Garden State

Garden State

2004

Director: Zach Braff

Writer: Zach Braff

102 Minutes

A quiet film released in 2004 made it’s way into every dorm room and post-graduates movie collection because it’s colorful characters, random events, and a wonderful soundtrack.

And then there was Jim Parson’s, the mother-fucking Knight, who now is know as Sheldon on Big Bang Theory.

In Zach Braff’s directorial debut, this film is a coming-of-age autobiography about a young man heading home for his mother’s funeral and has to deal with friends, a new girl, and most of all, his terrible relationship with his father.

“That actually made me sadder than anything: the fact that I felt so numb,” Andrew (Zach Braff) says to his new friend Sam (Natalie Portman).

That’s the major character flaw in Andrew – he’s numb to the experiences around him - numb to life, love, sex, drugs, and rock and roll. His father placed him on prescription medication during childhood and coming home is the first time Andrew stops taking his recommended dosage.

And finally, he begins to sense what is real – what is important.

In the scene above, Andrew’s friend Mark (Peter Sarsgaard) takes them on a journey to Handy World, a shady motel, a nitrous oxide vendor (unseen), and finally a geological rock quarry to find a missing piece of jewelry, which belonged to Andrew’s deceased mother.

When they get to the quarry, they find it’s guarded by a couple living in an old houseboat, which they refer to as an ark. Large’s Ark. Once inside, the couple talks about the rock quarry and how important it is, but the man stops and explains this:

“None of that really matters. If I get to be with this person right here and our beautiful baby. That's all I need.”

Quickly, Braff cuts back to Andrew and Sam. And in that instant, Andrew realizes what’s important. It’s not acting. It’s not his father - it’s Sam. This is a love story, though unconventional, and Sam has helped him feel something again.

Love.

In the age of numbness - where people are comatose on their daily drug - this film spoke to a generation to people who wanted to feel reality again, no matter how painful it was.

In the end, Garden State was the first shot at a directing career for Zach Braff. This was his baby and it turned out well.

But we all want to know, when is the next movie, Mr. Braff, that makes us feel something again.

When?

Catch Me If You Can

Catch Me If You Can

2002

Director: Steven Spielberg

Writer: Jeff Nathanson, Frank Abagnale Jr., and Stan Redding

141 Minutes

This story is more than a kid running from the authorities. It’s more than a kid writing bad checks. It’s about a kid trying to run from reality. It’s a kid trying to get his family back together. Though he was a kid who stole, lied, and checked his way through the American system, he’s just a kid.

But boy, did he have fun.

Catch me If You Can is about Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio) who successfully became a pilot, doctor, and lawyer, while sealing millions of dollars from banks around the world. In the process, he is chased by Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) who tries helplessly to be taken seriously within the FBI, while hunting down this “criminal.”

During his life, Frank gets tied up while being a doctor. He meets a girl named Brenda (Amy Adams) who he wants to marry. Upon meeting her parents, Frank tells another lie.

“I passed the bar in California and practiced law one year before trying my hand in pediatrics.”

Brenda’s father (Martin Sheen) offers him a position at his law firm, but now Frank has to pass the bar in Louisiana. He does, then gets an assistant prosecutor job in the film until the FBI shows up. He runs. And after Frank is found, tried, and being sent back to American for trial, Carl asks the question:

How'd you do it, Frank? How'd you pass the bar in Louisiana?

It’s the question that remains unanswered until the very end.

In the scene above, Frank has been offered a job in the FBI’s check fraud department and even though he runs the first chance he gets, he does return and finally commits to a life without crime. His father has let him down, his mother has moved on, and now all he has is his friendship with Carl.

Again, Carl asks: How'd you pass the bar in Louisiana?

He replies, “I studied for two weeks and passed it.”

Had Frank simply gone through life - played by the rules - he would have came out fine. But, it was the chase he loved. It was the chase that made him feel wanted. And the chase gave him the attention, approval, and validation, which Carl gave him, far past his estranged family.

Catch Me If You Can is a period piece based on one of the notorious criminals in recent history. He had fun with his money. He rode the wave of success. And he lived in the high life, well before he was 21 years old.

In life, we should all be so lucky to do a tenth of what Frank did, though legality makes it almost impossible.

