500 Days of Summer

Through time we all have seen love stories that have a happy ending were the two love bird are together happily ever after, boom, the end. But what there’s a love story that didn’t have a happy ending and was true to real life and the feelings we all face during our times of growing up. In Marc Webb’s film 500 Days of Summer, is a love story that really isn’t a love story. This film deals with first love, losing that first love and moving on with your life.

            When Tom (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) meets Summer (played by Zooey Deschanel), he thinks he has met his match. When they start to spend time together, Tom feelings start getting stronger for Summer even though she has made it clear that she doesn’t want a relationship. But through time it’s to turn into one that Summer denies but Tom argues with her that they are together because of the things they do together and the way he feels about her.

            When Summer breaks up with Tom, he is heartbroken and is in a deep depression for some time. His friends, McKenzie and Paul (played by Geoffrey Arend and Matthew Gray Gubler) try to help him break the spell of depression over his break up, even having Tom’s sister Rachel (played by Chloe Grace Moretz) tries to help get over Summer and move on with his life. But still Tom is under the spell of love and doesn’t want to forget about Summer.

            When Summer has moved on with her life, Tom is still heartbroken but then he finally quits his job at the card company and starts to focus on his dream of being an architect and that helps him with moving on with his life and finally forgetting about Summer. Even though, Summer has come back into his life here and there but, in the end it doesn’t faze him as much as had during the past. In the end, Tom finally moves on and maybe even meets someone.

            500 Days of Summer is a film that a lot of people can relate too.  We all have been through heart break, moving on from that heart break and being able to find our true selves during the times of heart break. With probably one the best edited films we have seen in a long time, 500 Days of Summer takes on a journey through laughter, tears and even hope for the upcoming future. 

The Real Home Run King

Baseball has been the sport where legends are made. Like Babe Ruth, Derek Jeter, Micky Mantle and etc. But there is one legend that has not given the proper treat he should of have. Roger Maris was and always will be the best home run hitter in the game. In Billy Crystal’s  film 61*, the audience gets to see the true story of Maris and Micky Mantle chasing the home run record that Babe Ruth held before the 1961 baseball season where Maris took the record. Throughout the journey to 61 homeruns, Maris had to deal with critics, Micky Mantle, and with himself.

             Roger Maris (played Barry Pepper), had to deal with a lot of critics when he was with the Yankees. Throughout the time, critics in the newspapers called him a bum, not a true New York Yankee and wrote he would never was going to get the record or the praises he deserves because everyone was rooting for Micky Mantle (played by Thomas Jane). Maris would reserve death threats through letters that if he broke the record he would be killed, at games he was taunted and even had a fan throw a chair at him during a game.

            A lot of people thought Maris and Mantle didn’t get a long at all but really they were the best of friends even during the 1961 regular season and they both cheered each other on. Mantle was the biggest cheerleader on his side. Even though a lot of people wanted Mantle to get Ruth’s record because fans thought he was a true Yankee and two them unstoppable until at the end of the season where he was injured.

            Maris faced a great deal throughout the 1961 season. With death threats, calls to his home threatening his family and being the underdog. Still, through all the stress and pain everyone has caused him, Maris broke the home run record and became the greatest hitter in baseball history.

            Crystal showed the two sides of both men during the 1961 season and he didn’t hold anything back. He told the true story of these men, epically Maris and what he to go through to break that record. In the eyes of the audience, Maris became a hero to them because of the adversity he had to face to become a legend that he is today. Maris will be and always be the greatest home run hitter in the history of baseball. 

War is Hell.

Some of us don’t really know what really happened during the Vietnam War. Films were made about the war but none of the came really close to what happened to these soldiers during the tours in the Vietnam War. Until director Oliver Stone made the 1987 Academy Award winning picture, Platoon. This film is about the tragedy of the Vietnam War and what this war has done to main soldiers during their time in Vietnam. This film deals with the topics of good vs. evil, the change of man through war, and the truth of what really happened in Vietnam.

