Morning Glory

Morning Glory follows young and committed morning television producer Becky Fuller (Rachel McAdams) who has dreamed since childhood of working for the Today show. Since graduating from college, she has dedicated her life to her job, but her devotion to her career is off-putting to potential suitors. After being laid off from her job at the local Good Morning New Jersey because of budget cuts, she finally gets hired as an executive producer on the long-running morning show DayBreak, at the once-prominent but currently failing station, IBS.

Determined to keep the show on air, she recruits former news journalist and anchor Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford), who disapproves of co-hosting a show that does not deal with real, hard news. Pomeroy proves to be tough going, constantly battling with his co-host Colleen (Diane Keaton), refusing to banter on air, and refusing certain pieces, like cooking segments, that he considers beneath him.

Between ratings beginning to drop and struggling with warring co-hosts, Becky is told that DayBreak may be canceled. As a last ditch effort to bump the ratings, Becky decides on a radical and desperate approach to try and save the show.

Though the film didn't to incredibly well at the box office, I personally loved it. I thought it was a very funny and cute twist on the television industry. All of the actors bring a comical breath of fresh air to the film, and you can't help but laugh. I would absolutely recommend this film to someone.

42!!!

So, I saw 42 today and it was great! For those of you who don't know, 42 is the story of Jackie Robinson entering Major League Baseball. He was originally playing for the Kansas City Monarchs when Brooklyn Dodger's Branch Rickey sent one of his agents to go scout out Robinson. Robinson was sent to Montreal to train with the triple A team affiliate of the Brooklyn Dodgers. In his first games with Montreal, he played so well that he was pulled up to the Dodgers before Brooklyn's opening day. The Dodgers then went to spring training in Panama City, Panama in order to help Robinson avoid the attack of the white Dodgers fans and the media. The story then continues with Robinson's entire first season in Major League Baseball, including the extreme attacks he went through, for instance, being thrown at or verbally attacked.

In addition to his life on the baseball field, you also see his life off the baseball field with his wife Rachel. The couple gets married at the beginning of the film after Robinson gets the call from the Dodgers and Rachel becomes extremely supportive right away. After the film, when they explain what all the players did after the 1947 season, you find out that Rachel Robinson actually started a foundation in Jackie Robinson's name. It is now used to provide high school seniors scholarships to go onto college. The movie provided a really great sense of how dedicated 'Rae' was to her husband and son.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie both for the premise, acting, and CGI. I am a huge baseball fan, so this movie was a perfect fit for me, but I highly recommend it to everyone. It is more than just a story about baseball, but a story of the difficulties that the African American population faced during the '40s. The movie did a great job of conveying the hardships of the black population because you truly hurt for the Robinson family. Harrison Ford who played Branch Ricky played a great part in the story. At first, he seems driven by money, but in the end, he shows his true dedication to changing Robinson's life and to baseball. Also, Chadwick Boseman who played the part of Jackie Robinson seemed to be the true Jackie Robinson in the film. He acted as the tough Jackie Robinson many knew, but we also see a more emotional side of him when he is facing the attacks, especially on the baseball field. Finally the CGI used for the baseball stadiums was very impressive. They recreated four baseball parks from the 1940s and did a great job. They looked incredible and provided a '40s feel to the movie that I though going into the movie would be difficult to do.

#42 A Legend

I'm a really big sports fan, especially sports like baseball and football. When it comes to baseball, I'm a big fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers and their history in the Major League Baseball. The experience of baseball changed forever when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and became the first African American to play professional baseball. Jackie was born in 1919 in Cairo Georgia. Jackie became the first athlete to win varsity letters in four sports: baseball, football, basketball, and track. In 1945, Robinson played one season in the Negro Baseball League with the Kansas City Monarchs. In 1947, Dodgers owner Branch Rickey approached Jackie about joining the team and throughout his career, he faced much discrimination and abuse for playing baseball. After his first season with the Dodgers, he was the National League Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the year with 12 home-runs, 29 stolen bases, and a .297 batting average. Finally in 1962, Jackie Robinson was inducted to the baseball Hall of Fame.

