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Everyone Must Watch Movies: “The Shawshank Redemption”

Everyone Must Watch Movies: “The Shawshank Redemption” “I will grant any student filmmaker the right to make a movie out of any short story I have written (not the novels, that would be ridiculous), so long as the film rights are still mine to assign. I ask them to sign a paper promising that no resulting film will be exhibited commercially without approval, and that they send me a videotape of the finished work. For this one-time right I ask a dollar.” - Stephen King In 1980, Stephen King made one of the first of his “Dollar Deals” with a 20-year-old filmmaker named Frank Darabont. The resulting short film, “The Woman in the Room”, impressed King so much that the two began a correspondence with each other, becoming friends in the process. In 1987, Darabont optioned the rights to another of King’s short works, the novella ”Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption”. Not for a dollar this time, but at a favorable price, in consideration of his relationship with King. The resulting film
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Everyone Must Watch Movies: “The Princess Bride”

Everyone Must Watch Movies:  “The Princess Bride” “The Princess Bride” is a fairy tale. It’s a story from a storybook, read to a child, by a grandfather. Brought to life and put on the big screen for us to treasure. It’s a blend of comedy, romance, and adventure, and it gets the recipe just right. “The Princess Bride” is an adaptation of a 1973 novel by famed Hollywood screenwriter William Goldman. Goldman has 29 credits as a writer on IMDb. Including this movie, his credits include “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”, “Marathon Man”, “All the President’s Men”, “Heat”, and “A Few Good Men,” amongst others. That’s quite a résumé. The actual roots of this story are in children’s stories – stories he used to tell his daughters. When he asked them what his new book should be about, one of them requested a story about a princess, the other wanted it to be a story about a bride. “The Princess Bride” was born. Goldman tried to bring the book to the screen for over a decade, coming close on s
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Everyone Must Watch Movies: “Up”

Everyone Must Watch Movies: “Up” In 2008 Pixar Animation Studios released “WALL•E”, an animated movie that defied genre expectations. The film opens with a long chapter where the lead character is by himself, and throughout the movie, he and his romantic partner have limited verbal communication. It was a bold play, but done so well that audiences and critics responded overwhelmingly. “WALL•E” was an enormous success financially, scored 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, and won the Oscar for best animated film. It is now one of the highest rated animated films in IMDb’s top 250. But the main thing was that it was so unique, it was a such an original effort… more than Pixar’s prior exceptional offerings, even. So when “Up” was released the next year, the question on everybody’s mnd was, “Could Pixar do it again?” The answer? Yes. Yes they could. Up begins with a romance. A young boy and a young girl, both enamored of the adventures of explorer Charles Muntz, meet and form a “club” together. After
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Everyone Must Watch Movies: “Dazed and Confused”

Everyone Must Watch Movies:  “Dazed and Confused” “Dazed and Confused” The last day of school. The first party of the summer. A sprawling cast of teen actors and a young director creating an epic, authentic, remarkable movie surrounding a youthful rite of passage. The high school kegger. If there’s a “Through-story” to “Dazed”, it revolves around young Mitch Kramer, a Junior High School student when the movie begins, a High School student when the movie ends. He’s introduced to us nervously looking out the window of his class window, frightened of the potential hazing awaiting him. We leave him happily passing out on his bed at night, after partying with the Seniors, getting wasted, and having his first make out session. You could also make a case for a “plotline” revolving around Randy and his struggle against his coaches, but on the whole, “Dazed” is the story of a party, not a “plot”. It’s the portrait of a night, of a moment in time, of a stage of life… as opposed to being about an
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Everyone Must Watch Movies: “On the Waterfront”

Everyone Must Watch Movies:  “On the Waterfront” In 1948, The New York Sun ran a 24 part, pulitzer prize winning exposé entitled “Crime on the Waterfront”. The series exposed the graft, theft, loan sharking, extortion, kickbacks, corruption and racketeering which were rampant on the shipping docks of New York and New Jersey. In light of the revelations, the two states obtained approval from Congress and the President to form the Waterfront Crime Commission of New York Harbor, which is still in existence today. It also inspired one of the greatest movies of all time. “On the Waterfront”. “On the Waterfront” is the story of Terry Malloy, a stevedore who used to be a professional boxer, played by the legendary Marlon Brando. Brando was expelled from high school for riding his motorcycle through the halls. He was one of the cut-outs in the collage on the cover of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”. Can you call him a two time Academy Award winner if he refused to accept one of them? H
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Everyone Must Watch Movies: “The Third Man”

Everyone Must Watch Movies:  “The Third Man” SPOILER WARNING IN EFFECT FOR THIS MTESS “The Third Man” is set in Vienna, in the aftermath of WWII. The film was shot on location there, and the recovery is still evident. Rubble and wreckage are often present, as are scaffolding and repair efforts. The city is policed by multi-national security forces. The locals suspicious and untrusting. It’s a destabilized world. Enter Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten). He’s an author of pulp novels who’s a bit down on his luck. He’s been offered a job by his college friend, Harry Lime. When he arrives in Vienna, however, he discovers his friend Lime is dead. He was struck by an automobile and killed just prior to Martins’ arrival. While attending Lime’s funeral, he is shocked yet again. He’s informed that Lime was an unscrupulous war profiteer. A notorious black market racketeer. Things don’t add up for Martins, however. Not only is he having trouble believing Lime was a racketeer, the facts surrounding hi
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Everyone Must Watch Movies: “The Karate Kid”

 Everyone Must Watch Movies: “The Karate Kid” In 1977, Director John G. Avildsen won the Academy Award for Best Director for his work on “Rocky”. He declined to direct the sequel, “Rocky II”, for understandable creative and artistic reasons. However, he went on to make “Slow Dancing in the Big City”, “The Formula”, “Neighbors”, and “A Night in Heaven” instead. The critics of his win had their validation. And so, 1984′s “The Karate Kid” was an opportunity for him to return to form. Not necessarily to Oscar contention, mind you, but the opportunity to tell an underdog story, a story of an unlikely victory, and a young man coached by a elder mentor and surrogate father figure. The parallels between the core story of “Rocky” and “The Karate Kid” are undeniable (including both being scored by Bill Conti). In fact the core plot elements of “The Karate Kid”, could be considered “time honored” to the point of bordering on trite. Yet the audience never once feels that… the story feels fresh and
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