Why I Love This Movie: Part 2, The New World

The New World, a 2006 effort by Terrence Malick, is the next installment in our little series. It chronicles the arrival of the settlers at Jamestown, their battle to survive their first winter, and what comes from all of this. But, more importantly, it does not tell the story solely from the settlers’ point of view. There is even more emphasis put on what this tiny settlement did to the natives.

Malick’s vision is brought to life by a group of incredible actors. Colin Farrell leads the cast as the emotionally distraught John Smith. And this is a far cry from the John Smith seen in Disney’s Pocahontas. This guy is rough, confused, and does not ever burst into song. Basically, he is a perfect example of the roles Farrell is best in. Farrell is supported by a young woman making her movie debut as Pocahontas. Q’Orianka Kilcher is absolutely perfect as the young woman who captures the heart of not only every character she comes in contact with, but of the audience as well. Her portrayal of a Pocahontas confused by her own heart, and curious of the unknown, is flawless.

Backing up those two we have the combined genius of Christian Bale, Christopher Plummer, and Wes Studi, any one of which could get me to a movie. Basically, we have a star-studded cast. Which is reason number one for loving this movie.

The movie that Malick gives us is beautiful. It is not the wacky hijinks version of the story Disney gave us, nor is it the action packed thriller version that some idiot has probably made at some point. It is the dream version. This is the version of the story you would see if you fell asleep in the woods in Virginia after hearing someone tell you this story.

Malick has a gift for using landscape and people’s thoughts to tell the story. The Thin Red Line is another example of this part of his genius. The New World took that idea and ran with it. We see why the natives wanted to protect what they had. Anyone would. It was absolutely beautiful. The land was beautiful, the people were beautiful, their way of life was beautiful. You’d be a fool not to fight for that. But how could they fight against guns and cannons? What were they supposed to do when the invaders burned down their fields and houses so that they could plant tobacco there? I don’t know. You have to wonder what our nation would be like if the settlers had adapted to the native way of life. What would we look like if they had combined the two cultures instead of trying to destroy the one that was there first?

That’s reasons two and three right there. It is an incredibly gorgeous movie, and I have to sit and think about it every time I watch it.

In my opinion this movie is perfect. There is nothing wrong with it. I saw it three times in theaters and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched it since I got the dvd. And the only thing I ever hear anyone say bad about it, and I hear this quite a bit, is that its boring. Well, don’t watch it thinking its going to be the Live Free or Die Hard version of the Pocahontas story. And don’t go thinking that Grandmother Willow is going to show up and start singing. Watch it thinking that its going to be slow, but most beautiful things are if you think about it.

If you can watch it like that then I urge you to watch for a couple of scenes that are my absolute favorites. Colin Farrell living and learning the native culture, Wes Studi exploring a manicured English garden, and Q’Orianka Kilcher running free after her character’s illness and death. If that just ruined the movie for you, you’re stupid and you should go read a history book, after you watch The New World.

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Before we end, I would like to answer Joey’s question from the last entry. The He-Man cartoon happened because of the Conan movie. Then the He-Man movie happened because of the success of the cartoon. So I guess Conan The Barbarian is responsible for both.

Why I Love This Movie: Part 1, Conan The Barbarian

This is the first part of what I intend to be a continuing element of this blog. I’m going to focus on a movie I love and discuss why I love it. If anyone wants to comment on something I say, I would like that. What I don’t want is someone telling me I’m an idiot for liking some movie that they hate. Or someone going, “You actually like that?” I obviously do. Read on and you will find out why. Really, whether you comment or not, I don’t want anyone thinking those things. If you are, go read a blog somewhere else.

The first movie we will be focusing on is 1981’s Conan the Barbarian. This version of Robert E. Howard’s classic sword and sorcery stories is played by Arnold Schwarzenegger and directed by John Milius. Now, let me begin by saying that I know this is not a wonderful movie. This movie did not win any awards, and it didn’t deserve any awards either. But I still love it. It was produced by Dino De Laurentiis. I don’t if any one is familiar with this man, but he also fronted the money for Barbarella and David Lynch’s Dune. I also love these movies. I recommend them. But they were not award winners either. Dune was pretty revolutionary in terms of effects, but the other aspects of the movie leave a little to be desired. Conan is the same way. Using 1981 special effects and Arnold’s accent, Milius attempted to bring the Hyborian Age to life. And I salute him. It is nothing like the Hyborian Age I imagine when reading the original stories, but he quite obviously did make his version.

