“Movies touch our hearts and awaken our vision and change the way we see things. They take us to other places; they open doors and minds.”
~ Martin Scorsese
Punxsutawney Phil, the Pennsylvania groundhog, saw its shadow on February 2nd, predicting six additional weeks of winter; lockdown is easing, but nowhere near over; the heavy rain/snow mixes of March in the Upper Valley seem to have arrived early. Amidst the chill and grime of late winter, curling up with a movie classic may be just the emotional hit needed to get you to the end of hibernation. Skip the angst of endlessly scrolling through Netflix or Prime and watch these six timeless movies featuring drama, music, horror/suspense, comedy, action/adventure, romance and war.
Amadeus
From the asylum, to which he was confined for the remaining years of his life, the now aged, wretched composer Antonio Salieri confesses and recounts his envy and resentment of a young, vulgar, musical genius who arrived on the scene in the last half of 18th century Vienna. Almost overnight, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart eclipsed all the composers of Europe’s musical center, including Salieri. The fictional account of Salieri’s bitter railing at God, for endowing an “obscene child” with His greatest gifts, won eight of the eleven Academy Awards for which it was nominated in 1984, including Best Picture, Best Director (Miloš Forman), and Best Actor in a Leading Role (F. Murray Abraham). As much to be loved as anything in this lush, moody, yet witty drama is the music of Mozart, which predominates. CHS music teachers Mr. Mitsuyasu and Mrs. Wall, both of whom encourage students to watch the film, agreed as to the score: “Mozart’s work, as the movie’s soundtrack, sets the perfect mood for the story being told,” recounted Mitsuyasu. Concurring, Wall stated that the beautiful, almost perfect music of Mozart “only enhances the narrative.”
Amadeus is available to stream through Amazon.
The Shining
Adapted from Steven King’s 1977 novel of the same name, Stanley Kubrick’s unnerving ghost story and phycological horror film begins with managers of the Overlook Hotel interviewing Jack Torrance (played by Jack Nicholson) to be the establishment’s winter caretaker. To alleviate concerns as to whether he, his wife and young son have the fortitude to withstand months-long isolation in a snowbound hotel, at which a previous caretaker had murdered his own wife and two daughters, Torrance states: “You can rest assured . . . that’s not going to happen with me. And as far as my wife is concerned, I’m sure she’ll be absolutely fascinated when I tell her about it. She’s a confirmed ghost story and horror film addict.” The awkward unease of the characters displayed here begins to fill the space around one watching the film and only builds throughout Kubrick’s 1980 masterpiece. CHS Freshman, Ellie Holm recalls having to view the movie in shifts. “I was watching it with my sister and a friend. We couldn’t do it straight through. Our skin was crawling! After every 15 to 20 minutes, we’d have to walk away, gather ourselves and then continue. It’s so good, but so terrifying!” Considered one of the greatest horror films ever made, it holds particular interest for those in the PNW, as the outside of the hotel was filmed at Mt. Hood’s Timberline Lodge.
The Shining is available to watch via Amazon, YouTube, Google Play and iTunes.
Good Will Hunting
Written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck before they were Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, the 1997 movie won the pair the Academy Award for Best Screenplay. In addition to featuring Damon and Affleck, the piquant drama stars the late Robin Williams, Minnie Driver and Casey Affleck. This beautiful, heartbreaking, funny film is a story of friendship, love and mentorship between a troubled math genius (Damon), his friends (the Afflecks, among others), a Harvard student (Driver) and his quirky, but wise counsellor (Williams). Helping to drive the narrative is the ever-present tension in Boston due to the proximity of its blue-collar environs and academic elite. Damon and Williams’ characters rip the metaphorical band aids off their troubled pasts and find the salve for their emotional wounds to be in trusting each other. The theme of redemption at the center of Hunting, may just be the very salve you need to get through these dreary days.
Good Will Hunting is available on Netflix.
Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) is an innocent. He is a simple, good-hearted man from Alabama making his way through in world during the turbulent post-World War II decades in America. In his meanderings, he manages, almost by accident, to lead an extraordinary existence, touching and influencing the lives of many others, including the famous from Elvis to JFK. He becomes a renown athlete, obtains a college degree, fights valiantly in Vietnam and finds fortune in the shrimping business. Friendless as a child, except for his life-long-love Jenny (Robin Wright), Forrest finds meaningful, deep friendships in adult life, which are at the same time joyful and poignant to watch develop and mature. Yet, despite the fame, fortune and friendship that flows his way, Forrest remains preoccupied with his first confidant and love, Jenny. The end of their journey together - and journeys apart for much of the movie - is just one of the aspects of this picture that makes it just as enjoyable to watch the third or fourth time as the first. In addition to Hanks and Wright, star performances are turned by Sally Field and Gary Sinise. The film won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director (Robert Zemeckis) and Best Actor (Hanks), among others, and the Library of Congress has designated it as one to be preserved “as a cultural, artistic and historical treasure in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.”
Forrest Gump is available to rent or purchase on Amazon Prime.
Little Women (2019)
Set in the 1860s, Little Women is the story of Jo March (Saoirse Ronan), who is attempting to make it New York City as a writer, only to be called home to the bedside of her sick sister Beth (Eliza Scanlen) in their Massachusetts hometown, modeled after Concord. The audience learns through flashbacks how the pair grew up with their sisters Meg (Emma Watson) and Amy (Florence Pugh). The 2019 picture is the seventh film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 classic novel and includes, in the cast, Meryl Streep. The film accumulated six Academy Awards, including for Best Picture and Best Actress (Ronan) and won for Best Costume Design. Little Women is a coming-of-age story, but also one that showcases women with ambition and desire, something not necessarily common at the time. This latest version of the tale of the March sister has become known and celebrated for its alternative take on the novel’s ending and that, along with a wealth of outstanding acting performances, makes it worth an evening’s watch.
Little Women (2019) is available on Netflix.
The Godfather
Widely considered by critics and film makers to be the best movie ever crafted, Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 film, based on Mario Puzo's novella of the same name, is about the transition of organized crime in New York from the familial and gentlemanly but dangerous world of Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) to the more ruthless, individualistic and expedient gang-like ways of Vito’s sons Sonny (Michael Caan) and the calculating and manipulative Michael (Al Pacino). This tour de force of directing and acting is the first part of an award-winning trilogy. Dianne Keaton and Robert Duvall, among others, round out the A-list cast. Among the flurry of Academy Award nominations it received, it won Best Picture, Best Actor (Brando) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Coppola and Puzo). The Godfather is an integral part of our culture; so much has been written about it to go on seems almost redundant. It is alternately ranked as the first or second greatest film in America cinema (with Citizen Cane) by the American Film Institute and a must watch.
The Godfather is available on Netflix and Amazon Prime.
The variety of movie genres was great. Along with where we can find and watch the movie was a great touch to the writing.
Forest Gump is one of the best movies ever because every time you watch it you always learn something new that you did now know about. That movie made Tom Hanks who he is today