The Natural

There are a lot of sports movies out there, but none as great or as film noir-ish as The Natural.

The story starts out with a kid, Roy Hobbs, playing baseball with his father. Then as a young man, on a train on the way to try out for the big leagues, he meets a woman in black named Harriet Bird (played by Barbara Hershey), who winds up shooting him in a hotel, effectively ending his potential career in baseball.

The story picks up 16 years later, when an older, quieter and more mysterious Hobbs comes to play for the New York Knights. He's signed on but not wanted because of his age. The grouchy (yet ultimately endearing) manager, Pop Fisher (Wilford Brimley) doesn't let him hit for a long time; he basically spends his time warming the dugout bench.

Then, finally, during one practice, he shows what he's got. After which Roy Hobbs not only becomes part of the team, but he's the star player: Wherein he began, years earlier, as a hopeful pitcher, he's now a home run hitter.

One of the scenes I really liked was when Roy and Iris, who was his girlfriend as a kid, talk again after many years. During his successful turn as the Knight's chief slugger, he had been with someone else... a temptuous "femme fatalle" played by Kim Basinger... who, like the woman who shot him years earlier, also wears black.

But Iris, fitfully adorned in white, goes to one of his games, and they connect again, meeting at a restaurant in a very heartfelt scene providing Robert Redford and Glenn Close a genuine chemistry: like they were made for each other. Whereas he had been in a slump after spending too much time with Basinger's Memo Paris, he's now back on track and helping the Knights win.

The cinematography is really beautiful in the film. I love the lighting and how in the scene where he is playing past the railroad tracks and you can see the ferris wheel in the background, it looks so beautiful.

Another scene that really stood out for me was when Roy was going to play his last game. Iris has a note given to him: saying the boy sitting beside her is his son. This gives him the needed determination, especially after his past injury had begun to reemerge, bringing him into another slump. The note, and the presence of both Iris and their child, is what it took for Roy to be victorious again.

At the end, when he's playing baseball with his son just like he did with his dad at the beginning, is a fantastic parallel that binds the entire story together.

THE NATURAL is very symbolic, deep and engrossing, and yet there's also an uplifting, energetic quality about getting out there and showing that you still have what it takes to be great again.

Iris Gaines: You know, I believe we have two lives.

Roy Hobbs: How... what do you mean?

Iris Gaines: The life we learn with and the life we live with after that.

Best Picture Winners: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Jack Nicholson has won three oscars, and each performance he plays eccentric and neurotic characters, but in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, one of the few motion pictures to capture all the top Oscar prizes, he's only acting crazy.

Set in a mental asylum in the early 1960s, somewhere in Oregon, Nicholson's Randal Patrick McMurphy has all the trimmings of a character born to be rooted for. The patients in the ward are so narcassistic it would only take a particular brand of confidence to break them from their shells and that is just what he aims to do, it just won't be easy...

The first task (and pretty much the main task through the whole film) is dealing with Nurse Ratched, played by none other than Louise Fletcher who is a star in her own right. Her gentle disposition makes her really creepy because she is so calm and mellow, masking the fact she's the ultimate control freak. While she is doing her job, the guys, with McMurphy's help, rebel against her. Some of them were afraid, but Cheswick had a fit and wanted his cigarettes. He was tired of her rules and stood up for himself. This was perhaps the first of several small yet important victories against the head nurse: An action taken by one of her usually docile patients and inspired by McMurphy.

An important scene is when McMurphy, after Cheswick's tantrum, crosses the line by breaking into the Nurses' station to get the cigarettes, partly because he just couldn't take his shouting anymore.

Also when he was trying to get everyone to raise their hand so he could watch the World Series was great and Chief raised his hand! That was awesome. He was my favorite by the way. I liked that he was acting deaf and dumb the whole time and he wasn't.

Their friendship was really nice and the fact that at the end, when Chief hugged him and said "I'm not going without you, Mac" was very emotional. And then he suffocated McMurphy with the pillow, which I didn't understand at first, but I do now.

Chief told him that he wasn't going without him, but Mac didn't really understand anyway because he had a lobotomy and his brain was fried. So Chief just killed him out of mercy. And then he took the big sink... the one that McMurphy had attempted to lift earlier on... and threw it out the window.

At this point the patients (especially Christopher Lloyd's character, Tabor) all cheered for the Chief. It was as if he was doing it for McMurphy because he wouldn't be able to anymore.

McMurphy, at least in his mind, might have been the one who flew the nest, but Chief was the one that ultimately got free.

It was really nice seeing McMurphy really get these men to stand up and realize they aren't crazy, and that they can do things like fish and play basketball.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, based on a novel by Ken Kesey and directed by Milos Forman (who would win another best director Oscar for Amadeus in 1984) really shows how asylums were back then, and what they did to people and how truly frightening they were. It is definitely an important film and i'm glad that I was able to experience it.

Best Picture Winners: The Bridge on the River Kwai

Well, i'm back with another post and it's another Best Picture Winner. I finally got around to see The Bridge on the River Kwai. I ended up watching it because it was the anniversary of William Holden's death, I thought it would be a nice way to honor him by seeing one of his films.

