A Beautiful Mind (2001)

A Beautiful Mind, directed by Ron Howard, follows the college career of John Forbes Nash Jr. From the moment John steps on Princeton's campus, he is treated like an outsider. John is very awkward and even more arrogant. He insults another student's work and research before clumsily running away, creating a disturbance in his wake. Other characters in the movie frequently use the line "the great John Nash" sarcastically, after he has messed something up. Shortly after, John strikes out with an attractive girl after asking if she would like to skip all the talking and just go straight to sex, and is told by a professor that his grades will not get him anywhere in life. John eventually develops an economic theory that disproves years of precedent, which leads to him getting a job as a codebreaker for the U.S. government. John quickly becomes the "best natural codebreaker" that the government has ever seen.

Through his codebreaking, John discovers a bomb threat and is tasked with decoding hidden Russian messages in newspapers from around the country. So we think. John is picked up by what he believes to be Russian spies and taken away.

He wakes up in a mental hospital, where doctors tell him and his wife that he has schizophrenia. This new knowledge causes the audience to question everything they have seen up to this point, wondering what is real and what was John's imagination. For the remainder of the film, John struggles with his diagnosis, starting and stopping his medication, attempting to continue his work while having his mind dulled by the medicine, and deciphering what is real and what is not. This leads to many potentially catastrophic situations, including John almost drowning his newborn baby and accidentally hitting his wife while trying to protect her from an imaginary person in their house. Day to day life has completely changed for John. While teaching at Princeton, he has to ask one student if a different student is actually there, or if he is imagining it. He has a breakdown on campus and creates another major disturbance there, as he struggles to control his illness. John is eventually recognized for his groundbreaking work in economics and is given a Nobel prize, finally reflecting all the years of work and trials he has gone through. A Beautiful Mind has a very deep, complex storyline that is enhanced through beautiful cinematography and truly puts the audience in John's shoes through the discovery that many events and characters in the film did not actually exist. John's doctor poetically explains his illness, asking his wife to "Imagine if you suddenly learned that the people, the places, the moments most important to you were not gone, not dead, but worse, had never been. What kind of hell would that be?" This line, and many other excellent pieces of dialogue show how crippling John's illness is, and how hard he must work to overcome and endure it.

Safe Haven

Safe Haven

Safe Haven is a romance novel by Nicholas Sparks. Expressing themes of love, secrets, and what it truly means to be safe, Safe Haven was another very successful novel by Nicholas Sparks. It is starring Julianne Hough, Josh Duhamel, and Cobie Smulders.

Katie (Julianne Hough), a young woman leaves her house after doing something with a bloody knife. She is shown moments later buying a bus ticket. The bus stops at this real small town. She now claims this town as her home.

At the general store in this town, she introduces herself as Katie. After getting a job as a waitress and purchasing a cozy little home in the woods, Katie becomes friends with her neighbor Jo and Alex. Alex has two children and is the owner of the convenience store in town. Alex’s wife passed away from cancer a few years prior.

Alex starts to fall for Katie and doing little things to help her out. The two go canoeing and fall in love. The kids come around and love Katie as well.

Katie’s past husband who is also a police officer searches for Katie. He is also an alcoholic and is not a good person. Alex finds out that there is a police report that they are looking for her and confronts Katie and gets mad because she wasn’t honest and her real name is Erin. He is also mad that he let his children around her. Her husband’s boss finds out that he sent out flyers looking for her and he gets suspended from his job. The husband would abuse Katie and physically beat her many times.

Katie packs up all her belongings and decides to flee before anyone can find her. Josh rushes to her house to find that it is empty and that Katie has already packed all her belongings. He drives to the ferry and tells her how much he loves her and that he will protect her no matter what. Katie still wanted to leave but eventually decided to stay. She explains the whole story to Alex and he is completely understanding and really cares about Katie.