            When Chris Taylor (played Charlie Sheen) arrives in Vietnam he doesn’t know what he is in for and is hit by world wind when he gets his first action in Vietnam. He is led by two Sergeants; Sgt. Barnes (played by Tom Berenger) who is ruthless man who will do whatever he wants whenever he decides. He doesn’t care about the lives he takes, which leads to some evil that is unexplainable from him and others on his side of the platoon. Sgt. Elias (played by Willem Dafoe) however is more of a free spirit and who is trying just survive this war and keep his humanity.

            Chris is torn when he sees an illegal killing in a village from Sgt. Barnes who kills an innocent woman in cold blood. He is now losing his humanity and is now facing to fights, the fight of him surviving and stay alive throughout this war, and the war between him and the men in his platoon.

            The film really shows how these men transform to being innocent men to hard core killing machines. Some who have lost themselves through what they have seen and what they have done throughout this war. Oliver Stone created characters that really were relatable to audience members, doesn’t matter which character it was anyone could relate to these men who have lost themselves during this war.

            This film is a masterpiece and a classic which is why it has won a lot of awards including Best Picture at the Oscars. This not just a film, this is an experience of what really happened to these men who fought for our country and what the price that they had to counter that lives on with them till this day. Platoon is the first film to really capture the truth of the Vietnam War. 

Fighting for yourself

In today’s culture we’ve been waiting for a boxing film that takes not only our breath away but also our hearts. With films like Raging Bull and Rocky, our current generation needed a boxing film that was not only was about fighting and knocking out the douche bag of the film but a film that is about overcoming obstacles.  In David O. Russell’s boxing drama The Fighter, the film is not only about boxing but it deals with brotherhood, doing things on your own, and leaving the past behind.

            In the film the audience sees Micky (played by Mark Wahlberg) trying to be a world champion boxer with the help of his brother Dicky (played by Christian Bale who won an Academy Award for this role), who use to be a prize boxer himself till he got into drugs. With help of their mother, Alice (played Melissa Leo who also received an Academy Award for this role), who is Micky’s manager and is the one who is getting him fights. But the thing is Micky is letting them control his boxing career that has led him to unfair fights that he loses. Also, Micky feels that he has a big shadow over him due to his brother who was a boxing champion and the pride of their hometown.

            When Micky meets Charlene (played by Amy Adams) she convinces him to finally do his own thing, and take control of his own career without the help of his brother and mother.  Micky finally finds himself to be winning fights and taking control of his own life but there is something missing from all of his successes. When he gets his title shot he wants Dicky on his side after Dicky has gotten out of prison and Dicky helps him train to fight for the biggest fight of his life.

            In the end of this film, Micky gives everything he has gone through with himself, his family and the people who have support him the most in the ring. Micky finally has his family together and gives them the biggest gift of all time: moving on. Forgetting the past and letting the past go was a part of Micky’s title fight that gives him not only the title but the hope for a better future.

            The Fighter is not just a boxing film; it’s a film about facing obstacles head on and leaving the past behind for a future of hope and happiness. The Fighter is a film that our generation needed and wanted for a long time; we finally got it through this film.

Love and Other Things That Go Along With It.

In today’s culture we see a lot of cheesy love stories that just make us sick to our stomachs and we just want to turn it off not even ten minutes into the film.  Really none of the love stories we see on the screen today haven’t really take our hearts and breathes away because they aren’t true or just always the happy ever after with prince charming being perfect with no flaws.

                In Edward Zwick’s film Love and Other Drugs, based on a book “Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman” by Jamie Reidy; tells a story about a young cocky drug rep, Jamie (played by Jake Gyllenhaal), who befriends a woman, Maggie (played by Anne Hathaway), who suffers from Parkinson’s disease. Together their relationship grows, surprising both of them and makes them fall in love with each other. This film deals with dealing and living with someone who has a disease or has been through a lot in their lives, what scares them of being in love and most of all keep that love and working with it.

                 When the audience first sees Maggie with her side effects to Parkinson’s disease, she tries to hide from everyone especially Jamie. Throughout the film we get to see Maggie change and have her see what she is scared of, what she can’t do anymore, it is heart breaking to see Maggie go through this disease and the effects it has on her. At first, Jamie didn’t see a problem with the Parkinson’s disease and thinks it can cured. But with spending more time with Maggie he gets to see her good days and also bad days with this disease.

