D is for Dances with Wolves and Dolores Claiborne

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Suzanne Schultz Pick

There are plenty of D films I could choose here such as Donnie Darko, Dirty Dancing, Dracula, and Dazed and Confused. I narrowed the category down to two films that I’ve seen tons of times (though I’m sure I’ve seen Dirty Dancing more than any of these) and, yes, are both based on books (even though Dracula was too, obviously, but Keanu Reeves’s acting ruins it in parts for me.)

Dances with Wolves: This one is an epic journey of one man who is searching for some place to belong. After attempting suicide during the Civil War, John Dunbar is given the chance to see the frontier before it is gone. What he doesn’t realize is that no one in the Army knows he’s at Fort Sedgwick and he is more alone than he ever was – until he befriends the local Sioux tribe. Becoming a Native American makes him finally feel alive and John Dunbar becomes Dances with Wolves. Some people don’t like Kevin Costner or they don’t want to bother watching a film four hours long (I love Costner’s own Director’s Cut) but it really is an amazing story. When I first saw Avatar I remarked that this story had already been done in Dances with Wolves. It’s well worth seeing just for the historical context and the scenery of what the West was like in the 1800s. For the more geek-minded folk, it also stars Mary MacDonnell from Donnie Darko, Independence Day and Battlestar Galactica

Stands With a Fist: [translating for Kicking Bird] He thanks Dances with Wolves for coming.
John Dunbar: Who is Dances with Wolves?
Stands With a Fist: It is the name all the people are calling you now.

Dolores Claiborne: Based on my friend, Stephen King’s novel, Dolores Claiborne St. George is being investigated for murder. Her daughter, Selena, is a reporter from New York who reluctantly comes back to Maine to help her mother. Aside from the murder of Dolores’s employer, Vera Donovan, Dolores has been investigated for murder before and only the relentless Detective Mackey and Selena know what Dolores may be capable of. But Dolores isn’t a violent murderer, nor is she a shrinking violet. She is a poor, hard working, loving, mouthy and clever woman who had a hard life, especially due to her rotten, drunk of a husband, Joe. Since this film stars Kathy Bates, it’s immediately an outstanding film for the acting alone. While most people know her for Misery, this film is another masterpiece of King’s where it’s a chick movie with a gruesome twist. That’s what makes it so good. It’s creepy and suspenseful and while it’s not full of a lot of special effects, the contrast of future to past is done so nicely that it transfers well enough that you can still get into the storyline without being distracted with its 1995-ness.

Kid on street: Look!
Kid on street: Hey Miss Claiborne!
Kid on street: Kill anyone else today?
Dolores Claiborne: Not just yet, when I change my mind I’ll know exactly where to start.

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C is for Carrie and Clueless

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Suzanne Schultz Pick

Carrie: This has always been one of my favourite movies because I really like the high school, teenage drama mixed with horror story. I love this because it was based on Stephen King’s first published book and most really good films are made from great writing. I love that The Greatest American Hero and John Travolta star in it. I love the 70s vibe (my guess is most students either have no idea about this movie or have seen the horrible remake.) I love that even though Carrie is a freak, you really empathise for her. I love that it isn’t freaky all the way through except in certain times and then it’s like, “Whoa, what the heck is going on?” We never really understand what’s going on either and that makes us drawn in because we’re new at this telekinesis thing as much as Carrie is. And the end, of course, the glorious, heart breaking end is just superb. The minute Carrie snaps on that gymnasium stage, you know everyone is going to get theirs. The bully gets her revenge in a sadistic way but you don’t mind, really. By the end, even the kind gym teacher is laughing at her (Or is she? Does Carrie only imagine this?) It’s good because Sue is the one who survives but the story isn’t completely over because Sue is still haunted by the terrible nightmares. That is the part that I always either turn the channel or hide my eyes. I don’t like things jumping at me.

Carrie White: I got invited to the prom.
Miss Collins: That’s great! That’s fantastic! So what are you down here moping around for?
Carrie White: Tommy Ross asked me.
Miss Collins: That’s even better. He’s really cute, huh?
Carrie White: I know who he goes around with. They’re just trying to trick me again. I know.

Clueless: Yes, I know of teenage girls who have never seen this. I don’t understand why but such travesties happen as children get left behind in pop culture. Clueless is loosely based on Jane Austen’s Emma (the next book in my “must read all of Austen” collection.) This movie is, in short, the funniest 90s girl movies we had available as kids. Ditzy Alicia Silverstone tries to get good grades by setting up the love affairs of her teachers, then tries to help her clueless new friend Tai (played by the late Brittany Murphy) find love in the circle of preppy, snobby clueless friends at her Beverly Hills high school. It’s cute, it’s silly, it has literary elements, good dialogue and a great cast. I don’t know if they would get how funny it is that talking on a cell phone is school is ridiculous, what a Contempo Casuals store is, or that The Cranberries were an alternative hip back in the day, but the basic story is great. Plus, the quotes from Cher are the best.

Josh: We might get Marky Mark to plant a celebrity tree.
Cher: Oh how fabulous. Getting Marky Mark to take time from his busy pants dropping schedule to plant trees.

