made.

"Side" note: Willy Wonka was originally (and was played better by) Gene Wilder.  He's a good guy from what I could tell.  He really loved life and was a bit of an eccentric himself.  You should look into his life if you have the time.  His marriage to the wonderful and a bit eccentric Gilda Radner was quite wonderful I'm sure.  I hope he had a good life.  He died recently which inspired me to do this review.

When I saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory I had a sister-in-law tell me it was closer to the book than the original Willy Wonka.  I disagreed at the time mostly because bias of not liking the newer Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  She said that the songs were closer to the original.  After looking it up the songs in the new movie are closer to the book but they are not what they are in the books.  They just borrow more from them.  After reading the Ronald Dahl book I think the essence and spirit of the book was more in Willy Wonka than in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  Maybe that is why I disagreed.For instance Willy's back story was not in the book at all.  The Umpa Lumpa's back story was in the book.  It has a whole chapter but nothing about Willy's dad  not giving him chocolate.  The new one took liberties with the book as well.  Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in my opinion did it better.

When Harry Met Sally

MIMDB score: 7.6
Current IMDB score: 8.0
Director: Rob Reiner
Main Actors you care about: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher

Why I liked it: This movie consistently makes me question if girls and guys can be friends.  Not every day but probably every other day.  I feel like this movie questions relationships in a way most movies haven't.  It's still cliche in a few places but it's a really good romantic comedy as well as a psychology relationship journey.

I think it is possible for girls and guys to be friends.  It doesn't happen that many times in your life but you have to be attracted to someone's personality but not looks.  You can't be too attracted to the personality.  The other person has to feel the exact same way.  It's not common but it happens.  I have a few friends like that but not a lot by any means.

I also think it goes back to the Closer post about wolves and sheep.  Two wolves can't be friends with the other sex.  A sheep and a wolf probably can't.  Two sheep have the best possibility I would think.

Thing(s) I would change:  That wagon wheel table is not that bad.  I almost bought one of those after seeing the movie.  As long as there is glass over it I don't see the problem.

Maybe though the question of if a girl and guy can only be friends should not be asked.  That might lead to you question your girl/guy friendships when you shouldn't.  Time will probably make you question all your girl/guy relationships anyway.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:
All the older couple interviews are awesome.  They make you smile in a good way.

"But I would be proud to partake in a piece of your pEEcan pie, PEECAN PIE!"

When he spit the grape on the window instead of out the window is so well done.  Great way to start that character.

Similar Movies/TV Shows: A Lot Like Love

"Side" note:  The Pecan Pie scene in the Met was improvised!  Meg Ryan didn't even think it was serious as she looks a the camera after one of the lines by Billy.  It makes that scene that much better.

50/50 (2011)

MIMDB score: 8.0
Current IMDB score: 7.7
Director: Jonathan Levine
Main Actors you care about: Joseph-Gordan Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard

Why I liked it: It's good in it's own right.  What spoke out to me was it was mom-son relationship.  I feel like it should of hit home for a lot of people and how they treat there parents.  Too many times in college I saw people ignore calls from there parents or dread a call from there mom specifically.  I wasn't 100% happy every time my mom called even because I knew it was going to be a long conversation about worries that aren't founded in reality.  This movie pointed out to me that I shouldn't be so down about it.

It was worse between my sister and mother.  I remember trying to get them to watch it together in hopes that they would be able to see the other's perspective to see that they both should think a little more before communicating.  I don't think it helped much.  I think that experience led me to a previous review idea about nobody thinks they are Malfoy in the movie.  Nobody really thinks they are doing much wrong generally.  If they did they would fix it.  It's hard to get people to see (without upsetting them) that they could have a better a life if they just saw this one thing in this one movie (or just in life).  That's one of the more beautiful things about movies.  It gives you a third person perspective on life in hopes that you improve your own life.  Good movies anyway.  You just have to have your eyes, ears, and mind open.

Thing(s) I would change:  Seth Rogen did fairly well as the funny friend.  His catching of Joseph-Gordan Levitt's girlfriend cheating is pretty freaking good.  I don't think he was the best person though for the role.  He was good but I think there was a better choice out there.  Jospeh-Gordan and Anna Kendrick for instance were great choices.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene: As stated previously the "I caught you" scene was really good.

