Hello Everyone! I just realized that I haven’t updated my About page since Film Insight was created. I have added a little bit about my life story, and description of what my site is about. I hope you guys are liking what you’re reading so far. Thanks for all of your support! I wish you all a Happy and Healthy New Year.

As the new decade approaches; I’m grateful for all of my family and friends. I am also grateful for my health. For me, the top 3 priorities in life are:

-Health – Without it, nothing else matters.

-Family – I went through a tough time with my health. I couldn’t have made it through without the love and support of my family.

-Friends – Similar to having a second family. Although you can’t choose your family, you can choose your friends. The people that you surround yourself with, tell you a lot about yourself. A good friend is someone you resonate with, someone who supports you through thick and thin, and someone who you can always count on. There aren’t many things in life, that can compare to a great friendship.

Health, Family, and Friends. Everything else takes a back seat. Even money. Thanks for reading; once again, I hope you have a wonderful year!

What if you have a cruel, mean family member or friend? How would you go about changing their bad personality? Would you hire a psychologist? Set up a blind date? Or perhaps talk to them on the phone? In “The Game”, Conrad Van Orton (Sean Penn), decides to take things to the next level. He decides to give his brother, Nicholas (Michael Douglas), a birthday gift which he will never forget.

CSR: A company that changes lives. Nicholas is given a gift certificate for their services. What is the purpose of CSR? As stated in the film, they give you whatever is missing in your life. They are usually hired, when life is at its worst.

Nicholas was rich, snobby, cruel, and bossy. He had a boatload of money; but every other aspect of his life was sorely lacking. What better way to change someone else’s life, than to scare them to suicide? Literally.

Although the film is controversial for being too ‘heartless’, and having many plot-holes; ‘The Game’ is a wonderful piece of cinema, about how a terrifying experience can change someone for the better.

We all go through life changing experiences, at one point or another. The sooner the better. Some of us go through traumatic experiences, such as an illness, or the loss of a loved one. Some of us go through pleasant experiences, such as the birth of your first child, or finding your true love. Whether satisfying or disheartening, these experiences serve the same purpose: To change us for the better. Nicholas Van Orton needed a change. He treated other people like they were worthless. If selfishness had a peak, Nicholas had reached it.

The game put Nicholas through some horrible situations. Trust, deceit, the death of a loved one, bank accounts being wiped, and suicide. He felt so betrayed by the company, not knowing that everything was just a game.

Nicholas felt real emotions, despite being in a fake situation. When he found out that everything was just a game, he felt so much relief. He didn’t care that he had just attempted suicide in front of everyone he knows. He didn’t feel embarrassed. He just felt happy to be alive, and happy to know that everything was alright. His brother was alive, his banks accounts hadn’t been touched, and no one was trying to kill him. Everything was back to normal, but things would never be the same.

Can you terrify someone into making a change? Not particularly. The only way to scare someone into changing their ways, is to trick them into believing there is  real danger. Only then, can transformations happen. In real life, this is pretty impractical. Unless you can come up with your own ways of terrifying someone into improving their life. If you do, please contact me!

Chalk up a big win for David Fincher. ‘The Game’ was made in 1997, but it still packs a punch. Just like Fincher’s other films (Fight Club, Seven), you are not soon to forget the powerful message of ‘The Game’. You can make a change for the better, at any time. Don’t force your relatives into terrifying you!

Our lives always have room for a little adventure. But there is something even more important than the adventure itself: It’s who we spend the adventure with. In “Up”, Carl Fredricksen lives his adventure alongside his wife. In the first 10 minutes of the movie, you learn about how happy he is with his wife, and how perfect the are together. Then, you see devastation. Mr. Fredricksen and his wife are crushed, when they can’t have a baby. Then, you see Carl’s devastation when his wife is taken from him. The only thing that keeps him going after his wife’s death, is one final adventure that she had always wanted to embark on: Living in South America. Mr. Fredricksen, out of love for his wife, goes on one final adventure. What he discovers along the way, is something he could never have imagined.