                Jamie thinks he can help Maggie with her disease but it scares both of them. In the film the audience sees Jamie, a cocky young man in his late twenties flirting and having sex with different women; only caring about himself and no one else. Maggie changes that for him which scares him at first.  People have told him to get away from her as fast as he can and find someone who is health. Maggie is scared to be loved and have someone take care of her because she feels that it’s not fair to whoever loves her to take care of her more than she can take care of them.

                In this film, the audience gets to see these two characters grow together and even fight for each other to stay in love and work it out. It touches the audience in a way you can’t describe because a lot people haven’t felt that way and don’t know if they can do that for someone. Some other audience members feel that way and have to deal with difficult things in their lives and loving that person the way Jamie and Maggie love each other.

                Even though film has it flaws sometimes but it does send a powerful message of love is the best medicine for anything. Love and Other Drugs is a true love story that can make or break audience member’s hearts and makes them realize that no matter who you are and what you’ve been through, there is always going to be someone to love you for who you are.

  

                Now this is for me to let you all know why I watched this movie: I met a woman who I didn’t realize when I first met her was in a car accident that damaged her back and her brain. I thought she was okay and she would get better with time. But I didn’t know what was in store for me when I started to date this woman and having to see her on her good days and bad days. I remember one time, I had to pick her up from her parent’s bed when she was hurting so bad and carrying her to her bedroom. It was heart breaking for me at first but I knew this is what she had to go through. I had people tell me to run away and find someone who didn’t have these flaws. But really, I have never met someone so joyful and full of love even though she has been through hell and back. I’m happy to say I’ve been with this amazing woman for almost three years now and I am marrying her next year. This film talk to me, even though it’s not the same thing my fiancée is going through but I’ve been through what Jamie has been through with Maggie and in the end it all works out and you accept that person who they and love them for what they give you. 

No, this is not a film about Robin...

In a time where superhero films have become popular around the world, some have been great like the Avengers and the new Batman films, and some not so great like Green Lantern. Superhero films are films that make the audience escape from reality and the audience gets to fantasize about life in the worlds created in the films. But, what if there was a superhero film that didn't step out of reality? What if there was a film that takes the audience on a ride that they never experienced before while seeing a superhero film that is created in their own world?

Michael Morrissey’s film Boy Wonder isn't a regular superhero film and takes the audience into a realistic version of their own world. Some might think, because of the title, this is a film about Batman’s side kick, Robin. This is not true; Boy Wonder is a film that is realistic as it could happen in real life. This film deals with vengeance, what is right and wrong, and family forgiveness, a topic many audience members haven’t seen before in a superhero film.

The film follows Sean Donovan (played by Caleb Steinmeyer) who witnesses his Mother (played by Tracy Middendorf) being brutally murdered when he is young. Years later, Sean is a shy teenager who is determined to find the killer of his Mother. At night he searches the streets of New York City to find people who are in need and punishes, and even kills, those who bring harm to those in need. As Sean goes deeper into being a vigilante, he starts to change a lot and his attacks on his victims become more violent as he gets closer to his Mother’s killer. Throughout the film the audience gets to feel and see Sean change into being a vigilante and why he searches for revenge.

Throughout the film, the audience gets to see these characters go through what they feel is right and what is wrong. When Detective Teresa Ames (played by Zulay Henao) discovers that Sean has been the one that has been a part of these murders, she has a difficult choice of turning Sean in or letting him go when she finds out what really has happened to him and the life he has gone through. The relationship those two develop throughout the film is also a big key to her choice of turning him in or letting him go.

Before his Mother’s murder, Sean lived an abusive life with his Father, Terry (played by Bill Sage). Sean witnessed his Mother being beaten up by his Father, as well as being a victim of this abuse himself. After the killing of his wife, Terry changes his life style throughout the years and tries to be a better Father to Sean. But, Sean can’t escape the past and what his Father has done. Sean seems to blame his Father for his Mother being killed. Even though Terry tries to be there for his son and shows he has become a better man, the audience sees that Sean has taken steps to forgiving his Father but really he still blames him for what happened.