Reason number one for why I love this movie is how epic it is. I really do feel like I am watching the characters go all over this imaginary world or the forgotten past. There are several distinct cultures that shown. Several distinct cities and religions are shown. They did a pretty good job of bringing a world to life.

Reason number two is James Earl Jones. James Earl Jones with long straight hair. James Earl Jones who turns into a snake. He is one of the most bizarre parts of the movie. He is supposed to look like someone who is not a part of any of the races that are now present on the earth. And he does. They did an excellent job of that. He is the perfect ultimate bad guy. He is ultimate evil in this movie. That’s important. The bad guy is a very important part of movies for me. And this one works.

Reason number three is Mako. Mako is an actor with only one name, if we are judging by Cool Runnings this is a good thing because Leon was awesome in that. Mako is not quite as good of actor as Leon is, which is actually debatable if you’ve seen The Five Heartbeats. But despite his lack of acting ability, Mako is perfect as the wizard Conan meets in the desert. Everything he says is entertaining. Sometimes it is entertaining because it works well in the movie, other times it is just funny. But I always love him.

There are a number of other reasons I love Conan. Max Von Sydow as the king. The architecture of the snake temple. The small references to things from the original stories that fans would pick up on. I even love Arnold in this movie.

But I think the real reason is I love almost anything that is about earth’s past before recorded history. Even when its totally unbelievable, like this movie, I am totally fascinated by it.
This is a fun movie. If you don’t like because you think it’s not believable or Arnold’s a terrible actor, then just get over yourself and enjoy it. It’s fun. You know it is.

As a side note, we have this movie to thank for He-Man. The He-Man toys were originally supposed to be for Conan, but it was deemed too violent to have kids toys so they had to slightly alter the toys and come up with a new story for them. So I will always love Conan simply for bringing He-Man into existence. I love He-Man.

Hope For Tomorrow

Two days ago, I watched the new President of the United States of America take office. He is the first African American President. He is the 44th president of this country. I watched a beautiful ceremony and a man that I respect take a very meaningful oath. And I watched all of this from the National Civil Rights Museum.

I don’t think the date of this inauguration could have been more perfect. The day after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. And I don’t think I could have watched the inauguration in a more perfect place. I watched Barack Obama take the office of President of the United States, while standing just feet from Dr. King gave his life to make something like that possible. It was haunting in a way. There was a power in that building that was impossible to ignore.

I feel very sorry for anyone who didn’t see the speech Obama gave. But I also feel sorry for all of you who watched by yourselves in your living room. To hear him say that we need to unite as a people and as a nation is one thing, but to hear hundreds of men and women around saying, “Amen!” is something different entirely. I could have heard that speech at home and thought what he said was a good idea, but today I felt like I was already a part of the picture he painted for us. I felt like I was already uniting with the men and women standing next to me to bring America back from the darkness it seems to be approaching. And that, right there, is what is so great about Obama. He can unite and excite people in an age where almost every other politician is disgusting them. He stands for things, and its obvious. Even if you don’t agree with him on everything you can tell that he stands for these things he says, and he truly believes them. And that’s saying something. When I look at Bush I can’t see what he stands for. He’s just there. He tries to avoid the spotlight on certain issues, but I can’t think of anything where he stands proudly in the spotlight and says, “This is what I stand for.”

There are moments in American history that I can look back on and say that I’m proud to be part of the nation that did that. There are also times that embarrass me. That’s the nature of any country. But in my lifetime I can’t think of anything that has happened where I thought, “I am proud to be in the country that this happens in.” There have been a handful of embarrassments in my lifetime, but I can’t think of anything that made me proud. Today, I was proud to be an American. For the first time in my life, I was moved by what my leader said. I stood up and clapped for the President of the United States. That has never happened before.

I also want to say that the two prayers during the ceremony Tuesday were two of the best I have ever heard in my life. Amen to both of them. And amen to John Williams for writing some music specifically for Tuesday. That was awesome.

The Top Of My Ears List 2008

This is a list of albums that came out this year that I have absolutely loved. They have been at the top of my ears ever since they came out. Some are from the beginning of '08, and others are more towards the end, but I loved all of these. They are in no particular order, and I am sure I am forgetting some. But I firmly believe these should all be owned, by you.

1. Coldplay - Viva La Vida
2. TV on the Radio - Dear Science
3. Sebastien Tellier - Sexuality
4. Tokyo Police Club - Elephant Shell
5. Kanye West - 808's and Heartbreak
6. Bloc Party - Intimacy
7. Sigur Ros - Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
8. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
9. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
10. Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple
11. The Cool Kids - The Bake Sale ep
12. Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree