Change Your Image
Cale Barthold
Reviews
American Beauty (1999)
Rescued from the ashes by superb acting
I was not and am not a fan of this movie. True, it won the "Best Picture" Oscar. Yes, Kevin Spacey gave an excellent performance. But I think that the movie tries to villify "normalcy" to a ludicrous extreme. It takes what is commonly thought of as the "American Dream" and contorts every angle of it, so that what looks "normal" from the outside is the opposite, and vice versa. This may seem a good plot at first, but the movie plays it to the point of ridiculousness. In fact, the only thing that saves this movie in my opinion are the performances by Kevin Spacey and Annette Benning. (I saw this movie the day after "Three Kings" and was sure "Three Kings" would be an Oscar contender... Oh well... maybe some day action dramas will receive credibility.)
Challenge to Be Free (1975)
The movie that made me who I am... sort of...
"Challenge to be Free" was one of the first films I saw as a child. It was also one of the first VHS tapes that I owned. I hadn't seen the movie in years, so yesterday I decided to stick the tape in and watch it. Wow. The story is as powerful now as it was the first time I saw it. I think now that I am older I can better apreciate the values that are implanted in the movie. (Self-reliance, The value of Freedom, and the love of nature) It is a "B" movie, to be sure, but it's one that you'll remember for years, especially if you see it as a child.