Screenplay & Story Oscar Winners After 1970

Fun movie! The Scott Joplin music makes it bounce right along causing the ending to be even more surprising.

A tribute to film noir in color. A great caper with multiple mysteries to solve. The ending feels abrupt and unsatisfying every time I watch it, but I guess that's the point, the tragedy of it.

McMurphy puts himself in a mental institution thinking it'll be the easy life. He represents anti-establishment with nothing else apparently wrong, but it's a tragic irony that the powers that be in the hospital are more sadistic and cold-hearted than the world he came from. Or is it really so different?

Excellent ensemble cast! Wicked satire of the media. We may be mad as hell, and we don't want to take it anymore, but we do(!), even more so than 30 years ago and how much has it increased in those 30 years.

I expected Jane Fonda and Jason Robards to be great. I had really come to like them as I worked through my Oscar list. Maybe the topic just went over my head, maybe it was too literary, I just remember I was bored and didn't get it.

Another returning vet movie (returning theme). Jane Fonda was excellent especially in the late 60's and here through the 70's. A great performance by a young Jon Voigt too. And I was surprised but impressed to see Robert Carradine. I prefer this movie over The Deer Hunter.

Wow, impressive realism of the brutality of life in prison, particularly in a prison where the rights we enjoy in America are valued so little. The main character comes so close to totally losing his sanity. I love, love, love the scene where he wonders to the basement where prisoners mindlessly shuffle around a central column totally given into conformity and lacking their humanity. The main character at first shuffles along with everyone else then begins going against the flow and finally climbs the stairs out of the basement regaining his sanity. So transcendent!!

A little rough around the edges, but I guess that represents the cutters. Dave, his three friends and his parents are each unique characters. I thought it was VERY strange but also funny that Dave wants to become Italian, and works toward that goal with such conviction. His Italian bicycling idols turn out to be really nasty though. It's a coming of age story about losing innocence, maturing, standing up for yourself, and discovering your place in the world.

There's a reason why Sean Penn's character quotes this movie in I Am Sam. It's like a court case precedent that was set for single fathers raising children.

This movie weird-ed me out. Robards doesn't have much screen time though his character is part of the title. La Mat plays a really odd guy who I didn't understand much. And Mary Steenburgen plays a stripper!? She thinks she dances really well and supposedly everyone around her gives her positive feedback, but she doesn't. I guess it's kind of funny, but not really, to watch all these sad hopeless people.

Wow, Sutherland, Moore, Hirsch, McGovern, and Hutton all gave such touching and in touch performances. A boy struggles with feelings of guilt, which a lot of people probably feel in one way or another, but which rarely are spoken aloud. Moore is as chilling as some horror movie monster, but I believe she is portraying someone very real. That may be a bit harsh. She plays an emotionally distant mother who tries to keep control of her life by bottling all her hurt over the family tragedy inside herself. Thankfully the boy (Hutton) has a committed therapist, a girlfriend with potential, and a loving father.

Henry Fonda is so crotchety and grumbly and yet so adorable, like an old hounddog. Katherine Hepburn is so strong and caring. I wasn't as impressed by Jane's performance in this one. But overall, the movie fills you with a sense of peace and love of life and acceptance of death and old age when it comes.

Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek are so natural. Have you ever watched the show Without A Trace? This is basically a feature length version of that show, but with no detectives. The family has to search for themselves. It also seems to have some similarities to the new movie coming out, In the Valley of Elah.

Another movie I first watched in school. The style and production values are mesmerizing. Who would have thought the guy from Animal House and with that annoying laugh would pull off such a historical music genious.

The dress and relationships seen a little dated in this one, but it's another Woody Allen film in which Dianne Wiest shines. I also particularly like the scene where Allen is sitting in a movie theater watching a Marx Brothers film.

