Titanic (1997)

Genre: Adventure, Drama, History, Romance

Released: December 19, 1997

My Rating:  
(Click here for more info on my rating scale)






With lots of heart, suspense, drama, and great historical portrayal combined with fiction and stunningly realistic visual and special effects, James Cameron’s Titanic is arguably the best film of 1997.

James Cameron’s Titanic is proof that a movie doesn’t have to be original to be good.  I’m not saying that originality is bad; I like it, it’s good, but it’s a minor factor in how good a movie/story is.  The story doesn’t necessarily have to be original, but it has to be compelling to people; has to capture the emotion and interest of the audience and keep them riveted throughout.  Titanic does just that.  We all pretty much know what’s going to happen during the movie, but the story is still compelling, the storytelling is excellently done, and the tone of the film is great.  The story captures the emotion, heart, and interest of the viewer and keeps it completely riveted all the way through the end (it did for many people, anyway, including me).

Titanic combines fiction with non-fiction, the more important of which is probably the non-fiction aspect: the tragic sinking of the luxury cruiser R. M. S. Titanic in 1912.  There have been a few films that portrayed the tragic event (such as Titanic in 1953 and A Night To Remember in 1958).  Then, in 1997, along came James Cameron, who, despite some weaknesses with script and dialogue, is good at storytelling, and always pushes the advancement of visual and special effects, and uses them to his advantage.  Therefore, a film about the Titanic was a perfect project for him.  The visual and special effects in the film are very good.  The recreation of the ship (with both physical sets and computer effects) is great, with excellent detail and scope.  Except for a few brief moments here and there when the special effects falter a bit and something doesn’t look quite real, it’s it looks spellbindingly realistic, and, while watching it, it felt almost like I was really there.  James Cameron really spent his $200 million budget wisely.

Some of that money also went into filming some footage of the actual wreck at the bottom of the ocean.  This footage is seen in a scene at the beginning of the movie, shot via a remote-controlled underwater camera.  As Roger Ebert says, “These shots strike precisely the right note; the ship calls from its grave for its story to be told.”  However, instead of only telling a story of only the real event, he also weaves a fictional story ingeniously into it, specifically an almost Romeo and Juliet-like story of forbidden love.  In modern times (actually, during the time the film was made), a fictitious survivor of the Titanic sinking, old Rose DeWitt Bukater (Gloria Stuart), tells the story via flashback, and tells about her brief yet intense forbidden love affair with Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio).

Rose (Kate Winslett) was seventeen at the time she was on the Titanic, and she came from a wealthy upper-class background.  She is betrothed to a rich snob, Cal Hockley (Billy Zane).  She hates this, and is extremely miserable.  Meanwhile, Jack is on the opposite end of the class spectrum.  He is basically poor, and he wins a ticket to the Titanic in a lucky win in a card game.  He eventually finds Rose, who is about to commit suicide by jumping off the ship, and he saves her life.  What follows is the development of their forbidden love story, which is told in such a way that shows off different parts of the magnificent cruise ship.  It’s a simple, predictable, and clichéd story, but it’s still very compelling, especially since we know how that the ship is going to sink eventually and cause heartbreaking results on their romance (predictability is actually good here).

Meanwhile, there is the subplot regarding the actual historical events leading up to the sinking - the arrogance of the builders and the people who ran the ship (they thought the ship was unsinkable).  At the midpoint of the movie, the ship hits the iceberg, and the second half of the movie begins, and develops into a thrilling yet tense and dramatic race for survival.  The entire movie, from start to finish, is handled extremely well in terms of story, and is completely full of heart and soul; it’s all very strong in emotion.  And yes, it’s predictable, but in this case it actually adds to the power of the movie.  But it’s not completely predictable.  There are a lot of things that are not fully given away, like exactly who dies (besides Jack) and who lives (besides Rose), and some other things along the way, too.