Her ex husband breaks into Katie's neighbor`s home back in Boston and finds the phone number to the Southport restaurant that employs Katie. He finds the location and makes his way there. Arriving just on time for the Fourth of July parade, he begins his search for Katie through the crowd. He finally finds Katie and watches from a distance her dancing with Alex and watches as he leans over to kiss her, which makes him angry. Later, Katie has a dream that she is standing on the docks watching the fireworks when Jo comes up and tells Katie that "he" is here.

Katie wakes up and walks around in the convenience store and her ex husband spooks her. He is drunk and crying and asks Katie to move back to Boston with him. Katie refuses and tells him to leave. He pours gasoline all over the store and pulls out a lighter. Katie sees what he has done and sees that he has a lighter. She runs out and says she will go back with him. She then surprises him and pushes him in the water. A firework spark lands on the gasoline though and lit the entire store on fire. Alex sees the store has caught on fire. He gets on the boat and rushes across the lake. He begs Lexie to jump into his arms because she is stuck in the store. While this is happening, Katie and her ex husband are wrestling and he is trying to shoot her. After a long fight he finally pulls the trigger. She pushes him off of her and runs into Alex’s arms.

In the rubble Alex finds the desk his wife had and it still had all the letters she wrote in it. Alex gives Katie the letter with the words “To Her” written on it. The letter talks about whoever is reading this that Josh loves them very much and reveals that Katie’s neighbor was actually Alex’s wife and Katie could only see her.

I loved this movie. It was well written and I am a huge fan of Nicholas Sparks. He always writes great stories. This is definitely one of favorites alongside The Notebook.

Manchester by the Sea

Written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea is the story of Lee Chandler, played by Case Affleck.

After the death of his older brother, Lee becomes the guardian of his nephew Patrick, played by Lucas Hedges. Lee leaves his janitor job and goes back to Manchester-by-the-Sea to care for the fifteen year-old.

Lee has to face his ex-wife Randi, played by Michelle Williams, and his old community. Lee and Patrick struggle to adjust.

 Manchester by the Sea is a film that speaks of grief. It ultimately invites the question: how on earth would we be able to carry on after an event so tragically full of loss and guilt.

The Lobster

The Lobster is an imaginative, visionary film by director Yorgos Lanthimos.

The main character, David has recently been dumped by his wife. He lives in a dystopian society where single people have 45 days to find another love match or they will be turned into an animal of their choosing. 

David lives in a mysterious Hotel, where he has numerous romantic misadventures until he escapes. He joints a rebel group The Loners, who abandoned society and reject romance, where he meets Rachel Weisz. 

The Lobster has an extraordinary cast, and while the movie has moments and situations that are funny, there is a frightening undertone as well. 

The Lobster is a visionary movie and an ingenious reflection on society.

Get Smart (2008)

Although it didn't receive the greatest ratings, with 50% on rotten tomatoes and a 54% on metacritic, Get Smart will always be a personal favorite of mine. The comedic dialogue, exciting action scenes, and the perfect core cast to execute it creates non stop laughter through out the film's entirety.

When reviewing this movie look no further than the front liner and protagonist Maxwell Smart, played by well renowned actor Steve Carell. Carell was at the peak of his popularity at the time this movie came out, as he was in the middle of playing Michael Scott in The Office. He already had a hilarious reputation as an actor, and for me Get Smart took that to another level.

Carell is paired with veteran agent 99, played by Anne Hathaway, as she and Smart both work for the CIA and are tasked with stopping crime syndicate KAOS, after they attack U.S spy agency control. 99 is a savvy agent whose witty and completely capable in combat.

On the other hand, much like his name Smart has intelligence and is often boisterous about outstanding field exam scores. But in the field itself, which 99 makes clear to him is far different than a written test without any actual danger in front of you, Smart has some downfalls at first. His foolishness and absurd thought process in those moments that drives 99 up the wall provides a huge chunk of the unforgettable funny moments the movie has to offer.