A Merchant/Ivory production based on a novel from earlier in E.M. Forster's career, the common themes of Forster's writings are clear. A young woman accompanied by an older woman in British society before either of the world wars, encounters something exotic and wants to burst out of the stuffy tight collared restraint that polite society of the time required. In this case Florence Italy is the hot-blooded location where the British characters vacation. The young woman meets a young man who discovers the bohemian code in the Italian countryside. She is wisked away home to an arranged engagement with a very unpleasant man who does not appreciate life. The main difference between the young men is that one KNOWS how to kiss, the other does NOT. Again because the young woman has been taught not to give in to impulses she tries for awhile to avoid the feelings that unleash her. It is the slowly paced style of these type of productions that bore some audiences. Ironically this tight lipped proper culture is what the main characters rebel against, and what audiences who do not like it or do not see it rebel against too. I LOVE Forster's themes but was bored by this one more than A Passage to India.

When Cher and Nic were talking about wolves without foots and brides without heads and they kiss and he carries her off to bed, I was thinking "What the hell?!" I didn't get it. Anyways... La Boheme the opera keeps on being referenced and the Bohemian notions of love surely make for common themes, but it is a character unexpectedly living at the end that makes things turn out alright. The moon also stirs the emotions repeatedly, which no one should be surprised by with the title. "Why do men chase women?" "But why would a man need more than one woman?" These are the questions asked by Olympia Dukakis as Loretta's mother Rose, which I really think this movie tries to address. Also the discussion between Loretta and Ronny about being in control of one's life and love not being like it is in the storybooks was really important.

I want to talk about the relationships. The Grandfather has lost his wife and now gives all his attention to his dogs. Cher's uncle (Raymond) and his wife (Rita) get horny from the full moon, so you see a faithful couple. Cher's father (Cosmo) has been going out on dates with another woman (Mona) who is more exciting, but is eventually caught at the opera (a highly stylized metaphor for sex). Cher's mother, feeling lonely, goes out to dinner by herself and meets an immature ass-hole having a midlife crisis (Perry) played very well by John Mahoney. Except maybe he isn't so bad, at least she can talk to him and explore these questions she has, but she will not make a foolish mistake and get physical with him. Cher becomes engaged to Johnny (who she doesn't really love) who is a momma's boy and pretty childish despite his big strong appearance. Cher is dangerously attracted to Ronny (Johnny's brother) who makes her question her carefully planned marriage of convenience. He makes her feel alive. So as the whole family starts to gather around the breakfast table at the end, we wonder if Cher's parents can put their relationship back together and how Johnny will react to the news that his fiance has fallen in love with his brother. Turns out Johnny doesn't want to get married since his mother has recovered and Ronny is able to propose. The clincher, the best joke in the movie is after this moment when Grandfather starts crying and when asked why says, "I'm confused!"

First, let me recommend the Director's Cut though it is 3 hours and 20 minutes. There is so much historical and political content that I found a second viewing helpful too. The costumes, sets, cinematography, and music are all sumptuous.

The movie covers almost 60 years of Chinese history from the perspective of one person. The last emperor, Pu Yi, lived through so much history during the first half of the 20th century. I don't know how much of the story is completely historically accurate, but the changes of the decades and major historical events seem to be presented authentically. The story reminded me at certain points of the movie and book, The Good Earth. While that story shows some of the cultural changes in Chinese history from the perspective of peasants out in the fields, this story is told mainly from within the walls of the Forbidden City or the walls of a Communist re-education camp. There is a strong imprisonment theme! The story is told in flashbacks, and I thought this device was well crafted with interesting parallels.

