Movie Review

Listen to my Heart

By: Frédérick Hallé

DVD cover

 In the movie Listen to your Heart, directed by Matt Thompson, a man working in a small café, also a writer and singer meet this deaf girl and fall in love but they’re having a hard time because of her overbearing mother.

I had never heard of this movie, which premiered in 2010 and I watch a lot of movies. I guess that you probably have not heard of it and if you did you probably haven’t watched it because it wasn’t among the top movies even though it was at three international Film festivals in New York, Rhode Island, and Fort Lauderdale Respectively. This movie didn’t get much exposure because there is no name like Brad Pitt or Julia Roberts.

You can have all sorts of emotion in this movie going from sad to frustrating and joy able, due to the great characters and the music that was really well chosen.

Actor Kent Moran had a major role in this film, being Danny the man who fell in love with Ariana, played by Alexia Rasmussen. Also two other important characters were Cybill Shepherd who was the overbearing mother, Victoria, and Danny’s best friend played by Frank Watson alias Roger.

Danny works in a small café when one day, Ariana walks in with her mom. At that second you know how he feels and you hope for the best just like he does. He gives his number to Ariana but she obviously can’t call him. More than 2 weeks later, she walks in by herself this time and communicates with him. They end up seeing each other but mostly in secret because Victoria, Ariana’s mom, take control over her life. They end up falling in love but her mom is being ridiculous and makes it impossible for Ariana to see or communicate with Danny. Ariana’s life seems to be miserable because of her mom. Everything end up well when she finally decided that she had enough of her mom and let her know that she is in control of her life and go see Danny. They lived great moments but Danny will eventually past away.

Ariana and Danny's first kiss.

As I said earlier this movie has moment of joy, sadness and frustration.

All through the movie you will be able to feel joy when the music comes on and the cute couple lives great moments. The hardest part is every time the mom comes up on the screen. To be honest I wanted to punch my screen at certain times because she was making me really angry. She was taking every decision for her daughter and she didn’t seem to love her. When you see Ariana looking out by the window or trying to send letters to Danny, you have this sad feeling, and at the end when you find out why Danny will past out.

The scenes are really easy to understand, nothing is complicated and there isn’t an intrigue. I would say that it is more of a girl’s movie because it’s sentimental and at some point it gets really sad but I still recommend it to everyone.  This movie has something special.

An Affair to Remember

Hopeless romantics and broken hearts will love the movie An Affair to Remember directed by Leo McCarey. Carry Grant plays the lead role along with Deborah Kerr. It is a tale of the old cliché “it is better to have loved and lost then to never have loved at all” Carry Grant plays Nickie Ferrante, a rich, very well educated man. Deborah Kerr plays Terry McKay, a ballroom singer.

Upon a cruise going from Europe to New York, these two meet when Grant sees her holding his cigarette case. That is the spark that ignites their passion for each other. After the long cruise they realize that they both have other lover waiting for them. They make a pact to meet on top of the Empire State building 6 months from then. If fate is so and they should be together they will see each other on top of the Empire State building.

As time goes on their love for each other grows the time apart is almost unbearable for them. Nickie awaits atop the building. Terry is running late on the preset time. She feels rushed to get there. She gets out of her cab to run to the building across the street. Tragedy happens as she is running across the street she gets hit by a car and is crippled for life. Nickie waits all night long until he is told to get down. They start living their lives. They get back together with their previous lovers and life goes on. until one day at the theater he sees her sitting in a chair and says “Hello” then leaves.

He had started painting again and a gallery had offered to sell his paintings. He finds her address and visits her. She is lying on the couch. He starts to question her about why she did not show up. She says she does not want to talk about it. as he is about to leave he said that someone had gone and bought one of his paintings. He does not come out and say it, but you can tell he knows, the owner of the gallery said that the person who bought the painting was in a wheelchair. Upon realizing this he runs into her room and saw the painting. Both too proud to admit their wrongs he realizes that she still loves him and he her. They hug and the movie ends. 

Movie Review: Good Will Hunting

By Brittany Moorehead

In the film Good Will Hunting, directed by Gus Van Sant, Matt Damon plays the role of Will Hunting, a troubled young man who can’t seem to let go of his past. Will is forced to accept his inner genius and true feelings rather than letting his past ruin his present life.

