The OnLion: Arts

by Ben Popkin

Slumdog Millionaire is a film about an 18 year old Indian orphan who goes on who wants to be a millionaire. While that may seem like a simple plot, Slumdog Millionaire is anything but a basic film. Director Danny Boyle’s (Trainspotting and 28 Days Later) unique and artistic vision makes this movie a visual masterpiece. It has a complex system of flashbacks that are weaved with real time. This method makes the movie flow with ease.

Slumdog Millionaire starts with Jamal, the main character, being brutally interrogated by the police chief. His crime was getting almost all of the answers on Who Wants to be a Millionaire right. Jamal has is one question away from winning 20 million rupees on the Indian game show. No one believes that a low class orphan could possibly get the answers rights. Jamal is forced to explain how he knows the answers through his life story. We see the troubled and entertaining life of Jamal, an orphan from the slums of Mumbai.

Staring in this film is Dev Patel which is the most stereotypical Indian name I have ever heard. Patel was in the TV show “Skins”, and makes his big screen debut with Slumdog Millionaire. He delivers a surprisingly good performance as Jamal Malik, a late teen who grew up in the slum. Also in this film is Freida Pinto, the most beautiful woman on this planet. I am not joking. She is stunning. I also hear she is a good actress. She plays Latika, the romantic interest of Jamal. Jamal and his brother Salim meet Latika when they are young orphans, and Jamal instantly falls in love. From then on, Jamal’s main interest has been the well being of Latika.

The story between Jamal and Latika will tug at your heart strings in a way that no other story will. Contrasting Jamal’s caring personality is his older brother Salim. Salim will do whatever it takes to get ahead. It seems that the only two people he cares about are himself and Jamal. Salim and Jamal go down different paths when violence and corruption come between them.

Slumdog Millionaire has everything for everyone to enjoy. It has love, it has comedy, and it lifts your spirit. This potential Oscar winner is a must see for anyone who enjoys a good movie or believes in a better world.

By Wallace Winborne

“The a– cannon is definitely the most awesomest part,” my new friend Trey said in his thick southern accent. The overweight, topless, 40 year old flaunted cheap tattoos of scantily clad sprites. They covered his sweaty back.

Taking another sip of his malt liquor, he went on to explain in graphic detail the function of this weapon, which, as you might (or might not) guess, mimics the function of the actual body part.

Trey is a GWAR fan. GWAR is a shock rock band (a genre whose sole purpose is to enrage a live audience), known for covering its audience in fake blood, vomit, feces and other various fake bodily fluids. They begin the set by enraging the crowd with political banter. They expose the “secrets” of the “man”, appealing to the oppressed side of the crowd. They scream about political corruption. The show is an act, but was taken quite seriously by an all too large portion of the crowd at downtown’s Masqeurade on Friday night.

The lights went down and the crowd blew up.

A man in a monster like costume, named John Wilkos, walked out onto the stage at the beginning and began bad mouthing members of the band.

The crowd was ravenous, lusting for the man’s blood. The band entered and confronted him. Chants of “GWAR! GWAR! GWAR” erupted.

I’ll admit shamelessly that at that moment, when members of the band walked on stage, I was scared out of my mind. Their costumes resembled those of a medieval executioner, except covered in fake spikes and armor. The crowd was like nothing I’d seen before.

Imagine the tenacity of Hunter Rich on the football sidelines, multiplied by 5, and mixed with drugs, alcohol, and no education at all. You are picturing the people who surrounded me that Friday night.

Although I steered clear of the circle pit (hence avoiding a concussion and the skinheads who worship the band) I still felt uncomfortable around this strange breed of people. Who would actually take something this absurd seriously?

“I’m sleazy P Martini,” said the man on stage representing the government. Draped over his cheap pink suit was a belt (resembling those won by professional wrestlers) covered in spikes. “I’ve got more power than you could ever know. You know why?” he asked, pointing to the belt. He spoke like a stereotypical used car dealer. “The belt. It gives me world domination.” Sure it does sleazy, I thought. Somewhere Trey was in the moshpit believing every word of this.

“John Mcain? No belt. Barack Obama? No belt! John Wilkos?” here he paused. I will never forget the scene that followed. “NO HEAD!”

