The Blog Less Traveled

I finally got to watch this movie again last week. I bought it when it was first released almost nine years ago. This is definitely a movie to watch every now and then. The acting is good, the storyline is believable and the underlying message is even better. All the actors did a great job in portraying their characters. Haley Joel Osment really nailed the young boy’s character. Many real world situations were dealt with in an honest and open fashion including personal tragedy, child abuse and alcoholism.

I think this movie is more than just your typical Hollywood tearjerker. It delivers in two powerful ways. It shows that even in difficult and tragic circumstances people can make the effort and be successful in changing their lives in a positive manner. More importantly, it shows that a few positive actions that each of us is capable of making can have a major impact on someone else’s life.

This movie is a great example of the power of a pyramid scheme used in a positive way. If you’ve never seen this movie, I highly recommend it. If you’ve seen it before, it’s worth a second showing. You might want to keep the tissue box nearby.

Main characters: Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt, Haley Joel Osment, Angie Dickinson and James Caviezel

Year released: 2000

For more information on the movie, click here. Be forewarned, though. If you’ve never seen the movie, the whole plot is pretty much explained in detail.

The Bourne Trilogy is my name for the three movies made from Robert Ludlum’s action novels The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. The story is based on a clandestine CIA operation gone awry. The agent in the botched operation, Jason Bourne, gets amnesia as a result and the rest of the first movie is a quest to discover his true identity. This set of three movies is a good selection for a mini-movie marathon. When I threw my back out last week, I decided to watch these movies again. They didn’t disappoint. Usually, movie sequels never quite seem to do justice to the original in the series. However, I think the two sequels are each well done in their own right. The action is good and the characters are well portrayed by the likes of Matt Damon and his supporting cast. According to various websites, a fourth Jason Bourne movie is in the works for 2008.

If you’ve never seen them before, these are top-notch action movies and highly recommended. If you’ve already seen them, they’re still worth a second viewing.

There’s also a song played at the end of the movies called Extreme Ways by Moby. It’s a pretty good song and you can watch the video here.

For more information on the Bourne movies, click here.

The Game is one of my favorite suspense/thriller movies. What do you give a man who seemingly has everything? Michael Douglas is a very successful and wealthy investment banker. However, other than the prestige of his job and his wealth, he has little else – no life outside of his investment world and no family to share it with. For his 48th birthday, his brother, Conrad (played by Sean Penn) buys him a ticket to “The Game”, unusual entertainment provided by a company called Consumer Recreation Services (CRS). What follows is an exciting thriller with many twists and turns along the way. The beginning of the movie starts a little slow for me but is probably needed to fully develop the character and his ultimate changes as the story unfolds. The director keeps you guessing throughout much of the movie and the ending is somewhat surprising, to say the least.

I highly recommend this movie if you enjoy suspense with a surprise ending.

Main characters: Michael Douglas, Sean Penn and Deborah Unger

Year released: 1997

For more information on the movie, click here. Be forewarned, though. If you don’t want the surprise ending revealed, don’t go to this website until after you’ve seen the movie.

Today I’m going to start a new topic – Movies. I’ve always enjoyed watching a good movie. At home, I have a 400-unit DVD Changer and I filled that puppy up a few years ago. I like most any type of movie genre as long as it has some entertainment value. I have to admit though, if the movie is so complicated or deep that the plot is hard to follow, it doesn’t make it in my book. For the most part, I go to a movie to be entertained. If I have to use too much brainpower to appreciate it, it won’t make it onto my top 100 chart.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but lately it seems that many of the movies that I like, the critics rate pretty low. I’ve almost gotten to the point that if the critics rave about it, I avoid it like the plague. I didn’t spend good money to get a Hollywood producer’s personal view on some perceived social injustice. I can get all the social commentary I want online for free or from TV documentaries and the news. Give me some good old-fashioned comedy, romance and a little action, thank you very much. So, without further ado and in no particular ranking order, my first movie selection is Ghost.

Ghost has several different movie genres rolled into one. There’s drama, romance, comedy and the underlying theme of good versus evil. The romance was nicely done and in good taste. I got a real kick out of the way Whoopi Goldberg played her crazy character, Oda Mae Brown, and the interaction between her and Patrick Swayze’s character, Sam. The visual effects of the shadowy demons were subtle and compelling in portraying the consequences of evil. This movie definitely makes the grade for me.

Main characters: Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Tony Goldwyn and Whoopi Goldberg

Year released: 1990

For more information on the movie, click here.