The Film Reporter

I had always heard your entire life flashes in front of your eyes the second before you die. First of all, that one second isn’t a second at all, it stretches on forever, like an ocean of time. For me, it was lying on my back at Boy Scout camp watching falling stars…and yellow leaves, from the maple trees, that lined our street…or my grandmother’s hands, and the way her skin seemed like paper…and the first time I saw my cousin Tony’s brand new Firebird…and Janie…and Janie…and…Carolyn. I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me…but it’s hard to stay mad, when there’s so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I’m seeing it all at once, and it’s too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that’s about to burst. And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can’t feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life. You have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m sure. But don’t worry…you will someday.

(via thefilmcreature)

House of Cards

American Beauty (1999) is held as one of the best modern pieces of American Cinema and deservedly so. The main themes that is tackled seems to be the artificiality of the American Dream and materialism. Lester (Kevin Spacey) is a husband in a mid-life crisis who seeks out to do exactly what he wants, and tries to focus on what’s important in life, (note the sofa scene). 

The family made up of Lester, Carolyn (Annette Bening) and the daughter Jane (Thora Birch) are dysfunctional to the highest degree, the father hasn’t spoken to his daughter in months and the mother is obsessed with success and appearance and seems to have also lost sight of what’s most important, her daughter’s upbringing. 

The film attempts at symbolising their separation from each other by having each character lead a different narrative strand, they each go about their business, Carolyn has an affair whilst her Husband seems to have stood up for himself whilst he works out in an attempt to seduce his daughters friend Angela (Mena Suvari) whilst her daughter strikes a romance with the new neighbour Ricky (Wes Bentley). This works, and every on-screen confrontation between at least two of them seems to end in a huge argument.

The ending for me was absolutely fantastic, one of my favourite, that moment where Lester (Spacey) sits down whilst starring in nostalgia at the old family picture, finally realising that what is most important is his family, the ending is an obvious metaphor, (spoilers) the death of Lester seems to represent the death of the American Dream, it puts to rest the ugliness and fake-ness of this symbol that was once created. 

American Beauty (1999) sits as the 48th best film of all time in IMDB and for me the film represented Sam Mendes’ past in theatre through his great use of lighting and direction, with the help of Conrad L.Hall of course. 

Somerset: Ernest Hemingway once wrote, “The world is a fine place, and worth fighting for. I agree with the second part”

It’s truly amazing how each facial expression imitates their character, true masters of their craft. 

Beyond The Sea (2004) directed by Kevin Spacey, written by Kevin Spacey and yes the main role Bobby Darin - Kevin Spacey. The film is based on the legendary Bobby Darin’s short but fantastic career. Bobby Darin’s life was a life filled with many unforeseen incidences, including his rheumatic fever which eventually took it’s toll tragically ending his life at the age of 37 in 1973, as well as finding out his sister was infact his mother as she was only 17 when she had him and told everyone it was her mothers in order for her to keep Bobby. 

Due to the ever changing music industry, Bobby Darin went from world star in the 50’s to nobody in the 60’s whilst he came back new and successful in the 70’s before his death. 

Now these films are always a joy for me as I love the 50’s-60’s and love Blues and Jazz one of them being Bobby Darin. Now I’ll stop giving background information and tell you about the film. 

Kevin Spacey is renowned for his acting career however Beyond The Sea was the only project he wrote (reportedly starting in 1987) whilst eventually gaining momentum in the early years of the millennium. The film is strange in many ways as Bobby Darin often talks to his younger self and often feels like a dream, but also emphasises how much hid childhood in the Bronx took hold on him and made him into the person he was. 

As much as I love Bobby Darin’s music, I have to say that the film wasn’t great but not bad, it disappointed in the aspects of narrative, not because it went in chronological order through his career, but because it didn’t really touch that often on how damaging his disease was, and didn’t present any real conflict in his life. However if you love Music and Film, then Beyond The Sea is a film to watch. 

A Time To Kill (1996) is a film about a young lawyer (McConaughey) who defends a black man (Jackson) accused of murdering two men who raped his 10-year-old daughter, sparking a rebirth of the KKK.

This really was a good film that focused on racism and inequality of the Blacks in the South during the end of the 20th Century. We see Samuel L Jackson fight the racism and bias of the white man who stands between him and justice. 

Although we see from the beginning that Samuel L Jackson is guilty, we still see the prejudice from the White people; in particular the KKK, they are positioned as antagonists in the film and we want Jackson to win his freedom and justice.

The film is a solid 7/10 and deserves an oscar nomination for McConaughey, the video is his final monologue in the court room and is incredibly inspirational, apologies for the quality.