Top Gun

Top Gun

1986

Director: Tony Scott

Writers: Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr., and Ehud Yonay

Maverick (Tom Cruise) came into our lives as a hotshot pilot and stole our hearts as a great wingman.

But mind you none, Maverick was a reckless individual. He took unneeded, unauthorized chances with himself, his plane, and his crew. He illegally buzzed the tower. He dropped below the hard-deck. And he even made decisions that lead to his co-pilot, Goose (Anthony Edwards), death.

Maverick was irresponsible.

He was chasing the memory of his heroic father. And with his death, Maverick felt uneasy about his place in the world, so he took life to the edge. And Iceman said it best, "Every time you go up into the air, you're unsafe. I don't like you because you're dangerous."

So, why do we root for him?

Because he is a hero. In the opening scene, Maverick, Goose, Cougar (John Stockwell), and Merlin (Tim Robbins) are approached by Russian MIG-28’s. They are forced to deal with the situation and as Maverick had no troubles with his MIG, Cougar freezes up.

Enter Maverick's heroics.

Cougar had his own things going on. He has a wife and a child. He was scared. He was a pilot filled with fear about his place in the Navy. And that fear took over. Once Maverick chases off Cougar's MIG by “giving him the bird,” Cougar shuts down. He can’t fly anymore, doesn’t have enough gas to figure it out, and now can’t land his plane.

Trouble sets in.

Merlin pleads with Cougar over the radio, while Maverick and Goose listen on the wire. Maverick knows what happened. He knows the fear. And instead of landing, Maverick doesn't land, disobeys a direct order, and goes after Cougar.

In the scene above, Maverick guides Cougar onto the aircraft carrier. Maverick talks him through it. He's right there for his fellow pilot and friend. And he saves Cougar's life.

After Cougar lands safely, he turns in his wings. With that choice, Maverick and Goose are invited to the Top Gun School.

But this scene above is crucial. It shows Maverick has integrity; he does the right thing beyond the rules and regulations of the United States Navy. He has a likeably nature, a heroic wit to his character. And even though he make poor choices the rest of the film, we know he saved the life of fellow pilot trying to get home to his family.

Maverick is a hero.

This film launched a plethora of Maverick and Goose costumes for Halloween, inspired many children to become Navel Aviators, and boosted Tom Cruise to international super star.

It’s because Americans love heroes. We love when people go against the rules for the sake of another man’s life. And we love the bond between United States Military personnel and their belief about how important the man fighting beside you truly is.

Maverick showed us that. Top Gun showed us that. And that’s why we love it.

An Education

An Education

2009

Director: Lone Scherfig

Writer: Lynn Barber and Nick Hornby

100 Minutes

A coming of age story usually has three elements, according to the great Blade Snyder. Your hero has a life problem. You’re hero goes about it the wrong way. And finally, your hero accepts their fate.

In this film, Jenny (Carey Mulligan) has a problem: she wants a better life for herself. She feels an Oxford education is the answer until she meets David (Peter Sarsgaard), who offers her the exact life she’s wished upon without any work or effort – a wrong way to go about it - but fun way. And finally, her acceptance is only hard work and effort can lead to the life she wants, regardless of the men and experience in her life.

She is educated, both by institution and by life.

Jenny encounters David, a lying, cheating con artists who gets young girls to fall in love, while his wife and child rest at home. She falls in love. And sadly, Jenny suffers the same fate as others, but her quick-witted nature and extreme intelligence overcomes this villainous man and in the end, completes her goal of an Oxford education.

She was wrong and now is right.

Even knowing the end, this film speaks brilliance to a generation of confused woman making choices in their life. This film is set in London, 1960’s, but the meaning is relevant in America, 1960 and America, 2010. The question remains: should I attend school and pursue my goals as an independent woman or marry and have the security by my husband?

The question continues to boggle the female population.

In the scene above, Jenny has found David’s business to be less than reputable. He’s a con man, even in his profession. He steals art. Upset, she flees the scene and wants nothing to do with David, but David reaches out and explains that all the things she wants in life aren’t free and it takes a little con to enjoy the finer things in life.

