It is the story of a man, Charlie, and his autistic brother, Raymond, whom he never knew existed until his father died and left basically almost all of his multi-million inheritance to an "unknown" party. In an attempt to win the money back for himself, Charlie finds his long-lost brother Raymond and takes him on a trip of their life to the West coast. The movie is funny, heart-touching, and all around great.
The acting by Tom Cruise (Charlie) and Dustin Hoffman (Raymond) in this film are both phenomenal performances. It is Dustin Hoffman's portrayal of an autistic adult that really captured me and stood out as talent the most.
Both of them really do a fantastic job though in their roles! If you haven't seen this movie yet, you need to immediately! I loved it and I am sure you will too!
Next week, we're shifting genres and going for something a little more eerie. I will be watching one of my personal all time favorites, Silence of the Lambs!
Well, I think I easily went through an entire tissue box on this one and found my new favorite movie! This entire time I could not stop thinking about my own relationship with my mother. The acting in this film was wonderful, with some of my favorite stars such as Jack Nicholson playing the characters.
In this movie, the mother-daughter relationship of two very close women is portrayed. It starts in the daughters infancy, but quickly forwards to her adulthood, when she marries a man, Flapp, against her mothers better judgement. They move away and just like her mother had predicted their marriage becomes filled with lies and cheating, but they never do fall out of love.
Back at home, the widowed mother develops an interesting relationship of her own with the feisty astronaut from next-door. This leads to many laughs and funny parts of the film and also shows how lonely it can be once your children are gone and your spouse as well.
I really do not want to give anything away because I honestly want everyone to really watch this one! I cried straight through from 30 seconds in all the way to the rolling of the credits. It's an amazing film, even though I did find myself feeling a bit homesick and calling my mom 'just because' as soon as it was over.
Phenomenal! This is an all around classic that everyone should see (mature audiences only though!). The acting in this movie was amazing and the whole plot was awesome. The movie neared three hours long but it did not feel overly lengthy and I really did not want it to end! (In fact I continued to watch The Godfather : Part II, which is the sequel, after I finished the first one). The movie won three oscars and it definitely deserved all of the awards and critic acclaims that it received.
For those of you who do not know what exactly The Godfather is all about, let me fill you in. WARNING: contains spoilers!
Basically, it is the story of the Corleone family. "Don" Vito Corleone, who is the head of the New York located Mafia family, is known as the Godfather. As the head of his family, he takes care of those he loves and those who show him respect and uses violence and threats to control and stop anyone who shows disrespect to or stands in the way of his families futures and fortunes. The Mafia family is run by Don and most of his son, Sonny, who will take over his position when Don passes away in the future. There is also another son, Michael (Al Pacino), who in the beginning of the film is just returning from war. He has an American girlfriend and explains to her, and all the viewers, in the beginning of the film that he is not like his family and this is not his type of business. Throughout the movie, trouble brews between the different major New York Mafia families because some of the rivaling families are trying to bring drugs into their business for money, but old-school Don Corleone does not want this happening. The rivals end with attacks against all the families towards each other and also results in Don Corleone being shot, although it was not fatal. After this happened, it was clear that no one was safe or to be trusted. Michael takes it upon himself to take revenge on the man who ordered his father dead and ultimately hopefully protect their future from more attacks. He, in a way, joins the family business a little more because he goes and shoots the man who ordered the assassination of his dad and the crooked cop that was working with the guy.
Oh no! Michael! He then has to flee to Italy to hide out until the situation boils down. He does not even say goodbye to his girlfriend, who sits waiting for him to call her day after day. In Italy, Michael meets a new woman, who he loves and takes in marriage. Everything seemed to be going well until Sonny, who was supposed to take over the business eventually, was shot back in New York and killed. It was then apparent that Michael too might be in danger. When he is about to move to a safer location, an explosive implodes in his packed car, while his wife was in the vehicle. After this loss, he returns to America and it becomes his responsibility to take over the family business one day. He goes back to his old girlfriend after years of dissenting her and she takes back his hand. Although it is no longer the man she once knew because he is now a Mafia man who orders men killed without flinching, something he promised he was not involved in.