The physical touching scenes between Joseph-Gordan and Anna Kendrick were awesome.  It's hard not to smile as that progresses.

The destroying of the painting scene was kind of awesome.  This is how things should happen when someone cheats on you.

A lot of the honest moments about death that Joseph-Gordan had like "everyone saying it's alright and it's not" are fairly powerful.

Similar Movies/TV Shows: 500 Days of Summer, The Fault in Our Stars

"Side" note: The movie is based on Seth Rogen's real life friend Will Reiser.  Will is actually the writer of the movie.  Will also makes a cameo during Adam's party. He is the guy that says "My Uncle had what you have."

Seven Pounds (2008)

MIMDB score: 7.1
Current IMDB score: 7.7
Director: Gabriele Muccino
Main Actors you care about: Will Smith, Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson

Why I liked it: There is an African folklore that goes something like there was a lion and a man in the plains.  The man noticed the lion needed some food to keep his/her pack alive.  So the man knowing his life was not worth more than the lion pack let the lion and pack eat him so that the pack could survive. Sacrificing himself for lions.  In the case of this movie it's a form of that but more of an act of redemption.  It's a really interesting thought to go through about saving other lives in giving up your own.  What I've come to conclude is if you can live in the situation and then after that event save as many lives as you can it would be better.  So yea you'll save the lion pack or team but think about the amount of good you can do for the next twenty plus years of your life instead of being done then.  Think of the countless good acts you could do to save lives.  If you are going to save your own life you better make up for it and start saving others.  Even if you don't have a moment in your life where you can sacrifice your life for others you should be getting ahead in karma by doing your best to help others in case one day you do.  Maybe movies like these are just like Rorschach test to me but I see them as reason to be a better person.  I'm sure others could see this movie as a lame, over dramatic, boring movie though.

Thing(s) I would change: I don't like that in the beginning he says he is committing suicide.  I think that stops the movie from being amazing and adds to validity of it being boring.  It's suppose to be a big secret of what he's doing yet they give too much away in the beginning in my opinion.  I think it would have been a way bigger act had it not been given away in one of the first scenes.

"In seven days God created the world.  And in seven seconds, I shattered mine."  Terrible lines.  So cheesy.  Just really forcing the word SEVEN in the title, sins, etc.  Those type of connections aren't needed for me anyway.

He should have stayed alive when he met her.  As my "Why I liked it section" stated he could have had redemption in making her life really amazing along with six other people without having to kill himself.  Granted she might not have gotten a heart and died but making her last few months/years alive amazing is still something worth doing.  Just in real life you would just do whatever you could to help at least seven people if you did in fact ruin seven peoples' lives.  As said in my Short Term 12 post, suicide doesn't make sense; helping people does.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene: I do love the jelly fish scenes.  They bring a bit of beauty to an organism that I've never felt anything other than RUN AWAY about.

George Ristuccia: You know, Ben, I keep asking you this but why me?
Ben Thomas: Because you are a good man.
George Ristuccia: No, really.
Ben Thomas: Even when you don't know that people are watching you.
Live your life like everyone you've ever known is watching you.  That leads to less regrets in life.

Similar Movies/TV Shows: Pursuit of Happiness a bit, Patch Adams, Amelie, Pay it Forward

"Side" note:
The movie title is a reference to Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice play.  One of the characters in the play agrees to pay a moneylender a pound of his flesh if his debt is not paid in time.

The Intern (2015)

(Not to be confused with The Internship)

MIMDB score: 7.4
Current IMDB score: 7.2
Director: Nancy Meyers
Main Actors you care about: Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway

Why I liked it: Charming.  This movie is charming.  Mostly because of Robert De Niro.  It made me feel good to think that De Niro's character exists and sometimes you need that in life.  There's a lot of neglect that people allow themselves to act a certain way because hey, if there is no immediate problems coming out of the way I'm acting then why would I change it?  Just a bad thought in general.  Always be on the look out to find people to look at for what to change. You should be a combination of all the good parts of people you've spent time with that you thought was worth understanding.