“Up” is both uplifting, and depressing. It can give the viewers a sense of poignancy about all of the lost time. It can also uplift people, to take a bold risk, and go on a new adventure! One of the main themes of the movie, is the ability to start fresh at any given moment.

“Thanks for the adventure. Now go have one of your own”, is Ellie’s final, posthumous message for Carl. She appreciates, and cherishes the time that they spent together. But what she really wants, is for Carl to find a new adventure. To find a new meaning in life, even though the love of his life has passed away. Isn’t this what you would want for your own family members, after you die?

Carl Fredricksen goes on an adventure, just as Ellie asked him. He ties miracle balloons to his house, and floats off to South America. Cheesy and unrealistic? Yes. But the concept is absolutely delightful! Carl sets off on his adventure, and Russell inadvertently comes along.

Russell does have an interesting story, and it is the reason for his social awkwardness. His father is no longer there for him, and it crushes Russell on the inside. His dad is ‘too busy’ to spend time with him, and any of his family members. His entire family life is slowly deteriorating, and he is just an innocent bystander. That is, until he met Carl Fredricksen.

What makes ‘Up” such a great movie, is the clash of character situations. Mr. Fredricksen is old, depressed, and trying to figure out how to live after the death of his wife. Russell is just a young boy, trying to figure out how to live without the support of his father. In a way, they are both the same character, trying to figure things out. In the end, they develop a father-son relationship, that will be remembered for a long time to come.

“Up”, is also a movie about letting go of your attachments. When most of the magical helium balloons have popped, Mr. Fredricksen is faced with a life changing decision. The only way to make the house float again, is to get rid of all of his old possessions. Everything that he and his wife shared together. After much thought and deliberation, Carl utters the most powerful quote of the movie: “It’s just a house!”. And that it is! Material items cannot hold any emotional possessions, unless we allow them to. All of the emotions that we have felt in the past, are still in our heads. A house is just a house. The difference between a house and a home, is the emotional meaning that you attach to your house. Only then, is it called, your home.

By letting go of his house, he let go of his past. Mr. Fredricksen gave himself a clean slate. He was able to do this, because he knew that his wife would approve. The movie concludes with a beautiful moment shared between Russell and Mr. Fredricksen. We see the father-son bond between the 2 characters, and we know that everything will be alright. Is the ending too much like a fairy tale? Possibly. But that doesn’t detract from the powerful message of this extraordinary film: Life begins, and life ends. We will suffer tragic loss, and we will experience incredible wins. What’s most important, is how you will react to your tragic losses. Will you break down? Or will you seek a new adventure, after an old one has passed?

I am not a big fan of the horror movie genre. Nowadays, too many movies try cheap scares, instead of making you psychologically cower. “The Shining”, by Stanley Kubrick, is one of those films. The film is not comprised of cheap scares. Instead, it takes you on a journey into the darkness of human nature. It shows you how a man is slowly devoured by his loneliness, and eventually, resorts to murder and insanity. It is one of the best horror movies of all time, and it will be viewed by many generations to come. Despite all of the darkness in the movie, is there any positive message associated with “The Shining”? Yes, indeed, there is. For one, love is one of the main subjects in the movie. Is your love for your family strong enough, that you could retain your sanity in complete isolation with them? Or will you fall apart, like Jack Torrance in the film? “The Shining” demonstrates our need for companionship. Not just from our families, but from everyone we interact with. Our peers, the people that we chit-chat with in supermarket lines, and anyone who we interact with.

In one of the Twilight Zone episodes, a man is put in complete isolation for a NASA program. Eventually, he goes crazy, and starts to see an illusion of an empty, desolate town. Eventually, he breaks down into insanity. It is only when the program is brought back to his attention, that he regains his composure. It is a slow process to recover from isolation. Fortunately for our Twilight Zone character, he does recover. Unfortunately for Jack Torrance of “The Shining”, he does not.

