THE HURT LOCKER

This movie was quite intense which is a tad hard for me to handle.  But I really liked the content of the movie.  I liked how it wasn't your typical war movie with people in constant battle, instead it was a suspenseful movie that showed how tragedies could be prevented.  Plus I thought all of the actors played their parts excellently.  They honestly portrayed people who have lived nothing but the life of war.  It amazes me that this is the true reality for too many people.  All the wars going on means that there are people who need to perform these actions.  It saddens me to think that they will never live the societal norms, but there are people like the main character who can't seem to function in ordinary life. 

The hurt locker is a very interesting title.  And I feel it could mean numerous different things in context.  However the only reference to a locker in the movie is in the beginning when the first leader of the unit is killed by a bomb.  His best friend then placed all of his belongings in a metal box to send home.  I think that is the hurt locker. The box that is supposed to represent all of a persons life, and all the future hurt that will be felt by the people close to the deceased.

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS

When I say that this movie rose my blood pressure, that is no exaggeration.  There were parts in this film when I truly stopped breathing.  I love love loved this movie.  And I can say with full certainty that I had never seen a movie dealing with this topic before, and thats really cool considering all the remakes that occur.  The suspense in this movie was perfectly played, and I thought the actors did an amazing job of playing their parts.  I know the Somali pirate captain was the bad guy, but I couldn't help but feel sorry for him.  It wasn't his fault that he was forced into this profession.  If he had been born in another country I am willing to bet that he would not be involved in things of this matter.  But, of course I obviously was more invested in the well being of Captain Phillips.  If he didn't make it out of there alive, I would have thrown a hissy fit.  When Tom Hanks had that final breakdown after witnessing the three pirates get shot, that was one of the most real scenes I have ever seen.  There was nothing but raw emotion, no special effects or music, just a man who had truly been traumatized.  Also I thought it was a great display of how effective our American army is.  We don't take any mess!  All around an amazing movie and I will be making my family watch it in the near future.

APOLLO 13

This film itself was not my favorite.  However I feel the subject in which it was based is extremely interesting.  For some reason, as this tragedy was happening, I did not feel very invested in the well being of these astronauts.  I don't feel the director did a good enough job of developing the characters so that you felt a sense of compassion for them.  The actors did a great job of portraying their characters, but I felt they lacked in connecting to the audience.  I would recommend this movie to others though because there are very little known examples of the events that went on up in space.  A theme that was prevalent in this film is that sometimes giving up is not an option.  These three men had so many obstacles they had to face yet they preserved tackled every single one.  Even though they weren't able to reach their initial goal of reaching the moon, they received the ultimate gift which is life.

This is an iffy subject for me because I can argue both sides.  One, I feel that outer space and the unknown is a magnificent thing that should be explored and understood.  We are a tiny speck in a universe that I feel we know very little about.  How are we to know what occurs in the opposite side, and I feel learning more about that could have a very positive effect on our society.  On the flip side, $9.928 billion a year is an obscene amount of money.  And I can't help but think what other organizations that money could go to.  Like feeding the hungry or housing the poor.  There is a very delicate balance between using what is necessary in order to make a better future, and using excessive amounts that could benefit another cause.

The fact that the United States currently can't travel to space is something that is hard to get my head around.  It seems very odd that more than 50 years ago we had the capability to complete this task, but in present time we don't.  There is a common assumption that technology only improves over time, not that it goes backwards.  I don't think we should give up on space exploration, there is a vast unknown out there that I feel we should strive to learn more about.  Plus I personally like being in first place, and I don't really like the idea of other countries having a leg up on us with something so potentially influential.