Good Will Hunting displays the hardest times as well as some of the best times Will experiences. Van Sant infused the film with comedy and twisted it up with a little drama. Rather than focusing on the drama, he did a terrific job with transitioning the scenes.

Will finds himself in jail until a mathematician named Lambeau, played by Stellan Skarsgard, bails him out under two conditions. He must meet with a psychiatrist and do math with Lambeau. The math was easy for him but meeting with his new shrink, Sean McGuire, played by Robin Williams, wasn’t that easy.

Will has difficulty opening up to Sean and talking about his feelings. He has so many issues that he can’t even manage to tell his girlfriend, played by Minnie Driver, whom he clearly loves, how he feels towards her. Everything he loves and cares about seems to eventually get pushed away because he is scared and feels alone in the world.

Will is caught between two worlds; what he is and what he could be. Throughout the film, Sean and Will push each other to do things that make them feel uncomfortable. Their relationship is one of give and take. They both come to realize that they need one another in order to grow. Lambeau pushes him by helping him find a way out with his incredible mathematic skills. Lambeau realizes that he has the ability to be something more than the old Will.

Will can’t seem to trade in his old life and try something new and different. He doesn’t want to give up his friends because he loves them and doesn’t know how to be without them. Even his best buddy, Chuckie, played by Ben Affleck hopes that he will take a risk because he knows that Will has the ability to accomplish so much in life. His girlfriend Skylar asks him to move out to California with her and he can’t even make a change for the woman that he loves. He would rather be alone than take a chance.

His options are to stay in Boston and be the same Will Hunting that he and everyone else has always known or take a chance and become a new man. The truth is Will is scared to death of what he might become and this is what’s holding him back. He doesn’t want to leave his closest friends to start a new life. Will doesn’t want to work for Lambeau because he thinks he will become a code breaker, which he believes will negatively affect the lives of others due to his choice in occupation. He is worried about endangering the lives of people he has never even met. But what’s even more scary is him recognizing his own ability and potential to be something other than a hoodlum.

One of the most memorable scenes was when Will and his buddies were at one of the Harvard bars. Chuckie was trying to impress a girl named Skylar (his future girlfriend), when a Harvard student tried to interrupt and embarrass him. Will stands up for his friend and is able to outsmart the other guy, which I found very impressive. The fact that he was able to show up a Harvard student proves how much potential and intelligence Will possesses.

Even though Will has so many reasons to remain in Boston, deep down he knows what the right choice is for him. Making this choice though, depends on whether or not he can put his fears aside and try something new and unpredictable.

After many heart to hearts with Sean, Will realizes how similar their lives are and how they can help each other. With the help of Sean, he is able to weigh out his options and finally make a decision.

I found the movie to be funny, sad, and even dramatic. Gus Van Sant did a wonderful job of combining all of these diverse aspects in the film. My thoughts are that Good Will Hunting is a film created for all to enjoy. I would say that watching this film is two hours well spent.

Movie Review: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

by Kathryn Dawson

 

Milos Forman’s film, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” investigates life at insane asylums by pitting sane patient R.P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) against the stoic Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher). Because I’d heard references to this movie but never seen it, I decided to stream it on Netflix.

Although I’m not an expert on mental illness, the main characters came off as silly and childish rather than ill. Billy (Brad Dourif) has no impairment other than a stutter, which goes away occasionally when he feels empowered. Cheswick (Sydney Lassick) is simply childish and prone to tantrums. While Martini (Danny DeVito) and Harding (William Redfield) are diagnosed with more serious disorders, being delusional and paranoid, they act like they are doing a slapstick comedy for children.

McMurphy’s character is well played and effective, though not very relatable. He comes to the ward to avoid imprisonment for statutory rape, but immediately chafes under Nurse Ratched’s strict rule. McMurphy’s role is effective because Nicholson exudes energy and aggression, in stark contrast to the other silent, robotic patients. McMurphy barges into the ward, stirs up the patients, and brings them from meek and compliant to self-assured and demanding. They are delighted to see McMurphy flout authority and begin following him, much to the anger of Nurse Ratched. 