If she only knew he was also talking about her.

But here, she has a choice. She could stay and smoke cigarettes, listen to jazz, and watch great films OR retire home and practice Latin.

She takes the easy option and thus, Jenny turns to the dark side.

She knows it’s wrong. She knows this path is immoral. But, she was having too much fun to notice. Until finally, the fun ran out and reality set in. David is found out. He is married. He’s a liar. And he never comes clean - leaving Jenny to deal with her lost education and disappointed parents on her own.

But above, Jenny’s expression means she’s on the fence and must decide her fate. Why would I take studying over partying? Why would I do homework over listening to music?

A choice.

It’s a choice most have to make and each choice determines what kind of life you lead. And although enjoyable, often times the fun runs out and you need something to replace it with. That’s Jenny’s education. And she realizes she needs a real education, an Oxford education, for her life to be fulfilled.

In the end, this film deserves high praises for its realism and defiance of the norm. It’s a moving piece of cinema and a wonderful character arch. Bravo to screenwriter Nick Hornby (writer of High Fidelity) for adapting Lynn Barber’s memoir. It makes you want to shake Mr. Hornby’s hand and hug Ms. Barber for giving us this gift.

To close, Jenny might have gained an education in this film, but the audience gains a pure escape by watching this immature journey. In life, we are all that immature. We just don’t know it until we've matured and realize how stupid we were.

The Sandlot

The Sandlot

1993

Director: David M. Evans

Writer: David M. Evans and Robert Gunter

101 minutes

In the year 1962, Scott Smalls (Tom Guiry) moved into a new neighborhood. Having no friends and a life dominated by erector sets, he was a lost cause. That is until Scott met Benny (Mike Vitar) and the rest of the Sandlot kids.

Their roster included:

Catcher Hamilton “Ham” Porter
Outfielder Michael “Squints” Palledorous
Short-Stop Alan “Yeah-Yeah” McClennan
Pitcher Kenny DeNunez
2nd Basemen Bertram Glover Weeks
Third Basemen Tommy “Repeat” Timmons
First Basemen Timmy Timmons

Each player had their own personality, characteristics, and style. Though, each player didn’t believe Scott Smalls could throw a baseball, much less play on their field.

The Sandlot was their church and Smalls was unworthy.

It took Benny’s unique talent to make Scott Smalls a player, opening the eyes to the rest of the team and changing this new-kid-to-the-neighborhood’s life forever.

Smalls went onto become a sports announcer for the Los Angeles Dodgers. That’s life changing.

It wasn’t just baseball that changed Small’s life, it was the bond between these players. It was celebrating 4th of July with them on the field for their only night game. It was Wendy Peffercorn and their adventures at the community pool. And it was having smores and sleepovers in the Sandlot tree-fort.

Friendship.

In the scene above, the team from the other side of town rolls into the Sandlot. They have nice, white, pressed uniforms and cleats to match. Ham Porter comes front and center and there’s a battle of wits between the two teams.

The following day, the Sandlot kids beat the crap out of the other side in a glorious victory.

This banter and beating, this face-off, this good vs. bad rivalry between two teams is epic to a child’s life. But, standing there calling the opposite team a “crap face” and your friends having your back is essential to a child’s life.

That’s what Scott Small’s gained the summer of 1962: friendship.

The Sandlot is a wonderful film because it’s a kid’s film made for adults. Kids relate to the conversations, situations, and dialog, but adults remembers it for the innocents, purity, and fun.

Their are Sandlots everywhere that help us remember.

In the end, it takes Benny ‘The Jet” to pickle a beast, save a ball, and become a legend to be remembered. For Scott Smalls, all Benny needed to do was say hello and his life was changed forever.

To Benny ‘The Jet,” we should all be so lucky to have a friend like that.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

2008

Director: Woody Allen

Writer: Woody Allen

96 Minutes.

Passion verses complacency.

Like most of Mr. Allen’s film, he’s poses a question. He has a debate. In this film, the question is: Do you want to live your life inside the box or outside? Do you want passion? Or do you want comfort? Do you want art? Or do you want the white picket fence?

