Day 3: Ralph Nader: An Unreasonable Man

Money. Scandal. Greed. Coercion. Corruption. The democracy of the human people. Whatever the issue, call in Ralph Nader and his Raiders. Can Ralph fix it? Yes he can!

Wow! What a movie. I have to say that this movie is well done, and it really does open my limited political coffer, if only a smidgen. I give this one a rating of inconceivable, my first to give out, just for the fact that it did enlighten me.

In the movie, we find out all of the wonderful things Ralph has done for us (OSHA and seat belts to name a few). But then I remember something that happened back in 2000. Oh yeah! The election. That ole' chestnut was the downfall if not the ruining of Mr. Nader. For all of the good, the American public could not forgive him for 'ruining' Gore's chances at the top. Many of his supporters left, and by the 2004 election, he was alone.
But like life, if you choose to fight a battle, you better be prepared to fight like hell to win it. Ralph's still plucking along, fighting for the cause. You don't have to like Ralph Nader, but you do need to give the man credit for giving up the ultimate sacrifice of friends, family, and a life, to stand up for what he thinks is right. That, in and of it self, is truly commendable.

So, if you are like me, and get confused trying to watch C-Span, trying to jumble through all of the events that have occurred throughout the day in various parts of the world, watch this documentary. It will catch you up on a all things Ralph Nader. Watch it, become enlightened, or disagree with it. Whatever you do, take from it that everyone makes choices and sacrifices every day. Each of the small steps may not seem important, but they will lead us down an eventual path, the path to our destiny. Thinking of it that way, you might want to be careful where you step.

Tomorrow's movie: The Hangover

Today's Film: Penelope

It's a pig. It's a girl. NO, it's Penelope!

Not being a " girly" movie fan by any means, I looked at Penelope as an ultimate challenge. Give me a German silent movie about vampires, no problem! But this is a movie about a girl, who is a wealthy heiress, and she can't find love because she has the typical nose-shaped-like-a-pig syndrome. Crap. This was going to be a rough hour and a half.

My foreshadowing skills, as well as my keen perception skills tell me that this movie will be one of those happily-ever after movies, where by the end of it, I will actually wish my only problem was that I had a pig nose that could be transformed by a kiss from Prince Charming. My fears do not stop there. I'm getting this strange vibe that I will have to relive those feelings from junior high. You know, the ones where there is that one part of your body, or maybe your whole body, that you just can't stand, and it keeps you from being the person that you actually are or could be. Somehow I feel like this may be a recurring theme throughout the movie.

After quite a lot of time wasted thinking about the film before actually watching it, I dove head first into this movie. The verdict: Not bad. In fact, I really did enjoy it. It could have been the fact that Catherine O'Hara was the mom (Waiting for Guffman anyone?) Or it could have been the funny one-eyed man with dwarfism. Whatever it was, Penelope captivated me, (I believe that is an official movie reviewers statement...it's almost mandatory to say something like that.) It's gritty and raw like the original Snow White. Ok. It's not so gory, like the Brother's Grimm fairy tale, where they talk of the queen consuming Snow White's lungs and livers, but it's not a Disney movie, either. So to sum up, it's real life.

With every fairy tale comes a standard lesson or lessons. In this fairy tale/ romantic comedy/ morally reflective movie, pick your category, a few life lessons to sum it up could be: "you shouldn't judge anyone by their outward appearance," or "true love conquers all", or possibly even "money isn't everything." But I think the best lesson is this: If you don't love yourself, no one will love you. Simple, profound, and the purest truth. It took Penelope twenty-five years to find this out; when will the rest of us?

Final Rating: Somewhere in between tolerable and inconceivable--I think I just formed a new category: Emerging.

Two movies down; 363 to go. The marathon continues!

Tomorrow's movie: Ralph Nader: An Unreasonable Man





Disclaimer: I do not claim to be a professional writer. Be kind when reading and think only positive thoughts. Have a nice day.

Tonight's Film: "Nosferatu"

Ok. Gear up. Tonight, I started off this mission with a bang. I decided to go for something classic and iconic (oh, and did I mention foreign) for my first film.