Pu Yi's life is incredibly tragic and yet I found all the drama enthralling. He becomes Emperor at 3 years old and so hasn't formed any ideas for himself. Even later in his life you can't really say that he ever gained much experience as a leader. Earlier in China's history this might have worked out better to have a leader start so young without much conflict, but with all the changes preparing to take place in the 20th century it is inevitable that Pu Yi would become a tragic figure. He becomes spoiled because every want and need is taken care of for him. He's a puppet controlled by many others through his life. Early in his life China becomes a Republic and he no longer has any real power, but traditions stay the same inside the Forbidden City. Just before WWI O'Toole arrives as a Western tutor and Pu Yi begins to learn about the modern world. Eventually he tries to reform the traditions of imperial China, but he still takes a wife and a consort (a second wife). China then becomes a Communist country and some people turn against the Manchurian part of northern China. Since Manchurian is the Emperor's heritage, he and his remaining staff are kicked out of the Forbidden City. He ends up being welcomed by Japan in the early 30's before WWII and they feed him some misinformation. At this point he still craves the power of being Emperor and there is a lot of political intrigue as Manchuria becomes independent (but, Japan is really pulling the strings). He has relationship issues with his wife and consort, one feeling like a third wheel in the more westernized Japan and the other becoming addicted to opium. After WWII the Communist powers in China change a bit and in 1950 we catch up to the "current" events where Pu Yi and all the other imperial supporters are being re-educated. Ying gives an impressive performance and human face to the "Governor" of the camp. It is an amazing, in depth, dramatic conflict from the American audience perspective when you realize that Pu Yi was working with the Japanese, one of the Axis powers of WWII, and the Communists are trying to turn him into a comrade. Between a rock and a hard place. There's a good portion of Americans that wouldn't see either side of this conflict as worth cheering for. But still I found it very engaging to watch John Lone portray the struggle.

One of my favorite quotes: The Governor- "You are responsible for what you do! All your life you thought you were better than everyone else. Now you think you're the worst of all!" There's also a quote about how all the new generals and changes in the communist regime are just like the battling war lords of tribal society. There's a sense that the differences between the old and young in society will lead to history repeating itself, and in fact power keeps on shifting but nothing in history really changes.

Yet another iconic character from Dustin Hoffman. He hasn't done anything as big since, but I'm not going to hold it against him. And this was back when Tom Cruise was likable, when you could see him as a truly talented actor.

Wonderful performances and characters who are developed as real people! A strong bond is formed between two people of different backgrounds, but perhaps their differences aren't so great. The progression through the lives of the main characters and through the history and styles of the South are very well done and subtly take you on a ride you'll be glad to have taken.

Costner as John Dunbar, a Union Civil War officer, is suicidal. He'd rather lose his life than lose his foot, but miraculously he survives to be sent to the outermost western post that the army has on the frontier. His sense of purpose in life has been renewed.

The green and brown and yellow of the rolling hills and rare blue of a stream below and the blue and pink and orange with white puffs of clouds above is an epic setting! The frontier is a grand place to tell this story of two cultures.

It is about a man who becomes physically separated from anyone else of his race. And seeds have been planted in his mind that many of his race are crass and foul. He has a loyal horse and a wolf who hangs around without vicious intent as his only company. He perseveres in cleaning up the fort and keeps a journal of memories with some sketches. It is important to notice that his first instinct is not to shoot or attach something he does not understand unless for protection, but to be curious and observe and try to communicate. Maybe he does this because he understands he is a small person in this big frontier and yet he shares a connection with everything.

Dunbar meets Kicking Bird (Greene), a holy-man, and Wind In His Hair (Grant), a warrior of the Sioux people. He finds Kicking Bird's inquisitiveness easy to identify with. Wind In His Hair's first instinct is always anger and so they do not grow as close as quickly. He eventually meets the wise chief Ten Bears who listens to all the opinions of the lead men in the tribe before making a decision. The Sioux people are efficient in moving camps, not wasteful of anything, have a strong family and community structure as illustrated with Kicking Bird's wife and children in particular, and become good friends to Lt. Dunbar. Dunbar also meets Stands With A Fist, a white woman who when she was very young was the only survivor of a Pawnee attack on her family's farm. She was found by Kicking Bird and has been living with the Sioux for some twenty years. She becomes a translator to help with communications. Of course a romance forms and Dunbar/Dances With Wolves is married to Stands With A Fist. Dances With Wolves participates in a Buffalo hunt and in protecting the tribe from an attack by the warring Pawnee. Dances With Wolves is ready to leave the fort and live with his new wife and the Sioux people, but he has one more encounter with some US soldiers. He has changed allegiances and to the soldiers that brands him a traitor. They don't understand life on the frontier in the same way he now does. It's about a man who learns a new life and gets a new name.

