FILMS FOR THOUGHT
By: Alex Holzum
Monday, May 11, 2015
#14 Bend It Like Beckham
FILMS FOR THOUGHT
By: Alex Holzum
For my second to last blog post, I have chosen to look at another sports movie: Bend It Like Beckham. This film is set in England in the Bhamra household. We learn that the Bhamras are a very conservative Indian family with a mother, father, and two daughters. Jess is the younger daughter and a very talented soccer player that is being restricted from playing because it goes against her family's idea of what is appropriate for girls to do. If it were up to Jess's parents, Jess would never play soccer and be more like her sister by learning how to manage a household and find a husband.
One day while Jess is secretly playing soccer in the park with her guy friends, Jules (played by Keira Knightley) happens to walk by and notice Jess's soccer skills. Jules invites Jess to try out for the women's soccer team that she plays for. Jess decides to join the team without telling her parents. On top of secretly joining the soccer team, she starts to develop feelings for her coach, Joe (played by Jonathan Meyers). This is an absolutely forbidden love because Joe is not Indian and Jess's parents are insistent upon her marrying a good, Indian boy. This creates another conflict because her friend, Jules, also has feelings for Joe....IT IS A MESS. Along with all of the other conflicts that arise from Jess's lying to her family, this movie is wildly entertaining.
Like I have said in previous posts, I love a good sports-themed movie. This movie is great because there is a good mix of sports, family drama, friend drama, and boy drama. This movie contains an interesting blend of cultures and relationships. One of my favorite parts of the entire movie is getting to see the customs of the Bhamra family as they prepare for their oldest daughter to get married.
My entire family loves this movie because there is something in it for everybody!
#13 Goodfellas
FILMS FOR THOUGHT
By: Alex Holzum
The theme of organized crime continues! Goodfellas is a story told through the perspective of Henry Hill (played by Ray Liotta). Henry starts out as your ordinary teenage boy growing up in an urban area. From his family's front window he can see a pizza shop across the street that is owned by a bunch of Italian guys who he knows are in the gangster business; Henry knows that he wants to break into that business from a very early age.
Henry is eventually able to break into that business and is assigned to perform various "little" tasks for the main guys. He is essentially a messenger boy in the beginning. In the first part of the movie we see how Henry goes through the transition of living an ordinary life with his family to becoming a full-on gangster.
The movie jumps forward about ten or fifteen years to when Henry is higher up in the gangster world. We get to see him in action: making deals, beating people up, stealing things, etc. The movie goes through a few big schemes that the gang puts together in order to rake in a lot of money. Eventually Henry meets his wife and we get to see the social life of the gangsters.
This movie is similar to The Godfather because both have to do with organized crime but they are very different because Goodfellas is much more lighthearted and goes into more detail of how everything works within this business/lifestyle. Also, Goodfellas sticks with one group of people from beginning to end, so we get to see how their actions affected them later in life. In Henry Hill's case, he ended up going from living the gangster dream life with lots of money and power to hiding away in witness protection. These organized crime movies are fascinating to me because it is like being at the zoo: you get to look into the life of a being that is very different from yourself yet the similarities are still there.
#12 The Godfather
FILMS FOR THOUGHT
By: Alex Holzum
In 1998 a large group of big names in the film-making community got together to compile a list of the top 100 films of all time. Among this list is my next film choice. Coming in at number 3, we have The Godfather. This is another film that I watched in my High School film class. The Godfather is the first movie in the three part series.
The movie opens up with a wedding scene. This is a very busy scene where a lot of important things happen. Thank GOODNESS for my film teacher narrating everything that went down in this scene because there is no way I would have been able to keep up with everything. The wedding that we are seeing is for the daughter of Don Vito Corleone (played by Marlon Brando). The most important thing to remember while watching the opening scene is that a Sicilian man cannot refuse any request asked of him on the day of his daughter's wedding. Vito Corleone is a Sicilian immigrant that has made it big in America by maneuvering through the ranks of the mafia until he got to the esteemed position of Don.
Within this opening scene, we learn that Vito Corleone is a very rich and important man that has three sons, one daughter, a wife, and Tom who is the consigliere and Corleone's adopted son. The whole movie is just the Corleones taking care of the "family business" while still maintaining their family (sort of). It is really interesting to listen to the values of the Don and the other family members.
This movie is one of my favorites because it makes you laugh, cry, and most of the time just watch in awe as you see into a lifestyle that is very different than most peoples'. I will end this post with a few fun facts about this movie that I learned while watching it in my film class:
* The horse head that you will eventually see...IS REAL (straight from the glue factory).