Some people would definitely argue that the love story between Jack and Rose is completely unnecessary, but it actually helps the movie.  It adds more emotion to the story and makes it that much more compelling.  It also provides more structure to the story and the showing-off of the ship, and even allows the audience to really connect with the passengers on the ship (innocent people whose lives are ultimately ruined or permanently altered as a result of the builders’ arrogance and ignorance – unsinkable, yeah right).  And the special effects also made the film work well, too.  However, despite having great special effects in his film, James Cameron did not lose sight of what’s truly important – story, characters, emotion, etc.  The movie does not rely on special effects.  It wouldn’t have worked nearly as well without them, but, as in any exceptionally good film, they are not the main driving force of the film.

If I had to criticize one thing about the film, it would be the length.  In my opinion, it’s too long, at three hours and fifteen minutes.  However, it still works brilliantly as it is.  Every moment of the story serves a great and important contribution to the story, the drama, the emotion, and everything else.  The performances by the actors were very good, the pacing of the film is great (if a bit lengthy at times), and the tone of the film is great.  James Horner’s score is fantastic, very memorable, absolutely beautiful, and perfect for the film.  And, despite having a good deal of fiction in it, the movie excellently portrays the historical tragic sinking of the Titanic, and captures the horror and tragedy brilliantly.  With lots of heart, suspense, drama, and great historical portrayal combined with fiction and stunningly realistic visual and special effects, James Cameron’s Titanic is arguably the best film of 1997.

Cast and Crew:

Jack Dawson: Leonardo DiCaprio

Rose DeWitt Bukater: Kate Winslett

Cal Hockley: Billy Zane

Molly Brown: Kathy Bates

Ruth DeWitt Bukater: Frances Fisher

Captain Smith: Bernard Hill

Old Rose: Gloria Stuart

Brock Lovett: Bill Paxton

Paramount Pictures and Twentieth century pictures present

A Lightstorm Entertainment production of

A film written and directed by James Cameron

Music by James Horner

Running time: 194 min.

Rated PG-13 for disaster related peril and violence, nudity, sensuality and brief language

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery

Release Date: November 19, 2010

My Rating:     (Click here for more info on my rating scale)

            This is it, the beginning of the end.  I remember buying and reading the seventh book when it was released (around the time the fifth movie came out), and I loved it.  Now it has finally come to the screen, split up into two movies.  It may seem like it’s getting split into two movies to make a little extra cash, but after seeing the movies myself, I see that’s not the case.  The “Deathly Hallows” story is really two big and complex to be fit into one two-and-a-half hour movie.  With the story split up, there is a lot more room for story and character development, among other good things.  I saw “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1” in the theater during Thanksgiving weekend last year (2010).  I have to say, I was pretty impressed.

            The movie covers the first two thirds – the first and second acts – of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”  In the previous six films, there has been a major story constantly developing.  However, each individual installment has stuck to more or less a standard formula: stuff happens before Harry goes to Howgwarts, then Harry and his friends go to Hogwarts, new teachers are introduced, we see a few classes, some story is developing all the while, eventually climaxes, etc.  There have been different twists and turns in each of the individual stories, each getting more and more drastic, but they’ve had that very basic formula underlying deep underneath.  Wow, I am a horrible explainer sometimes, but I think you can definitely tell what I’m saying and agree with it.  In this installment, Deathly Hallows Part 1,” the story has taken a drastically different turn.  In fact, Hogwarts is not in this particular installment at all.  Then when it comes back in Part 2, it’s nothing like we’ve seen it before, and a totally different plot formula even there.  Also, Harry and his friends are now young adults, as opposed to the eleven-year-old kids they were back at the beginning of the long story.  Back then, it was a young light-hearted story, and it has now grown into a deep, dark, mature story suitable for all ages (and Harry Potter is also a story about growing up).