One of the members dressed as an executioner grabbed Wilkos as he struggled. Another raised an enormous sword; the ravenous crowd could taste the blood. He lifted the sword and swung it down swiftly on Wilkos’ neck. His head fell off revealing a disgustingly realistic cavity. Fake blood spewed everywhere. A devious looking woman member of the band hopped on the standing body’s back, tearing chunks of flesh out of the hole, digging to satisfy her hunger.

It was a horror film, but being acted out before my eyes. After this I had to retreat to the lower level of the venue to watch the ska band playing at the same time. I couldn’t take any more GWAR. The ska fans actually had to be invited to mosh, and when they did they happily bounced into each other and helped each other up when they fell.

The most disturbing bit of the evening might not have even been the gore. Many of the fans were neo Nazis. “The skinheads were definitely about on Friday,” said sophomore Jackson Todd. I don’t understand the connection between neo nazis and GWAR fans, except for the fact both groups are on the highly uneducated side of earth’s population.

Most people in cult followings of bands are a little bit strange: the Deadheads and Slipknot’s Maggots come to mind. Both are extreme and devote a significant portion of their lives to their groups, both have seen more concerts of their band then I’ve seen over all. But there is something about a GWAR fan that is surreal.

“I’ve been seeing them for twenty years,” said Trey as his similarly dressed friend nodded. “They never get old.” I’m not sure if I’d agree with that, but I would say that the likelihood of Trey and his friends getting old before dying of drug overdoses is a slim one.

Music Rating: 2/5 stars
Showmanship rating: 5/5 stars

by Amanda Torie

I suppose my fascination with the Middle East continued when I picked up a copy of The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Moshin Hamid. I suppose what made this book so appealing to me in the first place is the format: the story is told over dinner between two acquaintances at a café in a city in Pakistan. The main character, a Pakistani man by the name of Changez, recounts over the course of the evening meal the story of his love affair with America.

He left his family in Pakistan to go to college in America. He was bound for Princeton with visions of prosperity in “the land of the free.” At Princeton, his intelligence shown bright. He befriended the best and brightest, the true future of his new country. It was amongst this elite group of ivy leaguers that his dreams of success finally seemed to be feasible and well within his eager grasp.

He met a girl, fell in love, and got a job with a top valuation firm. He was living the American dream. Then he was there, within inches of the destiny he had prayed for so many nights, when terror struck him hard, twice. The attacks on September 11 occurred and all of a sudden Changez found himself trapped inside a world of fear and distrust for the world outside his own. When the woman he loves is suddenly taken from him in a tragedy causing her to withdraw from much of the world, Changez found himself fighting a great war both internally and externally.

He tells this story to his American companion over dinner with clear poignant remembrance, adorned will all of the fondness and hurt which accompanied his time here. His friend is clearly overwhelmed.

Moshin Hamid writes wonderfully and paints a picture of American tragedy that most of us never had the opportunity to see. The way he portrays the female love of Changez’s life as a parallel to the story of his American adventure truly emphasizes the feelings of hurt and abandonment post 9-11. The woman is someone we can relate to. It is easy relate to loosing a loved one, and it gives the reader a better idea of how much Changez must have felt betrayed by the world.

Being a citizen of this country makes it hard to understand what it is exactly that brings people here. Through the character Changez the lure of America is revealed. The opportunity that perhaps only this country possesses will push people to all extremes in order to get a piece of the “eminent success” America is believed to hold. This novel also portrays the downside to this reality, the fact that despite how far we have come, there are still stereotypes that plague our nation.

The conclusion I came to in regards to these seemingly contradictory themes is this: in order to walk the streets of gold, you have to risk tumbling into the gutter.

This novel offers a truly unique perspective on tragedy that goes largely unseen. It is certainly worth the time to read.

by Mary Liz Cronk

On November 21, 2008, the second wave of the phenomenon began. Millions of people crowded the theaters to see the first midnight showing of Twilight.

Ever since the first book of the series of four came out in 2005, readers were pumped to see the movie.

Although Ali Smith had not read the book, she was looking forward to seeing the premier.

“I had no expectations for what the movie would be like,” she said. “And I thought it was amazing.”

Some people, however, wanted to finish the book before seeing it in theaters.