For Vicky and Cristina, the question is tested in Barcelona.

Vicky (Rebecca Hall) is structured and focused. Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) is free-spirited and impressionable. And then comes Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem). Juan offers both girls a weekend away to see art, drink wine, and make love. Vicky is insulted. Cristina is intrigued.

They go.

Over the weekend, the rational Vicky gets caught up in a passionate moment with Juan Antonio and has sex with him. Though a mistake, this act sends Vicky to question her life choices. She balances between the passionate Juan Antonio or her boring fiancé Doug (Chris Messina). Luckily, Doug remains in New York.

Then Doug flies into Barcelona.

Juan Antonio goes onto date Cristina, where then his crazed x-wife Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz) comes in and the true questioning of a structured life begins. Cristina will find her impressionable life has unfulfilled holes that neither Juan Antonio or Maria Elena cannot fill.

Again, she's lost.

But our hero is Vicky. Vicky never forgot that night with Juan Antonio. Even when Doug makes spontaneous plans to wed in Barcelona, she is unimpressed. She has been turned on by passion, which is more exciting than complacency.

In the scene above, Doug runs into a colleague of his (and the colleague's wife) and the couples go out to dinner. During dinner, they talk about airline entertainment, installing cable lines, and decorating their homes, all which seem like boring topics to Vicky.

Is this what her life will be – talking about how expensive oriental rugs are?

And that’s the question we all must ask ourselves: is this what our lives will consist of? Dinner parties and golf outings? Or will there be passion, art, and love?

Mr. Allen poses the question, tests it, and in the end, the outcome is very realistic and pure. The outcome is exactly why this film didn’t do well at the box office.

Because it was real.

And most audience don’t want a real outcome because it reminds them of their life, their questions, and their own doubts. As Mr. Allen is trying to help explain these subjects, people go to moves to forget about them.

But whatever happened to Vicky and Cristina in Barcelona, changed their lives forever. And they have Mr. Allen to thank.

Shut Up & Sing

Shut Up & Sing

2006

Directors: Barbara Kopple and Cecillia Peck

Writers: Natalie Maines, Emily Robinson, and Martie Maguire

93 Minutes

George W. Bush might have been one of the most unpopular, hated presidents in American history. Although in 2003, he was one of the most patriotic and beloved presidents leading this country into the Iraq war.

Nights before the invasion, Natalie Maines of the Grammy Winning, country music band The Dixie Chicks, held at a concert in London and said these now famous lines:

“Just so you know, we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.”

Those words echoed throughout the red states and the Dixie Chicks were finished. They were banished from record stores. They are blacklisted from radio. And they received death threats.

“Freedom of speech is fine, but by god, you don't do it outside of the country and you don't do it in mass publicly,” a random Dixie Chicks protester mentioned.

The Dixie Chicks disappeared. Gone. Finished. Done.

But as history shows, the Iraq conflict turned south. George W. Bush went from supported to loathed. And this country slipped deeper into war time failure.

But, the Dixie Chicks were still ghosts until 200 when they made their triumphant return. They released their album Taking the Long Way with their single “Not Ready to Make Nice,” which talks about their struggles from the backlash of Maines’s comment.

But, their return, although glorious, was not the strong point in this film. It was the fact the Dixie Chicks stuck by their word.

In the scene above, Maines made that comment about the president, which the reaction spiraled out of a control caused by the Free Republic and “patriotic fans” who boycotted their concerts.

But, she stuck by her word.

That comment cost them millions with a top-selling album on the shelves.

But, she stuck be her word.

That comment took the Dixie Chicks off the map, pushed aside and branded as traitors.

But, she stuck be her word. And the rest of the band, Martie Maguire and Emily Robinson,stuck be Maines’s word. And their fans stuck by Maines’s word.

Because that’s all it is, is words. And the patriotism of this country was based on people not being able to speak their opinion and found solace in declaring their independence to speak their opinion.

I believe it’s called Freedom of Speech.

But, the message in this documentary is that even when it’s not the most popular statement, standing behind your word in the face of adversity is the American way. That’s what our fore Fathers did. It’s what Natalie Matines did.