            Harry begins to prepare to leave his familiar life behind and to go on his adventure (with Hermione and Ron, of course) to find and destroy the horcruxes.  However, Voldemort and his followers, the Death Eaters, conquer and take over the Ministry of Magic, and all chaos breaks loose as Voldemort begins to terrorize the wizarding world, and even the non-magic world.  Harry is forced to flee along with Hermione and Ron, and he begins his long and dangerous race against time and the Dark Lord to find and destroy all the horcruxes.  There is also one more thing: there are these three objects called the Deathly Hallows that Harry eventually learns about, and which he must find in order to obtain the power necessary to defeat the Dark Lord once and for all.

             Director David Yates directed the Harry Potter films from the fifth all the way to the end.  The fifth movie was okay, but I felt that David Yates had taken a step in the wrong direction in many ways.  The sixth film (Half-Blood Prince) was a little better, and David Yates seemed to be improving.  However, he was still doing some things with the moive that I wasn’t really impressed with, and he didn’t have quite the right tone.  Therefore, I was a bit unsure whether or not the seventh film would have the tone and intensity it needed.  It did.  David Yates finally knew what he is doing, and he delivered the first part of the final chapter well.

The film has just the right combination of action, adventure, suspense, drama, emotion, character development, and everything else.  I was especially impressed with the action scenes.  The action scenes in the Half-Blood Prince were a bit dry, but the action sequences in this film actually had high-energy action, which would increase drastically in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.”  Also, this being only the first two-thirds of the story, David Yates and Steve Kloves structured the film’s plot very well, and it actually climaxed pretty well, while also leaving a giant cliffhanger for Part 2.  The film doesn’t zip by quickly in it’s long length like Part 2 does, but the pacing is very good, the fluidity is good, and the movie is not boring.  It does not slog at all (yes, Peter Travers – Rolling Stone – I’m talking to you).  It leads well into the last film, and is a good beginning to the end of the great ten-year-old Harry Potter saga.

Cast and Credits:

Harry Potter: Daniel Radcliffe

Hermione Granger: Emma Watson

Ron Weasley: Rupert Grint

Lord Voldemort: Ralph Fiennes

Bellatrix Lestrange: Helena Bonham Carter

Draco Malfoy: Tom Felton

Lucius Malfoy: Jason Isaacs

Rufus Scrimgeour: Bill Nighy

Ginny Weasley: Bonnie Wrighty

Molly Weasley: Julie Walters

Vernon Dursley: Richard Griffiths

Severus Snape: Alan Rickman

Warner Brothers Pictures presents

A film directed by David Yates

Screenplay by Steve Kloves

Based on the novel by J. K. Rowling

Music by Alexandre Desplat

Running time: 146 min.

Rated PG-13 for some sequences of intense action violence, frightening images and brief sensuality

Cowboys & Aliens (2011)

Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Western

Release Date:  July 29, 2011

My Rating:       (Click here for more info on my rating scale)

 

Moviegoers who go to see “Cowboys & Aliens” get just what they expect: cowboys and aliens.  It is weird, dorky, ridiculous, stupid, and noisy, and it’s kind of fun.  It has just about every cinematic cliché possible, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as long as the filmmakers know what they’re doing.  The plot of this film is pretty much just a thin cable onto which the movie’s crazy action sequences and other set pieces are attached, but it’s not bad.  Roger Ebert describes it as "the most cockamamie plot I've witnessed in many a moon.”  But he still thought it was okay, and I agree with him.  The director of Iron Man has brought us more high-action entertainment.  We’ve all seen cowboy movies, western movies, and alien movies, but all of them together?  Jon Favreau has taken a typical aliens-taking-over-the-world premise and set it back in 1873 in Arizona Territory, in the Old West.  How often do we have some thing like that?
            The film is well cast, especially the two lead roles.  Daniel Craig plays Jake Lonergan, a stranger who wakes up in the middle of the desert with amnesia, and a weird bracelet which he can’t get off.  He heads to a nearby western town that doesn’t welcome strangers.  It’s a town that lives in fear, but they’re soon going to experience fear.  You’ve guessed it: aliens (and yes, they have spaceships)!  This is where the film really starts to get interesting: the initial attack of the aliens, a noisy scene of nonstop action, laser beams, explosions, kidnappings, and soon a special power bracelet, worn by Jake, which takes down a spaceship.  It’s also by this time that we have our second lead character in the film: Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford).  This shooting-down turns the story into a search for the aliens and the kidnapped victims.  Along the way, we get more loud action full of special effects.  There’s even a sexy woman in the movie.