The movie had it's good points. I did like that it showed the conditions in the camps and how they (the Japanese and really anyway that was a POW) were treated. For most of the film I was trying to figure out what was going on and William Holden, amazing actor that he is, I felt should have had more, but he did great with what he was given of course. What he said to the Colonel who was limping, that he didn't care about the bridge, he just wanted them to do this together was great and typical for Holden's characters. It was sad that he died, but it is war and that's what happens. Also after he got rescued, what was his purpose? Just to help with the mission? I mean he did have a job, but it just felt like they held back a bit. (Sorry to take some of your opinions on this James, but I do agree) he died doing the right thing thing though, so that's always nice.

It was funny that Alec Guinness fell on the plunger, but it had to happen some way. He did really shine in the film though, you don't always know where he stands, but the bridge ends up being blown up anyway in the end.

David Lean did a great job of capturing the scenery and the angles that he shot at were good as well (i'm still new with the camerawork and director stuff) and while there were parts where it dragged on, like most epic/war movies do at times, I thought it was a decent film. It did feel like there were things they could have shortened in places and I don't know if it deserved Best Picture, but it is a great movie that deserves to be seen.

Best Picture Winners: Chariots of Fire

So I watched this a few weeks ago and I was planning on posting a review on it since it is a Best Picture Winner and i'm doing a lot of my posts on those. Anyway, I really enjoyed this film a lot. It was really special and I was really inspired by it.

The determination that they both had, but especially Eric. The speech that he told those people about running the race and faith was just so relevant for me since that same week I had a lesson on that in the girls small group that I am in.

Eric Liddell: You came to see a race today. To see someone win. It happened to be me. But I want you to do more than just watch a race. I want you to take part in it. I want to compare faith to running in a race. It's hard. It requires concentration of will, energy of soul. You experience elation when the winner breaks the tape - especially if you've got a bet on it. But how long does that last? You go home. Maybe you're dinner's burnt. Maybe you haven't got a job. So who am I to say, "Believe, have faith," in the face of life's realities? I would like to give you something more permanent, but I can only point the way. I have no formula for winning the race. Everyone runs in her own way, or his own way. And where does the power come from, to see the race to its end? From within. Jesus said, "Behold, the Kingdom of God is within you. If with all your hearts, you truly seek me, you shall ever surely find me." If you commit yourself to the love of Christ, then that is how you run a straight race.

Really that determination and that spirit comes from within. If you run the race just because you enjoy it and you feel joy when you do it, then I believe that is the mark of a true champion. That's definitely what Eric Liddell did. That's why he won.

I just enjoyed the movie on so many levels. The theme. The message of hope. The inspiration. It made me happy and it definitely deserved to win Best Picture. :)

Best Picture Winners: The Artist

So I finally got around to watching The Artist. I had been wanting to watch it for a long time, but I just didn't get around to it. Then it became available to stream on netflix so I watched it tonight. It was very cute, but you definitely have to be the right mood to watch a silent film. I liked that there was some sound in it though and the story was very cute. I liked the vintage style of it and that they made a film like this in modern day.

Also Bernice Bejo looks a lot like Bethany Joy Lenz, it's weird they both can fit in vintage era movies or shows. :)

It was sweet how she was trying to help him and she believed in him when he felt like no one else did. I really enjoyed it. It was well acted for being a silent film, it didn't need to have words to have the emotions and everything shown.

I'm not doing a very good job of reviewing this, but I thought it was a great movie and it's another Best Picture winner that I have seen now! :D

Roots

So I have finished watching my first miniseries and I picked the one that is considered the best by most people, Roots. It was great to learn about the history of that family and see firsthand what the blacks went through during the times depicted in the miniseries.

I have always been interested in the history of blacks throughout the 19th century and even before, since this starts in the 1700s. Anyway the acting was always supberd (John Amos was exceptional as Toby) and everyone else did their part too. I cried when Fiddler died, he really added to it with his fiddle playing and the lessons he taught Kunta. :)

I liked seeing all the different actors/actresses that played the lead parts throughout the miniseries and how different they were compared to other roles they did. Ed Asner was great as the Captain of the slave ship. Robert Reed was great as well and Chuck Connors.

I'm glad that Alex Haley told the story of his family's roots and history, we have seen many types of movies that have depicted the Civil War and Slavery and the horrors of what the black people went through, but the reason I like miniseries is because they tend to go deeper and since they have multiple parts it has more detail and is more authentic.

Definitely one of the best, i'm glad that I chose to see this one first. :) 

American Flyers

I've decided to take a break from the Favorite Movie Scenes for a while and make a post about a movie I saw a few days ago. It's not a Best Picture or anything (although i'm working on seeing more of those) this was just a feel good 80s movie called American Flyers starring Kevin Costner. I knew that it was about a bike race before I watched it, but after seeing it, I have to say that it was definitely one of those movies that you can see anytime. It's one of those feel good, determined to show you are worthy type movies.

Kevin Costner plays Marcus, a Sports Physician who persaudes his unstable brother David to come and train with him for the annual bike race that he has competed in for many years. Well they have issues with their parents and their dad died from a cerebral tumor. David thinks he has it, but it turns out it's actually Marcus and he doesn't tell him until on Day 2 of the race Marcus starts bleeding and showing signs of the tumor. David doesn't want to finish the race, but Marcus convinces him to do it and David ends up winning. It was a great story and it brought the brothers together again and helped David discover that he was good at something.

I really enjoyed the music in the film too. I always love 80s films for that reason, because they always have epic soundtracks. Plus the scenery was also gorgeous since a lot of it was filmed in Colorado. So if you're looking for a feel good film that is just fun, but also has drama and humor, this is for you.