I thought all the performances were wonderful. The Sioux's ritual chants were deep and connected to the world. John Barry's score was soaring and triumphant. "The only word that comes to mind is harmony."

Foster and Hopkins give star performances. Levine is creepy as Buffalo Bill. But, this movie simply did not impress me as much as the other two movies to hold the honor of winning the Oscar big five awards. The movie didn't give me a sense of release, a sense of "Oh Wow" when Foster finds her way to Buffalo Bill's house independent of her boss at the FBI. I didn't understand the prevalence of close up shots of the actors' faces. There are a lot of foreheads half cut off in this movie. I guess it heighten the suspense a bit to see the sweat and muscle twitches in the characters' faces. But for a thriller it didn't have any amazing twists that really make you appreciate the writing. At least I didn't think so. The lambs, the moths, the sewing, the cannibalism were all supposed to be mysterious elements that suggest a creative and disturbing story, but it didn't all add together to something greater than the parts. Dr. Hannibal Lecter making his escape was probably the most fascinating, terrifying, and shocking part.

Another Merchant and Ivory production of an E.M. Forster novel. But, oh, don''t forget the third less well known partner in this film making team, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who wrote most of Merchant and Ivory's screenplays. So, it's England in the 1910's again and a story about the division between the social classes.

Howards End is a house, a mansion, an estate. In a special feature it was described that Forster meant the property to represent England, the country. The Schlegels, Helen, Margaret, and their quieter brother Tibby had been born at Howards End. Their family later had financial difficulties and lost the house. It was bought by the Wilcox family. Anthony Hopkins as Henry Wilcox, who is in the highest of the upper classes will not give the property to the slightly lower Schlegels. In fact, he refuses to let any of his family live there. He would rather let it sit and go to waste. Now all grown up, Emma Thompson as Margaret seems passive-aggressive (much more on the passive side) in her plan to get Howards End back in her family's name. I kept expecting her to use a surprise double-cross move in order to tear down the Wilcox family and grab the estate out of their hands, but she is the image of kindness, gentleness, and forgiveness. It is through befriending the dying Ruth Wilcox (Redgrave) and marrying Henry that she keeps her family close enough to the estate for it to fall in her lap when the Wilcox family self-destructs in their own snobbery and hypocrisy.

The other main storyline involves Helena Bonham Carter as Helen Schlegel who is very impulsive. By chance, she causes Leonard Bast (West) to come into their lives. Bast is a man of much lower social class who has tried to work his way up. The Schlegel sisters come to care for him and try to help him, though fate and the status quo prevent them. Helen begins to have deeper feelings for the married Bast. She becomes pregnant with his illegitimate child, which of course is a huge scandal in high society. Anyways, the times are a-changin and it's more the downfall of the corrupt rich than the meager efforts of the poor that lead to things turning around in the end.

Gut-wrenching! Inspiring!!

The camera work is great at capturing the wild frontier of New Zealand and the social conventions of the civilized folk trying to tame the land and native peoples. This movie is really about immersion into the environment of scraggly trees, knee-deep mud, and rough waves. The story takes place on a relatively claustrophobic island. Even though Ada (Hunter) cannot speak, the label at the time being dumb and therefore betraying society's lack of understanding, she IS educated and considers herself quite cultured. In the clothing civilized people were required to wear, with the moral conventions that everyone was expected to follow especially in the context of a religious mission to pagan people, and with a new husband who is both possessive and distant, it is no wonder that Ada's cultured self fights a major battle with her own undiscovered passions and the brutal landscape. Ada's first passion is her piano and her playing is beautiful and heavenly in such an unforgiving environment despite disturbingly bartering her body for its return. Wonderful performances from the four leads.