I would certainly not put this movie on or near the top of my must-watch list.  It’s a fun summer-action film.  It’s more of a one-time viewing type of film, unlike “Ghostbusters”, which never gets old.  It has weird subject matter, and a fair amount of humor, and most of the movie is between the points of taking the subject matter seriously and not taking it seriously.  But in those parts when it’s serious, it’s handeled well, and overall, although the movie is dorky, the humor is never allowed to outshine the seriousness.  I also think the cast is pretty good.  I did notice that, what I think is the first time since “Star Wars”, Harrison Ford is not the lead actor, or even best part of the movie.  He shares the floor with his slightly-more-than-equal star partner Daniel Craig.  Although, it was nice to see him again, and he still shares part of the film’s good aspects.  So, if you have some spare time on your hands and you’re in the mood for some loud, explosive, wacky entertainment, go see this film.


Note: If there is one thing about the film I would really change, it’s the sound.  Movie theaters definitely play their movies louder than before, and a lot of the action sequences in this film were way too loud.  I was actually covering my right ear during a good portion of some of the action sequences.

Cast and Credits:

Jake Lonergan: Daniel Craig

Woodrow Dolarhyde: Harrison Ford

Ella Swenson: Olivia Wilde

Doc: Sam Rockwell

Alice: Abigail Spencer

Wes Claiborne: Buck Taylor

Universal Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, and Reliance Entertainment present

A film directed by Jon Favreau

Written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman

Running Time: 118 min.

Rated PG-13 for intencse sequences of western and sci-fi action and violence, some partial nudity and a brief crude reference

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery

Release Date: July 15, 2011

My Rating:       (Click here for more info on my rating scale)

 

            The tagline for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” is “It all ends.”  That’s right, the ending has finally come to the movie series that started ten years ago, the movie adaptation of the classic Harry Potter book series.  Like Roger Ebert wrote in his review of this film, we have a big class reunion here, and a great, epic, dark, dramatic one, too.  I remember when I first saw the (comparatively) light and innocent Sorcerer’s Stone.  I was nine years old at the time.  Here I am, eighteen, and writing the review for the last film, which I saw on Wednesday.  I watched over the years as the movies got progressively deeper, more emotional, more mature, and darker, to the level of darkness at which this film is (tone-wise, and light-wise, in certain scenes).  The movie picks up where the last movie left off, and covers the last third of the seventh book.  This movie continues with the excellent balance of action, suspense, mystery, character and story development, tone, emotion, etc., and excellent special effects, only it has even more action.

            When we last left off, Harry had left the Malfoy Manor, and Dobby had been killed.  Now he continues his quest to hunt for the final horcruxes and kill Lord Voldemort once and for all.  His quest evetually takes him back to Hogwarts for some epic action and showdown.  The film, meanwhile, takes us on a roller coaster ride through thrills, excitements, excellent suspense, and dark magical fantasy, thoroughly entertaining throughout.  Althought the film is over two hours long, it doesn’t fee that long – it seems to zip by relatively quickly.  And the film ends well, not just for is film, but for the entire series as well.  It was a very well handled, well wrapped-up, strong, and emotional ending, almost as strong as it was in the book.