Thing(s) I would change: A little cheesy at the end.  It's a little cheesy throughout but only if you are susceptible to not liking cheesy moments will it matter.  I kind of doubt she would just be ok with him cheating on her.  I don't get it.  Some people are in these relationships that want monogamy but it's ok if you can't be because it's SOOO hard to be monogamous . . . It's not hard to be monogamous.  It's hard to put up with people that aren't monogamous.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene: For some reason I really like the scene were Anne Hathaway shows up at the coffee shop where she just moved De Niro off working for her and apologizes.  I like that feeling that exists there.  The we are no longer boss/employee.  We are friends.  I like when I feel that feeling in real life for anything.  We are no longer X but now we are good friends and I won't be taking offense to small things anymore because I believe you to mean well.

"You're never wrong to do the right thing." I really like it but also hate it.  Yes you are never wrong to do the right thing.  The problem with that statement is what is right is different for a lot of people.  Mass killers think they are doing the right thing with killing people that they think do understand the world.  Again I still like the statement even though the statement is flawed.

Similar Movies/TV Shows: In Good Company, The Devil Wears Prada even though I don't recommend it,

"Side" note: Nothing worth mentioning.

The Beauty Inside (2015)

(It's an English subtitle movie, I apologize if you don't like those)

MIMDB score: 7.5
Current IMDB score: 7.2
Director: Does it matter?
Main Actors you care about: N/A

Why I liked it: Hmmmmm good.  It a soft movie with a beautiful message.  They mainly use classical music which is always good.  The music with lyrics is very soft and simple still.  Rom-com with some added thought.  The premise is the main (male) character's body changes every night, gender included.  It's sort of a play on Groundhog day or About Time which are always intriguing to me.

I love the idea of loving someone for what's inside and this movie kind of hits on that.  Granted they don't get too deep into why they really should love each other besides the love for antiques/furniture.  They still hit a home run for the idea of loving someone for more than there appearance.

It also brings up the idea of a person changing all the time and then finding the person they love and that helping them figure out who they want to be.  It like a puzzle they've been trying to solve and the person solves it for them and they don't change much anymore.  It's kind of awesome if that ever happens to you.  Kind of doubt that happens in real life and that be the "correct" way to living.  If someone changes for someone else it's hard to say that's good.  The "best" I would assume would be you are already some way and you find someone else that is a similar way.  But who knows if that is right.

What stands out:  The idea of the movie and the simplistic style.  ALL the actors that played the same character is very intriguing.  Interesting acting job.  There were 122 people in total that played the main actor.  Kind of crazy interesting.

Thing(s) I would change:  Not that I would change this necessarily but would have loved the movie to go in a different direction at the end.  I kind of wanted her to start changing everyday as well.  There could be a lot of endings and their ending is good enough and makes sense, moreso than most rom-coms.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:  The scene where the friend asks to have sex with the main character.  Pretty funny.

The day where he's a little boy with her is pretty cute. :)

Friend when he meets her for the first time:  "Who the hell are you?  Everything she says you say it's fine too?"

I really like the the idea of making the wedding ring.  If I was to ever give a wedding ring I would defiantly look into this.  Tangent here, I've never understood the two rings for the woman and only one for the man.  Weddings (and love) are about equality (or it is in my best guess).  The symbol of love shouldn't be that women get twice what the man gets.  It should be equal.

The last scene with all the people that were him is a good touch.  I just like it.

Similar Movies/TV Shows:  About Time, Groundhog Day, Memento maybe? Being John Malkovich.

"Side" note: There's another version of this in English.  It's almost as good and is probably good enough to understand what's going on.  It's like a short web mini series that probably is thirty minutes total.  If you watch it and like it you could probably watch this Korean version which I think is a little bit better.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

MIMDB score: 7.9
Current IMDB score: 7.3
Director: Ben Stiller
Main Actors you care about: Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Adam Scott, Sean Penn

Why I liked it: It's makes me feel good.  This movie made me look at Ben Stiller differently.  It's like Will Ferrell's Stranger than Fiction movie for Ben Stiller.  The comedian type guy who's put in this humbling role that somehow fits really well even though it doesn't seem that way at first.  Mitty's character is reliable to the type of person that watches Walter Mitty-type movies.