And she is more American than anyone that boycotted her during the Dixie Chick dark times.

In the end, the Dixie Chicks went out to win a Grammy for Album of the Year in 2007 and Not Ready to Make Nice won song of the year. It was a classic ending to a great story.

And when she returned to that London theater, she said this:

"I thought I'd say something original, so just so you know, we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas"

Like I said, a classic ending to a great story.

In Bruges

In Bruges

2008

Director: Martin McDonagh

Writer: Martin McDonagh

107 Minutes

“After I killed him, I dropped the gun in the Thames, washed the residue off me hands in the bathroom of a Burger King, and walked home to await instructions. Shortly thereafter the instructions came through - "Get the fuck out of London, you dumb fucks. Get to Bruges." I didn't even know where Bruges fucking was. It’s in Belgium”

Martin McDonagh had a long career in the theater, which carried over into film after his short “Six Shooter” won the Academy Award for Best Short, Live Action where then he funded “In Bruges.”

A perfect tale.

The dark comedy, brilliant acting, and well-told story mixed for an amazing piece of cinema passed over by most as “another Colin Farrell movie.” But, it isn’t.

It is so much more. It is bar none, the best Colin Farrell performance out there. And a wonderful film, to say the least.

One motherly comment: they say “fuck” 127 times in a 107 minute movie. That’s more fucks than minutes.

In the scene above, the opening, Bruges is laid out with Gothic, medieval settings with cobble stone streets and glowing structures. It’s a place untouched by time. It's a godly setting, but hellish place. And throughout the film, the topic of heaven, hell, and the middle comes up.

Purgatory.

That's what Bruges is: purgatory. The discussion of guilt and sin, while combining what actions these characters have carried out in their life explains why they’ve been banished to Bruges.

Even the painting, ‘The Last Judgment” by Hieronymous Bosch that these characters ponder revolves around their own hell, which is the theme.

Do you ever account for your actions in life? In Bruges, you do.

Bruges is not a bad place, nor ugly. But, it’s not the place Ray (Colin Farrell) wishes to stay and die in. His judgment has been cast – he made his mistakes – and now wants he moved on past this place.

In the end, I believe he does. I hope he does.

In Bruges is a fantastic film. Each line of dialog and subject brought up is recycled throughout the movie – nothing is wasted or abused – and everything is relative. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson’s performance earned them Golden Globe nomination, which Farrell ended up accepting. Both are deserving of any honor they received.

Though, In Bruges is a quiet film, it’s also important. It got buzz, but not enough for the world to enjoy it. In that, this film has lived its life in movie purgatory, where the selected few have dipped into hell and found it.

But, this film is not hell. It’s heaven. And Ray says it best:

“Maybe that's what hell is, the entire rest of eternity spent in fucking Bruges.”

And maybe that’s what heaven is, spending eternity watching this perfect film.

Jarhead

Jarhead

2005

Director: Sam Mendes

Writer: William Broyles

125 Minutes

One of the first films to tackle the Gulf War was a film not about war. Not really. It was about trained killers not being able to kill.

That’s what the military is capable of doing.

In the film Jarhead, the audience follows Anthony Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal) through his military basic training, sniper school, and into the Gulf War. His best friend and sniper partner, Alan Troy (Peter Sarsgaard), follows him on the path, though these two characters believe such different ideals.

Swofford wants to get out. Troy wants to stay in.

This conflict happens often in the military – some men love it, others hate it - yet most “lifers” don’t get kicked like Troy does.

Troy enjoys the military. He enjoys the training, mission, and message. He enjoys being a killer. Though, he is never allowed to kill.

Conflict.

In the scene above, Swofford and Troy get their mission and patiently make their way to their target. They take good position, set their sights, and wait for the orders to fire.

Before the orders come, they are interrupted by a higher-ranking officer who calls in an air strike, taking away Swofford and Troy’s kill. Troy pleads with the higher-ranking officer, explaining to him for them to simply take the shot then call in the air strike, but it falls on death ears.