            An epic final installment to a series such as Harry Potter, which requires such a finale, is hard to achieve, and requires a lot of hard work, talent, writing, effort, and thinking.  David Yates handled it very well.  Granted, it’s not perfect and he could have done several things to make it even better, but he does very well nonetheless.  Some of the acting could’ve been better, too, but it was alright, especially since the main actors have gradually improved their performances as the series progressed.  I even enjoyed the musical score, composed by Alexandre Desplat, especially in the parts where he references back to the themes from John Williams’ old score for the first three films.  “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” is one of the better installments in the Harry Potter franchise.  It all ends, and it ends well, very good ending to the series.  Harry Potter goes out at full speed and with all wands blazing.

Cast and Credits:

Harry Potter: Daniel Radcliffe

Ron Weasley: Rupert Grint

Hermione Granger: Emma Watson

Bellatrix Lestrange: Helena Bonham Carter

Lord Voldemort: Ralph Fiennes

Severus Snape: Alan Rickman

Minerva McGonagall: Maggie Smith

Albus Dumbledore: Michael Gambon

Sirius Black: Gary Oldman

Remus Lupin: David Thewlis

Hagid: Robbie Coltrane

Warner Brothers Pictures presents

A film directed by David Yates

Screenplay by Stevel Kloves

Based on the novel by J. K. Rowling’s

Running Time: 131 minutes

Rated PG-13 for some sequences of intense action violence and frightening images

Deep Impact (1998)

Genre: Action, Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Released: May 8, 1998

My Rating:      (Click here for more info on my rating scale)

An underrated, misunderstood gem.

             Deep Impact is an excellent title for this equally excellent movie, and it fits the movie both physically and emotionally.  This movie came out not long before Armageddon, but it seems like it was pretty much pounded and bypassed.  I think the summer movies that came out after it stole a lot of the thunder, which Deep Impact deserved.  The critics were also a bit harsh on it, and I don't think they should've been (but that's just my opinion).  The apocalyptic disaster concept is similar to that of Armaggedon, but instead of an asteroid in collision course with the earth, it’s a comet, and it’s a great movie.  Yes, it is.  I got it from the library on DVD and watched it, and I loved it.

            The story starts out as Leo Biederman (Elijah Wood) in Richmond, Virginia, discovers an uncharted object in the night sky and report it to an astronomer in Arizona, who determines that it’s a comet and it’s on a trajectory that will bring it into collision with the earth.  While driving to release this news, the astronomer is killed in a car accident.  A year later, in Washington D. C., MSNBC news reporter Jenny Lerner (Téa Leoni) is investigating the resignation of U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Alan Rittenhouse (James Cromwell), who says he's resigned because his wife is sick.  But Jenny, as she investigates further, comes to think he's been cheating on his wife with someone called Ele, and resigned because he was about to be found out.  Soon, however, at her computer at the news station, and then at a press conference at which the president (Morgan Freeman) makes an address, Jenny learns her error: it's not a mistress named Ele, it's E. L. E. (Extinction Level Event), specifically the comet we learned about at the beginning of the movie.  After this, the story really starts to develop, leading to a movie full of emotion, soul, great plot points, recurring themes, and much more.

            There have been many different types of apocalyptic disaster thrillers, with many different types of plot, tone, characters, and action.  Deep Impact takes an excellent approach at the story.  It allows one to feel the emotion of the movie, enjoy the special effects, and the action near the end, and at same time feel the emotion of the characters, and still feel the great effect on everybody worldwide.  It has an excellent tone and balance.  It has very dynamic and developed storylines, and great themes, including, especially in the second half of the movie, the value in life, in the world, in the environment (not mentioned in the film, but can be felt), etc.  It even gets a bit existential toward the end, which I like.  All of the storylines are fully appreciated, an none really outdoes the other.  They balanced them very well - the Jenny Lerner storyline, the Leo Biederman storyline, and all the others.  Also, the movie was well-cast, and I thought it was well-acted, and the characters were very well set up and developed.  Man, it’s really hard to put into words what I felt about the movie.

