Scorpion

Scorpion is a newer show, that premiered on CBS in October 2014. The show centers around, and is loosely based on, the life of Walter O'Brien, a self-proclaimed genius and computer expert. O'Brien and his genius team of outcasts are recruited by the government to be the last line of defense against complex, high-tech global threats. The team includes O'Brien, a genius with the fourth highest recorded IQ of 197, Sylvester the genius mathematician and human calculator, Happy the mechanical prodigy, and Toby who is a Harvard trained behaviorist. The last member of the team is Paige, a former waitress who, in exchange for helping her understand her brilliant son, helps translate the real world for them through human interaction.

The piece that initially drew me to the show was the fact that it was loosely based on the life of a real person. Walter O'Brien was born in Ireland in 1975, and supposedly scored over 190 on an IQ test in primary school, though the recored were not saved. At the age of 13, he accidentally hacked into the NASA database, because he wanted the Space Shuttle Columbia blueprints to hang on his wall. O'Brien later formed Scorpion Computer Services, which is a computer security firm, and still serves as it's CEO. He also developed ScenGen (Scenario Generator), which can generate a number of possible results for any given situation, according to user-inputted variables and relationships. The program is used by multiple industries, including defense and financial services.

One of the best parts about the show being loosely based on the life of Walter O'Brien is that the producers and writers can use old scenarios that have happened during the life of Scorpion Computer Services. Though many could call this uncreative, the writers have a 25-year head start for the stories. Assuming the show is renewed for more seasons, it will eventually become a self-sustainable show.

Scorpion has been renewed for a second season and airs on Sunday nights on CBS.

Real events turned into money makers.

I don’t know what it is about a movie saying that it is based on “real events” but it draws me in. I like the fact that movies are realistic and relatable. A scary movie is 100x more scary to me when it is based on real events. Even if only half those events are what actually happened and the other half is stretched, it can still be labeled "based on a true story" and that is what draws people, including myself, in. I feel as though more people would feel the same way as I do, because a scary movie can be laughed at or dismissed of being unrealistic. Sometimes the scenarios are ridiculous, however,  if those ridiculous events were based on something that actually happened, then it completely changes the playing field. Even in dramas like The Blind Side, it has a different impact on someone then it would have if it was not based on real events. People have a tendency to feel for the character more because it’s true, its real. Some people may even envy a character. 

Wolf of Wall Street is a popular movie that came out in 2013, it is based on a true story. Even though Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) was caught up in shanagins, it could be inspirational to some people. 

Just like Michael Oher in the Blindside, both characters came up from nothing and became something.

These characters are completely different in many aspects but one thing they do have in common is the drive to succeed and be successful. In life that is one thing people are drawn to and envy.

 I find it very interesting when a movie is based on true events, it always makes me wonder what events actually happened and what events were made up. If you don’t know the actual story behind a movie, then you may never know what actually happened. Could your life be a money maker someday? Just something to think about. 

Lone Survivor - The Best Based-on-a-True-Story Movie I've Seen

     Movies based on true stories are among my favorites. It takes a lot for me to actually get emotionally involved in a movie, but when the stories are true, I realize that it could happen to anyone. It could happen to someone I know. It could happen to me. Lone Survivor is one of the best based-on-a-true-story movies I've seen in a very long time.
     The movie opened with a montage of a real, or seemingly real, training camp for the U.S. Navy. Trainees were pushing through training exercises and tests, getting screamed at, bonding, helping one another, struggling, succeeding, and completing the rigorous training with beaming smiles on their faces. The bond the forms between training marines is unlike any other. They are brothers. They're all each other has during training and when deployed. They need to love each other and protect each other at all costs, and that takes a type of love many of us don't experience. Opening with this montage grabbed my attention and reminded me and all of the audience members that this story is true and it happened to an average American Marine, not Mark Wahlberg or any other Hollywood actor. I think that was the best decision the creative team made when making this movie, because after that, the rest of the movie seems so real and you're emotionally involved in a different way than you would be if it opened with an A-list Hollywood actor like Mark Wahlberg, who portrays Petty Officer First Class Marcus Luttrell, the man whose experience in Afghanistan this story is based on.
     About halfway through the movie, I admit I felt a hint of boredom. I began wondering if the entire movie was going to be one long gunfight. It seemed to go on for a while, though it was moving along and changing scenery. The action was not boring, but I wondered if anything would change or something new would happen. I wondered why they would base a movie on only a lengthy and somewhat interesting gunfight.
     That boredom vanished almost immediately when something wildly unexpected happened between Luttrell and some Arab men who were not involved in the Taliban. Without spoiling the major turn of events of the story, what happens is beyond my imagination and it touches my heart in a way I wouldn't have expected. I understood what the story was about now, and I was even more obsessed.
     At the end of the movie they brought it back to real life by showing you pictures of every soldier you met during the movie and explained their rank, their families, or their lives or their families' lives after the military. It was important for the creators of this movie to remind the audience that this was not about Hollywood and cinema, it was about America and real-life Marines. It creates an emotional attachment to the movie that would otherwise not be there, and it's what makes this movie amazing.

Based Off a True Story

This week, as usual, I was scrolling through my Netflix to try to find something to keep me entertained.  I clicked on the film The Freedom Writers directed by Richard LaGravenese.  I had heard things about The Freedom Writers through my mom, who loves this movie.  So, I decided to watch it.