The spunky core cast rounds out with Dwyane "The Rock" Johnson as Agent 23, and Alan Arkin as chief of operations for the CIA. In addition, the outrageously rude and sarcastic Siegfried, who plays the perfect funny enemy in this film, as he runs the operations of KAOS.

The poor ratings by movie critics could be a product of some loose ends in the plot. Even though it is meant to be an unrealistic and fun loving comedy that spins off of previous movies with the same concept.

But to answer any critique regarding the plot, I think the movie does a fantastic job of grabbing the audience emotionally, and turning the end of a loose and goofy comedy into a thrilling ending in which it demands the audience to be invested.

In an action packed last half hour of the film, Smart is putting in confinement by the CIA because he "falsely" sensed radio activity while he and agent 99 were in Russia probing a bakery. It turns out there was radioactivity in the bakery and agent 23 is exposed as a double agent when its discovered he probed the bakery earlier and made sure to overlook the dangerous activity inside.

Agent 23 immediately captures Agent 99 and tells the chief and Smart that if they follow him, he'll kill her. Smart pulls off all time heroics by saving 99 from being hand tied in 23's moving car. The two of them then proceed to discover a bomb planted by KAOS underneath a piano being used at a concert performed for the U.S President, played by James Caan, and stop a potential disaster.

Of course there's love and romance built in as Smart and Agent 99 end the movie dating, as their relationship sprouts while they're out in the field together. A fitting ending relationship wise considering 99 used to date 23, who turned out to be evil and Smart stopped him in his tracks.

Between the riveting action, excellent casting, and above all else the non stop comedy that makes Peter Segel's Get Smart a great film fitting for anyone in need of a good laugh.

Stuck (2017)

Stuck (2017) is Michael Berry's second feature film. The film's setting is a New York City subway car, the most perfect melting pot of all cultures and walks of life. This is brilliantly shown through the characters present.

There's a homeless man Lloyd, (Giancarlo Esposito) who lives on the subway and is viewed as an untouchable by the other passengers. Eve, (Ashanti) an African American woman, is struggling with unplanned pregnancy and finding a reason to be positive and hopeful. Also in the subway car is Alicia, (Arden Cho) a dancer whose past experiences and trauma have left her distrusting and fearful towards men, and her "stalker", Caleb (Gerard Canonico), an aspiring comic book artist. There is construction worker Ramon (Omar Chaparro) who works multiple jobs to pay for his daughter's dance lessons, and finally, a conservative old white woman, Sue (Amy Magida).
The film deals with the perceptions that each character has of the others, and how different the reality is. Each character's musical numbers take the audience outside the train and into their lives, offering brief but powerful insight into the characters minds. Lloyd, who Sue sees as just another creepy homeless person in NYC, is actually quite fond of Shakespeare and enjoys intelligent discussion.
Their shared feeling of a lack of a place in the world brings them closer than either of them thought possible.

Caleb, who Alicia sees as a threatening stalker who only wants her for her body, thinks that she is unbelievably beautiful and has even designed a comic book character based on her strength. Through his musical number, Caleb angrily calls Alicia out for the sense of entitlement he perceives she has, which is why she does not give him the time of day and acts like men must ask permission to look at her. Alicia reveals that she was sexually assaulted and now feels that men see her as only an object for their pleasure. She does not think she is "too good" for anyone, she is too afraid of being hurt to risk making another connection with a male. Through her musical number, she invites all males to look at her, as that is all they want to do anyway.

Caleb and Alicia begin to foster a connection which, by the end of the film, leads to Alicia giving Caleb her phone number, much to his joy and surprise. The film beautifully shatters each and every character's preconceived notions of one another, replacing them with a deep understanding of each character's daily challenges they must overcome.