Caroline Cronk read the entire book the Wednesday before she saw it. “Because I did not put the book down once the whole day, I finished all 500 pages of it in less than 12 hours!”

Although reading the book before the movie might ruin the experience, most people found it amazing anyway.

Catherine Conner read the book before all the hype about the movie started and loved the movie.

“I thought that the book was going be better because there isn’t a limited amount of time to tell the story, but I thought the movie was really good in comparison to the book.”

Laura Quittmeyer, who also went to the premier, had read the book prior to the movie.
“Over all, I liked them equally, even though the movie missed a lot of parts.”

Laura thought that watching the movie would make reading the rest of the series more interesting. “It’s nice to be able to visualize the characters while I’m reading, especially because they are so attractive!”

Most people agreed that the main character, Edward Cullen, was the highlight of the movie.

Ali Smith put it simply. “Edward made Twilight good.” She had always thought that “when characters have super powers it is obviously fake, but Edward made being a vampire seem so realistic and inspiring.”

Some people, however, felt that the relationship that Edward and Ella shared was romantic, but kind of depressing.

“My favorite part was when Edward and Ella shared their first kiss in her room,” Laura said. “Even though it was one of those kisses that makes me realize that I am missing so much in my life.”

Twilight entertained a variety of people, even some boys.

Wallace Winborne, who went with a group of girls, was the only guy who didn’t ditch out of all his guy friends. He says that “the movie was pretty good, especially the action scenes.”

Wallace feels that it is definitely more of a girl movie. “The girls were going crazy…clapping and screaming, some girls even crying and video taping it!”

Wallace was not the only boy who saw the movie.

Garrett Houghton was forced to the theaters to see Twilight with his girlfriend.

“My girlfriend definitely appreciated the movie more than I did.”

Garrett says if he had to have a favorite part, it would be “the baseball scene.” Leave it to a guy to pick the one sports scene in a vampire love story.

Maybe he’ll be a fan of the motorcycles from book two.

by Wallace Winborne

A mind reading kidnapper battles his own mind and avoids his problems. He learns from a failed suicide attempt that he cannot escape his mental disturbance. A teenage criminal in a juvenile detention crosses the threshold into a new life to become an eagle scout, but after another arrest, his chances of success are jeopardized. A high schooler doesn’t fit into his prep school environment, but he is uncomfortable becoming a full fledge nonconformist and so struggles to find balance.

Only in one place could these stories have anything in common.

Every 7th period theater director David Silverman meets 6 aspiring filmmakers in the Green Room, where he has created a unique environment. In his new Playwriting/Screenwriting class, students come up with original screenplays and feed off of each other’s ideas during class to develop them.

“The goal of the class is to teach (the students) how to turn their raw idea into a well structured screenplay,” said Silverman, who studied film at the University of Miami and has written many screenplays and short films. In 2006 he was named “Atlanta’s Best Actor” by Creative Loafing.

So if there is a teacher qualified to teach the class, it is Silverman.

“He really knows what he’s doing,” said fine arts director Jay Freer. “He’s one of the most patient, kind teachers I’ve encountered in 25 years.”

The Green Room is an intimate classroom setting which promotes the constant dialogue between writers that helps them make their stories so colorful.

The first few weeks of class were dedicated to the study of story structure, taught with a modernized and simplified version of early 20th century mythologist Joseph Campbell’s plot findings. “In many mainstream films, the plot structure is linear, and not circular like Campbell’s,” said Silverman. The aspect that separates most modern day movies from epics is the aspect of “returning with the elixir” rather than just ending with a reward.

For example, in sophomore Jeremy Trombetta’s tale of a miscreant in juvenile jail, the boy partakes in a life changing an Eagle Scout program. During his time away he grows to understand that his past was not right, and will use his newfound knowledge to make a positive impact on another boy in his position.

The fact that there is a structure to follow does not slow creativity.

“I don’t feel any restrictions in this class,” says senior Avalon Middleton. “Even though we have the basic story structure that we follow, it is an art and not a science so we have the ability to play with the structure.”

“Having the structure actually helps with creativity,” said Jeremy Trombetta. “It really helps when you get writer’s block.”

If sophomore Ashley Dalton had to select a favorite aspect of the class, she says that it is “the freedom of choosing to write what you’re passionate about.” Such is clear when reading Ashley’s story of mental illness taking the form of a supernatural power.