I don't live under a rock, so in the 15 years since this came out, I have seen a clip of Kevin Spacey's character walking out of the police station. Even though I knew the twist I could still appreciate this movie for being so well constructed. I could notice many of the times when the audience is misled, and pick up a few clues that reveal the ending. I like that this mystery has some things in common with Rashomon as far as exploring perspective and truth. Bryan Singer said in one of the special features that he was influenced by The Wizard of Oz as well. New York is Kansas, Los Angeles is Oz with its colorful characters, and Kobayashi telling them about Keyser Soze being somewhat like trying to discover the wizard behind the curtain. This was not obvious as I watched it, but I LIKE the concept. The five usual suspects are such interesting characters. It is mainly because they work off each other so well that one could view the movie again and again. The supporting cast does a great job too. The last thing I wanted to mention is that I really like how the image of Keyser Soze (King Talks-Too-Much) fluctuates. Different actors play him so the face changes and the character becomes more mysterious. A good mystery and showing up the cops is what it's about.

I was worried at the beginning that the story would be too disturbing and that Thornton's vocal quirks would be too much. I became captured though. True there was some shocking violence and Thornton as Karl had dominating vocal and physical characteristics. But the supporting characters balance out the movie. Yoakam, Ritter, and Black especially owned their characters. The story constantly surprised me. The way the unusual Karl and the homosexual Vaughan became safe father figures for young Frank was inspirational.

Unique characters. The surprises keep coming. A tall tale for the turn of the millennium. The worlds the Coen brothers form, complete with Minnesotan accents in this case, are fully immersive. Having seen The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire from Sweden recently I noticed a connection. The northern climate of Minnesota and Sweden felt similar, though for Fargo snow had to be created for some scenes and in the Millennium Trilogy films the landscape hasn't been particularly wintry. Then there are the brutal, gruesome elements that none of the filmmakers have scruples about showing. In one of the DVD special features, Peter Stormare, who is Swedish, talks about the large Scandinavian immigrant population in the Minnesota area and especially the Swedish influence on city names, food, and sensibilities. I don't know if there really is a legitimate link between the Coens' upbringing in that region and the modern Swedish film adaptations of a popular Swedish fiction trilogy, but I couldn't help but think of what I've seen of the country of Sweden when watching Fargo.

Plenty of twists and surprises! This adaptation looks at the way L.A. marketed itself in the 1950s and the grim underbelly that was reality. Television detectives on shows like Dragnet (here the show is given the name Badge of Honor) were trustworthy public protectors who always saw that justice was done. This movie gives us a variety of cop characters who break all the established expectations. Spacey as Jack Vincennes is the flashy consultant to the TV show cops who surprises himself when he develops a conscience. Cromwell as Captain Dudley Smith really shattered all my assumptions about high-ranking cops that younger officers could look up to. Crowe as Bud White and Pearce as Ed Exley are excellent at putting a new spin on the cliche bad cop/good cop routine. They begin as seemingly polar opposites and each follow a character arch that brings them closer to each other. The final showdown is full of suspense as you wish for these two characters to make a successful stand against their common enemy, but unlike in many crime dramas, Bud and Ed, with newly discovered heroic qualities, do not come out unscathed. Strathairn as a pimp doesn't give much away, but the filmmakers keep his character classy so you are left wondering if he is more civilized than all the boys in blue. DeVito as an opportunistic pioneering trash magazine publisher and our narrator relishes in shooting off his mouth, but foolishly thinks he has made deals with the right people. Basinger as a Veronica Lake look-alike call girl is all wrapped up in the corrupt plot, but is she an innocent pawn or more intimately involved. Which of these characters can we really trust? They are all well played. The locations, set pieces and costumes do a great job of take you back to Los Angeles in the 50's, a time when things weren't as they seemed.

Great cast. McKellen is the perfect actor to portray the director James Whale, who is retired from Hollywood film directing. Whale is a horny old man who loves men. He tries to continue living a playful slightly subversive life despite having had a number of small strokes. The relationship between Whale and the young Boone is unique as Boone at first naively humors the older man, then reacts with disgust to the older man's lifestyle, then opens up more fully than ever before to the older man only to be taken advantage of. Condon picks The Bride of Frankenstein as Whale's ultimate achievement. I believe all the black and white clips are from that film. It is a nice touch that many perspectives are shown in relation to The Bride. I especially liked the imagery that represented Whale's dreams from his stroke-racked brain. Does Whale see himself as the monster and Boone as the scientist who can put him back together? Or is the hulking Boone the monster dragging the poor Whale, overcome by his creation, along? Both are considered. Whale seems to still be holding the reigns as the director, some might think manipulator, of his own life in either case.