Troy flips out stating, “this is our fucking kill!”

These men have been trained as hyper-masculine men, trained killers. They have been programmed. They are machines. They want this kill. They need this kill. It is there release. It is their freedom.

Kill.

Jarhead explores the idea that even when you are trained to do something, if that action goes unfulfilled, it causes more conflict than not.

In the end of the film, Swofford, Troy, and the rest of their company fire their rifles into the air. They released the aggression, killer-instinct, and hostility within and find peace through this violent release. It's the only release they get. Yet, this mindset has permanently affected Swofford as he recalls:

“A story: A man fires a rifle for many years, and he goes to war. And afterward he turns the rifle in at the armory, and he believes he's finished with the rifle. But no matter what else he might do with his hands, love a woman, build a house, change his son's diaper; his hands remember the rifle.”

It stay with them. The training stays with them. And the need to kill stays with them.

It is never released, only suppressed.

Titanic

Titanic

Director: James Cameron

Writer: James Cameron

194 minutes

American audiences need happy endings. We need satisfaction for the $11.50 ticket we paid for. We need hope.

Hope is happy.

Titanic is a story based on the maiden voyage of the greatest passenger ships ever built. Fictionally, a man named Jack (Leonardo DeCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet) met on the ship, fell in love, and promised to start a new life in America. Together.

Yet that fateful night, the Titanic sank to the bottom of the Atlantic.

In the process of the sinking, Jack is one of the 1,500 people killed in the frigid waters. Floating on a makeshift raft, Rose lives. She is rescued. She is saved.

Yet, she is forever changed.

Rose lived to be over 90 years old, had children, and grandchildren. She experienced a full life from riding a horse on the beach to catching large sail fish to flying airplanes. Though, her heart always remained at the bottom of the Atlantic.

She never forgot the Titanic, nor did she ever forget Jack.

In the scene above, Rose has died. After dropping the “Heart of the Ocean” into the ocean, she retires to her cabin and passes away. Over a series of photographs, we understand she kept the promise to Jack to live a good life.

In death, her soul sinks to the bottom of the ocean towards the wreckage of the Titanic. In one quick motion, the wreckage turns into a fully restored Titanic. The bellman opens the door to the grand staircase where everyone who died that fateful night remains. They greet her with open arms and warm smiles.

At the top of the stairs is her love, Jack. He extends his hand, they kiss, and the crowd around them cheers.

This is the key to a happy ending. Even though our two main characters die in the film, there is hope that if you make a promise to love someone forever, in death you will be reunited with them.

Thus, Rose and Jack are reunited. And she will spend the rest of eternity with the man she loved.

Love concurs all is what American audience took away from this film. The spectacle of this ocean liner on the open water, the special effects of it's sinking, and the humanistic horror of that night is a bonus.

It was all secondary to this: true love lasts forever.

It did in Jack and Rose's case. And it does many more.

Clerks

Clerks

1994

Director: Kevin Smith

Writer: Kevin Smith

92 Minutes

Clerks – one of the great independent films of the decade – a film that launched the career of the great Kevin Smith and brought us the world of View Askew.

Clerks is about Dante (Brian O’Halloran) working in a convenient store with his friend Randal (Jeff Anderson) and each moment of his life represents the nine rings of hell (note: nine breaks in the movie) from dealing with asinine customers to balancing two love interests.

“Do you have that one with that guy who was in that movie that was out last year?” – Low IQ video customer.

A wasted life, to say the least.

Outside the store is Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (director Kevin Smith), two insulting, fast dancing, drug dealers stoners who hang out outside the Quick Stop Convenient store and undoubtedly represent R2D2 and C3PO from the Star Wars universe.

Entertaining characters.

In the scene above, the day has come to a close. Dante is counting the till and Jay and Silent Bob enter for a pack of smokes. When Jay asks if Dante wants to smoke some weed with them, Dante disrespectfully declines.

See, Dante holds himself to a much higher standard than everyone else. He wants something better. Better job. Better girl. Better life.