“I stress that students write what they know about,” said Silverman. I think that he’s gotten his point across.

Jeremy is writing about Eagle Scouts. He will soon be one himself. Sophomore Amy Wakamo is writing about a poet. An accomplished poet herself, she won the creative writing contest last year. Senior Avalon Middleton is writing a story of a boy’s struggle to fit in with his conservative environment, not an unfamiliar experience for him. Ashley Dalton’s script is about a man suffering a mental illness. The toleration and understanding of mental illness is important to her. Senior Lindsey Recknagel’s main character is a Scottish Highland dancer, and so is she.

Mr. Silverman plans on traveling to the Sundance Film Festival next year, where he hopes to find people interested in the students’ stories.

“We hope that when the first semester projects are finished, we will have a viable commercial product.”

That is, without question, the most exciting real world application of any school project that I’ve heard of. A chance for your work to become a film.

“I was blown away when I heard (about this),” said Jeremy Trombetta.

Many aspects of the class are mind blowing.

‘It’s a chance for studnets to do something that they normally wouldn’t do in school,” said Mr. Freer. Many current class members are showing interest in a Playwriting 2 class next year, which Silverman is considering offering.

Even if he doesn’t, his first crop of kids have gotten their start, and Playwriting/Screenwriting I will be offered next year to tap the creativity of another group.

by Ben Popkin/Staff Writer

Over the past few years, the world has come to love a particular type of comedy. This comedy is raunchy, vulgar, and hilarious. Films like Knocked Up and Superbad have been a part of this comedy revolution and they have been funny in their own right. The new film Role Models is no different.

Role Models is about two crude men who end up on the wrong side of the law. They are forced to be role models for younger children or go to jail. This brings in the element that Role Models has that other crass movies don’t, small children swearing. I don’t care who you are, when you see a ten year old yell profanities at a twenty something year old you are going to laugh. Having children also amplifies the moral that is learned at the end of the film. Not only do the guys learn to act their age, but they also help small children achieve their dreams (awwww).

The two stars in Role Models are Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott. Rudd plays Danny Donahue, a man who hates everything from his job to coffee cup sizes. His co worker Wheeler, played by Scott, loves his job and his life. The two go from school to school preaching about the horrors of drugs and selling energy drinks. They play off of each other perfectly and are the driving force behind the movie.

Also in Role Models is Christopher Mintz-Plasse. That’s right. McLovin is in another movie. He is a geeky teen who is obsessed with a fantasy, middle earth like game. This game plays a key role in the ending of the movie, and it is fun to laugh at the people who play it. Mintz-Plasse, unfortunately, seems to have been type cast as “the geeky teen.” It will be a while before he is in a movie as the popular guy in the school. Mintz-Plasse’s is extremely likable in Role Models and will have you cheering for Augie, his character, by the end of the film.

With the clever jokes and the dry humor, this film is executed perfectly. So if you are 17 or older go quickly and quietly to your nearest theater and watch Role Models.

Sex jokes involving penguins filled the auditorium with laughter. This year’s fall play, The Odd Couple, by Neil Simon, opened up with a small group of ladies playing a competitive game of trivial pursuit. Actresses Eliza Macdonald, Vanessa Wilkinson, Zoë Lamis, Jennie Seaman, and Morgan Moody sat around the kitchen table in 80′s style clothes.

The plot consists of a recently divorced, neurotic woman moving in with her good friend. The two comically fight and bicker throughout the play as if they were a married couple. Between the differing hygiene and double dates with the cute Hispanic neighbors, the two ultimately end their roommate status but continue their strong friendship.

The cast consisted of approximately nine actors and actresses. With such a small group one might think everything would go perfectly as planned, but even small productions can face small mistakes.

“With all plays you’re going to have a few mess-ups here and there,” says Mr. Silverman. Thankfully in this production there were no strong noticeable mess-ups. Silverman believes that this is due to the hard work of the cast. Any small mistakes that occurred on stage could be fixed by the cast immediately. Watching the play from the audience I had no idea anything went wrong.

