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The Thin Red Line (1998)
A bloody poem every soldier writes
War movies are overdone and after two hours of blood and guts an audience doesn't walk away with much anymore. It takes a really moving film to be able to resurrect this tired genre from the ashes and the overlooked World War II drama The Thin Red Line was able to pull this off.
The movie centers around several American soldiers at the battle of Guadalcanal in 1944. The separate soldiers hardly ever interact with one another and the movie's main focus is on each individual's private struggle and what they are going through both mentally and physically during this rough time. The movie's tag-line sums it up best with: "Every man fights his own war." The movie is about individualism and personal conflict, not brotherhood and teamwork which is what war movies usually focus on.
Academy Award winning actor Sean Penn's (Mystic River) character finds himself confused and distraught over the war and hates himself for not being able to feel what everyone else is going through. Penn's buddy Private Witt may be neck deep in one of the bloodiest battles ever fought but his mind is swimming in the Pacific Ocean. Witt, played well by Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ), is trying his best to isolate himself from what's going on and rush his way through the war.
The character's struggles vary from a lost love to battle hardened colonel casting morals aside for his climb to the top. Each soldier's struggle is as real and emotional as war itself and are carried out wonderfully by this movie's all-star cast. It's easy for everyone to bond and relate with the characters and feel for them. This is a gripping feeling when one is used to watching the typical Hollywood movie or violent video game where watching young men get shot is as significant as seeing blades of grass get stepped on.
Another theme common throughout the movie is the beauty of nature and how the grim visuals of war contrast with it's surroundings. The movie opens with a beautiful sequence of a tropical jungle filled with dripping leaves and exotic animals. It's only a matter of time before man's barbaric acts rip the landscape to pieces leaving nothing untouched, including the once placid indigenous island people. This is director Terrence Malick's poetic signature that is unique and very awe-inspiring.
In today's world where violence and art are one in the same it's very bold for a filmmaker to direct such a magnificent movie that sacrifices killing time for a deep look into the human heart. Thankfully there are sensitive actors and filmmakers willing to embark on such an idea and make a beautiful movie out of it.
On the Waterfront (1954)
Marlon's Masterpiece
Acting used to be very dependant on the script and improvisation was unheard of, the characters were usually boring and mechanical. This all changed in 1954 when Marlon Brando made his break through role in Elia Kazan's classic movie On the Waterfront. A story of corruption, conscience and courage and one average Joe's struggle to do what is right and fight for the common man.
Marlon Brando plays Terry Malloy, a working class dock worker who was once a boxer and now has a roughed up and worn out mind from all of the fights he's been in. His brother Charley is a local mobster that gives Terry some money on the side for helping out his boss Johnny Friendly's crime organization. Many problems arise, the first being that Terry was tricked into arranging his good friend's death. Terry also has a problem supporting a crime organization that keeps him and his fellow dockworkers on the bottom.
Terry decides to do what his conscience tells him to do and resist the mob. He receives some help from the local street-smart priest Father Barry, whose gritty morality and brilliant sermons got actor Karl Malden nominated for an Oscar. This clash has bloody results and leads to a famous and courageous ending. Scenes like that and the world famous "I could have been somebody" car dialogue between Terry and Charlie propel this movie onto a new level and it's no wonder this movie swept the 1955 Academy Awards bringing home Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Picture, Best Writing and many nominations.
The movie is now a highly regarded classic, still worshipped for it's realistic acting and brilliant dialogue. Not only is this movie on countless "Top 10 lists" and studied by movie buffs but it's also the movie that made Marlon Brando one of the most famous actors to ever live. This movie is one of the best and is highly recommended to any movie lover and film student.
Imagine: John Lennon (1988)
"I don't believe in the Beatles, I just believe in me."
There are rock musicians, rock stars, rock gods and than there is John Lennon, the man who embodies Rock and Roll and changed the world with his heartfelt and joyous words. Now we are given the privilege to see this genius and former Beatle as the human he was in the documentary Imagine: John Lennon.
The movie's main focus is on, of course, John Lennon. Not the critics, not the fans, not the Beatles and not the walrus...John Lennon, a human being. The movie is filled with home videos of Lennon and friends working on the Imagine album and videos of Lennon and his family enjoying life away from his hectic life as a musician. There is even a video of Lennon inviting an obsessed fan into his house for breakfast.
Still, even with the videos of a simple Englishman goofing off with friends there are many clips of the music itself. It includes Lennon's Elvis inspired rock genesis in Liverpool and Hamburg with the Beatles that launched their successful career. The movie moves on to Lennon's tour of America that took him away from the wife and kids, and then onto the unbelievable Sgt. Pepper album that is still critically acclaimed as the greatest album of all time.
Yet you can't fit everything about a legend like Lennon into a one hundred minute documentary, so all of the other Beatles albums were cut. Instead there is again more of the man behind the legend, such as him spending time with his newborn son Sean and instead of showing the breakup of the Beatles, it shows him sailing on a boat smoking a cigarette. Workingman's hero.
Now if you want a movie that explores the many dimensions of this rock icon than this isn't it. No this movie doesn't go into his spirituality, his thoughts on music, his influences and the Beatles nor does it even mention the name of the person who killed him. Yet this movie shows what John Lennon truly was: a father, a friend, a man.
Just like Lennon said, "I don't believe in Jesus....I don't believe in Elvis....I don't believe in the Beatles...I just believe in me, Yoko and me, and that's reality."
My Own Private Idaho (1991)
The journey of two young men through a strange and vicious underworld.
There have been countless movies and books written about journeys of young men through the crazy American underworld (On the Road, Easy Rider)and Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho is one of the best.
The movie is the tale of two young American boys on their own separate journeys yet traveling side by side through thick and thin. Mike, played brilliantly by the late River Pheonix, is a confused young hustler from Idaho traveling through the Pacific northwest trying to find his long lost mother. Yet there is one tiny problem, Mike has narcolepsy and goes into deep sleeps whenever he is under stress.
Accompanying Mike is his best friend, Scott, played surprisingly well by Keanu Reeves. Mike is a child of privilege and is wasting his time away selling himself and doing whatever comes his way in the streets of Seattle and Portland trying to past time until his father dies and leave his fortune to him. The friendship between Mike and Scott is as real and genuine as the gay sex scenes in this movie and even though their friendship can get a little close at times it's still as true and American as Thanksgiving.
With a plot you don't see everyday, you can imagine the rest of the movie isn't the typical packaged Hollywood product, and it's not. The movie is actually an arcane, modern adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry V. It's filled with unforgettable characters, stunning locations, a script that would make Shakespeare proud and some filming that's as rare as a gay boy from Idaho.
Two boys on the road trying to find everything besides what they eventually end up with, each other.