The Shining

Review

The Shining is an amazing horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick. The film is rated R and was released in 1980. It was adapted from the novel by Stephen King. Diane Johnson and Stanley Kubrick also wrote the screenplay. It stars Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall. Jack Nicholson plays Jack Torrance, a writer who decides to be the winter caretaker of an empty hotel with his wife and son. He takes this time to write and it’s never revealed what he has written until the end. Being isolated makes for an interesting turn of events for the family. The son is physic and has visions of the past and future. He keeps saying “redrum” throughout the film and no one knows what he is talking about. When it is finally revealed what he means, it’s shocking. The things that go on at the hotel are very creepy at times. There’s a creepy shriveled woman in a bath tub. Also, the iconic scene with the twin girls is another one of those creepy moments.

It is a film that I watch whenever it’s on and I notice something new every time. One of my favorite scenes is when Jack says, “Here’s Johnny” it turns out it was an improvised line that Jack Nicholson got from the Johnny Carson late night show. In this article there is a video that shows Jack getting hyped up before the scene.

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/watch-jack-nicholson-psyching-up-for-the-shining-s-axe-scene-1.2746337

This film is a must see for any horror or mystery fan. I was hesitant to watch for awhile because I don’t really like scary movies. I was definitely missing out because I really like the films that have been adapted from Stephen King’s books. Jack Nicholson was amazing as the Joker and he was great at playing Jack Torrance. Check it out if you haven’t seen it.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081505/

Hoosiers (1986) Review

As a life long passionate basketball follower, David Anspaugh and Angelo Pizzo's classic film Hoosiers holds plenty of value to me and basketball fans all across the world. It's considered by many to be the best sports movie in history.

The movie sticks out and separates itself from other great sports movies because of the lessons the film teaches. From moments in the movie set both on and off the court, lessons of perseverance and camaraderie.

The film's protagonist, coach Norman Dale, played by Gene Hackman, faces incredible adversity in the film. In the end he overcomes multiple adverse situations because he stays true to what he believes is best for him and others around him.

From the minute that Dale arrives to Hickory, Indiana, a man whose already failed as a head coach at the college basketball level, receives nothing but criticism for the way he chooses to coach at Hickory. The backlash from everyone in the town of Hickory makes it extremely difficult for the players the buy into him as a result.

From a coaching standpoint, Dale uses a completely traditional disciplinary style. During practice time his team barely does shooting drills. During games at the beginning of the season, he implements a rule to his team that there must be four passes before a shot.

This is unprecedented philosophy that Dale is using, particularly with the shooting rule, which is never seen during serious competition. In the beginning of the film it appears these bold and unusual methods were a metaphoric death wish for Dale's coaching tenure in Hickory.

But as time goes on, the methods turn out to be beneficial, as it builds chemistry and an unselfish culture amongst the team, which ultimately allows them to win the coveted state championship at the movie's conclusion.

The triumph of the state championship could not have come without the contribution from Jimmy Chitwood, played by Maris Valainis. Chitwood is the teams most talented player until the previous head coach of the Hoosiers who he considered a father figure past away. This led Chitwood to quit the team all together. His life outside of the court, particularly his academic success, became completely absent after the fact as well.

Dale eventually convinces Chitwood to return to the team, as he expresses to him what a special gift he has and that the team needs him. Chitwood has the movie's classic "mic drop" moment at a town meeting where the decision on Coach Dale's firing or not was made. Chitwood stands up and declares he will return to the Hoosiers, as long as Dale keeps his job and is the head coach. Chitwood's vote of confidence sparks the town and subsequently the team.

Dale wouldn't be out of the woods just yet, as his unorthodox style of coaching continued when he hired Wilbur "Shooter" Flatch, played by Dennis Hopper, as his assistant coach. Shooter was a great player at Hickory 20 years back or so.

Hopper is very knowledgable about the game of basketball and it's history, but in order for Dale to hire him, the heavy drinker must become sober. Out of embarrassment Shooter lashes out and yells for Dale to leave his home. But the next day at practice, Shooter shockingly appears cleanly shaven in a suit and tie, prepared to accept the position.

Dale revitalized Shooter, Chitwood, and his whole team simply by believing in what he stands for and holding others accountable. It establishes Dale as a great leader and a person everyone in the movie can benefit from.