Although Mr. Silverman didn’t give any juicy details about the mistakes made during the play, Alston Lanier spilled the beans. “Other than opening night it went really well,” says the actor. Apparently an entire chunk of the lines revolving around the artist El Greco slipped through the cracks on the double date. This led to an awkward moment on stage when Florence, played by Bronte Lord, brought up how they had just spoken about El Greco.

Thankfully, the cast recovered well. According to Alston, it seems that nobody in the audience even noticed the mess-up. If anything more people laughed. The only people that noticed the error were the cast and crew.

For some of the students, finishing the final performance meant they could get some of their lives back. Senior Eliza MacDonald is now able to breathe a little easier while finishing up college applications and balancing the other stresses of a high school student.

On the other hand, senior Bronte Lord will stay just as busy if not busier. Bronte participates in out-of-school ballet and has been ever since she can remember. “It doesn’t really feel like the workload has changed. Now that the play is over, all the time I put into it I now put back into ballet.”

Now all that is left are the memories of the play and the lines that she memorized. “Overall I think the play went well, I really enjoyed working on it and I’m going to miss the cast,” says Bronte. But she says that she won’t be missing them too long. The next play, “Sketchworks,” should be bringing the same group back together.

Just like Bronte, Alston Lanier also has a sport picking up that will take up even more energy than what he put in the play. The age-old-cult of wrestling. He says that now there are the stresses of cutting weight and working out that flood his mind. But he can start on a positive note to the sport from his last memories of the play.

“It feels good knowing we did it and it was a success,” says Lanier. He says that it was a great group to work with and he can’t wait to start work on Sketchworks in the spring.

The entire cast seemed to be in consensus that the play went as well as they could have hoped for. The play brought people from different grades to one common ground and provided Lovett with another great performance.

by Amanda Torie

At times it can be hard to see past the conflict in the Middle East. It can be even harder to try and relate with the people being as it is they live in a region that most of us never have, nor ever will visit. Most of the information we hear about this particular region is in the form of bad news, but for the first time in a long time, I heard something encouraging.

Three Cups of Tea is the real life story of one man who has made it his life’s work to combat these stereotypes and reduce violence by cutting away its roots. In the mind of Greg Mortenson, author and narrator, the way to prevent violence and terrorism is to give children an alternative. He theorizes, with a great deal of experiential proof, that terrorism is a machine fed by youth. In countries such as Afghanistan, where this book is based, a great deal of the children in rural areas grow up without ever stepping foot inside a class room.

Greg himself traveled to Pakistan to climb the famous K2 Mountain and in a very unique way fell in love with this region of the world that seems everything but warm and cozy. What he fell in love with was the potential to change the future by stabilizing the present. Instead of molding a nation, however, he chose to mold minds.

His vision of education as a peacemaker seems a bit shaky at first; after all in a war torn, terror infested country, should we not expend our resources elsewhere? Why not drop bombs, hunt terrorists and take out existing violence?

This book presents an incredible argument for this new form of combat, one that we as a country and as a world community should perhaps pay a good deal more attention to. The goal of his operation and vision in the Middle East is to build schools and give kids an alternative to joining the ranks of soldiers and terrorists.

In a way, the author is enamored with the quasi romantic notion of reforming a society to a state where education is assumed. In our American lives, education is an assumption; kids go to school. There are no two ways about it. It’s the law and beyond that it’s what we as a society have deemed the proper path, arguably the only path for youth. In the author’s mind this sort of societal consensus is what has created a well guided, well informed population of young and old alike who choose to take routes in their lives based on contributing. Someone who misses out on basic education is beginning life with, in essence, a crack in their foundation.

Greg’s mission is to make sure that children of the Middle East have the same solid foundations that we as Americans so take for granted. But what’s the point? What’s in it for us? We have a great education system comparatively, why should we work for this same state in rural Pakistan? Well, as the author clearly illustrates through his various, shall I say hostile encounters with various Islamic extremist groups, this region is a great threat to the world. In many ways, these groups are winning. When children have no schools, they look elsewhere for education, for morals and ideals, and these are the groups that are filling in. As is in any country, kids seek mentors. It’s the American equivalent of gangs, Pakistani children are turning to terrorist groups for a sense of belonging and value.