With all of that said, director Brian Helgeland, director of 2010 Robin Hood, L.A Confidential, Mystic River, and Man on Fire, is directing a motion picture called "42," which gives audiences a visual of the history making moment when Jackie Robinson signed with the Dodgers.

When I saw this trailer, I immediately fell in love with it and agreed that I would go see this movie. Harrison ford plays Dodger owner Branch Rickey, Lucas Black plays Robinson's teammate Pee Wee Reese who took the famous picture with Jackie with his arm around his teammate. Playing Jackie Robinson is not a well known actor, but it is Chadwick Boseman, who is known for his roles in All My Children, Persons Unknown, and The Kill Hole. This movie is set to open April 12, 2013. 

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and definitely see this trailer. 

Star Wars

I am a huge star wars fan.  I love 4, 5, and 6 and own them on DVD and while I don't hate 1, 2, and 3 like many star wars fans, I find them entertaining, but I cannot accept them as real star wars movies.  I was introduced to star wars at a young age and never looked back.  I think what makes star wars so amazing is because it changed the sci-fi genre and what was possible from movies.  Star wars was first released in 1977, the same year as encounters of the third kind, and it looks amazing.  For 1977 the effects look amazing and the universe is very creative.

Watching star wars for the first time is like nothing else, you are transported into another world field with new and amazing technology and the most wonderfully strange creatures.  The characters are great  and each movie is a thrill.  Watching Luke Skywalker transform from a farmer's son to a Jedi is fantastic.  While 1, 2, and 3 are as good they are very fun to watch and the fight scene between Anakin and Obi-Wan Kenobi is one of the most epic fight scenes ever.  If you haven't seen star wars that is sad and you should watch it right now.

Epic fight scene:

One day three movies

So yesterday I didn't have very much going on so I decided to watch a movie, and I ended up watching three by the end of the day.

So the first movie I watched was Philadelphia.  After seeing the segment of Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington in class I knew it was a movie I had to watch.  The movie follows the court case of Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) a lawyer who was fired because he contracted the aids virus.  It is a story that portrays the negative inclination towards homosexuals and aids victims.  This was probably my favorite out of the three movies I watched.  The films ability to play on the audiences emotions is fantastic.  The character development and the talent of the actors creates such a personal connection to everyone in the film.  The many close ups of faces during intense emotional scenes just sells it and you have no choice but to put yourself in the courtroom.

The second movie I watched was Dr. Strangelove or: how I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.  This movie made in 1964, is about an incident that sparks a nuclear war between Russia and the United States.  The part of the film I loved the most was the role(s) of Peter Seller.  Peter Seller played three different roles in the movie, and all of them different personalities or even nationalities.  One other thing I enjoyed about the film was the lack of cuts.  There were large pieces of the movie that were only one shot.  I felt this allowed the scene to unfurl on its own, something you would not frequently see these days.

Lastly I watched the movie Blade Runner.  This was a movie I had always wanted to see but never had a chance to so I figured why not.  This movie stars Harrison Ford as a "blade runner" (basically a police officer) who is supposed to track down and kill genetically engineered humans, which are illegal in the movie.  The part of this movie that impressed me the most was the visuals.  The entire movie except the last scene takes place at night, in the rain, in a futuristic city.  I just couldn't get over how well all the lights and colors went together.  There were always a neon color hue, and when there weren't, scenes that took place in homes and such, there were many moving lights to represent the light from outside.  The illusion of the lights of passing cars shining through holes in the wall added a particular mood and added to the overall image of the film.

Overall I would say it was a good day.  I enjoyed all the movies I saw and I am now inspired to start watching more movies I have always wanted to see.  I am in the process of getting Citizen Kane so who knows, maybe the next blog will be about that.

Robert Cannon