Dale uses his knowledge and values to help his Hoosiers on the court to establish another moral lesson of the film. Basketball and sports in general can be a great place to grow as a person off the court or field.

Billy Madison

This classic Adam Sandler comedy is one of Sandler's standout films from the 1990s. Upon its release it was an instant hit, although receiving negative reviews from the majority of critics, Billy Madison climbed instantly to a number one box office spot making over 20 million dollars. In this film Sandler provides his viewers with a very simple but extremely humorous type of comedy. One must slightly prepare themselves for a film that attempts to lower the viewers IQ, if one allows this to happen the film will have one in tears.

The basis of this film revolves around the main character, Billy. Billy is a young adult who is the son to an extremely wealthy hotel mogul. His father is coming to age of retirement and has always had the dream of giving his son the families business. But due to Billy's lack of motivation and intelligence his father fears the company will crumble. In an attempt to motivate Billy, his father states he is giving the business the the films antagonist "Eric." Eric is essentially the movies villain someone who Billy absolutely hates.

Billy decides that in order to prove his father wrong he will retake every grade from first to twelfth grade, in just two weeks. Billy's father agrees and states he has one shot to prove him wrong or the business goes to Eric.

As Billy enrolls into classes he begins to succeed with flying colors easily passing through grades. Even falling in love with his third grade teacher, that Miss Veronica Vaughn. As Billy quickly passes through grades, the villain, Eric becomes increasingly agitated. Eric attempts to blackmail Billy's principal by leaking information about his prior pro wrestling career where he accidentally killed someone. Billy's principal comes out to the public that Billy bribed him to pass through the grades in an attempt to cover up his wrestling problem. This ruins Billy's deal with his father.

In one final attempt to get the business Billy states that he will go against Eric in an academic contest where Billy ultimately wins the contest and takes over the family business.

The Dark Knight Rises

The film "The Dark Knight Rises" is the sequel to the Dark Knight and is the final installment of Christopher Nolans "Dark Knight Trilogy." It was apparent that Nolan was at first hesitant when deciding to write the final movie but decided he would successfully create a third film with his brother and another partner.

The film takes place years after the Dark Knight, where the District Attorney Harvey Dent had died. In this time span Batman or Bruce Wayne had essentially went into hiding and his company is beginning to lose some of its fortune. This is due to a  nuclear reactor that Wayne Enterprises produced was found to have the capability to be used as a weapon and no longer is being created.

One night as Bruce Wayne is sitting by the fire Cat woman breaks into his house stealing absolutely nothing but his fingerprints. These fingerprints are extremely valuable as it is his identification. As Cat woman escapes she moves on to sell his fingerprints but the deal goes awry. As chaos ensued the fingerprints are stolen by Bane's crew and are brought to him.

As time goes on Bane and his crew use Wayne's fingerprints to break into the stock exchange and steal valuable information from the stock exchange. This leaves Wayne losing a lot of his fortune.

Batman decides to emerge and stop the uprising of Bane. In Batman's fight against crime he comes face to face with Bane in the sewers. Batman loses the fight and is apprehended by Bane and brought to a hidden underground prison. At this time Bane's motive is to destroy Gotham and steal Bruce Wayne's nuclear reactor and use it as a weapon.

While Batman was in prison Bane takes Gotham City literally as hostage blowing up all the bridges, killing, and trapping mass amounts of law enforcement officials and citizens.

As the police are attempting to free themselves Batman appears and frees the officers and turns his attacks to Bane who is attempting to blast a nuclear bomb. Batman and Cat woman team up and try to stop the bomb from detonating. Before the bomb goes off something incredible happens. One must watch to understand.

Hardball

         One of my favorite movies of all time is "Hardball" starring Keanu Reeves.  This may be the movie I've seen the most in my life and I can still watch it over and over again without it ever getting old.  It is an emotional movie about a gambler in debt in Chicago who is in trouble with two bookies and needs to make money quick in order to pay them back.