It takes the chase to make it possible. And only Frank knows what that’s about.

The Godfather

The Godfather

1972

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Writer: Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo

172 Minutes

“I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.”

We’ve all heard the lines, made the offers, and wished we could be as powerful as Don Corleone. But, no one is as powerful as Don Corleone except for the Don himself.

From cutting the heads off horses to helping avenge the common man’s problems, Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) was one of the greatest characters in the history of cinema. Never has there been two actors to win Academy Awards playing the same character, the latter being the great Robert DeNiro.

The Godfather is a story of family. It’s a story of trust. It’s a story of power.

This film is as much about Michael Corleone’s (Al Pacino) rise to power as it is about Vito’s power. In the scene leading up to the scene above, Michael has come home from military service. He’s a war hero and wants nothing to do with the family business. He found an attractive, un-Italian girlfriend, Kay (Diane Keaton) and wants to live his life outside the world of violence and corruption.

Then there is an attempt on Vito’s life.

When Michael is in the city having dinner with Kay, he goes to the hospital to check on his father. After realizing his father’s guards have been paid off, he decides to hide Vito in another room, enlist Enzo the Baker (Gabriele Torrei) as security, and protect his father.

In doing so, he delivers the line, “I’m with you now.”

Michael has crossed over and for the rest of his time within the Corleone family, he will seek ultimate power over everyone. He will murder the five families. He will kill his only remaining brother. And he will lie to the government.

Michael becomes Don Corleone.

There are many great moments in this film, but this was a turning point in the story. No longer was Vito our main character, but the story becomes about Michael. This film is about Michael’s rise to power, over-stepping his bother Fredo and raising up after Sunny’s demise. Michael will carry the next two films well after Vito’s death.

The Godfather is as American as the Forth of July, apple pie, and baseball games, even though it’s about an Italian family. They are honorable men doing dishonorable acts. At the heart of it, there is a power and respect that the Corleone’s have for each other. As Americans, we can admire that.

“It's not personal, Sonny. It's strictly business.”

And that’s the way the Corleone family will have i. Business.

Brokeback Mountain

Brokeback Mountain

2005

Director: Ann Lee

Writer: Annie Prouix, Larry McMurtry, and Diana Ossana

134 Minutes

“I can’t quit you.”

The story of two cowboys and their summer on Brokeback Mountain was dubbed the “gay-cowboy” movie for over a decade. In reality, it was a film of forbidden love and lost opportunities.

It’s a story about being true to yourself.

When Jack Twist (Jack Gyllenhaal) meets Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger), they began a secret relationship lasting over twenty years. Between marriages, divorces, children, and work, they visit each other sporadically on Brokeback Mountain.

They only have each other, though kept at a distance by Ennis.

In the scene above, the two characters have completed their summer on Brokeback and have gone their separate ways. Once Jack pulls away in his pickup, Ennis finds himself walking alone. He tucks into a back alley and collapses.

He dry heaves, punches the wall, and painfully leans against the cold building.

That’s what makes this movie so powerful is that it’s not just two gay men having sex, but it’s two gay men hating themselves for it. Their struggle is not to have a relationship, but to emotionally deal with their own homosexuality.

It’s a struggle for both men.

And while Jack would have loved to move to Mexico, devoted himself to Eddie, and lived out the remaining days in a loving relationship, it was Ennis who could never commit. Ennis, from his childhood experience of seeing the death of another homosexual cowboy, could never accept true love until it was too late.

Lost opportunities.

At the end of the film, Ennis finally does accept how important Jack was with a metaphorically moment with two shirts wrapped within each other, from their first meeting on Brokeback Mountain.

When it was all said and done, Brokeback Mountain took home three Academy Awards, including one for best writing.

It was an film that turned off most of the American audiences because of the subject matter, but the few that went to theaters to see it were pleasantly surprised by the message.

A message of love.

Accepted

Accepted

2006

Directed: Steve Pink

Writer: Adam Cooper, Bill Collage, and Mark Perez

90 Minutes

Originally. Creativity. Passion. At the South Harmon Institute of Technology (S.H.I.T.), you can be all those things. And Bartleby Gaines (Justin Long) is their leader.

