44/50x2: Schindler's List

This film was not exactly what I was expecting. I can't believe such an epic film from so many years ago I hadn't really known what it was exactly about.

Schindler's List stars some amazing and talented actors. Liam Neeson stars as Oskar Schindler, Ben Kingsley as Itshak Stern and Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth.

Schindler and Goeth are both part of the Nazi party. Schindler's main concern, however, is finding a way to get richer during the war, while Goeth actually enjoys the killing of Jews.

Schindler comes up with an idea to start a business for pots and pans, fronted by some Jewish businessmen (because Jews at the time couldn't own a business) and led by Stern as the bookkeeper.

Schindler is first alone in Poland when coming up with this idea and grabs Jewish workers from the Krakow Ghetto where they are all being forced to live.

Goeth comes in later to set up a new concentration camp and ends up poaching a few of Schindler's workers, but soon Schindler bribes Goeth into allowing a sub-camp and is able to keep his workers and continue earning money. Stern, meanwhile, is the eyes and ears for Schindler and as he hears Goeth may execute some people, Schindler asks to use them at his camp - pretty much saving their lives.

Soon, Goeth receives orders to destroy all of the remains of the dead and ship everyone, including Schindler's workers, to Auschwitz.

Schindler, though, uses a lot of the money he has gained throughout the war in order to save his workers. In fact, Schindler and Stern draw up a list of over 1,000 Jews that he wants to keep for his new factory in his hometown of Czechoslovakia.

Though his original intent during this war was to become rich, Schindler's heart is changed and he becomes friends with his workers, especially Stern.

Much like Brian's Song, I feel the story that this film was based on is historic and what Schindler ended up doing for these people was amazing. The film itself wasn't as great as I was expecting. The main three actors are amazing, but I just felt it was far too long and really didn't get going quick enough for me.

I had to switch DVDs when watching this film, which is odd nowadays and shows how long this film is. The best part of the film for me was on DVD No. 2. When Schindler began to realize that all of his workers and people has grown to care about could be taken from him and murdered, he did all he could to act to save them - including giving up most of his fortune. And, in the end he felt he hadn't done enough.

One cool thing for me though, I didn't really notice that the film was in black and white. I am not a huge black and white fan, but this film really did work very well in that aspect - so much so that I hardly even noticed.

Grade:

43/50x2: Brian's Song

As a sports enthusiast and a football fan, I feel it was sacrilegious that I had not seen this film before. But, I pretty much knew everything about it even though I hadn't.

Brian's Song is the story of the friendship between two Chicago Bears rookies, Brian Piccolo (James Caan) and Gale Sayers (Billy Dee Williams).

Both players are coming in as running backs, but come to the team in completely different ways. Piccolo will need to work as hard as possible to even make the team, while Sayers is the team's new work-house back.

Two completely different players, Piccolo has a hard time shutting up and is white while Sayers doesn't talk much and is black. But, both players form an odd friendship and become the first mixed-raced roommates for the Bears.

After an injury to Sayers, Piccolo takes over as the featured back and shows off his talents. But, he remains close with Sayers and does all he can to get him to regain his strength to get him back on the team. When Sayers comes back he retakes his position, but the team keeps Piccolo on the field as fullback.

Soon, Piccolo isn't playing up to his standard and Sayers notices - but Piccolo blames it on allergies. After a trip to the doctor it is revealed that Piccolo has cancer.

As a story, this is an amazing one - and to know that it is true makes it even that much better. But, as a film this one doesn't really have all the bells and whistles. For one, I probably should have known this, but this was a made-for-tv movie, which makes the quality pretty shotty. They also use real game footage for the games, which is ok, but the voice over during it really drove me crazy.

As for the acting, superb. You can't really go wrong with iconic actors like Williams and Caan. Caan, though, really stood out for me. If I hadn't known it was him I wouldn't have recognized him at all - he transformed into Piccolo which was outstanding.

Glad I finally watched it. Again, as a story very remarkable, but the quality of the (tv) movie was just not strong, even for a film from the '70s.

Grade:

Tuesday's With Movies: 8/7/12

The Lorax: My son went and saw this in the theater what feels like ages ago. Well, it's finally coming out on DVD. For some reason I don't recall knowing this story as a child. I did, however, find out about it as an adult, though. Looking forward to finally checking it out.

Bel Ami: Robert Pattinson needs some good news as of late. But, he won't be getting it from me - I will not be checking this one out and I don't even know what it's about. I may check out his new film, but this one is out. Although having Christina Ricci in it almost pulled me in.

Clue: I don't usually post about older movies that have been on DVD when they get Blu-Ray release dates, but this is one of my all-time favorite films with lines that make me laugh every time I see it. The cast in this film is amazingly talented - definitely lightning in a bottle. If you don't have this grab it now.

Haterade: Glee

This probably won't be a regular feature, but possibly something I do every so often. I admit that I sometimes find a hatred for something without ever really giving it a try. I think it happens because I don't really love what everyone else loves - and if everyone loves it, I sometimes hate it for no real reason.

So, as I said, every so often I may give something a try that I think I am going to hate and then I will post about it - sometimes what I watch will maintain my hatred for it, but occasionally I may just find out that I was completely wrong - and I am not afraid to admit that.