Eerie music. Check. Gaunt faces and plenty of eye makeup. Check. A movie that saves the good stuff for the very end. Check. A silent movie isn't worth watching unless it's full of symbolism, generalizations, and simplicity. Nosferatu was indeed chocked full of all of these things.


The classic film "Nosferatu: eine Symphonie des Grauens"aka "The Terror of Dracula" was filmed in the silent film era in 1922. Being that I am the curious type, I decided to do a little research on this film. While researching, I tried to find other Dracula films that had been created before "Nosferatu". The shocker: I couldn't find any! This really is one of the first vampyric movies to hit the silver screen. The irony is that the ever-so-slightly cartoonish image of "Dracula" we know and cherish is completely morphed into something truly terrifying and frightening.

All right. So the actors do not speak. The music is a little cheesy, and everything is a little overly dramatic. The simplicity of the film made me tired, but it also gave me a sense of peace. It almost brings you back to the days when we didn't need four vacuum cleaners for our house (one for each room, of course), and we could get by for an hour without a Big Gulp from the Seven Eleven.

The plot was the typical. It followed the standard Dracula format, or rather every Dracula film was derived from this very movie. In fact, there is a scene in which "Count" Orlock (aka Nosferatu) actually tries to attack the main character. The main character naturally has a freak out moment, but in typical movie fashion, the main character brushes it off and everything is oky-doky. The main character, or Hutter as he is called, reminded me very much of Keanu Reeves' character in Bram Stoker's "Dracula". The sequencing is almost identical, even up to the part where the "Count" notices the Hutter's wife. While the plot was pretty standard, the theme is what I pondered about throughout the duration of the film.

I think there is honestly a true theme that is captured within this movie, but may be lost in similar "fancier" movies with special effects . Within all of the horrible things going on in life, it seems like we always need a scapegoat. Someone to blame the world's problems on. It seems that the cause of the problems cannot be human, even though it is only human to err. The plague, which is not only referenced in this movie but also and probably the basis of this movie considering the time and setting, was of course not caused by an act of God. It was, however, an act of Nosferatu. It's funny to think that whether it's film or literature, we always like to find a cause, or a reason for the things that go on in our life. Our curious nature seems to make way for discovery and the gap for faith grows smaller and smaller until faith is almost nonexistent.

Alright. Enough deep reflection. I feel like I just wrote a Jack Handy quote. I give this movie a tolerable rating. I say if you really want to watch it, wait until Halloween, or late at night for full effect.


Watch it and let me know what you think!


Tomorrow's film: Penelope



(I'm going way out of my comfort zone with this one folks!)

Mission:

We are all on a mission. Every day, we have something to do, and we get it done. Or we don't get it done. Or we think about getting it done. Or we don't do it, nor do we think about getting it done, (wouldn't that be the life!). With that being said, I have decided to take on a simple, somewhat daunting, but ever so exciting mission. It's a mission, that for me, makes sense.

I'm somewhat educated, (aren't we all), and I've decided to put some of that tutition money to use and write about something dear to me, MOVIES! I absolutely love watching movies. Any movie, really, will do. As a Netflix subscriber, it's not a good day until you reach into that mailbox and see that beautiful red envelope screaming out, "Open Me!"

Therefore, my mission is fairly straightforward. I will watch 365 movies in 365 days and give you, the anticipated reader, the scoop on how watchable these movies actually are. I have decided to develop my very own rating scale to help out anyone who hates to read through these blogs and just wants to know what's going on. So here goes it:

If a movie is just down right amazingly mindblowing, it will receive a rating of "inconceivable". If a movie is ok, as in I-paid-money-to-watch-it-and-I-still-have-alot-of-popcorn-so-I-guess-I-will-sit-and-finish-it, it will receive a rating of "tolerable". Now I'm fairly open minded, so if a movie is so down right atrocious that I can't even sit through it, it will receive the rating of .....drumroll please...."dire".

So there you have it. For those of you who didn't read through that mess, it's fairly simple. Quick Recap: Inconceivable: Good; Tolerable: Ok; and last but not least, for the movies that are so bad that even I couldn't finish watching: DIRE.

Enjoy reading, as I enjoy watching.