Order of Films

1. V for Vendetta
2. Friday Night Lights
3. Shawshank Redemption
4. The Great Debators
5. The Good the Bad and the Ugly
6. Cinema Paradiso
7. The Graduate
8. Ben Hur
9. Psycho
10. Gone with the Wind
11. The Simpsons Movie
12. Citizen Kane

V for Vendetta

V for Vendetta was directed by James McTeigue and starring Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, and Stephan Rea was about the world as a dystopia in the 2030’s. London is run by a dictatorship and everyone has a curfew. Evey goes out after curfew to visit a male friend and is almost raped by authority figures. A mysterious man known as V comes to Evey’s rescue and kills the three men. He then takes her to see him blow up a building.

London’s dictator tries to explain away the incident as a controlled demolition, claiming the building was no longer structurally sound, but V takes over the state television broadcast the same day, exposing the lie. He urges the people of Britain to rise up against the oppressive government and meet him in one year, on 5 November, outside the Houses of Parliament, which he promises to destroy. Evey helps V to escape, but is knocked out in the process.  V takes Evey to his lair where she is kept for a few weeks before escaping from V during one of his “escapades” in which she agreed to help. Evey is captured again and tortured for days for information about V. She finds solace in notes written by another prisoner, an actress who was arrested for being homosexual. Finally, Evey is told that she will be executed immediately unless she reveals V's location. An exhausted but defiant Evey says she would rather die, and is released. Evey discovers that she has been in V's lair all along, and that her imprisonment was staged to free her from her fears.  The notes were real, but they were passed by Valerie to V years earlier when he was similarly imprisoned. Although Evey initially hates V for what he did to her, she realizes she now feels stronger and free in spirit. She leaves him with a promise to return before the 5th of November.

Evey then helps V to blow up the Houses of Parliament on November 5^th. V dies in the process but now London is back to normal.

I give this movie a 10 out of 10

It was a great movie that made one think about virtue and question their own virtue.

The Great Debaters

The Great Debaters is a drama about a black debate team in the south in 1932. Shot in 2007 by Denzel Washington. Starring Denzel Washington, Denzel Whitaker and Forest Whitaker, based on a true story of a temperamental debate coach who molded the students of a small East Texas college into a formidable team that gave even Harvard's elite squad a run for their money.

Convinced that they could invoke great change if given the confidence and tools needed to do so, Tolson implores his students to take responsibility for the future while furtively attempting to protect them from his clandestine role as an organizer for the Southern Tenant Farmers Union. Chief among Tolson's promising young students is a 14-year-old prodigy named James Farmer, Jr. (Denzel Whitaker).  James Jr. has seen the raving effects of racism all around him, and longs to live in a future where no one must be in fear simply because of the color of their skin. Other talented debaters on Tolson's team include fiercely independent student Henry Lowe, and Samantha Brooke, the first ever female ever to join the Wiley College debate team. While most educators may not have recognized the remarkable potential of assembling such a disparate team, Tolson's unique vision truly set him apart from the pack as the team begins to experience a series of consecutive victories on their road to challenging Harvard at the National Championships.

Psycho

Psycho is a horror film shot in 1960 by the famous Alfred Hitchcock. Starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins this film grossed over 32 million dollars. The film begins with Marion (Leigh) having a fight with her boyfriend Samand stealing money from her work and leaving with it. She gets a room at a roadside motel ran by Norman Bates (Perkins). Bates seems to live at home with his sick mother who doesn't like other girls recieving any attention from Bates. In her room, Marion resolves to bring back the money and apologize, she goes into the bathroom to take a shower and a shadowy figure sneaks into her room with a butchers knife and stabs her to death.          
Marion's sister notices that Marion is gone and raises it to the attention of the local police. The sheriff goes to Bates' house to investigate and walks up the stairs where a figure that looks like an elderly woman stabs him and he falls down the stairs. Marion's sister Lila and Sam decide to investigate on their own. When they arrive at the Bates Hotel, Sam distracts Norman while Lila walks up to Bates' house, she goes downstairs where she finds the skeleton of Norman's mother. Norman, having overpowered Sam, rushes in with the knife that has already taken two peoples' lives. But before he lunges at Lila, Sam subdues Norman. Noman is arrested and taken to jail.

In his cell, Norman is thinking minacle thoughts to himself as his mother. The movie ends with Norman thinking that he will trick the policemen that he isn't a danger to others and that he won't even hit a fly.
I give this movie a 9 out of 10 (10 being high)

                                                  (Left to Right) Madison, Me, Randy
                                                                      Seniors Baby!

                                                         Mascot of Perham High School

                                              My first car, a 2002 canary yellow Chevy Cavalier
          I'm on top of the car and some of my friends James and Madison are goofing off on the inside

Where I spend most of my time during fall and spring for girls and boys tennis

The Simpsons Movie

Satire-

·         The government listens to everyone’s conversations

·         “If you have a greasier sandwich, you’re in Mexico!”

·         “The government actually found someone we’re looking for!”

·         Arnold S. elected as President of the United States

·         Homer is stuck between a rock and a hard place

Puns-

·         Harry Popper (the pig)

·         “Black is the worst color! Oh, sorry Carl”- Lenny

“It’s ok I get it all the time.”- Carl

·         “I was elected to lead not to read”- Arnold S.

·         Dome Depot

·         “There aren’t any answers in here!”- Homer flipping through the Bible

Irony-

·         “For once the rich white man is in power”- Mr. Burns

·         “Don’t look where I’m pointing!”

·         “I’m troubled, I’ll stop tomorrow”

·         “If you don’t believe me, believe in America”

·         The sign in the Simpson’s home that says “God bless this house” and the house is destroyed

Parody-

·         Green Day

·         Spiderpig

·         The Inconvenient Truth

·         The scissor lift

·         The Titanic

The Graduate

The Graduate is a drama-comedy movie filmed in 1967 by Mike Nichols. Starring Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, and Katharine Ross, the film opens up with Ben (Hoffman) attending a party that his parents are hosting in his honor for graduating from college. Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), the wife of Ben’s father’s partner asks Ben to drive her home. When they arrive at the Robinson’s house, Mrs. Robinson invites Ben in for a drink and tries to seduce him until her husband arrives home. Later on Ben succumbs to Mrs. Robinson’s attempts and they meet in hotel rooms at night.

 Ben’s father and Mr. Robinson set up a date between Ben and Mr. and Mrs. Robinson’s daughter Elaine (Katharine Ross). Ben takes Elaine out and tries his best to be rude to her which includes taking her to a strip bar. Ben finally realizes that his behavior is too terrible when Elaine begins to cry. He explains his situation (to an extent) to Elaine and they reconcile. When Ben drops Elaine off at her house, Mrs. Robinson threatens to tell Elaine about their relationship but Ben manages to tell her first. Elaine doesn’t want anything to do with Ben anymore.

Ben follows Elaine back to college and kind of stalks her and gets an apartment just so he can be close at hand. Ben has decided that he is going to marry Elaine but her family tries to stop him. Ben finds out that Elaine is getting married to someone else and he rushes to the church where the ceremony is being held and stops the wedding. He and Elaine run off together even though Elaine is already married to the other man.