          Keanu Reeves character,  Conor O'Neill, needs $5,000 to pay back his bookies and his friend tells him he will pay him $500 a week to coach a little league team of inner city kids.  These kids come from bad neighborhoods and have seen nothing but violence, drugs, and gang activity.

         At first, Conor does not care about these kids at all and is doing the bare minimum just so he can collect his $500 a week to pay back his bookies.  After seeing how much these kids go through and that they are truly good kids he begins to care for them and the team.  He turns the losing trouble maker kids into a winning team that gets close with each other.

         The low point of the movie is when the youngest character G-baby gets shot and killed walking home from the fields the one day.  He was in the wrong place at the wrong time and when a drive by happens he gets hit with one of the bullets and does not make it.  This not only effects the team but Conor as well as it was a key point in the movie that shows how much he has changed from the beginning where he was a loser who only cared about himself but is now a truly good person.

Downsizing

          One movie I saw over winter break was 'Downsizing" with Matt Damon.  The movie was about people were were making themselves so small and living in a new community where everything was proportionally small this way they would cut down on the waste in the world.  Every would liquidate all there belongings and move into a world where they would be richer and not waste as much of earth's natural resources as well as cut down on garbage.

          This was by far one of the worst movies I have ever seen.  The story line made absolutely no sense, the acting was horrible, and it was supposed to be a comedy but had no funny parts throughout the entire movie.  The plot jumped around all over the place and never really explained itself at any point.  The movie had parts where it seemed the entire point of the movie changed multiple times for no reason whatsoever. 

          This was the first time I ever went to a movie and wanted my money back because of how bad it was.  Matt Damon's character was hard to follow because of how many different types of a person he seemed throughout the movie.  The beginning of the movie was all about the decision if him and his wife should go through with going downsized.  When they go in to get the procedure done his wife does not go through with it but by time she made that decision it was too late and he already did it.  Once he was downsized he had to start a new life all on his own.  This is where the movie then jumps all over the place. 

          I could never tell if this movie was supposed to be a comedy, a drama, a romance movie, or what but it fell flat.  I couldn't tell if it was the movie itself which was so long or because it was so boring which made it seem like a long movie.  I would not suggest this movie to anyone considering it was confusing, unfunny, and had no point to it whatsoever.

Black Panther

          Black Panther was by far my favorite superhero movie I have seen where the movie is about one superhero character.  Every part of this movie was fantastic.  The acting, the setting, the camerawork, the plot, as well as the special effects all blew my mind.  This movie was perfect in all ways.

          The actors did a phenomenal job of playing their parts.  Each character had to play their role a specific way for the movie to work and it did.  Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan both should be up for awards for how well they played their characters.  Superhero movies rely so much on the acting and the special effects and the problem with a lot of superhero movies is that they rely on special effects and fight scenes.  This movie was strong with both special effects and its acting.

          The movie took place in "Wakanda" which is supposed to be a country in Africa disguised poor but is actually one of the wealthiest and most technologically advanced places in the world.  The entire movie took place in such beautiful settings which only added to the experience of watching the movie.  In certain fight scenes you got to see it all between being in a crowded city, to fighting on a waterfall, and even in the African safari in an open field.  Each scene took place in a different climate and area and made the movie so much different than your regular superhero movie which always seems to take place in a New York city type of place.

          This movie was something I have been waiting for since it was first announced a few years ago and I was nervous my expectations for this movie were way too high.  It turns out the movie exceeded my expectations by a mile.  Every scene in the movie was action packed and followed along with the plot. 

          I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys action movies.  This movie is perfect for all ages and has a good mix of humor, empathy, and action from start to finish.  It never has any dull moments and as plenty of scenes where it goes completely opposite of what you would expect.

A Quiet Place

          Over the weekend I saw John Krasinski's "A Quiet Place" which was an incredible movie.  Going into it I heard great things but was skeptical considering there was not really any speaking parts in the movie.  The movie was one of the most intense movies I ever saw in the theater.  Throughout the entire movie you were on the edge of your seat.  