nominated for best picture at the oscars

want to see this because it won best picture with the NYFC

want to see this because it won best picture at the oscars and best drama picture at the golden globes

My wife nudged me several times during the movie because she sees me in Paul Giamatti's character. Except I know nothing about wine and wine tasting, so I'm more like Thomas Haden Church's character in that respect. This movie is about all the trouble the two buddies get into and it includes a sweet little romance between Giamatti and Madsen. One scene that Giamatti as Miles and Madsen as Maya share stood out to me in particular. They both bare their souls and you see for the first time that they could really be a good match for each other. Miles shares his love and understanding of the Pinot grape. It is a grape that "needs constant care and attention." The way he describes this type of grape is a perfect metaphor for himself. Then Maya has her monologue about "how [wine is] a living thing." Her understanding of the complexity of life comes across in this beautiful bit of poetry, and we see that she could give Miles the care and attention he needs to become the best person he can be.

want to see this because it won best picture with the NYFC, best drama picture at the golden globes, best picture with the BAFTA, and best picture with the LAFC

Amazing how all the stories are woven together. It gives me goosebumps, and makes me flinch, and makes me cry in turn. Michael Pena clutching his daughter and Matt Dillon saving Thandie Newton being among my favorite moments.

want to see this because it won best picture at the oscars

Great ensemble cast. I laughed really hard and often. Kick those stuck up beauty contestants' butts Olive!

Slow-paced, grusome, and suspenceful! Chigurh=Fate!! It is by Fate that we all die eventually. For me the story was allegorical. Brolin and Macdonald represent youth and want to beat fate. The Mexican gang represents people who try to compete with fate, but are sad wannabes. Root, the bureaucrat, tries to manage things with the gang and by hiring Harrelson. Harrelson represents some Jesus figure (in the white cowboy hat). Jones is the old man of the title struggling with memories of his father and realizing that he has out-lived him. How Jones had such a close brush with fate and lived is the question! A more recent thought I had is that Jones and Harrelson never have a scene together. Jones even speaks cryptically once about not finding religion or God, yet he is a law enforcement officer. This movie provides so much to think about!

I loved Diablo Cody's use of language, but I guess I don't read enough blogs. Anyways, the people and places seemed familiar to me. They drive minivans, I've seen neighborhoods like the ones they live in, they don't dress in designer clothes, families relate to each other in this way, they enjoy talking about music and movies, conversation isn't scripted, it's full of awkwardness and strange references and hurtful things that mainstream movies try to gloss over. Like Knocked Up it is very funny but with plenty of pathos hidden behind the laughter.

I also really enjoyed this movie even though you can see a lot of the plot coming. The colors are vibrant and even though much of the movie is set in the dusty corrupt slums, where in American gritty urban pics the images are often extremely dark and without color, this movie is always visually interesting. The action is often so fast that colors appear smeared or streaked across the screen and that's not a bad thing. I thought the editing and camera work was done very well especially with the constant flashbacks to different points in Jamal, Salim and Latika's lives. The few adult characters, in particular the game show host, the police interrogators, the gangsters, and the brothers' mother listed here on Flixster, gave solid supporting performances. Dev, Madhur and Freida as the oldest teenage versions of Jamal, Salim and Latika give good performances, but I actually liked the younger actors who played the three main characters better.

The early parts of the movie are filled with both really funny moments that people of any culture could appreciate and troubling tragic moments that are also universal. Jamal, the always good hearted romantic, Salim, the older and opportunistic brother, and Latika, the beautiful girl who Jamal spends his life pursuing are orphaned around the ages of 6-8. They are the Three Musketeers! They have lots of adventures together, but at times the brothers are separated from Latika. Eventually they grow up to be pre/early-teens and the adventures continue. Life on the streets is tough, filled with scams, fleeing from the authorities, and revenge, but Jamal always has the hope that he will find Latika. I recently learned a bit about Charles Dickens and so his famous stories with strong elements of social justice were fresh in my mind when I saw this. All the scenes with the children or pre-teens living on the streets and doing what they can to get by as controlled by a couple local gangsters definitely invoked Dickens, especially Oliver Twist.

