Movies that are awesome

Continuing with the movie theme, a short list of films that I happen to like in no particulat order of importance

Platoon: If you want to see an emotional side of war or men being emotional, this is one of the best movies on these topics. Made by Oliver Stone who actually served in combat in Vietnam earning Broze Star before being wounded. It is made as authentic as humanly possible, for example to prepare for filming the entire cast was taken for a brutal 2 week Jungle warfare training. It was more of a recreation of the war filmed than a movie. The result is simply awesome, from the confused firefights and the constant threat of ambush to the anger, despair and hopelesness of the tired teary eyed men is simply breathtaking. My favourite scene is at the end when Sergeant O'Neil, played by John McGinley, hears that he has been assigned to lead a platoon, the expression on his face goes beyond words.

The Dark Knight: This is one the best films I have seen in recent years. The atmosphere, the plot, the characters and the theme all come together to form a cinematic masterpiece. Heath Ledger pulls of the role of his life, managing to surpase the previous Joker played by Jack Nicholson by miles. Aaron Eckhart(Harvey Dent), Gary Oldman(Commisionare Gordon) and Christian Bale(Batman) form the Triumvirate of the Good guys who begin to make some serious headway into bringing down crime in Gotham, each with their own strenghts and weakness that complement each other really well. The plot is brilliant and the moral dilemmas possed to the characters would make Aristotle cry and they force you to think what would I do in this situation, combined with cripping action scenes. But the best part is the ending which they had the balls to make into a tragedy, like they did with the whole film.

Terminator 2: The movie starts with a simple premise, two robots are sent from the future, one to kill a kid and one to save the same kid turns into an epic battle to change the future. Its also a story about how young John Connor is forced to grow up into an adult, while teaching the a terminator designed to kill, how to be a responsible human being, while trying to keep his mothers psychotic mother in check. In the same way the Terminator learns to value human life, while his mother finds new hope when she realizes that the future is not set. Add to this action scenes that still look awesome today, with one of best endings I have seen.

Rambo First Blood: A story about an argument between two men which gets way out of hand. What is cool about this film is that its really hard to tell which one is the good guy and which the bad guy, Rambo or the Sheriff. Another interesting bit about is that Rambo uses is skills, intelligence and guerrilla tactics to defeat a large number of better equipped opponents. No guns, just a knife, intelligence and the will to survive. The end is again not what you expect, how many action films end in an emotional break down of the main character.

Empire Strikes Back: The first Star Wars film I saw(Thanks Dad for showing me this one first) and in my opinion the best of them. Starts of with heroes desperately defending their base and barely escaping the seemingly invinsible onslaught of the Empire and ends in one of the most epic fight scenes in movie history. Main issue here is how to defeat evil without being corrupted into being evil? The atmosphere is foreboding as the heroes try to desperatly escape or are preparing to a face a far superior foe. On the side we get an exciting chase and a well acted romance, which is fun and interesting to watch. If you haven't seen any Star Wars films, watch this.

Its a Wonderful Life: This one is old but still gold. A story about a man, who feels like he failed in his life and learns the hard way that this is in fact not true. Its a christmas classic, but also works well one is feeling depressed. Its the ultimate feel good movie with a very satisfying end.

Fight Club: A story about how pointless modern life occasionally feels and the quest of two men to change things. Bard Pitt as the nihilistic anarchist Tyler Durden who seeks to go deep into the primal urges of man that have been burried under all the bull shit of modern life and bring these instincts back. Starts of with a a bunch of guys kick the shit out of each other and culminates into an attempt to decimate the foundations of modern society, with an interesting twist end.