The Hurt Locker

I really liked watching The Hurt Locker.  I actually really enjoy watching movies like this that are intense and bring out a lot of emotions.  I liked how this movie wasn't just a typical war movie with constant killing, but instead was one that focused on a single person and their story of helping others.  I could never imagine being on the bomb squad and constantly putting myself in life-threatening situations.  I really didn't like how they killed Mark Wahlberg off in the first few minutes!  But by starting off the movie like that, it shows how someone can be alive and healthy one minute, and dead the next, through this job on the bomb squad.  I thought the actors all did an incredible job.  One part of the movie that was really sad and disturbing was when the main character found that little boy dead with a bomb inside of him.  I wish they would have elaborated on their relationship a little more, but it was very tragic.  Also, it's sad that he couldn't really function in the real world, like when he went back to his family.  It just shows how dedicated he is to his job. I think "the hurt locker" is where they're stationed.  They do risky things and they're bound to get hurt whether if it's physically or emotionally.  So wherever they're stationed during the war, it's the hurt locker because they're stuck inside of it and are bound to get hurt in one way or another.

Captain Phillips

I really loved Captain Phillips.  I thought it was an amazing action film that wasn't like your typical action film. The hero was an ordinary man and it was a very realistic situation.  I was definitely on the edge of my seat the entire movie.  Tom Hanks, as usual, did an amazing job.  Also, I thought it was incredible how spot on the actors were that played the Somalian pirates.  I would definitely recommend this movie to everyone because it's a really interesting topic, it's very realistic, it's filled with action, and it's just an overall amazing story.  I would honestly watch it again and again.

Argo

Although I didn't get to watch the entire movie in class, I saw Argo in the movie theater when it first came out.  I thought this was an excellent movie.  The topic is one that probably not too many people are entirely familiar with.  A lot of people have probably heard about the hostages, but not about the way that they were saved.  The movie kept me on the edge of my seat, even the second time watching it.  I think Ben Affleck did a fantastic job.  The movie was very real which I really liked because that added to the intensity and I felt like I was actually there watching all of this.  Everything about it was amazing!

Parkland

Overall, I wasn't crazy about this movie.  It had a lot of amazing actors (Zac Efron especially!) so it had the potential to be a really good movie, but it was somewhat dull.  I felt like the story of what happened was following exactly which is good if you want to make a documentary, but for entertainment purposes it made it somewhat boring.  I wish we watched the movie that was shown first semester about the conspiracy because that would've been very interesting.

Apollo 13

Overall, I didn't really like Apollo 13 that much.  The first day of watching I was interested because I like Tom Hanks and it was really different from everything else we've watched, but the following days I found myself having a difficult time paying attention.  There was a lot going on and it was all very scientific and confusing.  Also, it wasn't really exciting to just watch them sitting in a spaceship the whole time.  I know that's the whole point of the movie, but it got kind of boring without a change of scenery.

I think that spending $9.928 billion a year on NASA is a ridiculous amount of wasted money.  Although space exploration may be interesting, there are so many problems on earth that need to be addressed and so many more places that money could have been allotted that would have benefited this planet.  Think about how that money could be used towards education, to help the needy, health care, ect.  I just don't see how landing on the moon provides any benefit to us.  I feel like the United States was just so caught up in this competition to be the most advanced country that they spent their money on that rather than on more important things.  

Currently, I don't think that space exploration should a priority for the United States.  As I said before, there are so many other issues that need to be addressed.  I feel like the United States always feels like they need to be ahead of other countries in everything.  It's more important to improve the country as a whole than to explore space, which benefits almost nobody.  I think it's smart that they retired the space program so that we can focus more on the problems in our country.

The Pianist

The Pianist was definitely one of my favorite films in this class.  It's content was very deep and I had a personal connection with the movie since I'm Jewish.  I was on the edge of my seat the entire movie hoping that Szpilman continued finding ways to survive.  I liked how realistic this movie was.  There weren't a ton of extremely well known actors and the main character was just an ordinary man trying to survive rather than some strong guy that tried defeating all of the Nazis.  The end of the movie when he played the piano for the Nazi officer and then he helped him stay alive was very touching.  I think this movie is a fabulous depiction of what times were like during the holocaust and an incredible story, I would definitely recommend that everyone watches it.

I think Hosenfeld chose to help Szpilman survive because he saw him for his incredible talent as a musician rather than for his religion.  Once Szpilman played the piano, I think Hosenfeld realized that he was just as much as human as any other person and that even a Jew can have incredible talent and killing him could be putting such talent to waste.  I think Szpilman trusted Hosenfeld because, at that point, he had been through so much and needed something to believe in, so he put his trust in Hosenfeld, believing that perhaps not all Nazis are 100% heartless people.

Miracle

As someone who really loves feel-good, sports movies, I loved the movie Miracle.  A lot of the movies we watch in this class make me feel more disappointed in Americans, but this movie made me feel really proud to be a part of such an amazing country.  I think Kurt Russell played an amazing role as Herb, the coach of the USA hockey team.  He was able to put together a group of boys, some of which who weren't so fond of each other, and turn them into an amazing, gold winning, team.  I also really enjoyed learning about some of the other hockey players in the movie and how it touched on some emotional things.  For example, how Herb was the last one cut from the USA hockey team, but he finally got the gold medal he had wanted for so long.  Overall, I really loved the film!  I enjoyed rooting for the USA team during the movie and it made me feel very proud of our country once they won the gold medal.  I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys watching feel-good movies!

The "Miracle on Ice" is about a team of U.S. hockey players who were chosen to be a part of the USA hockey team for the 1980 Olympics.  Their highest goal was to defeat the Soviet Union, a team that was known to be the best as all of the players had played together for years.  During this time period, the U.S. was in the midst of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, which heightened the level of competition.  Also, the Watergate scandal just happened, there was a high unemployment level, there was high inflation, the energy crisis, and 52 Americans were being held hostage in Iran.  So Americans were going through a rough time period, but this miracle of a victory gave Americans something to celebrate and be proud of.  During my lifetime, I cannot think of an event that had quite the same effect on America as a whole.  I feel as if there have been terrible things that have happened, such as 9/11 and the more recent school shootings, that have caused the country to take a step back and try to make this a better and more safe country to live in.  But I cannot think of an event that made all of America celebrate.