            My viewing experience of this film was great.  This film started out, and then gradually captured my interest and liking more and more, all the while developing it’s dynamic tone, characters, story, and emotion.  The actors, even the well known Morgan Freeman, really blended into their roles - I really saw them as their characters.  By the time the movie ended, I loved it.  It also has good special effects which I enjoyed, but the core of the film, what I really loved about it, was the story, the soul, and the emotion.  The movie certainly pries deep into emotions during it's nearly two hour running time.  It has everything a great movie really needs.  Even the action at the midpoint of the film and near the end was good, it has the strong emotional and soul-filled background and tone to back it up – it’s not just full-out summer action - and it actually matters what happens to the characters during these action scenes.  Deep Impact is an underrated, misunderstood gem. 

Cast and Credits:

Jenny Lerner: Téa Leoni

Leo Biederman: Elijah Wood

Spurgeon Tanner: Robert Duvall

President Beck: Morgan Freeman

Robin Lerner: Vanessa Redgrave

Jason Lerner: Maximilian Schnell

Alan Rittenhouse: James Cromwell

Sarah Hotchner: Leelee Sobieski

Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks SKG present a Zanuck/Brown Production of a film directed by Mimi Leder

Written by Bruce Joel Rubin and Michael Tolkin

Running Time: 2 hours and 1 minute

Rated PG-13 for intense disaster related elements and brief language.

Unbreakable (2000)

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Released: November 22, 2000

My Rating:     (Click here for more info on my rating scale)

 

            A year after the hit success of The Sixth Sense, M. Night Shyamalan re-casts Bruce Willis and re-applies his unique film formula for Unbreakable.  He succeeds in providing a second demonstration of the very unique suspenseful and emotional dramatic mystery thrillers he had become known for.  He sets an excellent balance between supernaturality and the real world while also focusing heavily on character and family dynamics.  In several ways, besides the casting of Bruce Willis, the film is very similar to The Sixth Sense – for example, the plot follows a very similar formula with similar types of plot points, and both movies take place in Philadelphia.  But the formula is applied to a different genre.  Also, Bruce Willis is not the only star.  He is starring along with Samuel L. Jackson, whom he also starred with in Die Hard 3.

            Bruce Willis is now bald, and his character, David Dunn, a stadium security guard, is not a walking dead person, like Malcolm Crowe in Sixth Sense.  David is very much alive, even following a lethal train wreck at the inciting incident near the beginning, in which all the passengers die except for him.  What’s more, he was completely unbroken not a single scratch, let alone any injuries.  Soon after, he finds a note on his windshield asking him a question which really starts him thinking about his seemingly lucky survival, especially after he meets the writer of the note, Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson).

Elijah is a gallery owner who loves, and finds importance in, comic books, especially those about superheroes.  He even finds connections between comic book stories and real life, and is a firm believer in it.  All his life, Elijah has had a disorder in which his bones are extremely weak, easily breakable, for which he was called “Mr. Glass” by other kids while growing up.  He wonders that if he is at one end of the spectrum, where his bones break easily, couldn’t there be somebody at the other end of the spectrum, who never gets sick, never gets hurt, is practically unbreakable?  This is why he seeks out David, and finally meets him about half an hour into the film, after learning the details of his survival from the train wreck.  After this, the story begins to pick up speed and venture more into the concept of the film: superheroes, comic books, and possible unbreakablilty (David).  The movie does contain a few elements from comic book stories (but not in written boxes), all mixed with Shyamalan’s formula, reality, suspense, and other elements.  It’s a cool story.