The story told in The Freedom Writers is not a light one.  There is power in the words of this story, and the crazy part is that it is based off of a true story.  I always feel like there is pressure from recreating a true story, especially if it is as emotional as this one.  

Two things that really stood out to me were the writing and the acting.  The story was eloquently written.  The writing was based off of the diaries of student's emotional lives and battles.  But what is a story without actors to tell it?  The acting in this film was incredible as well.  Hilary Swank played the role of the ambitious Erin Gruwell, and nailed it.  But it was the chemistry between her and the many actors that played her group of gang ridden students that made this movie so powerful.

Aesthetically, this film was not outstanding, but at the same time not poorly done.   Applying what we learned in class, I saw many shots where the frame was based around the Golden Ratio.  See? Here's just one example right here.

Another thing I noticed was that the camera would be filming handheld in times of high intensity or high emotions.  In times where there was less action or emotion, the camera was filming on a steady surface, whether that be a dolly or a tripod.  Nothing about this films aesthetics was poor, but nothing stood out, either.  I can understand that though, since The Freedom Writers is a movie that is highly dependent on the story and the way the actors tell it. 

Blair Witch Project

In the year 1999 a movie called the Blair Witch Project came out. It was a horror movie based off a story about something called the blair witch that lived in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland and killed people who went camping. The movie is based off of 3 friends who are making a documentary about this phenomenon. The movie made millions when it came out because the people that made it were very clever. 

The whole movie is shot half on a hand held consumer based camcorder and the other on an actual film camera. In the entire film, aside from the woods, they use 2-3 actual locations one of which is a parking lot. Also, aside from the 3 main characters there are maybe 4 other people in the whole film. They shot and produced the entire thing for roughly 25,000 dollars but made millions at the box office. This is because they spent a ton of money on advertising and they started hyping the movie about 6 months to a year in advance. During the ads they played they hyped the movie as the scariest thing ever. Because of this insane advertising, hyping the movie as the scariest thing ever, everyone who went to see it was extremely scared. The funny thing is, is that the movie itself is horrible. Its not very scary and its very poorly acted. The way in which it is shot is confusing as well because they switch between the film camera and the camera the main characters are using for there documentary a lot. I really don't like this movie but i also appreciate how the producers made millions because they were very clever. It proved that advertising is extremely powerful. This was also one of the first movies to use the internet to advertise for it. The movie was touted as a true story online and thus millions were already wrapped up in seeing it.

Spielberg's Lincoln

For many years as I can remember I have always been a fan of Steven Spielberg's films including Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, E.T, Indiana Jones, Artificial Intelligence, The Goonies, and many other great films. He has been a great inspiration to me as well as many other people. He has directed, and produced some of the greatest American films that most people watch today.

His newest movie "Lincoln" stars three Academy Award winners including Daniel-Day Lewis as Abraham Lincoln, Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln, and Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens.

One reason this movie was attractive to me was because it's about Abe Lincoln, one of America's most influential presidents and surely one of my favorites. I remember as a kid in high school loving to learn about Lincoln in the Civil War and what he did to abolish slavery. This movie takes place some time near the end of the Civil War which is sometime in 1865. As the movie progresses it explores Lincoln's tactics and techniques as he works with his cabinet attempts to abolish slavery.

I also chose to post about this movie because it is another movie that is based on a true story, movies I tend to watch more than others. Like I mentioned earlier, in school, i loved learning about wars, presidents, and other moments in history. One of my favorite topics was the Civil War and how our country worked to abolish slavery in the south.

From the love of this historical moment, I am interested to learn more from this film and see it on the big screen.

Based on a True Story

For as long as I can remember, I have always been entertained and attracted to movies that are based on true stories. I know many of them tend to change or over-exaggerate the story line from what actually happen, but when I watch true story movies For as long as I can remember, I have always been entertained and attracted to movies that are based on true stories. I know many of them tend to change or over-exaggerate the story line from what actually happened, but when I watch true story movies I find myself interested in the life of the individual or group of people the film is portraying. I especially tend to be attracted to true stories about history like movies about wars, presidents, conspiracies, etc. Below are a few of the many true stories that grabbed my attention, and that I enjoyed watching.

The Blindside got my eye because it's a sports movie and it had a number of actors/actresses that I love to watch. It's the true story of Michael Oher, who didn't have a home, a mother who did drugs and abandoned him. He was a warrant of the state who had no such records to his name. He became under the guardianship of Sean and Leign Ann Tuohy, graduates of the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). A sensitive young man, who knew nothing about football started playing left tackle for his high school. Attracted by many colleges for his athleticism including Alabama, Tenessee, South Carolina, and many more, he became an all-star athlete. Today you can see him on the Baltimore Ravens as he was a pick in the 2009 NFL draft. It's a heart warming story that will leave audiences both happy, but can be a tear jerker. 

The Perfect Storm was another movie that got my eye that was based on a true story. Directed by Wolfgang Peterson, it's the story of a sword fishing boat called the Andrea Gail captained by Billy Tyne (George Clooney) and his crew of 5 men who went under during a fishing trip and was caught in the middle of a Hurricane (known as the perfect storm). 

The most recent true story I have seen is Lawless, which the true story about Forrest, Howard, and Jack  Bondurant, who were members of the Moonshine Conspiracy in Franklin Virginia in 1931. The Brothers were in a successful boot-legging business during prohibition. This movie kept me on the edge of my seat and the story was well written. I definitely recommend this movie to anyone who loves action, suspense, and none than other TOM HARDY.