I was one of the billion or so people who were watching the Academy Awards several nights ago. I don’t really care which film or actor wins an Oscar. But I do have my favorites and I try to see as many of the nominated films as I can. This year I saw maybe four of the movies nominated.
A word of warning before I begin. If you want to see any of these films do not read further. You will not enjoy them as much as you will if you keep reading. Forgive me but I am about to break a golden rule of the movies. And probably a rule of life in general.
If you’re still with me then you probably don’t care about movies or you’ve seen The Sixth Sense.
The Sixth Sense I’ll see again for the clues I missed the first time. And for its startling ending. Don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s a horror film. It’s not but it’s still pretty scary. The movie is about a young boy who can see dead people and the psychiatrist who is hired to help the poor delusional child. But that’s what the filmmakers would like us to think. Get this, the kid can actually see the dead and the psychiatrist, Bruce Willis, is also dead! Aargh! But we don’t know this until the end of the movie when the psychiatrist finally realizes he is dead. Imagine that, months and months of thinking you’re alive but you’re actually dead.
One of my favorites was The Matrix. This film starring Keanu Reeves was up for awards for special effects and sound. And deservedly so I thought. I’ve seen it three times and I’m planning on seeing it more until I can recite the dialogue off the top of my head. The Matrix, like The Sixth Sense, has a character, Neo, who also believes he’s alive and living in 1999. He is awakened by a group of rebels sometime in the year 2400, years after machines and computers have taken over the world. The life he’d been leading was a lie perpetrated by a gigantic computer program. Every day he can remember was generated by the computer while he slept with millions of other minds. Their bodies used for generating power for the machines to function. The special effects and fight scenes are great too.
I’m also planning on seeing American Beauty again if only for that look on the Kevin Space’s character’s face when he first notices his daughter’s best friend. Spacey’s character has a huge crush on his sixteen year old daughter’s best friend. If you saw him when he accepted his Oscar and said, “This is the highlight of my day” you’ll remember that those were the first lines from the movie when you saw him masturbating in the shower. The film has a bitter sweet ending. The main character has quit his job, blackmailed his boss successfully, bought a sports cars and learned to enjoy life. And he gets shot in the end but there’s a smile on his face as he dies. Excellent movie. I wish I had made it.
I think I’ll pass on The Cider House Rules and only watch it on an overseas flight should they play it. That is, if I happen to be on an overseas flight. The film is based on the book by John Irving. I never read the book but I’m sure it’s better than the movie. Michael Caine and Toby Maguire star. It takes place in an orphanage run by Caine as the doctor. He teaches one of the orphans to be a doctor and… that’s when I got bored and my mind drifted just like the Toby Maguire character when he leaves the orphanage to pick apples and see the ocean. Maybe I’ll read the book.
Maybe I’ll like it, maybe I’ll really, really like it.