This book is a full vision; that is the schools aren’t just being built to prevent terrorism by keeping busy the youth. The schools are built by members of villages, it is a project that communities can take pride in and be united by. The schools are a way to show this region that Americans are more than the metal birds flying over head and dropping bombs. The schools are something that sort of manifests moral values. The author makes clear, however, that what these communities need isn’t western values, but rather a place in which to pass on their own values.

To me this was by far the most profound aspect of the book and operation. At no point in the book does the author try and create “American” schools. At no point does he make the process about westernization or Christianity or American values. What shocked me was that through out all of this, Greg has tried to embrace aspects of the Pakistani lifestyle. You can see through his relationships with various Pakistanis throughout the book that he has a great amount of respect for their culture and their differences. The whole mindset of the book is a man trying to understand a culture so that he can better help it. That to me is something warranting a massive amount of respect. The fact that this man is giving up his life and sacrificing time with his family to work for the betterment of a culture to which he does not belong is mind blowing to me. The emotional connection he feels to his cause can be felt on every page. That to me is what made this book not just a good read but also a truly good experience. When reading you can truly feel the love that the author has for this region and the passion with which he is working to help it.

This is a must read. Very few people have succeeded in bringing to paper the passion they have for change in this region of the world. Greg Mortenson is one of the select visionaries who have been able to bring to the reader such a strong emotional connection, spiritual experience, and inevitable passion for their cause. After you read this book education begins to stand in a new light, not only in terms of knowledge but also as a cornerstone of community. In addition, you get a different view of what it means to be a part of a community. Finally, and most importantly, the reader is exposed to the Pakistani people, not the terrorists and the politicians, but rather the people and the honor and love that through such hard times have maintained as markers of their culture, their business, and their operation as a people.

by Ben Popkin

So far this year, I have limited myself to reviewing movies that have recently opened in theaters. If I continue like this I will be robbing you, the reader, of many great films that you could possibly not have seen. So I am proud to announce that this review will be about my top five favorite movies of all time (not including 2008). All of these movies would get a 5 on my point scale. Yes, they are that good. The films will be put in order of increasing greatness. So sit back and enjoy my favorite movies of the past.

Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Yes, I am counting all of the Lord of the Rings movies as one movie. A movie is supposed to have a clear beginning, middle, and end. The Lord of the Rings divides itself into these sections by having different movies. Thanks Peter Jackson/J.R.R. Tolkien; I would have been confused. Peter Jackson is the driving force behind this movie. With his amazing direction, he brings middle earth to life and makes me wish I could risk my life to destroy a small piece of jewelry. While Frodo is supposed to be the hero of the story, my true favorite is Aragorn. Aragorn is an unknown king who leads the humans in the fight for middle earth. Aragorn is played by Viggo Mortensen. Viggo has come a long way since his appearance in Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 (it does exist). With him and the rest of the cast, including Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom, and Ian Mckellen, The Lord of the Rings breaks into my top five.

Kung Pow
Kung Pow single handedly shaped my sense of humor in middle school. I would watch this movie almost every weekend with my friends. Kung Pow is a parody of kung fu movies. The man behind this master piece is Steve Oedekerk. Steve writes, directs, and acts. With the exception of a few extra kung fu movie lookalikes, this entire movie is Steve. To make this film, Steve took movie clips from Tiger and Crane Fists, an old kung fu movie, and inserted himself in them. He voices over all of the characters with funny voices. Some people do not agree with my opinion of this movie. These people do not have a sense of humor. It is childish, crude, and I love every minute of it.

Fight Club
Fight Club is the ultimate guy movie. It involves 2 guys fighting the “system” and beating each other to a pulp for fun. Fight Club stars Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. Norton is one of my favorite actors. He doesn’t make movies just for the sake of making movies. Anything that he is in will have thought behind it. Norton plays The Narrator. It is strange to think of this character without a name because he is in fact the protagonist. The Narrator is a normal person lost in corporate America until he meets Tyler Durden. Tyler is played by Brad Pitt. Say whatever you want about Brad Pitt, but in this film, he is the single most awesome person. Tyler has the idea for fight club, an underground fighting league. He, along with The Narrator, start fight club and it develops into something that no one saw coming. If you consider yourself a man in any sense of the word, you will see Fight Club if you haven’t already.