The movie works when it focuses on its theme: the impact of the individual. It’s about fighting authority and conformity, but a few times it strays into the realm of clichés and predictability. Maybe I’m too young and Disney-movie-jaded to realize that in DATE, this wasn’t as predictable. Or maybe I shouldn’t be judging an individualist movie for deviating from an imposed purpose. Nonetheless, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is less enjoyable when I can tell the director is searching for a dramatic resolution over an appropriate and realistic one.

The fishing scene, when McCarthy breaks everyone out of the hospital to go fishing, is a perfect example of this. It is out-of-sync with the rest of the movie, and despite being often heralded as one of the great moments in “Cuckoo,” I think it falls flat.  It’s the only scene at a set other than the hospital, and it was intended to recapture the trippy, out-there sections of Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. However, it felt dull and forced. It might have been a result of the cinematography, not the plot, but this scene was abominably predictable. When McMurphy spots an idling bus full of his best crazy pals, guess what? He gets in and drives away. And when he takes them fishing, guess what? Things get silly (after all, these are mental patients) before everyone learns a big happy lesson: We’re all people, no matter how we’re mentally classified. But ironically, this scene demeans each individual by making them superficial. They lose an element of realness, a fatal flaw, and blend together into a mass of comically ridiculous people.

Another questionable scene is Billy’s suicide. After Nurse Ratched catches him with Candy and threatens to tell his mother, Billy begins punching himself and has to be removed. While waiting in the doctor’s office, Billy cuts himself with glass. I think I can safely assume, despite lacking a psychiatric degree, that Billy had not been mentally unstable (and if that assumption is incorrect, I blame the movie for not clarifying that). Knowing he could walk out of the hospital of his own volition, why would he kill himself rather than face his mother? The movie, whose merit originally lay in its honest simplicity, is trying to force a message. It’s no longer “be upset at the realistic, depressing condition of the patients but admire their growing spunk,” it’s become “individual vs. authority. Get it? GET IT?”

My favorite seen is the World Series scene, where McMurphy pretends to watch the game on a blank television set. For me, this changed McMurphy from an annoying loudmouth to a creative entertainer, which actually implies a bigger difference. Once McMurphy calls the game for the other patients, he’s no longer doing everything for himself. As a viewer, I could easily dismiss his arguments with Nurse Ratched because he was doing everything for himself. This scene showed that he cared about making his point for the sake of the patients as well as himself.

In another great scene, McMurphy organizes an impromptu basketball game. It’s the in-hospital equivalent of the fishing trip scene, without the sense of watching a whimsical Disney movie. The patients play against the ward monitors, in a comical rivalry that helps more fully define all of the characters. McMurphy draw the Chief out of his shell, getting a step closer to him speaking.

The music, written by Jack Nitzshe, was subdued and haunting. For most of the movie, the music is quiet and unnoticeable, but it comes to the forefront when McMurphy argues with Nurse Ratched over the volume of the music in the ward. The music re-enters the viewer’s notice during the last scene, as Chief suffocates McMurphy because he’s been lobotomized. It’s effective, heightening the drama of the scene as the music’s intensity increases while the Chief breaks out.

The main problem with this movie is that it’s hovering between comedy and drama. Perhaps that’s why McMurphy’s death isn’t a very emotional moment. By all rights, it should be. We’re watching the protagonist die physically after he’s been lobotomized, contrary to his every belief, and has died emotionally. Many scenes are serious; we are, after all, dealing with themes of individual power, unfair oppressors, and poor treatment of the mentally ill. But they become unexpectedly lighthearted, if not to us, then at least to McMurphy. This left me emotionally detached because I was unsure whether to laugh or frown. And without emotional involvement, it’s just not an interesting movie. 

Movie Reviews

Movie Review: The Social Red Riding Inception Network   

By Gwen Schultz

This weekend as I chilled hard at the National Sports Academy I had the pleasure to view three movies. Whether or not this was good for my concussed brain is another matter. The three movies were The Social Network, Red Riding Hood, and Inception. Being a pretty laid-back, uncritical person who sees no discernible difference between Titanic and a Disney Channel original movie, I was able to see that these three movies all brought something different to the movie viewing experience.