* Marlon Brando stuffed cotton balls into his cheeks to get the Don look that he has
* Al Pacino actually broke his face outside of filming this movie but the director took advantage of his broken face bruising by filming the scenes where his face is supposed to be broken while his face was still naturally swollen and bruised
#11 Finding Nemo
FILMS FOR THOUGHT
By: Alex Holzum
The next film that I will be discussing is another animated masterpiece: Finding Nemo. This is another one of those children's movies that has a terribly sad opening scene. It starts out really happy with the clownfish couple, Marlin and Coral. We learn that they are very excited because they have a bunch of baby fish who are waiting to hatch in an ocean floor alcove. It seems like the beginning to a very generic and happy tale of two fish raising their fish children; unfortunately, this is not the case. A barracuda dives in and eats Coral and all but one of the fish eggs. Marlin is left to raise this one fish all on his own. He chooses the name, Nemo, because that is the one name that Coral said that she wanted for at least one of her fish babies.
The movie picks up with Nemo starting his first day of school. We learn that Marlin is a very protective father who kind of smothers Nemo. He raises Nemo to think that the ocean is scary so that Nemo will not try anything too adventurous. Of course, Marlin does this with the intention of keeping Nemo safe, but he stunts Nemo's growth and fun in the process.
While at school, Nemo ends up getting kidnapped and Marlin goes on a hunt throughout the ocean to find his son. During the search, we meet Dory who becomes another main character. Dory and Marlin make a very fun search party as they find a lot of adventure in meeting new ocean creatures and try to find Nemo. While Dory and Marlin are searching the ocean, Nemo is trapped inside a tank in a dentist's office in Australia. He also meets a lot of new friends who end up teaching him how to be brave enough to take on new things.
This movie is so quotable and has not gotten old for me yet even though my cousins make me watch it every other day during the summers. If you are looking for a light-hearted movie to watch with your family, I honestly think this movie would be appropriate for a group of all different ages.
#10 Silver Linings Playbook
FILMS FOR THOUGHT
By: Alex Holzum
For my next film post, I would like to analyze Silver Linings Playbook. Let me just start by saying that this cast is STACKED: Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Julia Styles, Chris Tucker, and even more. Keeping that in mind, I will give you a general overview of the plot. It all begins with Pat (Bradley Cooper) being in a mental hospital. We later find out that he landed himself in there because he caught his wife cheating on him with a coworker and he ended up brutally attacking the guy within an inch of his life. When Pat gets out of the hospital we learn that he has a very hopeful outlook on life even though a lot of people would consider him to be in a rut.
Pat moves back in with his parents (De Niro and Jacki Weaver) after he gets out from the mental hospital. He is excited to explain to them his plans of reading all of the books on his ex-wife's book reading list in an attempt to get her back. He also plans to get into great physical and mental shape. His parents could not be more skeptical of his goal of contacting his wife because evidently she took out a restraining order against him. Basically, this whole movie is full of the people in Pat's life trying to help him through this difficult time all while Pat is trying to do what he thinks is best for his own life. Things really start to pick up when Pat meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) who is arguably just as crazy and lost as he is. The two of them enter into a dancing competition that requires them to practice together constantly.
This is one of my favorite movies because each of the characters is hilarious at one point or another. I enjoy how fast pace this movie is because Pat is a just a fast pace person who does not want to waste a second of his new life and who also has a very interesting perspective on everything. My overall favorite character has to be Danny, Pat's friend, who is played by Chris Tucker. He is my favorite simply because he is such a nice guy and Chris Tucker is hilarious. If you are still not convinced to see this movie, I should tell you that the whole viewing experience is worth it simply for the sake of the final dance performance. Go watch it!
#9 Forrest Gump
FILMS FOR THOUGHT
By: Alex Holzum
For my next film review, I will begin with a quote: "My momma always said, 'Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.'" That's right, this post will be about Forrest Gump.
The outlining plot of this film is that Forrest Gump (played by Tom Hanks) is sitting on a bench waiting for a bus to come. While he waits, he is telling his life's story to whoever happens to be sitting next to him. His story begins as a child growing up in Alabama. When the movie first begins, we learn that Forrest is raised by a single mother (played by Sally Field, pictured at right), whom he absolutely adores. We also learn that he is academically challenged and will need leg braces in order to walk. Despite all of these setbacks early on, we get to see all of the tremendous success that he experiences in his life.
Forrest's life events are seen in relation to historical events in history. Some examples of this include when Forrest serves in the Vietnam war, meets President Kennedy, buys share in Apple, and many, many more. We also get to see the pop culture aspect of this time in history through the life of Forrest's oldest friend, Jenny. We also meet Bubba and Lieutenant Dan who become two of Forrest's best friends and large influences in his life.
This movie is wildly entertaining because Forrest is just so easy to love because his intentions are always pure and he does not realize the tremendous influence that he has had on people and history. It is really interesting to see which elements of history the creators of this movie decide to attach to Forrest's life.
This movie is timeless and truly a must-see.
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