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B is for Big and Bridget Jones’s Diary

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Suzanne Schultz Pick

While I’m sure many people will put The Big Lebowski on this list, I’ve narrowed the B category to two important films:

Big: I was honestly shocked to find out that my college freshman students didn’t know the movie Big – especially since it’s on cable in Florida all the time. I would think most people would love the tale of a boy who wants to grow up too soon and ends up just being what most of his new-found peers find as an eccentric genius. The heartbreak his family and friends go through in losing this boy to the adult world makes the audience think of the rest of the teens out there who end up being used to gain corporate numbers in toy making (and the like.) Isn’t the giant piano scene enough to make someone want to watch this movie?

Billy: So you got a job, where you play with all these toys.
Josh: Yup!
Billy: And they’re gonna pay you for that?
Josh: Yup!
Billy: SUCKERS!

Bridget Jones’s Diary: I was much more excited about this film last month when I found out that I was a Jane Austen fan girl just waiting to be unleashed. Based loosely on Pride and Prejudice, Bridget Jones isn’t perfect but she doesn’t realize that this is what makes us and Mark Darcy (no I didn’t realize the name was Mr. Darcy or that Colin Firth played them both – I’m slow!) love her. What she is, is funny, and she documents her battle to lose weight, stop smoking, deal with her crazy parents and catch the object of her desire, Daniel Cleaver. After watching this so many times, I understood the battle between Wickham and Darcy in Pride & Prejudice a bit more (while it’s not an exact retelling, the confusion in Lizzy regarding who was telling the truth was a bit more understandable.) The basic story of a girl who can’t see what’s right in front of her is one that most females really like. It’s a modern day English romance (starring an American who may or may not have nailed the accent.)

Mark Darcy: I like you, very much.
Bridget: Ah, apart from the smoking and the drinking, the vulgar mother and… ah, the verbal diarrhea.
Mark Darcy: No, I like you very much. Just as you are.

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A is for Aliens and American Beauty

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Suzanne Schultz Pick

For my first A-Z of Culture Month, I chose the best movies in the A category that I think every student should be aware of:

Aliens: While the first Alien movie was monumental and awesomely original (as well as classic haunted house story-telling), I hold a special love for Aliens. I’ve seen this movie a ton of times and I never get tired of it. Ripley isn’t thrown into a situation and made to deal with it as in the first movie, this time she faces her fears and sets out to save people’s lives. It’s visually stunning and the military operation based around the “bug hunt” of exterminating the thousands of eggs that could potential wipe out the human race is something the audience can root for. Also, Ripley’s hatred for the company using her and the crew in order to bring back an alien is another aspect that audiences can totally back her up on.

Burke: Ripley…! You know, I… I expected more from you. I thought you’d be smarter than this.
Ripley: I’m happy to disappoint you.

American Beauty: Most people think of Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects but I first saw him in American Beauty and absolutely loved it. Here was a guy who tells you from the start that he will die soon, so his telling of what happened in the last days of his life. Between his hatred for his job, his distance with his wife, and his disconnect from his daughter, Lester finally decides to change his life in an Office Space sense. However, the themes are a deeper in this film and you understand the feelings of every single member of the family. While Lester is our hero, of sorts, the escaping from a life of “just things” into a life where you think, feel, love and experience something other than what society expects you to, is why I think students should at least see this and get an idea of how cinematography can work to create good story-telling without CGI nonsense – plus, it’s pretty funny in parts. My literary criticism professor used this film as an example of symbolism in the rose petals and I’ve always kept that in mind in my own classes.

Carolyn Burnham: How dare you speak to me that way in front of her. And I marvel that you can be so contemptuous of me, on the same day that you LOSE your job.
Lester Burnham: Lose it? I didn’t lose it. It’s not like, “Whoops! Where’d my job go?” I QUIT. Someone pass the asparagus, please.

Blogging from A to Z Challenge April 2012

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Another A to Z list

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Suzanne Schultz Pick

It’s Thursday, and as I said last week, Thursday will be my blogging days – until I find a better day or more reasons to blog more often.

I’ve decided to go on with April’s A to Z challenge again this year. My first set of entries were on local sights but this year I think I’ll do something a bit “easier.”

When I taught school, there were always references to movies that my students, aged 12-infinity, who would be oblivious to what I was talking about. As an English teacher it was easier for me to compare our literature to visual media but without the students’ prior knowledge, the attempt to clarify a concept just didn’t work.

I use to tell my students that “One day, we’ll have Culture Day,” where I would show them all the movies that they should see when they’re on cable. (Most of the movies I will put on the list are played on Brighthouse every weekend but they still hadn’t seen them.)

These aren’t going to be the best movies or even the best for the alphabet category. They are just the movies I think deserve to be on the list for Culture Day. Well, Culture Month.

In other news, the weather has been super warm and nice out lately. Yesterday I opted to walk to the library early, sat in the cafe by the open door and read for hours. Afterwards, I didn’t want to go home so I lingered in the park with my book for a while there too. It’s an awesome change of pace from the typical chilly North-East weather. Hooray for Spring!

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