What stands out:  The feeling you get from it.  It's like a safe feeling.  It's what humble pie would taste like.

Thing(s) I would change:  I do not like Stretch Armstrong.  I do not like the Stretch Armstrong scene between Adam Scott and Mitty.  It's too weird for the movie unfortunately.  That scene is borderline too weird.  Now the Benjamin Buttons scene is definitely too weird.  I feel like Kristen Wiig had something to do with the development of that scene because it's super weird and that's her humor.  Cut those sequences out please as they are distracting and have little to do with movie.  Deleted scenes is a better place for those.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:  All the scenes in Iceland.  If you can go to Iceland in your life I recommend it.  It's fits this movie perfectly.  Iceland humbly makes you feel good being there.

Mitty: "And I get it. You got your marching orders... and you have to do what you have to do. But you don't have to be such a dick. Put that on a plaque, and hang it at your next job."  Exactly what needed to be said.  So good.

"Beautiful things don't ask for attention."  Amen movie.  I do not like when people call attention to themselves.  It's showy.  If people want to invest time or thought in you they will.  You don't have to sell yourself or shouldn't have to anyway.

Life's Motto: "To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other, and to feel. That is the purpose of life."  The whole Life magazine being compared to life.  I like a lot of those thoughts.

Similar Movies/TV Shows:  For some reason the Truman Show?  I'll list the original Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) but I've only seen the trailer and that doesn't seem to have the same feel.  That one seems like more of a comedy.  The Intern, same feeling but different story and it's recent.  Pursuit of Happiness but it's not the exact same feeling.

"Side" note: I've been to Iceland where a lot of the scenes were filmed.  It was awesome.  I recommend going.  I went to the long boarding scene, helicopter departure scene, and the scenes in supposedly in Afghanistan that were really in the big state park in Iceland.  The really blue glacier he's walking on one time is a glacier I've walked.  Same ones in Interstellar.  Pretty awesome.

Also that's not really Life magazine's real motto unfortunately. . . .

Spotlight (2015)

MIMDB score: 7.2
Current IMDB score: 8.2
Director: Marc Webb
Main Actors you care about: Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Michael Keaton

Why I liked it: I'm going to start a tradition of reviewing movies that receive an Oscar for best picture going forward.  I didn't think it was amazing but it was good.  Nothing really stood out to me except the ending.  The credits started listing ALL the cities where this has occurred. It takes like 20 screens of fairly small font to get through them all.  Really freaking crazy to believe it went on for so long before some one figured out it was happening.  In case you are not aware this movie covers the sexual (and probably mental) abuse of kids by Catholic persists.  Even more outrageous than that it talks about the cover up the Catholic church was doing for years on it.  I think this subject matter was a large part of why it won best picture . . . and that list of course.

What stands out:  The long list as I said.

Thing(s) I would change:  I was going to say have something more that stood out.  Nothing overly stood out because apparently the idea was not to embellish anything that happened.  There was the scene where the one priest admits to everything which was noteworthy but he was out of his mind so I don't think that stood out too much.  It's good though, really, for this type of movie.  That's kind of how these docuemtary-isqe movies should go.  If they would have embellished I think more would have stood out than just the list.  Not exaggerating made the list stand out more I feel like because that's what had the most attention I thought.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:  The long list.  Although re-watching it doesn't seem that long but it still stands out.

I do like this line though:
Phil Saviano: I was eleven. And I was preyed upon by father David Holly in Wester. And I don't mean prayed for, I mean preyed upon.
Me: Boom, roasted.

Similar Movies/TV Shows:  They say Argo but I wouldn't say that.  Doubt, Inside Job, The Network, Good Night, and Good Luck, the TV show Newsroom.

"Side" note: These characters are based on an actual Spotlight team at the Boston Globe.  Many of the real journalist who worked on the story were present during the filming of the movie.  Another cool thing while researching this is that the journalists at the Boston Globe use a blue pen, the boss uses a black pen, and the editor uses a red pen.

Michael Keaton's fly is down in one scene.  Have fun finding what scene it is in . . . .