Dreamer

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—Overview

Mankind has a fascination with horses. It’s as though horses had some real command of the soul of man. Maybe that’s where we come up with horsepower.

For thousands of years horses were the main source of transportation. They were the tractors and semis of the pre-industrial era. Horses today are still used in many parts of the world, and even in fully-automated Western civilization there are still conditions under which only a horse will do.

And though the horse has not seemed so dependent on man, these animals still need “breaking,� training and good care—which contributes to a deep sense of understanding and spirituality. And they say the dog is man’s best friend! Of course, if you’ve looked into a horse’s eyes you’ve seen more than a dumb animal. These ancient connections between man and horses have probably contributed to the mythic and deific proportion we give to horses.

Dreamer is a horse movie. Now, I like horse movies. I like Westerns, I loved The Horse Whisperer and The Man from Snowy River. I hated Old Yeller, ‘cause the whole time I had a foreboding that something was going to happen to that dear old dog. But it’s a dog movie. Dog movies can be sad. But don’t let anything bad happen to Shadowfax!

But this is a predictable story. It has a predictable plot with predictable characters. I found my self wondering when the bad things would suddenly be resolved and by which surprise change of heart from which villain. Dreamer has a great pace as a story, though. It has beautiful scenery. Good music soundtrack. Best of all, the actors are excellent. The story works. The audience in my local theatre loved it. They cheered and they cried (almost on cue), but that’s what most people go to the movies for. I know it’s what you take your young children to see. Predictable is not bad. In our cynical age we expect anything artistic to be off the charts, or dark, or esoteric. But this movie comes along as a family movie for a certainty, and instead of rolling my eyes, I was engaged.

Dreamer deals with family relationships gone sour; it heals them. It doesn’t explain everything. But it is not unrealistic. Crises can be a catalyst for good change as well as bad. I think you’ll find in this movie the reality that many of our hang-ups are caused by our own beliefs and gifts. These same beliefs and gifts, when challenged again, can bring about healing and health. Yes Virginia, people can heal from their psychological wounds. What better way to heal than around family?

These are regular people struggling to make a life for their family. They are well known in their circle of billionaire employers and neighbors. But they are far from rich. They are respected for their skill as horsemen, yet don’t have the luxury of very many of these rich people’s generosity or respect. They are outcasts with a useful skill. That skill that can be purchased; it can be considered separate from those who hold it.

This is the story of a small family, and of course a champion racehorse with its own wounds. All of them play programmatic roles, yet it all works. Anyone could write the outline for this story, but it took this crew and cast to put out this quality. All of the performances are terrific, which is what I think makes this such a good movie. Go see it!

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—Overview

Elizabethtown

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— Overview Basic (dial up speed)
— Other Reviews
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A word, This review has been reposted and due to a glitch the photos were eliminated. Sorry about that folks!

In “Elizabethtown�, Cameron Crowe, reminisces about his father who died in 1989. Cameron Crowe lost his dad while sitting on the laurels of his success with his directorial debut of “Say Anything�. One thing Cameron Crowe excels in (there are many more things than one by the way) is the ability to communicate how he’s feeling. Cameron Crowe of course is the writer-director of this film and as such performs another great service to the average guy: Expertly displaying the surrealism of a parents’ death. This is the story of a sophisticated young executive man who loses his dad unexpectedly. This is news that is piled onto an already miserable day where-in our executive (Orlando Bloom) has just lost his highly visible job at a global shoe company (pretend you don’t know of one in Oregon). He not only loses his important shoe design job he tumbles from the sky in a visible decent of Icarusean proportion. Finally, our not so intrepid hero is convinced to go to Kentucky and bring back Dad by his insistent sister (Judy Greer) and mom (Susan Sarandon). It’s a good thing too, because the shoe engineer has rigged up a pretty inventive albeit interrupted way of committing suicide. He finds that the family in Elizabethtown doesn’t know that he’s fallen from grace, yet. They know him as “Mitch’s� famous shoe designer son (Drew).

Drew Baylor (Bloom) takes the red eye to Kentucky and on the way he meets an angel, Claire (Kirsten Dunst). She is the person we all need to meet when we are at our lowest ebb in life. She is perceptive, pretty, perky but pesky. She is over-the-top with positive energy and enthusiasm for life. She must be an angel as she seems sent by God to pull Drew out of himself.