Justin Timberlake plays the founder of Napster

Let's start with The Social Network. Directed by David Fincher, this movie exposes the humble ...or malicious?...beginnings of Facebook and how this social networking site—now better known as FB, crackbook, facey, fbook, stalkbook, etc.--came to define our lives. What makes this movie so enthralling for so many people, perhaps, is that there are over 500 million users of Facebook, and you'd think that at least some of them would be wondering how Facebook got to be the way it is (and why it keeps changing?!?). Coincidentally, I deleted my Facebook account about a week prior to viewing this film, and the movie made me feel as though I was being antisocial (which I'm not). The pivotal role in this movie was Mark Zuckerberg who was played by Jesse Eisenberg. I'm no acting critic but I do think that Eisenberg gave a killer performance. He was perfectly nerdy, heartbreakingly insecure, and superbly witty. In fact, I thought that all the Harvard students and other characters were well casted. Furthermore, it is never a bad idea to put Justin Timberlake in a movie. In terms of being a movie about a website, it had a tolerable amount of computer nerds sitting around computers pretending to type code really fast. The ending scene was also perfect: Zuckerberg sitting at a computer refreshing it over and over to see if his ex-girlfriend has accepted his friend request yet. Ah, the joys of Facebook...

There's a 30% chance that it's already raining.  

On Saturday night, I went to the Palace Theater to view Red Riding Hood. I'm not exactly sure what my expectations for this one were; to be honest I was just hoping that the flashing lights wouldn't fry my brain. Catherine Hardwicke's film tells the story of a remote village that is terrorized by “the wolf.” It is believed that it lives up in the mountains, but during the movie it is revealed that it is one of the village people that is the wolf. I was definitely a little skeptical of the main character, Valerie, who was played by Amanda Seyfried, the actress that played that girl in Mean Girls...yes. That girl. I thought that Hardwicke did a great job with the scenery and the village didn't look too made-up. Ok, the wolves looked so fake I thought it was on purpose, but that's the only thing that was bad about the visual stuff. The story of the movie didn't really have anything to do with “Little Red Riding Hood” other than the girl with a red cloak, a wolf, and a grandma. If anything, that just made the movie more fun because every time the girl goes into her grandmother's house you're certain she's going to get eaten. On the whole, the film was advertised as a thriller but turned out to be more of a comedy. Maybe it was the brutal moments when the acting was seriously questionable or the brutal-er moments where the extras just ruined the scene for me (they literally did some ridiculous stuff...was anyone paying attention to them?). I don't know, but it was quite entertaining in that sense. Despite any disappointment with the storyline that anybody might have, the film did tie together nicely at the end. It succeeded in being one of those mysteries in which no matter how hard you try to figure out who the secret killer is, you don't really know until the end. I would be impressed if someone figured out with confidence who the wolf is—that is, if they don't mind sitting through the romance/ thriller?/ comedy that is Red Riding Hood.

Is this review real???

Inception was the third movie I viewed this weekend, and I saw it in the comfort of my own room on a TV that is painted to look like Spongebob Squarepants. After some mishaps with the TV remote (which seems to think it controls the DVD player) and a possibly skipping DVD, I finally got the movie going. I had been hearing that it is mindblowing and “really epic” so I had high expectations. Director Christopher Nolan's vision of a world where people can extract information from people's subconscious through their dreams shows the adventure of Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) as he tries to be the first man to perform “inception”: inserting an idea into someone's mind. My only problem with this movie was the wife—I really disliked the wife. I just hate it when sci-fi action thriller movies turn into relationship therapy sessions. In the end, however, I think the concept behind the story was awesome and I can't complain about the way it was done. I suppose that if anyone was totally lost about what was going on, they would still be entertained by the action scenes. One thing that I think was done particularly well was how they showed the “stretching” of time from one layer of dreaming to another. For the last half hour or so of the movie, they show a van in the process of falling off a bridge in slow motion while cutting back to other action scenes, showing that the time situation is getting a little crazy. This could have been extremely confusing, but Nolan pulled it off extremely well. Otherwise, the acting was flawless, the music was cool, the mindblowing-ness optional, and it was complete with a “decide for yourself” ending (I'm going with reality, by the way).