Towards the end of the film, Michael makes some serious business moves for his family. One of these moves is deciding to move to Las Vegas (which is where he is located in the sequel, which I also recommend). The cinematography in the whole film is dark, but one of the last scenes in the film I found most tasteful. Towards the end, Michael had ordered a bunch of his rivals to be murdered by hit men. At the same time, Michael is becoming Godfather to his nephew, whose father he has killed at the end of the film too. During the baptism, the film shoots between shots of the church service and the hit men killing off his opponents. The entire time that it goes between shots, the church service is read as a voice over. The entire scene honestly sends chills right down my spine and I bet it would to you too.
This movie does not need my recommendation. You should just see it. It honestly is one of the best, if not the best in my opinion, movies of all time. Do not miss out.
Coming up next, we have One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1976)
And finally there is color! I cannot believe I had never seen this classic musical before now! When I was watching the movie, I was surprised how many songs I knew that they sang in the film!
It was a classic story that practically anyone knows. A modern day Romeo and Juliet. Yet another love story in my list of movies (I know how to pick 'em!) that made my heart twist and turn.
Here's the basic storyline--
The two gangs of New York, the Jets (the white immigrants) and the Sharks (the Puerto Rican immigrants), have been in a huge feud since both of them moved into the west side of the city. It just didn't seem big enough for both of them to live in together. The only solution the two gangs can come up with is a fight to settle the problem once and for all. Before the fight happens however, Tony, a former member of the Jets gang and a best friend of one of the head guys, meets Maria, the younger sister of the leader of the Sharks. It's love immediately. They quickly move forward in their relationship by making plans for their future. They talk of things like marriage and how they will make it work dispute their differences.
Then, it happens. The fight. Maria sent Tony to stop the fight and he went with every intention of doing just that. However when he arrived, things escalate and get more heated than anyone could have anticipated. Maria's brother stabs Tony's best friend, resulting in his death. Tony, who just watched his best friend be stabbed to his death, took revenge in the heat of the moment, stabbing Maria's brother right back, ending his life.
What to do now? Maria is informed what happened by one of her brother's friends. But then Tony shows up and their love is enough to help them fight past this tragedy. She forgives him and they plan to run away and spend their lives together. Tony leaves her and tells her to meet him at the place where he worked and they would leave from there. Maria is held up by a police man asking her questions, so she sends her friend to tell Tony that she will be late. However, when her friend gets there to tell Tony, the members of the Jets stop her and abuse her and mistreat her in awful ways. After being treated in such mortifying and degrading ways, she leaves and tells the Jets that they can tell Tony he will never see Maria again, because she was killed by a member of the Sharks after he found out she was planning to leave with Tony.
When Tony hears this, he finds himself with no choice but to go out into the night and look for the man he believed murdered Maria so he can take his life too. Eventually, Maria finds him and he sees that she is alive. They are together-- it looks like the perfect ending until the man who Tony went to find in the first place spots them, shooting Tony down to his death.
Tony is taking his last breaths in Maria's arms. They are surrounded by all the members of the Jets and all the members of the Sharks. She tells them all that is all of their fault that Tony was killed. Because of their prejudices and inability to live among each other peacefully like humans, she lost her love of her life. At the end of the film, all the members of the Jets and Sharks slowly wander out of the scenes together. They walk out as individuals at the end of the film, no longer as two entirely separate entities. They come together to carry Tony's lifeless body from the screen and the movie comes to an end.
Not only was this story beautiful and heart wrenching, but the acting, singing, and dancing throughout the entire film were all phenomenal. Musicals are not something that I normally watch, but I found that I really enjoyed this one. Everyone was very talented and that is obviously one of the main reasons that this movie received such praise and was nominated for so many awards.
Maybe musicals are your thing-- maybe they are not. Either way, I think that anyone would enjoy and appreciate this film and it definitely is a must see!
Now enough of these love films! Get ready for next week because I am going to make you "an offer you can't refuse"-- read this next post or you will seriously regret it!
Get ready for... The Godfather (1972)