          

          The movie takes place in The woods of New York and almost the entire human race has been taken out by these creatures who attack when you make noise.  The movie follows along a family with three small children.  In the very beginning the smallest child is playing with a toy airplane and when it starts making sounds he is killed by the death angel.  The movie fast forwards about a year later and they are expecting another child.  From that moment on I knew this movie was going to hold nothing back and was going to keep me on the edge of my seat till the very end. And that it did.

          Watching this movie at the theater was a different kind of experience than any other movie.  Since a majority of the movie did not have sound you could hear everything and in a weird way added that much more intensity to the film.  Another thing that jumped out to me was usually you know when an intense part of the movie is coming up because there would be some kind of music that plays along to the scene of the movie.  In this instance the entire movie was like that but since there was no music when a loud noise did come (or any noise for that matter) it really did a good job of making the audience jump. 

          A running theme in the movie was that the oldest daughter was deaf so the father kept trying to make his own hearing aids for her so she could eventually hear.  None of them have ever worked before and this upset the daughter.  The daughter also felt the youngest brother dying in the beginning of the movie was her fault so between these two issues she felt her father did not love her as much as the others which was not true.

          Overall this movie was fantastic.  It exceeded my expectations and I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys horror kinds of movies.  It is a true thriller that will keep your interest from start to finish.  The entire movie from the directing to the acting to the special effects were phenomenal.

Pulp Fiction Review

Quentin Tarantino is one of the most well renowned directors in cinema history. He's made a bevy of historical films, but for most, Pulp Fiction takes the cake. Tarantino's 1994 masterpiece changed hollywood and the cinematic culture forever. The film reached $100 million box office success when it first hit theaters, but the films value goes far beyond financial success.

The success begins with a tremendous cast that Tarantino constructed, with many of the members of the cast flying under the radar at the time. It begins of course with Samuel L Jackson and John Travolta, who play the perfect hit man tandem that the movie follows through out.

Samuel L Jackson and Uma Thurman, who played the critical role of Mia Wallace, are two extremely famous actors, were created and brought onto the cinematic scene from Pulp Fiction. Another highlighted cast member of the film is Thurman's wife, the boss gangster, played by Marsellus Wallace.

Between the myriad of films Tarantino has made over the years, people have come to expect an aforementioned innovative cast, an incredible soundtrack, and all have a sound and sight that immediately lets you know it's a Tarantino production.

Another component of Pulp Fiction's greatness is the unique techniques used in the dialogue. Tarantino showed an ability to build up suspense and tension amongst the characters without any of them making it obvious by raising their voice. He also created humor without the characters necessarily making jokes.

Every single line in Pulp Fiction truly holds weight as well. There's no filler dialogue that doesn't connect to the main plot in the end. Because of this and the unique tactics of dialogue that Tarantino broke cinematic barriers by using, forces the audiences to stay on their toes and be engaged through out the film's entirety.

Like any all time great movie, the dialogue contained plenty of those memorable lines that fans of the film recite for years after viewing it. The most famous being Jules Winnfield's (Samuel L Jackson) bible passage, Ezekiel 25:17, in the beginning of the film. "The path of a righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequalities of the selfish and tyranny of evil men."

The Artifice sums up Tarantino's brilliance when it comes to how he chose his cast and constructed each of their roles in a fitting manner. "Tarantino's seemingly effortless ability to represent unlikely characteristics as a director and writer," said The Artifice. "His ability to make the viewer smile or even laugh at inappropriate times is one of his defining characteristics as a director and writer. This adds to Pulp Fiction's authenticity."

Kill the Irishman

This film follows Daniel Greene's rise to power in Clevelands organized crime community during the 1970s. Danny Greene, an Irish-American used his intimidating persona and sheer size to enforce his way to power in Clevelands organized crime world.