But, he’s not doing anything about it besides debate Empire Strikes Back, playing hockey with his friends, and trying to get back together with his beautiful, bitch x-girlfriend, while still dating his wonderful, loving girlfriend.

“Shit or get off the pot, my friend,” Randal comments. And that’s exactly what Dante needs to do.

When Jay leaves the store and only Silent Bob is left, Silent Bob delivers his only line in the film:

“You know, there's a million fine looking women in the world, dude. But they don't all bring you lasagna at work. Most of 'em just cheat on you.”

He’s right. Dante needs to realize his wonderful, loving lasagna-bringing girlfriend trumps the beautiful, cheating bitch x-girlfriend. He needs to go back to school. He needs to realize hanging out with Randal is unhealthy. And he needs to shit or get of the pot.

Kevin Smith took his own advice - shit or get off the pot - and made this independent film.

This film helped America believe that even a average guy from New Jersey can make a film about movie trivia and it still be successful. It was a movie for this generation. And everyone that saw and enjoyed this film, understood the characters in the film.

It’s because we are the characters in this film. Thank you, Kevin Smith for helping us understand ourselves a little more.

Fargo

Fargo

1996

Director: Joel Coen

Writer: Joel and Ethan Coen

98 Minutes

Carl (Steve Buscemi) gets pulled over for no tags on his car. He tries to convince a Brainerd police officer to let him and his associate, Gaear (Peter Stormare) go with some cash hanging out of his wallet. They are denied. To make matters worse, in the backseat is Jean Lundgaard (Kristen Rudrud) who had been kidnapped from the Lundgaard home earlier that day. When the officer asks Carl to step out of the car, Gaear pulls a gun and shoots the police officer in the head.

That’s when shit got real. In the scene above, Carl’s face reveals shit getting real. And truly, shit is real.

Fargo became an instant classic, putting the Coen brother’s on the map with an Academy Award for Best Writing. These brothers would go onto win three more Academy Awards, thus far.

Fargo’s premise of “based on a true story” is not exactly true, but the Coen brothers did this to suspend disbelief in the story. In reality, this film is based on two cases. Case one is attorney Eugene Thompson who paid to have his wife killed, yet the crime was foiled by the stupidity of the hit men. Case two involved Virginia Piper whose husband paid a two million dollar ransom for and Mrs. Piper was later found tied to a tree in a state park.

Shit = real.

Back to the scene above, Carl and Gaear have a simple job: kidnapped a man’s wife. When they are pulled over and Gaear shoots the cop and then hunts down two witnesses, killing them in cold blood, all which brings heat in the form of the ever-talented Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand)

This "beat" ups the ante in the story. This is no longer a smash and grab job. It’s smash, grab, and evade murder charges job. And this is particularly difficult with Marge Gunderson on the case.

But even she has her dark secrets. Even in her happiest times – her pregnancy – she goes on a date with another man. She never tells her husband and even though rejects Mike (Steve Park), it’s the only time she dresses up and fixes her hair.

This is a film of dark secrets in a bright place. It’s Brainerd, MN. It’s home to Babe the Blue Ox. It's home to mountains of white, pure snow. It’s a peaceful city with genuine people. And then shit got real.

In the end, Fargo explains what humanity is capable of in the hands of the fantastically stupid.

And then there’s the wood chipper.

Sunset Blvd.

Sunset Blvd.

1950

Director: Billy Wilder

Writer: Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, and D.M. Marchman Jr.

110 Minutes

A forgotten star and a hack writer is the story of Sunset Blvd. It’s simple tale with complex characters, which makes it fantastic.

How fantastic?

It’s #12 on American Film Institute’s film list. It’s #32 on Internet Movie Data Base top 250. And it won three Academy Awards, while nominated for ten including Best Picture.

But, why?

Because Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) is a train wreak. And Joe Gillis (William Holden) is not far behind her. And everyone wants to see a train wreak.

But, it’s also a Hollywood story, involving famous actors and directors playing famous actors and directors. It’s behind the scenes of one of the greatest businesses in the world, revealing how outlandish and psychotic Hollywood celebrities, past and present, truly are.

“I am big. It’s the pictures that got small,” Norma explains to Joe.