Good Will Hunting
Good Will Hunting is the story of a genius, Will Hunting, who is afraid of change. He is a tough guy who gets in fights and works on a construction crew. Will is played by Matt Damon, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance. He and Ben Affleck co-wrote this film and won an Oscar for their original screen play. Another Oscar winner in this film was Robin Williams. Williams plays a therapist that helps Will deal with his emotional problems. It is hard to explain why this film is so good. It is like trying to describe the color red to a blind man, and if you have not seen this film, you are the blind man. That was deep. Will is very cool. He is the man. My favorite scene is when he schools a Harvard student in an argument to defend his friend and gets a girl to ask him out at the same time. How do you like them apples. He shows that smart people aren’t all snobby, in your face jerks. Will, a genius, is down to earth and loves being a janitor. This film shows that you can be want you want and that it is not a crime to fulfill your potential. Watching this movie will make you appreciate what you have and raise your self esteem ten fold.

Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction is quite simply my favorite movie. It focuses on gangsters in LA. It takes three typical gangster stories and takes them a little farther. It sticks with the hit men after they make the hit. Pulp Fiction was written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. You can always count on Quentin to make a very good and violent movie. While they are violent, they have enough great lines and plot to sway even the strictest mother. In addition to great writing and directing, Pulp Fiction also has a knockout cast. Bruce Willis, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Christopher Walken, blah, blah, blah, blah, and SAMUEL L. JACKSON. Jackson makes this movie. In it, he has the best speech of all time, Ezekiel 25:17. Even if you are one of the unfortunate people who have not seen this movie, chances are you have heard someone yelling about poisoning their brother, speaking English, or the look of Marcellus Wallace. That is Samuel L. Jackon in Pulp Fiction. If you have yet to see this masterpiece of a film, see it immediately. If not, I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger.

There it is. These are five movies that have no rivals. There is no reason for anyone to miss out on these movies. If you can’t get a copy of any one of these films, talk to me and I will lend you one. Note that some of the films mentioned in this article might not be appropriate for you or young children. So if you are emotionally fragile, then think twice before jumping into this typhoon of cinematic mastery. While these are my favorites, they are not the only good movies. If there is one you think that I missed, then let me know. Now go forth and enjoy the best movies of all time.

“We sort of wanted to do a spy move,” said director Ethan Coen, “It didn’t exactly turn out that way.”

The Cohen brothers are our generation’s best tag team brother film makers (sorry Wachowski brothers, you blew it with Matrix Revolutions). Their most recent movie is Burn After Reading. This is a comedy that makes fun of the CIA and how little we actually know about it. As Ethan said, the film is not exactly a full blown spy movie, but it is close.

If you are expecting to see a wacky slapstick comedy involving grown men acting like ten year olds, you might be disappointed. This film has an extremely dry sense of humor and incredibly witty jokes. It could even be this year’s best written comedy. It is not as strange as a Wes Anderson (Rushmore) film, but more sophisticated than a Will Ferrell movie. The only way you could not enjoy this film is if you are not smart enough to get the humor or you are texting your significant other.

Each character adds something to the movie. Brad Pitt plays Chad Feldheimer, a personal trainer that is obsessed with his heath and the environment. Chad’s delightfully clueless attitude makes him extremely likeable. John Malkovich, the most underrated actor in Hollywood, plays a disgruntled ex CIA employee who thinks he is worth more to the nation than he actually is. When Osborne Cox, Malkovich, loses his memoirs that contain CIA secrets, he goes on a mission to get them back. Also in the film is George Clooney. He plays Harry Pfarrer, a self obsessed former body guard. He is the most unlikeable character in the movie. He goes the span of the movie doing bad things to people, and when bad things happen to him he gets upset. The characters contrast each other and bring a well rounded film.

While it is titled a comedy, it is extremely dark. All of the characters, with the exception of Chad, are completely self centered. They walk on each other in order to get what they want. Bad things happen to all of the people, and when you think it is over, more bad things happen. I would say that only one good thing happens in the entire movie. With this aspect, the movie has a moral. If you spend your life selfishly, you will lose everything you have.

Burn After Reading has shocking moments and other twists that will surprise you no matter who you are. The great writing and superb cast make this film very enjoyable. I give this movie 4 dry jokes out of 5. I would have given it a 4.5 but Bubba didn’t think it was funny, so I settled.

Until next time, I’m Ben, I’m an American, and I judge things.