Both “The Shining” and this Twilight Zone episode, demonstrate a key component of human nature. Our need for constant companionship. Without it, we cannot survive. It doesn’t matter how strong and resilient you are. A strong person will take a longer time to break, but we cannot survive without other people. Imagine a world with no one to talk to, no one to share your ideas with, and no one to laugh with. A world where you are the only being in existence. Imagine having no one to love, no one to care for, and no one to help. Life loses its meaning. Now snap yourself out of this state, before you get depressed. Our lives are wonderful, and filled with human companionship! We have family and/or friends. Today, we can share our ideas with anyone, both online and offline. There really is no excuse for not having many friends/peers.

But what about limited human companionship? What if we are stuck with 2-3 people, and absolutely no other human contact? Eventually, we learn how these other people think. How they act, talk, and respond to you. They will become predictable. Imagine being put into this isolation for years! It’s not quite like being alone, but you can be easily driven insane. In “The Shining”, Jack Torrance feels he is well-handled emotionally, and that he will have no problem dealing with long-term isolation. However, in his isolation, he learns a lot about himself.

Companionship is like food. If you are reading this article, you probably eat at least 2 meals a day. You probably don’t know what starvation feels like. This is the same with companionship. When Jack Torrance said that he and his family would be fine in isolation, that is similar to eating a piece of bread every day. Eventually, you will become skinny and sick. It takes different amounts of time, for different people. Without companionship, our emotions starve. When emotions starve, bad things happen.

Take a look at “The Shining”, and let it serve as a road map for human contact. Develop gratitude for everyone in your life. Your family, friends, and even your enemies. All of these people may drive you crazy, but if they were not around, you would be worse off. Much worse off.

Observe and Report is a very open-ended film. The main character, Ronnie (Seth Rogen), is suffering from bi-polar disorder. In this analysis, I will not psychoanalyze Ronnie. Nor will I state if the ending was in his imagination. I am writing under the presumption that the ending was real, and Ronnie became the hero. After all, it does make the film very motivational.

After watching Observe and Report, I felt pretty good about the movie. Most have said that it was too dark and depressing, but I believe that I viewed this film under a more uplifting light. This is most likely due to my naturally positive nature, and my tendency to find the good in every situation. The fact is, Ronnie may have been a little off-putting, too aggressive, and an uncomfortable character. But he knew what he wanted out of life. He wanted to be a police officer, and he wanted to help the people in his community by fighting crime. His character goes to show that you can have a low status, and still be excellent at what you do. It all depends on your mindset, and your attitude.

Ronnie was committed to stopping the pervert that was terrorizing his mall. He treated himself like Achilles, and his fellow mall cops as his warriors. He did not care about making other people happy. He just wanted to achieve his dream.

After applying to become an official police officer, he is rejected soon after. He goes on an emotional riot, and ends up at rock-bottom: Prison. When he gets out, he is very depressed. It isn’t until his encounter with the ‘mall flasher’, that he regains his strength to live.

He is willing to stand up for what he believes is right. When Nell’s manager was making fun of her for being unable to walk, Ronnie slammed his head on a metal plate. Ronnie took things personally, which was another one of his weaknesses. However, in his situation with Nell, it served him well.

Understand that Ronnie is not a very healthy individual. He does take things too seriously, but as a whole, he serves as a prime example for the ‘attitude is everything’ paradigm. He was so committed to what he did. Nothing could stand in his way of stopping the bad guys, and becoming a police officer.

When the police does not accept him, he is broken. But then he realizes an extremely important life lesson: Status doesn’t mean much. You can be a certified police officer, but still be a corrupt law breaker. Just because one is certified in their craft, does not make them better than those who are uncertified. And just because someone is on the bottom-level of their industry, does not mean that they can’t make a difference. Observe and Report is an inspirational film, that shows how anyone can make a difference in this world. No matter what position they hold.

“I don’t need your gun, or your badge, to tell me who the **** I am.”

In the end, Ronnie ‘became’ a police officer, and achieved his ultimate goal. He may not have gotten to join the police force, but he did what the other police officers couldn’t. He brought down the bad guy, because of his ‘can-do’ attitude. Let Ronnie serve as a role model for a persistent, and confident attitude. He has many undesirable traits; but where it matters most, he is most effective. Getting the job done, and always feeling important.