So, was this a productive movie weekend? I would say so. After seeing Shutter last weekend, I think pretty much any movie would have suited my tastes. Ok, all kidding aside, these three movies were very different from each other, but I think they made a good group. Online representations of ourselves, hidden identities within a community, and getting confused about what is reality and what is not: whats not to love?

Fighter review

Zach Stein

The movie, Fighter, directed by David O. Russell, is a based on a true story.  Mark Wahlberg puts his family distractions aside and tries to overcome his dreams to win a title in boxing as he takes on the role of the main character “Irish” Mickey Ward.  Christian Bale takes on the role of his brother, Dickey trying to comeback from his crack addiction.  Hollywood is making a movie on Dickey’s life and showed kids and the world what crack addiction is really like.  Dickey is known for knocking Sugar Ray down in the ring, but is also training his brother to be a great boxer.   Mickey faced a series of defeats physically and mentally, but thru his hard work and dedication he passed all the speed bumps in his life to win a boxing title.

Mickey faces a bunch of family problems during his boxing career.  His mother was his manager and would put him in matches with big money that he couldn’t possibly win.  Mickey was known as a stepping stone to other boxers.  During these embarrassing defeats Mickey wanted to quit because he felt like a disappointment to his family.  Mickey stuck with boxing and had an offer to train in Las Vegas to get money for training with them, but he didn’t want to upset his family so he respectfully rejected the offer even though he knew that was a good opportunity.  Mickey is the type of the character that doesn’t want to hurt his family and stand up for what he believes in.  Later on in the movie Dickey had an incident with the cops and ended up going to Jail.  Dickey taught his brother everything he knows about boxing, and Mickey didn’t know what he was going to do without him.  Mickey was depresses and wasn’t sure what he wanted to do.  Mickey found a new manager and trainer and continued to peruse his dreams while his brother was coming back from his addiction in Jail.  Thru Mickey’s dedication, hard work, and achieving his entire personal problem he got his life and family back together along with two boxing titles. 

David O. Russell made a great movie with a lot of good themes involved.  One theme that I thought was important to pick up on was never give up on your dreams, and no matter how bad things get they always get better.   Unfortunately things might get even worse before they get better, but they always get better.  Mickey was down in depression felt tired, weak, and wanted to give up.  He searched within himself found that inner strength and got the motivation to not give up and not be a quitter, and got out there and won a boxing title.  In the movie he makes this theme stick out when all the family and personal problems Mickey faces but pushes thru it.   Dickey fixes his drug addiction, and had to show that to his whole family to be eligible to reenter the ring to train his brother.   Another hard lesson this movie teaches is to stay away from drugs.  The Hollywood film of Dickey’s life wasn’t fake it was reality.  Once you smoke crack you are going to get addicted and that’s a fact.  The film about his life shows how he hurt his family, and most importantly hurt himself.  Dickey realizes in his jail cell how much he hurt his family and wanted to change his ways and be with his son.  In the film it shows his son crying at court.  It was that moment in the movie that he realized that he had to get his life back.  Also in his jail cell it showed him going thru withdrawals which aren’t fake either.  This movie also had sport related themes that once you enter the ring, and your training facility you have to put all your distractions aside and focus on your dream as an athlete. 

I would recommend this movie to any Rocky fans out there.  This movie has some lifelong lessons, and is very inspirational to athletes.  It teaches kids about drug addiction and how much you can mess up your life if you choose that path.  It also shows how much you hurt the ones you love, and the person you become if you are addicted to drugs.  This movie is a good eye opener for family members and people who know that their friends are started to experience with drugs.  The fighter is even a good movie for a drug addict to watch because he will realize all the pain and harm he brings to his family.  With the drug addict knowing he is hurting his loved ones, and how hard it is to comeback from a drug addiction he might stop before it is too late.  As an athlete I have learned a lot from this movie.  Mickey kept his personal problems aside while he was training for his events.  It is very difficult to keep your family problems aside while training for your sport.  This movie shows how important it is to keep your distractions blocked and focus on what is important in your sport.  The ups and downs of the movie are the reason it had such an impact on me.  I can also relate to this movie because I have friends, and family members that have a drug addiction.  It is very hard for them to stay clean and make a complete comeback.  It is sad they choose the path they did.  Even though I have a family member going thru drug rehab it is hard to block my distractions when I enter the rink.  I think if I learn to block all my distractions out before I enter the rink I will play twice as good.  Also this movie has another lesson, and that is to always stay positive with a loved one going thru drug addiction.  In conclusion this movie is a great movie and would impact many athletes, family members, and kids around the world.