Some audience members may feel and compare this film as a darker version of a Batman origin film. But really, this story has its own rare commonality that changes the way a lot of audience members will view a superhero film. Boy Wonder is an in-your-face, realistic film that could happen in real life. It’s a film that captures the audiences’ hearts and makes them hold onto the edge of their seats.  

Life in the Fast Lane

We all have choices about where we are going in our lives. Sometimes a lot of people play it safe and go for whatever is easy in their lives. Others decide to take the long road and live life in the fast lane.

            In Monte Hellman’s Two-Lane Blacktop, two men, the Driver (played by James Taylor) and the Mechanic (played by Dennis Wilson) drag race across the United States in their 1955 Chevy. Along the way they meet a young woman and a man driving in a GTO who challenge them to a cross country race for pink slips to their cars.

Though it is popular in films, it is not always necessary for characters to have a dramatic character arc where the character’s personality is forever changed. This is seen in this film as none of the characters really change their ways even by the end of the film.

The character GTO (played by Warren Oates) is a loner on the long, lonely road going nowhere. He picks up random hitchhikers on the road and tells them a different story every time he meets someone new. When GTO meets the Driver, Mechanic and the Girl, he feels that he can take a new journey and challenge with him. The audience gets a feeling that he’s going to change with the Girl on his side as he drives to win the race. But life throws a curve ball straight at him when the Girl decides to walk away. This brings GTO back to where he was before, someone on the open road driving to nowhere.

The Girl (played by Laurie Bird) throws the biggest monkey wrench into this film. When the Driver and the Mechanic pick her up along side of the road, they don’t realize what kind of toll she will put on the three men in this film, especially the Driver. The Girl shows a different side of life that isn’t a part of the fast lane. She brings out different sides to the men that they never felt or dealt with before. They each, in their own way, fall in love with this girl, who is on this journey just to get to somewhere besides the life she’s been living. When she walks away from the men and onto a motorcycle with another guy, it breaks their hearts. That shows how much impact she had on these guys and how, now, they revert back to where they were before having met her.

The Driver is the silent type who only cares about driving along with the Mechanic. When he meets the Girl, he starts thinking of her and how life can be different than life on the fast lane. When she leaves to go find a different life, he’s torn and returns to the life he led before. In the final race, we see the Driver staring down the fast lane, ready to go. But before the race, he looks off and sees a barn where he thinks about life where he can settle and maybe one day have a family. But then looks back to the road and decides this is where he wants to be.

Sometimes we don’t know where we are going. Sometimes we wind up right back where we started. We are all living in our own fast lane and we can either choose to get off the road or just keep rolling.     

Let the Games Begin!

Many films we see today are based on bestselling novels. Some of those films turn out to be great films. Others, like the Twilight films, turn out to be horrible films that don’t attract any audience members except for teenage girls and the poor bastards that are dragged along because their significant others want to see sparkling vampires.

            Gary Ross’s The Hunger Games is based on the besting selling series by author Suzanne Collins, who also helped write the screenplay for this film. The Hunger Games is different than many other book series made into films as it was enjoyable to watch for audience members of all ages. This film has a lot to do with kids growing up too fast, having to deal with a government that is a dictatorship, and learning the values of life and death.

            In the film, sixteen year old Katniss Everdeen (played by Jennifer Lawrence) had to grow up too fast because of her father’s death. This has a strong emotional impact on her mother (played by Paula Malcomson) and her younger sister Primrose (played by Willow Shields). This prompted Katniss to grow up fast to keep her family alive, making her the provider of her home.

            The film is based in a dystopian near-future where the United States is divided into twelve districts. It is all controlled by the Capitol, which the audience members can view as a dictatorship, and it feels like watching a World War II film due to the muted colors and scenes that bring forth images of concentration camps. The Capitol selects a boy and a girl to represent each district in the Hunger Games, a competition where kids fight to the death for a winner-takes-all game as punishment for a past rebellion against the Capitol.  

                The Hunger Games shows the choice of life and death. Having these teenagers in this game and killing each other is either exciting or heartfelt to the audience. It hits the audience hard and breaks their hearts when a character they get to know dies.  With Katniss, the audience gets to see her heart break when someone she cares about passes away and her transformation into a cold blooded killer that will do anything to survive.