            I have to say, I kind of like M. Night Shyamalan’s type of films.  I don’t really love any of his films, but they are worth watching, especially Signs.  He has a very unique way of storytelling, and he provides the correct type balance between character, emotion, suspense, reality, supernaturality, and all other aspects.  He knows what mysteries to answer or to leave hanging.  He knows how to make something or some event believable even though it would never happen in real life (en example in Unbreakable is when David’s son, Josepsh, has his father’s gun and wants to shoot him – which he doesn’t – to prove that he is unbreakable).  He knows the best time to reveal little bits of important information, adding to the suspense, and he is great at placing important plot points and symbolic things within seemingly everyday appearance, dialogue, and description.  The concept which is prying into reality is not always or totally noticed believed amongst the characters and their families, but it is evident, and it really reflects in their emotions and behaviors.  And resolutions are also strong and clearly reflected and evident emotionally in character and family dynamics.  Shyamalan is an expert at this.  And his formula can probably be used for almost any subject matter, even things in plain real life.  I know he’s gone downhill lately, especially with Airbender, but he has been successful in the past, and I’m betting he’s still got potential now.  I think he should really use his potential and get back up to where he was, and that people should stop pounding and avoiding him and just give him a chance, and acknowledgement for his four best films (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, and The Village).

Cast and Crew:

David Dunn: Bruce Willis

Elijah Price: Samuel L. Jackson

Audrey Dunn: Robin Wright

Joseph Dunn: Spencer Treat Clark

Elijah’s Mother: Charlayne Woodard

Dr. Mathison: Eamonn Walker

Touchstone Pictures presents

A film written, produced, and directed by M. Night Shyamalan

Running Time: 1 hour and 47 minutes

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic elements including some disturbing violent content, and for a crude sexual reference

I Am (2010)

My Rating:      (Click here for more info on my rating scale)

Genre: Documentary

Released: March, 2011

I saw I Am at a screening   After the film, Tom Shadyac himself entered the auditorium and answered any questions we had.  I Am is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen.  Well, I can admit that it could have been better in terms of a movie, but the subject matter is great, and Tom Shadyac is totally correct.

Tom Shadyac has mostly been known for directing comedies, such as Ace Ventura and Bruce Almighty, and making money from the successes of his movies.  He was behaving more or less like many people with that much money do, especially filmmakers - just grabbing for money.  However, after suffering a terrible bicycle accident resulting in a concussion and a very near death, Shadyac began to realize the true values in life, and how his wrong capitalist lifestyle had been.  As a result, he made this documentary.  Now, there have been many statements, speculations, documentaries, etc. on problems with our world, but Tom Shadyac's is different.  He actually goes deeper looking for a common cause for all of these other problems.

Humans have evolved and formed a society based on competition.  As a matter of fact, we base our lifestyles, customs, etc. too much upon competition - making money, the economy, fighting, etc.  However, other animals - fish, birds, deer, you name it - have taken a more natural way of life - cooperation.  Tom points out evidence to this in several natural scenarios, typical stuff, yet with an element to it that I have never really noticed before.  He shows us a few examples such as some schools of fish and a group of deer, in which essences of democracy and cooperation are clearly evident.  We, humans, like I said before, have come to value competition more than cooperation - money, work, etc.  I'm not saying, and nor is Tom, that we should stop being competitive altogether and become totally cooperative.  All we're saying is that we need to also value cooperation more, and establish a better balance between competition and cooperation/love.

Wow, I am pretty bad at explaining this, especially since it has now been a long time since I saw the film.  However, I do still remember it - well, mostly the overall message.  It really can't be fully explained - it must be seen.  Yes, this documentary is a must-see for everybody - every single person, from every culture, every race, every region, etc. - who has any access to movie theaters, or some means of watching movies.  There is some ridiculous stuff in the film, mostly concerning science, etc., but even so, a lot of the film is good, and the deep message of it is strong and important.  Even if you end up hating it, just go see it anyway, and just listen and watch.  Then, afterward, start acting upon what you just saw - even the smallest actions have an effect, on everything.

What's wrong with the world?  A lot of things.  What's right with the world?  I Am.  You are.

Shady Acres Entertainment, Flying Eye Productions, and Homemade Canvas Productions present a documentary written and directed by Tom Shadyac.
Running time: 1 hour and 16 minutes


No MPAA Rating