It's no spoiler to anyone who has read a little about this movie that Jamal is interrogated on suspicion of cheating to win money on India's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. This is where the story begins to unfold. However, all of Jamal's life experiences connected in his mind to his brother or his love help him legitimately pick the right answers. And through the way the script was written and the film was edited it is shown that all three orphans are always linked together to the end. And there are little things you'll notice on repeated viewings. I must say, the movie didn't make me feel a rush of emotions when Jamal and Latika are reunited like I expected it might, but still it is a little movie that has had a long road to the recognition and kudos it has been receiving.

Is it just me, or do filmmakers seem to be making more interesting end credits in these past couple years? When it gets to the more technical positions it still may go to a black screen with white scrolling text, but this movie has a fun Bollywood dance number intercut with the credits for some of the major players working on the film. It helps keep more people in their seats to actually pay attention to who the filmmakers were. Maybe it's just the number of animated movies I've seen this year that is making it seem like Hollywood is getting more creative with credits.

Wonderful performances by all! Seeing the pictures of the real people surrounding Milk during his political career right after the faces of the actors in character on the closing credits was very interesting. The casting director and makeup artists did an extremely good job. Inspirational and timely with the proposition about allowing or outlawing gay marriage being in the news recently. I also thought the real news footage and photographs of the time period were well incorporated into the story. Even more powerful the second time. I'm glad Penn won the Oscar for Best Actor over all of Rourke's success for his wrestler character because this performance was so much more meaningful.

Incredibly thrilling and heart pounding. I think you are right, kunam88, there is a Kirk and Spock dynamic to the characters played by Renner and Mackie. Renner plays James as an anti-hero with a special skill for disarming bombs. Mackie plays Sanborn as a high strung, by the book kind of guy. Geraghty is memorable too as the lower ranking soldier with fear of death always on his mind. The three men at the center of this story need each other, especially James and Sanborn. Without both types defending the safety of everyone their efforts would not be as successful. Once we get a glimpse of hell on earth when the men are called to investigate an area where a bomb has already detonated, and there is fire and carnage all around. But the symbolism through the story is that the team of specialists are there to defuse bombs. It's very hopeful to know that there are people trying to prevent explosions and damage from creating hell on earth. On the other hand this illustrates that there are a lot of people trying to cause hell on earth. A tense independent film.

Near the end you get to see Renner's character return to family life. I love this theme of soldiers adjusting to civilian life, but you don't often see a movie that shows the difficulty veterans have in adjusting to home life and then shows them going back to what they are good at through life risking missions. Renner's character is someone who loves his job.

The Social Network was full of tension and blistering sharp-witted dialogue. The plot was well constructed with two court depositions being conducted and flash backs taking the audience to see the events as they unfold. The music was also stellar at setting the mood throughout.

The Harvard atmosphere with so many privileged or super intelligent students was foreign to me. I don't know people like this. I could never accomplish something like Facebook. It was fascinating to peek inside this world. There is no easy answer to whether Mark Zuckerberg, played as a barely suppressed smart aleck by Eisenberg, is a good guy or a bad guy. Eduardo Saverin, Zuckerberg's business partner in the beginning, is a stand out as played by Andrew Garfield mainly because he has the opportunity to show more emotional range. Erica (Rooney Mara) is the girl who got away and then was publicly insulted online by Zuckerberg. The movie presents her as if she was Zuckerberg's major motivation for doing most of what he did in developing Facebook. The movie's official site says Armie Hammer plays both Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. IMDb lists Josh Pence as Tyler, one of the Windlevoss twins. I'm not sure what digital effects were used in either doubling Armie Hammer or using Josh Pence as a body double. Either way, the Windlevoss twins and Divya Narendra (Max Minghella) play a group of spoiled Harvard students who have an idea for a social network site that would be exclusive for Harvard students. Then when Zuckerberg makes it bigger and better than they could imagine they become one of the parties suing him. Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), the founder of Napster, becomes a seductive force in influencing Zuckerberg to maintain control of his company and push it to grow past university borders and past the million mark. Wild parties with drugs and drunk girls stripping down to their underwear become regular occurrences for the big spenders though Zuckerberg is 100% focused on building Facebook. Timberlake plays the slimy character with relish. The friendship between Zuckerberg and Saverin is tragic as we watch Facebook blow up in popularity. The rise and fall of Mark Zuckerberg happened simultaneously and we have not really reached an end to the story either.