PARKLAND

I really really liked this movie.  Which surprised me because I usually lean towards the normal mainstream Hollywood films.  But I enjoyed how this movie was filmed differently.  Parkland did an amazing job of making you feel like you were on the street, or in the room when all of these events occurred.  My heart rate was changing relative to the ups and downs of the film.  I especially like how the movie showed the immediate aftermath of the shooting, instead of focusing on just the shooting itself.  I made a huge mistake though of actually googling the Zapruder footage, I will never be able to get that image out of my head.  Also I feel this movie gave great insight to how President Kennedy was view as a person and a leader.  Of course it is a devastating time when someone is executed, but it seemed as if the country had paused.  That life could no longer go on for the time being because someone as special, important, and well liked as Kennedy had been taken from the American people.  In my opinion, the assassination had to be a conspiracy because it seems even more insane that one person hated the president so much that he was willing to go to those lengths.  I feel that Oswald was not alone in intent.

THE PIANIST

This movie was amusing to me because the title "The Pianist" seems so peaceful and tranquil, while the movie itself was full of anger, violence, and hatred.  The movie was a tad too dark for my taste, there was a lot of negative with very few positive besides the fact that Spzliman finally escaped the oppression.  However I feel like the this movie had an extremely strong moral and message.  That the act of perserverance is key.  That giving up is not an option.  And it motivates me to push even further than I think possible because you never know when the end of the journey will come and better times are around the corner.

I'm not sure if I am completely correct with this inference, but I got the hint that captain Hosenfeld was actually of the Jewish race as well.  I have no clue how he was able to escape the reigns of the German military and actually become one of them....but as they Hosenfeld and Szpilman began conversing, Hosenfeld was using words like "we" and "us" when referring to the Jewish community.  This is why I feel that the captain felt obligated to help the pianist because of the level of gilt he is living with.  From Szpilman point of view, I don't know that he for sure trusted the captain, but I felt that he didn't really have a choice.  He was at the end of his road and the captain was the last chance of hope.

DEFIANCE

This movie impacted me in a way that I would have never expected.  Tuvia and his brothers are some of the most inspirational survivors in history that I never knew about.  How they took so many people under their wings to provide them with a chance of living was so special.  Some people thought the movie was a tad slow but I thought it was filmed perfectly.  I actually felt like I was in the forest with this group of fighters. I also really liked how the incorporated love in the "forest marriages" to give people a sense of hope.  Although this time in history was depressing and embarrassing, but people like this were what kept life alive.

"Our revenge is to live," this is a very meaningful quote.  This people discriminating against the Jewish race did everything in their power to erase the Jewish population.  And Tuvia knew that.  So in order to prove these horrible people wrong, they had to live and thrive.  Humanity and revenge are huge themes in this movie and in life.  I think both are inevitable.  Revenge is not a positive part of life but it's something that we must live with and constantly battle.  Humanity being the positive aspect of life and revenge being the negative. The main goal in life is to make the positive outward the negative.

THE GODFATHER

I feel like this movie had such an infamous reputation, that when I finally saw it, it was nothing like I had expected.  I have no reason in particular why I was expecting the movie to be a certain way, but it did not live up to my expectations.  To say the least, I was not a fan.  However, I liked the character of Michael, he seemed real.  Someone that people could relate to.  Trying to escape his families legacy but getting caught up in it all.  The movie in all didn't give me much emotion other than annoyance.  Although I must say it was interesting seeing a movie from the "bad guys" point of view.  And how they still greatly valued family and did what they needed to put food in their mouths.

Vito Corleone is portrayed as a God-like figure.  Basically nothing could get done in the community without the assistance, or approval from the "Godfather."  Even though we all knew he was conducting very bad things, while we were watching they didn't seem quite so bad.  You started to feel for him, and thought "maybe he is doing right."  When he did, I didn't feel a sense of happiness or sadness.  I was indifferent.  I also don't think the world was able to escape anything, because Vito was replaced in full by his son Michael.

This movie is extremely different from my previous perception of organized crime.  From this families point of view, it was the only way to live.  And their peers held them in the highest respect.  Unlike how we imagine where they are not liked by anyone, just feared by everyone.  I am not going to say that this movie is not a classic, because to say many people, it is.  I think its classic feeling is solely because of the different perspective it is given.  Plus you have a couple of characters who don't take any mess and get what they need to get done....at any costs.