My first experiment was with the television show Glee. I realize it became pretty popular when it first hit the airwaves in 2009. And, both my wife and son have watched the entire series to date - and my parents even purchase the CDs. Well, I have heard about it a ton and heard a lot of the music - and I had to give it a shot.

To give the show a little bit of a rundown, a high school Spanish teacher, Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison), looks to take over the school's glee club and look to rekindle his high school glory days.

The glee club, though, is pretty much considered off limits and the lowest of the low by all of the cool kids in the school. Only a few sign up initially, an uber-insane girl with a ton of talent but knows it, Rachel Berry (Lea Michele), a born diva, Mercedes Jones (Amber Riley), a girl with a stutter, Tina Cohen-Chang (Jenna Ushkowitz), a guy in a wheelchair, Artie Abrams (Kevin McHale), and a still-in-the-closet gay guy, Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer).

Though all five kids are very talented, the group is definitely lacking in the cool department - and to even compete as a glee club in competitions they need 12 members. Will makes it his mission to recruit some of the cooler kids, and stumbles across star quarterback Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith) singing in the shower. Once he gets him aboard, he is able to pull in three other football players - Noah Puckerman (Mark Salling), Mike Chang (Harry Shum Jr.), Matt Rutherford (Dijon Talton), and three cheerios - Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron), Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera), Brittany Pierce (Heather Morris) - to round out the group.

Pretty much the show is a typical high school show with tons of drama, but this one also features a ton of singing.

Just to make things clear, I am currently in the middle of season two, but for the purpose of this post I am only speaking about season one.

First, the things that sort of drive me crazy about the show. I have never been in a glee club, but for a group that is getting ready for competition they sing an awful lot of different songs and are always looking for the perfect song for 'regionals' or 'sectionals' or whatever is coming up. Don't you think they should find this song and stick with it? And, spoiler alert, by the time they actually get to sectionals - they totally make up their choreography and their songs on the spot. Cool, yes, but what's the point of all the practice?

Next, Rachel. I think she extremely talented - that is obvious. But, wow what a bitch. Totally thinks she is so much better than everyone else in the club. And the problem is, Will way over uses her. She sings way too much. The rest of the group is so talented (with the possible exception of Mike who is more of a dancer than singer). The group needed to mix up the solos way more.

Finally, Will's wife. Couldn't stand her from the beginning and what she probably should have been crushed for what she did to her husband. He was way too nice to her.

But, those are small pieces of the show. For something I thought I would never even think of trying out - I am pretty addicted to it. Despite the issue I have with the process of glee club, I do realize why a television show does it - they need to mix up the music to keep us interested. And, they do it very well. Like I said, they all sing so well and the numbers they do are amazing.

Every member of the cast brings something great to the table - and because of my gripe about Rachel, I just feel everyone needed to be featured more (again this is my thoughts on season one).

So for my first batch of Haterade - my opinion has been changed. I will definitely continue to watch Glee and see how things play out. I admit my ignorance.

HOT: That Thing You Do

So, I have seen this movie a ton of times. In fact, I got a copy of it on DVD a few year's ago. But, it's on television so much that I had never opened it.

Well, for the Hanks-O-Thon it was time to watch the DVD. And, to my surprise, there was a Director's Cut available - and since I had seen the original version so many times I figured I'd give it a shot.

There wasn't too much more in the director's cut of That Thing You Do. A lot of the extra scenes involved the characters and gave them some extra depth. But, there were some scenes that really opened my eyes to a character, something I never saw in the original.

Anyway, a quick rundown of the film. A small band in Erie, Pennsylvania is about to play at a local talent contest. Jimmy Mattingly (Johnathan Schaech), Lenny Haise (Steve Zahn), T.B. Player (Ethan Embree) and Chad (Giovanni Ribisi) make up the band. Mattingly's girlfriend Faye (Liv Tyler) is also prominently featured as part of the band, even though she doesn't sing.

A few days before the contest, Chad tries to jump over a parking meter and falls and breaks his arm. In a bind the group goes to Guy Patterson (Tom Everett Scott), a drummer who is being coached to take over his father's appliance store.

The song 'That Thing You Do' was written by Mattingly and was meant to be a ballad - but once Guy gets things rolling, the song becomes very upbeat and becomes a hit - and even nets them a job singing at a local restaurant.

After cutting an album on their own, the band is signed by a manager who promises to get their song on the radio and get them playing in larger cities - and he comes through. So much so that 'The Oneders' is soon signed by Playtone Records and Mr. White (Tom Hanks) - who changes their name to 'The Wonders'.

The song climbs the charts for months and the band plays state fairs with the rest of the Playtone galaxy. But, as things really begin to get good for the band - they also start to drift apart.

I really enjoy this movie. So simple, yet so fun.

The two main things in the director's cut that we get to see is Guy's girlfriend, Tina (Charlize Theron), fall in love with her dentist. In the original, we see her meet her dentist and see that there is something there - but here we see much more of the two of them interacting. The second thing we see - Mr. White is apparently gay. I never saw any really glimpse of this in the original, but there were a few scenes in the director's cut - including seeing his boyfriend, played by former NFL star Howie Long.

Doesn't change the movie all that much, but pretty interesting to see the whole picture now.

Hanks isn't in the movie a ton, more of a side character. The real star is Scott, Tyler and the other band members. But, his touches are all over it - including writing and directing it. Not to mention the slew of actors in bit parts throughout the movie from a lot of his other movies, including his wife, Rita Wilson.

Grade: