FILMS FOR THOUGHT
By: Alex Holzum
Up next we have our first Disney movie! This just so happens to be my favorite Disney movie. All of the music is by Phil Collins...enough said, blog post over. But really, the music is fantastic; "You'll Be in My Heart" won the Oscar for best original song in 2000. I discovered how hilarious and heart-warming this movie is over last summer when my younger cousins made me watch it about twice a week.
I think I have a soft spot for animated movies that directly deal with death (not so much the ones where death happens before the movie begins: Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, etc.) and loss because I also
love UP and The Fox and the Hound. Well, Tarzan parallels the losses of a baby boy and a gorilla. I instantly love Kala (mama gorilla) because she is willing to take in and risk her life, marriage, "jungle cred", etc. so that this boy does not die out in the wild. All of thecharacters are either very funny, protective, sweet, or all of the above; of course there is the exception of Clayton (he's just awful). One of my favorite scenes/quotes is when Tantor (Tarzan's elephant friend) is a congested mess of a baby elephant.
We get to see how this strange relationship affects Tarzan and the people around him as he learns the ropes (or should I say "vines"?) of jungle-living. Then, the other humans come to the jungle. The father in this movie is absolutely hilarious and Jane is just so nice and smart that you can't help but love her and want her to take Tarzan under her civilized wing. This movie is filled with action, adventure, great relationships, and music.
I really hope everyone has already seen this one; if not, it's never too late.
FILMS FOR THOUGHT
By: Alex Holzum
I think it is important to clarify that I will be referring to the rendition of Psycho from the 1960s, featuring Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates and Vera Miles as Lila Crane. Also, this blog post will most likely ruin the beginning and ending of this film (and therefore pretty much everything else in between). I suggest that if you have not seen it and are highly concerned with your potential viewing experience that you skim over the words and just look at the bottom where I will say why I'm recommending it and explanations of a couple of links that I attach. If you have seen this movie, then hopefully this is just a nice supplement to your previous viewing experience. I watched this in my film class senior year and learned a bunch of cool facts about it that I am now passing on to you.
This film was groundbreaking for its time period for a few reasons:
1. The opening scene MILDLY implies that pre-marital sex took place (this was evidently a big deal in films in the 60s and is rated R partly because of this).
2. The shower scene was the fastest and most frames shot up to this point.
3. The soundtrack was a compilation of only stringed instruments.
4. They used chocolate sauce for blood (it is in black and white, so the color didn't really matter).
5. It piddles with the idea of mental illness.
6. Crafty film angles.
7. They kill off the main character 1/2 way through the movie and we realize who the main character actually is.
This is my favorite scary movie because it completely lies to you and screws you over. For the majority of the movie, we think that Lila Crane is our character; she is the one through which we are seeing this movie. Well hold on tight because we're going to kill her and leave you scared and alone while exploring this film. (<-- this is what I imagine Alfred Hitchcock thinking). Woop, what do you know, this movie is not about theft, it's about murder and a psychopath! Just in case anybody decided to continue reading even without watching this movie, I'm going to stop here because I would hate myself for ruining anything else for you.
As mentioned earlier, Alfred Hitchcock is the genius behind this film. I do not know too much about him, but from the previews that he makes about his films, I think he's hilarious. Watch this one...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps8H3rg5GfM
If you want to actually see more of what the movie is about, then watch this one...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG3-GlvKPcg
This movie is legitimately fantastic and, once again, I HIGHLY recommend it.
FILMS FOR THOUGHT
By: Alex Holzum
The time has finally come; the topic for this blog is a musical! Walk the Line is the musical biography of the legendary, Johnny Cash. Johnny is played by Joaquin Phoenix and June Carter is played by Reese Witherspoon (love her). This musical used to come on FX all the time and I absolutely hated it. I thought it was boring, I did not understand it, and the guy sang super slow and it annoyed me...essentially I was an idiot. My realization of how great this movie is, came to be when my sister somehow mistook my dislike of this movie for love and ended up buying it for me for Christmas. I watched it again and loved it.
Jonny Cash led a fantastically, and sometimes tragically, entertaining life. The opening scene is heart breaking and ties you in for the rest of the movie, for sure. We get to see how badly Cash wanted to perform for a living and how difficult it was for him to get his start. This movie takes us through some of the best historical time periods when Cash fought in the war and interacted with some of music's greats such as Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley. It is a very real depiction of the temptations that celebrities deal with such as infidelity, drugs, and narcissism. Of course there is the complex relationship of Johnny Cash and June Carter to throw into the already full pot of cinematic gold.
But wait, there's more! The music in this movie is very different from what I typically listen to, but I really enjoyed that part of the movie as well. My personal favorite is "It Ain't Me Babe". Here's a link to listen to it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp67xm9Kth8 . I will probably be shunned for thinking this but I found that Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon's adaptations of the songs were better than the originals. Of course the time period has a lot to do with this opinion because I probably would have thought differently if I was alive during the hype of Folsom Prison Blues. This movie was nominated for a myriad of Oscars and Reese Witherspoon won best actress (once again, LOVE HER).
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS ONE. Here's a link to a trailer if you would like more info!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsvZGwd8vrI