Accepted is about a group of students who were rejected from every college they applied too, including Bartleby, thus apply to S.H.I.T., which was created by Bartleby. Though Bartleby was simply trying to appease his father by creating this institution, he never imaged it would have sprung to greatness by advancing leisure, creativity, and the all-together sexy Blake Lively.

He only wanted to make this father proud with no one else finding out. Thus, when S.H.I.T. accepted over 300 students, there was a problem.

In the scene above, Bartleby enters the auditorium to inform the S.H.I.T student body that the South Harmon Institute of Technology was fake. When he realized all these students had been rejected on their own, he had a change of heart. Why reject when you can accept?

“They got rejected from everywhere. What kind of message would I send if I reject them from my college.”

With Daryl “Hands” Holloway (Columbus Short) and Sherman Schrader (Jonah Hill) in the background, completely in awe, Bartleby begins his journey by starting a college.

A fake college.

But, it’s not so fake. It’s ingenious. It’s exactly what college should be about. It’s fun. It’s excited. It’s passionate. It’s a place where you can figure out your life without having pressures and deadlines. It’s a place to expand your mind, test your limits, and fine what means something to you.

Most of all, its freedom.

That’s why we learn, so we can be free. And while their sister school, Harmon University, can preach structure and rules, we need S.H.I.T. schools in this country to promote creativity.

Creativity is what gives life color.

This entire movie is one of greatness. It was a funny movie about a serious subject. Bartleby poses two question: Why can't we both exist?

It can. And he made it possible. In a country who prides themselves on standing up for what you believe in, Bartleby Gains made it possible with a S.H.I.T. school.

A wise man once said, “The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.”

It was Albert Einstein.

Men of Honor

Men of Honor

2000

Director: George Tillman Jr.

Writer: Scott Marshall Smith

129 Minutes

“The Navy Diver is not a fighting man, he is a salvage expert. If it is lost underwater, he finds it. If it's sunk, he brings it up. If it's in the way, he moves it. If he's lucky, he will die young, 200 feet beneath the waves, for that is the closest he'll ever get to being a hero.” – Billy Sunday

Billy Sunday (Robert De Niro) is a bad ass - one-hundred percent bad ass. And Carl Brashear (Cuba Gooding Jr) needs his help.

Men of Honor is about the life of Chief Carl Brashear and his experience being a Navy diver. The film begins when Carl is a boy showing his God-given skill of swimming and holding his breathe underwater. He joins the Navy and because of his skin color, he is made a cook. After years of trying, he is accepted into the Naval Diving School where he encounters Master Chief Billy Sunday.

Issue.

These two come from the same humble means. They’ve had to work hard for what they have. And they are men of honor. But, Carl is black and Sunday is white.

Problem.

“Two tablespoons of machine oil can contaminate an entire ship's fresh water supply.” – Mr. Pappy, commanding officer of the Navel Diving School.

In the scene above, Master Chief Billy Sunday rose from his dive and began to disassemble the 200 pounds of gear a Navy Diver must wear. When another diver is accidentally pushed over the side, Billy Sunday gets up and wants to dive down after him.

“He’ll be dead before you get to him!” Sunday yells.

Risking his life and showing enormous integrity, he grabs an air hose prepares to dive, yet the films villain, Lt. Hanks (David Conrad) stops him. He orders him to not dive, but Billy Sunday – knowing what’s a stake – salutes his commanding offers and dives regardless.

This action is why Billy Sunday teaches at the Navy School. He suffered a major injury and cannot dive anymore, thus can only teach students about his true love.

It was the only thing he wanted to do. It’s the only thing Carl wanted to do.

This film about going after your dreams in spite of your race or character. Carl is faced with oppression and hate throughout his diving school experienced, but his will and desire even turns Master Chief Sunday into a believer - not only in Carl, but also himself.

These two eventually become friends and after a freak accident, Carl will need Master Chief Sunday to get back on his “feet” again.

We are not all Men of Honor, which is why we need these films to remind us what they are. These men are heroes. They are servicemen. And they show the world how to do what is right.

To Master Chief Carl Brashear and Master Chief Billy Sunday, you are truly heroes.

We salute you.