Hopeful and inspiring. Interesting look at history and developing technology in 1930's Britain. Colin Firth is touching as the would be king who is afraid of speaking in public. Geoffrey Rush is amusing as the Australian speech therapist who helps the king find his voice. "Bertie" is stubborn and at first only wishes to work on mechanics. The most powerful scene for me was probably when "Bertie" sits down for a stiff drink with Lionel over paint and a model airplane. Lionel begins to become friend and counselor to "Bertie" because the death of his father brings up buried feelings of inadequacy from his childhood. Eventually they can start dealing with the whole issue. And there are many light-hearted quips to keep things from getting too heavy. Still when Britain declares war on Germany in 1939, the idea of speaking to so many people across the British empire through the "wireless" is quite intimidating. To arrive at the end and hear the King's rallying speech after so much work was very uplifting. The entire supporting cast plays their roles admirably as well.

I loved the metaphor that Matt King's family resembles the archipelagos of Hawaii. In many of Clooney's narrations as King, including when he is pondering old family portraits of Hawaiian natives and white landowners who combined resources by marriage to control the islands, this theme is made clear. Matt King, his cousins and his daughters are the descendants who are now faced with financial crisis. What do they owe to this land of their ancestors? With the distance between those ancestors and the modern day descendants, not to mention the figurative distance between those who are still living geographically near each other, how is Matt going to make the right decision?

Besides a financial crisis, Matt King is confronted with unfamiliar territory in raising his two daughters when his wife is placed in a coma after a tragic boating accident. To add insult to injury he finds out from his daughter that his wife was having an affair. It is uncomfortable to watch, since his wife is on life support and cannot defend herself, as larger riffs are torn in the family because she is the scapegoat. Amara Miller, as the younger daughter Scottie, acts out without much discipline and is alternatively a brat and adorable. Shailene Woodley, as the teenage daughter Alexandra, shines in several scenes. Alexandra must deal with the image of her mother, who was her hero in more innocent times, but now is a betrayer to the family. Alexandra brings along a young stoner friend named Sid (Nick Krause), who is startlingly funny and astonishingly able to offer support at just the right time. George Clooney, as Matt King, the person at the center of both the financial and infidelity crisis, is more ruffled and ready to come apart at the seams than I have seen him. On a side note, based on Clooney's look in this movie I expect to see him play Anthony Bourdain in some upcoming film. Matthew Lillard and Judy Greer also have brief, yet important parts as another family that is shaken by the hidden truths revealed by both crises.

The Hawaiian music that forms the soundtrack is hauntingly beautiful. It kept my attention longer than I expected during the closing credits. The landscapes of Hawaii are also beautifully captured. However, the most exquisite scene was the spreading of the ashes. This movie looked pretty squarely at someone near death and the love and hate that others feel for them because of the good memories and the mistakes. Because the situations are fully formed the characters seem alive and I have rarely experienced final rites in a movie that were so touching and unique.

Owen Wilson does a good job at playing the Woody Allen role. Wilson has a strong enough personality and way of delivering his lines that he does not fall into the trap of imitating Allen. Wilson is natural in playing this American in Paris. Allen's script favors the mysterious women in Gil's life like Adriana (Cotillard), a museum guide (Bruni) and Gabrielle (Seydoux) rather than Gil's fiance (McAdams). The fiance's parents and friends lead Gil to want to escape. The theme of having nostalgia for a past time period was well executed. Seeing the sights of modern day Paris as well as some historical hot spots in Hemingway's Paris showed true love for the city. There are many humorous moments and a flurry of 1920's famous names that make this very enjoyable.