The film begins with Danny Greene working a low paying union dock job in Cleveland. Unhappy with the overall environment of the union and the superiors running it Danny was becoming frustrated. After an acquaintance of his had to pay of a bookkeeper for gambling Danny offered to work with them stealing cargo from the docks. This brought him into the world of organized crime. After months of stealing cargo and working with the mob Danny's union president caught word of his activity. The president confronted him and said he would go to the police unless he began to get a cut. This did not sit with with Danny and he used physical force and threatened to kill the president if he did not step down from his position. Less than a week later Danny was president of the union.

Months later, Danny was running the dock union helping the workers but at the same time continued to steal cargo. The police arrested Danny a short time later and imprisoned him. Danny faced a hefty sentence but was approached by the FBI with a plea deal of giving them information for his release. After his release Danny took the organized crime world by storm.

Danny works for the mob as a debt collector but rises to the ranks and begins using force to recruit garbage collectors to start a garbage union. Dannys crew uses the enforcement to intimidate and create a successful garbage collectors union. This leads Danny to rise power and attempt to work for himself burning many bridges along the way by killing multiple people.

At this time in Cleveland there was many bombings by both the italian mafia and Danny's crew on high ranking individuals. After multiple important individuals die there are hits placed on Danny Greene, all of which he survives. Danny realizes his end is near and attempts to raise money to move to Texas to buy a ranch and get out of organized crime.

The film ends as one would suspect. This film was a great look into Greenes career and also  organized crime not only in Cleveland but across the United States.

Steven Spielberg by Kelsey Barbosa

 Steven Spielberg is a renown American filmmaker, known for some of his early science fiction and adventure films such as Jaws (1975) and E.T. the Extra Terrestrial (1982). Spielberg is also recognized as a pioneer of the New Hollywood era, and a co-founder of DreamWorks Studios. He has been an influential director and producer in the film industry for the last four decades and continues to be as of today.

In his early life Spielberg began filming at the age of twelve. He shot several adventure films with his eight-millimeter camera foreshadowing his career of adventure films. He continued making films throughout his High School and College career, eventually landing an unpaid internship at Universal Studios. He worked in the editing department for some time, which led to the opportunity for him to make a short film. This short film became Amblin, a twenty-six-minute film shot on a thirty-five-millimeter camera. He wrote and directed this short film, which received recognition from the studio vice president of Universal Studios at the time. He would later be contracted to a seven-year directing deal at Universal Studios thanks to his film, Amblin. At that point in time he became the youngest director to be signed to a major Hollywood studio in addition to have a long-term contract.

Throughout his career he has directed and produced films of many different themes and genres. His early career consisted of science fiction and adventure films, which later took a back seat. At the center of his career, Spielberg produced films which addressed societal issues. He addressed civil rights, the holocaust, and terrorism with his later films and received great acknowledgement for them. He won an Academy Award for Best Director for Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s list, and much more success as the years went one. He is the highest grossing director in history, with $9 billion in earnings worldwide.  

Spielberg has directed, produced, and written over 90 films. In addition, he has worked with some of the greatest actors and actresses of our time. Many of these include, Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Whoopi Goldberg, Christian Bale, John Malkovich, Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise, and many more. Below are some of Spielberg's greatest movies of all time. 

• ·      Jaws (1975)
• ·      Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
• ·      Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
• ·      E.T. the Extraterrestrial (1982)
• ·      Poltergeist (1982)
• ·      Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
• ·      Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
• ·      The Goonies (1985)
• ·      The Color Purple (1985)
• ·      A Brief History of Time (1991)
• ·      Hook (1991)
• ·      Schindler’s List (1993)
• ·      Saving Private Ryan (1998)
• ·      Catch Me If You Can (2002)
• ·      War of the Worlds (2005)
• ·      Munich (2005)
• ·      Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
• ·      Super 8 (2011)
• ·      Lincoln (2012)
• ·      Bridge of Spies (2015)
• ·      The BFG (2016)
• ·      The Post (2017)
• ·      Read Player One (2018)