Good Will Hunting

I was exstatic when I found out that we were going to be watching Good Will Hunting since it is my all time favorite movie. The plot is very strong and there are a few very obvious themes. To start off with is that Will is an undiscovered talented child. I can't decide if i like Will or Sean better. I like the way how Matt Damon and Ben Affleck created these two characters. Will with his photographic memory and hard outter exterior is actually soft and caring in the inside but it doesn't show until Sean ( Robin Williams) reaches out to him. My favorite seen in this movie is when in the previous meeting Will torn Sean's life apart from a paint by numbers painting that he had in his room. Next Sean brings Will on a walk to the park to talk to him about the last meeting. I think this is the first time that Sean shows Will that he's not alone. That he wants to get to know him and he'll be "fancinated'. They both have the same background and are from southey. As the storyline progresses the "tough guy" attitude of Will starts to fade and you start to see his true colors. I think theres a message in this movie showing that you have to look at the whole kid. In life, Kids are judged by their social and emotional aspects. Will would not have gone anywhere if Professor Lambeau or Sean had only looked at him as a a bum from southey. They looked at him as a whole and saw amazing potential. In the article "Two Thumbs Up, Five Star and an Oscar?" they state " Each role is invaluable and we cannot act as individuals operating in a vacuum. Valuing one another and working together can only lead to positive outcomes." This movie is very credible and this has happened in the past of discovering a genius.You don't find many geniouses from lower class like "southey" but the questions is how hard are we trying? This movie is interesting the whole way through even until the very end when he goes to " see about a girl". In Good Will Hunting, it's a simple story of a a genius boy from southey that gets discovered but at the same time you have all the other aspects of his life like criminal record, skylar, working at a construction buisness, hanging with his buddies, and finding time to solve incredibly difficult math problems. Needless to say, it's a simple but complex film. Overrall it's a great movie!

On the Waterfront blog

In the movie On the Waterfront, Terry Malloy was a exfighter that became a bum and start hanging out with the wrong crowd, the mobb. I found very interesting that the director Elia Kazan had recently before the movie was released had turned in many other directors in 1952 for accusing them of being communists. I think he made this movie to try and prove to society that what he did was right. I think he thought of himself as Terry and showed the struggles he went through on the decision to announce which directors. I noticed that Terry went through three different struggles which were man vs. man, man vs. man and man vs. self. First off, Terry vs the mobb was one of the struggles. He had a difficult time staying loyal to all his mobb friends when knowing how they killed a old friend from the past. Secondly was Terry vs. his co-workers. The co-workers had a tough time with backing up Terry and his decision to spill which mobb people were involved in the killing. I understand why the co-workers wouldn't back him up since their life and the life of their families were on the line. Lastly, was Terry vs self. Throughout the movie, Kazan did a good job on showing how the fact that terry was speaking up was eating away at his conscious. Finally Terry made the decision on what was right and that's when he told the prest and Edie about it.
Personally, I didn't care for this movie. I found it hard to stay focused and pay attention to the story. I thought it was dragged out and I don't think that the relationship between Terry and Edie were really realistic.

Casablance Blog

I really enjoyed the film Casablanca. Even though you see alot of movies these days that have the same story line that involves the triangle of two men and a woman, Casablanca started this trend. I felt it set the stage for other movies to come like mentioned in the article by Ray Merlock. Merlock said "Titanic and Star Wars, with romantic triangles and characters caught in catastrophic events larger than themselves, use plot variations on Casablanca." I felt it took awhile to get into the plot but once it finally got moving it was vert interesting. In Merlock article and another called "Play it Again and Again" by Kathy Merlock Jackson, they mentioned how there were many films that came out about the different world wars but people really connected with Casablanca the most. I liked how the film supported and was aiming for support for the Allies. The ending was very unique. I would have never guessed that Rick would not go with Ilsa Lund. I think my favorite character was Sam by far. For some reason he really stuck out in the movie especially since he brought diversity to the film. He was so loyal and kind to Rick even when Rick wasn't the nicest of people. Overrall I thought Casablanca was a good film and kept my interest until the very last scene.