The Baylor clan comes as a complete surprise to Drew. He is the sophisticated yet brutalized success story. They are the antithesis of sophistication and success. At least as we Americans tend to see it. Everyone in town knew Mitchell Baylor, he was apparently the type of person who would promote others. He probably bragged about his son to the point they recognized him when he pulled into town in a rented car. Not much is said of Mitch’s worldly success but he is portrayed as a great man. Both success and greatness can be measured. Success has monetary value and is calculated by what you leave behind. Greatness is measured by whom you leave behind. This entire movie caused deep thought about the difference between success and greatness. We tend to measure success and greatness in financial terms. Success and greatness aren’t necessarily oxymoronic. Nor are they the same things. Some successful people are great and some are not. I would like to be a great person. The kind of person who promotes others and makes others feel important.

The best parts of this movie take place during the process of saying good bye to Drew’s dad. The memorial for Mitch is an absolute hoot that goes from ridiculous to gloomy to utter pandemonium. Not all funeral ceremonies go this way but they often feel this way.
I lost my dad unexpectedly and could feel many of the feelings that this film addresses and displays. In Elizabethtown the emotions are raw and in some cases over-the-top. Some may not appreciate the wide open nature of the characters in this film. But I can tell you that funerals and the attending memorials, wakes and condolences put you in a fog in which everyone around you seems overbearing and way-too-concerned for believability. Bigger than life if you like.
Elizabethtown is both a fun and deep movie. But it has a pace of its own. Some of the characters become caricatures of themselves. Some of the film seems absurd. It appears to be plodding, but the inconsistent pace actually makes this film more realistic. Dealing with the death of a loved one can be Kafkaesque and almost supernatural. The catalyst for all this mayhem is a dead man named Mitchell Baylor. He was the one you come to love and appreciate in this film. Yet his scenes are all of about 2 minutes of flashbacks. Cameron Crowe says this film is autobiographical. I wish I could have known Mr. Crowe’s dad.

The Greatest Game Ever Played

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— Overview (multimedia)
— Overview Basic (dial up speed)
— Othrt Reviews
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Success isn’t permanent, and failure isn’t fatal. —Mike Ditka

Why is winning so important? I think it’s because we want to have hope that we can accomplish something with our lives. My personal theory is that we all have something we can excel at. Each of us has at least one talent, ability or calling that we were meant to fulfill. It’s inside you in the form of desire, ability, aptitude or attitude. Our job in life is to find it. Not all of us get to find it due to circumstances and so on, but it’s there nonetheless. God has given each of us a calling and a predisposition and talents. When someone finds what they are to do, it’s amazing. That’s my theory.

Many of the heroes of our age are winners in our favorite sport or game. We think of them as great because they excel at something we don’t, or did—or wish we did. Or maybe we just enjoy a particular sport and admire those who perform at their peak. But we love to see winners, in golf as in any sport.

I also believe we like to see people win because we all fail more than we win. Winning and losing is all about perspective. Winning in golf is only important if you are playing golf.

It appears that in order to win in sport one must sacrifice almost every other aspect of life. I’m not sure things should be that way. I think if we were to sacrifice ourselves to God, we would more than fulfill our desires. We would fulfill others around us and have fuller lives. Where is it said that surrendering to God makes us unsuitable in this world? Or how do we know that a football star would be called to foreign missions instead of football? What makes us think that surrendering to God cancels the calling to perform according to our abilities? Do we think we have to choose something we don't like to do to serve God as a sacrifice? Hello the sacrifice has already been made! You live the way God made you and see what happens!

This is where The Greatest Game ever Played comes in. It’s a movie about golf, golfers, winners and losers. It’s also about perspective. And about a gift that God gives.

Francis Ouimet is an amateur golfer, actually a caddy, in an era when “amateur� meant “lower class,� “less privileged� and therefore unqualified to play with the pros. Still, any one of the qualifiers for the U.S. Open golf tournament is a winner. They just can’t all be THE winner. Just like we can’t all have beachfront property.

But all of them have to be what British golf legend Harry Vardon calls the first of two types of players: one who concentrates and keeps his head in the game and wins championships (the second type, he says, are those who don’t). But this movie studies class, both as a position and as a character trait, tenacity, concentration and the fear of failure.

This is a terrific movie from the perspective of the golfer. The special effects make realistic what could only be considered boring for the observer. Golf is boring to watch but is enjoyable to play. As a player you must be able to erase your surroundings and look only at the ball and its intended target.

Golf is a social equalizer, due in large part to Francis Ouimet. That’s the real history. This film moved me because Ouimet broke down societal walls and pretense—yet never continued beyond the amateur status he conquered with. He intentionally fulfilled the wishes of his dad. But he fulfilled the larger wish of his heavenly father by pursuing his calling.