Norma was a famous silent star in the Golden Age of Hollywood. Joe is a struggling screenwriter in the Hollywood Age of paying your bills. Both of which need each other, but neither knows why…until the very end.

In the scene above, Norma has crossed over from reality to fantasy. She has dreamed of her return to the silver screen and even after killing Mr. Gillis, she believes Cecil B. Demillie has lights, cameras, and awaits his “action” call until Norma is ready. She creeps down the stairs and delivers the famous line:

‘I’m ready for my close-up, Mr. Demillie.”

But, Demillie isn’t there. Her dream is a nightmare, but she wouldn't know. Downstairs are police, reporters, and a dozen spectators looking to catch a glimpse of how mad this business can drive a person.

She crawls her way towards the camera, acting as though nothing is wrong. But, everything is wrong. She has killed a man – a man she loved - a man so willing to trade up his life as a struggling screenwriter for being a playboy for an insane cougar who picks up the tab. When he tries to leave, she shoots him.

It’s how Hollywood is sometimes. You have to do, what you have to do. Norma and Joe knew that all too well.

Sunset Blvd. is an usual film about an usual business. Swanson and Holden do a fantastic job carrying this movie and director Erich von Stroheim, playing Max, adds color as a supporting character and Norma’s first husband turned butler.

Weird, but true.

In the end, this movie explains why People magazines are sold. It explains why televised News programs have ratings. People want to see catastrophic events, especially when it involves celebrities.

At the movies, we hope these catastrophic events have happy endings. But in reality, we only hope these events didn’t happen to us.

Perhaps, that’s why Sunset Blvd is so great: it’s about real people in a fake world.

I guess, that’s all Hollywood is anyways.

Beetle Juice

BeetleJuice

1988

Director: Tim Burton

Writer: Michael McDowell, Larry Wilson, and Warren Skaaren

92 minutes.

Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara (Genna Davis) have problems.

They die. Their house sold. And horrible people buy, trash, and move in.

Problem #1.

Their solution is to scare them away in bedsheets, though Adam and Barbara are too innocent and harmless to have any effect.

Problem #2.

Their solution is to call upon their case worker, Juno (Sylvia Sidney), for advice on how to scare, yet Adam and Barbara are passed over as lazy pranks.

Problem #3.

Finally, their solution is to call upon the bio-exorcist named…ah, don’t say it.

In the scene above, Adam and Barbara have run out of opinions and committed to using this eccentric bio-exorcist living in their town-model. Once they say his name three times, they are transformed into the model and have to dig their way to solve problem #1.

Once “the juice” is released, he begins to cause havoc on both Adam and Barbara and their horrible house guests, but Adam and Barbara can’t face their kind nature of problem #2 and now the bio-exorcist has free reign.

Juno comes back and admits their mistake is their problem, problem #3. And now their lazy pranks need to be turned into life altering situation in order to save themselves and the family they want out of their house.

They fail with Harry Belafronte’s rendition of “Day-O.”

There reason why the scene above is important is cause they wanted and needed “the juice,” but once they had him they didn’t want or need him. It goes to show they some decisions we make are foolish and not well-thought out, even when you’re dead.

The bio-exorcist causes more headache for Adam and Barbara throughout the movie before releasing pain on the horrible house guests.

In the end, they could have listened to Juno when she told them to get the people out themselves. But, then we wouldn’t have a movie. Then, the horrible guests would have never left cause all Adam and Barbara would have done is sing “Day-O.”

It goes to show, as the audience, that our need for good decisions in films (ie: listen to Juno and don’t call the bio-exorcist) is in conflict with our want for escapism (ie: the bio-exorcist causes the pain and suffering we paid to see). We make decisions to watch films and movies for escape, which is why Transformers makes money.

It’s for the escape. Not for the decisions.

And this film plays the fettle of escapism, thanks to Tim Burton. And we paid to see the juice become a snake, have hammers as hands, and almost marry the daughter, Lydia (Winona Ryder). That's why we come to see movies.

But, what was his name again?

Beetle Juice, Beetle Juice, Beetle Juice!