March of the Penguins

Written and published by Carmen Aguirre

In the film March of the Penguins directed by Luc Jaquet, a group of Penguins are followed for over a year as they trek across Antarctica on an annual journey.  During the year they experience birth and death, mating and loving, and of course comedy with some tragedy lodged in between. While many people think of penguins as birds who look like they've been decked out in tuxedos, the truth is they're among the strongest and most resilient creatures in the animal kingdom. And they have to be -- each year, the emperor penguins of Antarctica travel through the most punishing environment on Earth to their nesting grounds, and after the females lay their eggs, the males keep them warm while their mates walk 70 miles back to the sea to fatten themselves with fish for them and their young.

The film shows the highs and Lows, that a penguin has to live through and all the obstacles they must overcome together as a flock to survive.  The Documentary uses nature as its talent utilizing only penguins and their natural habitat as the actors and actresses. Filmmaker, Jaquet, spent over a year braving the frigid temperatures of the South Pole to film this annual ritual of the penguins, and March of the Penguins documents their brave struggle to survive, as well as the close emotional bonds between the penguin families. March of the Penguins was first screened in France as La Marche de l'Empereur, with a handful of French actors providing a voice-over in which they expressed the "thoughts" of the penguins; for the American edition, Morgan Freeman was brought in to deliver a more straightforward narration.

 This also allows an insight into the true emotion of the creatures during the highs and lows of the year, with no human interaction.  Each penguin has a different personality, some tender others fierce and not to mention the few odd balls in the group. The clashing of them is what gives the film its intriguing storyline filled with love, fights and plenty of comedy. 

The instrumental pieces performed by Alex Wurman throughout the documentary were a nice addition, they did nothing but complement the scenery and raise the emotion the penguins had already created.  My favorite scene during the film was when the baby birds took their first steps after thousands of paces atop their mother’s feet.  The music was exciting and fresh helping make a positive and emotional moment between the mother and her newborn baby.  Another scene that helped add to the documentaries story line was the scene when the penguins chose their mates.  The love bond between them creates a warm scene, which acts as a foreshadowing to the birth of the baby chicks.

This movie is lushly filmed to the point of being overwhelming with its visible imagery of the dramatically colorful subjects contrasted with the bleakness of the Antarctic landscape. You wonder how the photographers were able to film what they did until you come to the realization that these penguins do not know Man as a predator and are equally curious about this new intruder into their frigid world.

As fascinating as the story is, the cinematography is nothing short of amazing. Laurent Chalet and Jérome Maison bring this story to exceptionally vivid life with their cinematography. They deserve great credit for their outstanding views deep into the social fabric of this particular penguin colony.

The southern lights that radiate in the sky at night, and the snowy winds that whip through the waddle of penguins that huddle together, show both the harsh and mellowness of the area.  The close ups of the animals bring out the beauty of their feathers and the uniqueness of their species as well as their emotion during the entire film.  The water images were not only capturing different perspectives but also revealing the accomplishment and reward the penguins felt. 

You would hardly guess from the subject matter that this movie just about has it all in a compelling story about the Emperor Penguins of Antarctica. Difficult journeys are made and missed. Romances are initiated and consummated with tender displays of affection. And children, those even more lovable little chicks, are hatched and cared for. Life is lived on the waddle or on the slide, for true "flight" for a penguin is only possible underwater.

Through it all these noble birds wage a never ending fight for survival in a setting that is so bleak and so forbidding that no other animal on earth has the courage or the ability to live where these lovable feathered beauties do. Their very survival is dependent upon the entire community huddling together for warmth during the many long dark nights of winter.

In the end my thoughts are you should watch this documentary, the love that the director, Jacquet, has for these animals shines through on the screen which is enough to entrance just about everybody.