#8 Good Will Hunting

FILMS FOR THOUGHT

By: Alex Holzum

 

Will hunting is the name of Matt Damon's character in this film.  It takes place in South Boston where Will is from.  Very early on in the film we learn that Will hunting is a young, struggling janitor at MIT that is definitely not living up to his full potential.  He solves a seemingly impossible math problem that catches the eyes of the professors at MIT.  We see different instances of Will's genius through his conversations with people and when he is able to defend himself in court by quoting ancient philosophers and demonstrating his ridiculous range of knowledge.

 

Next, we meet his friends who are all leading the same lifestyle as Will except that they are not geniuses.  His best friend is Ben Affleck's character, Chuckie Sullivan.  One night Will and all of his friends go out to a nice Harvard bar where Will meets Skylar (Minnie Driver) who he falls in love with throughout this film.  The MIT professors mentioned earlier decide to take on Will as a consultant-type position but due to Will's colorful criminal background, they have to register Will for counseling services before he is allowed to work for them.  This is where Robin William's character comes in.  Robin Williams plays Dr. Sean Maguire, the only counselor that Will agrees to see.  Throughout the film we get to see deeper and deeper into Will's and Dr. Maguire's backgrounds and understand how they got to their current situations in life.

 

 

If the Boston accents are not enough, this star-studded cast and great plot make for a great movie.  The relationship that Will and Skylar have is really interesting to me because they come from very different backgrounds but they get along so well and care enough about the other person to overlook any obvious obstacles to their relationship.  At the same time, it is unclear to the audience whether or not they will end up together.  Dr. Sean Maguire is another one of my favorite parts of this movie because he is so wise yet relatable.  The story of how he met his wife warms my soul every time I watch this movie; it is a classic testimony of true love.  The most rewarding aspect of this movie is watching Dr. Maguire chip away at the walls that Will puts up.

 

This movie can be pretty depressing at times but as long as you stick it out until the end, it is definitely worth watching.

#7 Sydney White

FILMS FOR THOUGHT

By: Alex Holzum

 

      Sydney White is a modern Snow White.  Right off the bat this is unique from all of the modern-day Cinderellas that we have now (I think there are four).  Sydney White is a tomboy who is going off to college with the hope of getting accepted into the same sorority that her mother was in.  When she get there, though, the president of the sorority instantly realizes that she does not want her to join.  This irrational hatred is mostly caused by the fact that Sydney caught the eye of the president's ex-boyfriend (the prince, if you will).  A series of unfortunate circumstances leaves Sydney needing a place to stay; of course it was raining when she had to go searching in the middle of the night for a home.  She stumbles upon the Vortex which is student overflow housing where she finds seven "dorks" who let her stay there.  The rest of the movie consists of Sydney shaping up the Vortex as well as her dorks and taking back the school from the oppressive power of the evil sorority president.

 

 



 

I have not encountered any other movies that have put a modern twist on Snow White which is a fun idea and I think they did a great job of including different allusions to the original animation.  For example, each of the dorks hone in on one of the qualities of the original seven dwarfs: sneezy, dopey, doc, grumpy, sleepy, etc.  One of my favorite allusions is when Sydney and the seven dorks are walking down the sidewalk with student government election posters resting on their shoulders (similar to the dwarves' pick-axes) and they walk by the evil sorority president and each of them say, "Hi, ho," as they pass her.  This is what the original dwarfs sing when they walk to and from work (except they are not calling somebody a rude name)!

 

Overall it is a cheesy movie, but it is really fun to watch.

#6 Tarzan

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.

#5 Psycho

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.

 

#4: Walk the Line

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




 

 

 

 

 

 

#3: Marley and Me

FILMS FOR THOUGHT

By: Alex Holzum

 

I am noticing a slight theme to my first three movie posts: good narration.  In (500) Days of Summer there was some guy with a really nice, deep voice narrating, in The Blind Side Sandra Bullock narrates as her character, Lee Ann Tuohy, and in Marley and Me Owen Wilson narrates as John. Marley and Me also features Jennifer Aniston as Jenny (John's wife).

 

This movie just shows this young couple's journey through life.  It might seem like the main focus of this movie would be the dog, Marley, but really the focus is on John, Jenny, and Marley.  We get to see how they deal with problems with work, family, friends, and their marriage.

 

Some scenes that really stuck in my mind:

 

1.  Every scene where John notices something about Jenny and Marley.

2.  When John and Jenny have their HUGE fight and make up.

3.  The saddest part of the movie...(I can't bring myself to describe it)

4.  The scenes where John is fast-forwarding through life.

 

 

  

#2: The Blind Side

FILMS FOR THOUGHT

By: Alex Holzum

 

 

 

The Blind Side was released in 2009 and was directed by John Lee Hancock.  I remember that I was in 8th grade when I first heard about this movie. My 8th grade teacher, Mrs. Sigears, went on and on for about ten minutes about how amazing this movie is.  I’m glad she wasted so much precious educating time in order to talk to us about it because it really is a fantastic movie.  It is based  off of a true story, which is always cool.

 

There are a few big names in this film including Sandra Bullock who plays Leigh Anne Tuohy and (new actor) Quinton Aaron as Michael Oher.  A basic synopsis of the plot is Leigh Anne Tuohy and her family live a more than comfortable life while Michael Oher is bouncing from house to house in order to stay off of the streets.  Eventually Michael gets admitted into a really nice, private school where the Tuohy children attend.  Michael has the perfect body type to be a very successful athlete, most specifically football.  After a series of events, the Tuohies end of taking in Michael and incorporating him as a member of their family.  The drama comes in when Michael has to deal with things from his troubled past and then also has to start thinking about college football.

 

I like this movie so much because, first of all, I always like sports movies because of the extremely dramatic and exciting game scenes (Bend it Like Beckham, Remember the Titans, to name some other examples). This movie is filled with courageous characters: Collins when she leaves her friends to go study with Michael even though she would be getting some stares, Mr. Tuohy when he puts his name as Michael’s emergency contact, Leigh Ann when she tells of the creepy guy, and the football coach when he sticks up for Michael.  Each of these scenes give me chills every time I watch them.  

 

At times this movie can be cheesy, but I find it highly entertaining and quite inspirational.