            Because some of the pieces in the book were taken out for the film, it can be kind of confusing at first about why the dystopian future is broken up into districts for audience members who haven’t read the book. However, through the movie, the audience gets to understand the world this film is in. The Hunger Games is a good film that clearly represents the heart of the books and gives a message of fighting for your loved ones and fighting for what you believe in. 

The Heart of a Warrior

There have been a lot of films about Mixed Martial Arts since the sport became popular in the past couple of years. But a lot of these films only have great fight sequences, not so much a great story line once the fighters leave the octagon. Usually these films are really cheesy with a lot of bad dialogue and characters that the audience cannot relate too.

Gavin O’Connor’s 2011 film Warrior isn't just about Mixed Martial Arts. This film deals with brotherhood, family tragedy, alcoholism, PTSD, a lot of problems that can hit audience members in the heart. With a fantastic cast, including Nick Nolte, Tom Hardy, and Joel Edgerton, this film is way more than just a fight film.

The film deals with a lot of personal issues that audiences can relate to. Nick Nolte’s character is a recovering alcoholic and is trying to rebuild a broken relationship with his two sons. Tom Hardy’s character, a former Marine, is dealing with PSTD and is haunted by his tragic past during his tour of duty. Joel Edgerton’s character is a public school teacher and is trying to make ends meet for his wife (played by Jennifer Morrison) and their two daughters.

The fight scenes in this film were astounding. The audience could tell that each character was fighting for something, either for fame, money or their loved ones. The cinematography during each fight scene was fantastic; it really made the audience feel like they were sitting ring side during the fights and in the cage standing near the fighters. The audience members could feel the energy from the fighters and the crowd during the fights. It made the audience feel the physical pain every time Joel Edgerton’s character gets knocked down or the emotional pain when Tom Hardy goes nuts on an opponent. 

Warrior is a film that doesn’t hold back on expressing itself on screen. The audience can feel the pain of each character; whether it was physically or mentally, they felt it. The film grabs the audience attention and doesn’t let it go. The ending of this film sends an honest but brutal message without words; which is really fitting for this kind of film. Warrior is not just a fight film with crazy fight sequences, it shows heart and audiences haven’t seen a fight film like this in long time.  Hopefully filmmakers make more fight films like this that can capture the audience’s hearts while showcasing this extraordinary sport. 

And the Crowd Goes Wild!

            They don’t make Westerns like they used to. In classic Western films, the audience always rooted for the hero of the story. It was always the lonesome stranger riding into a town that was being run by the bad guys. The hero was then dragged in to save the day. There were always the classic shoot-outs in the end between the main villain and the hero, always with the tumbleweeds rolling by, and nobody could forget the classic stare down before the guns were drawn. In the end, it always concluded with the hero riding off into the sunset.

            In Sam Peckinpah’s 1969 western, The Wild Bunch, Peckinpah threw out the classic hero story and gave the audience an ultra violent, anti-hero story that puts all those hero stories to shame. This film changed the way audiences viewed western films by presenting them with a band of aging outlaws, going for one last ride. Gone were the classic heroes of John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. Instead, the audience found themselves rooting for characters that would traditionally be the “bad” guys. Peckinpah presented the world with a new twist on Western films by portraying the idea that not all good stories are those of heroes facing bad guys but of criminals facing even worse  men.

            The Wild Bunch also provided a stark visual change from most Westerns of the time. It was a film with heightened violence for that time, laden with bloody scenes that included men and women getting murdered. This was one of the first films to show such a vast amount of violence and it changed the way Westerns were made in the future.

            An all star cast, including William Holden and Ernest Borgnine, gave outstanding performances that audiences could never forget. They inflicted passion into their roles that was so raw that they transformed this film from a purely violent story into a well-rounded, instant classic. The great acting mingled with a solid plot and created a memorable film that is still celebrated to this day.

            Great Westerns seem like a long-forgotten genre. Sam Peckinpah took the classic genre of Westerns and turned it on its head but it worked. It created an entirely new entity that matched the classics for greatness but added its own unforgettable spin. Other memorable Westerns were created after The Wild Bunch but this film introduced the idea that sometimes there doesn't need to be a clearly defined hero, just a gang of outlaws who were better than the worst men.