Music Within (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)The life of the extraordinary survivor Richard Pimentel is a fine biography that manages to explore the many phases of a unique man's life with humor, tenderness, and bravado. Though barely recognized in its theatrical release, MUSIC WITHIN should hopefully find a wide audience in the form of this well constructed DVD. There are many significant lessons to be learned from this story (written by Bret McKinney, Mark Andrew Olsen and Kelly Kennemeras) as well as a large dose of entertainment from some superb actors directed by Steven Sawalich (credited with the original idea for the film).
Richard Pimentel (Ron Livingston) entered the world as one of the survivors in a series of miscarriages by his mother (Rebecca De Mornay), a deeply disturbed woman who surrendered her only living child to a Catholic orphanage at birth. From there Pimentel grew up with bizarre circumstances, raised by his Chinese father who dies from a working accident. Desperately needing to belong and to recognized, Pimentel became an expert public speaker, but his efforts to gain admission to college were thwarted by college speech professor Ben Padrow (Hector Elizondo) who admired Pimentel's technical abilities on the stage but says he needs to live life to find his 'music within' before he can succeed in college level oratory. Out of need for employment and guarantee for a college education Pimentel joins the military, is sent to Vietnam, where a blast of incoming explosions disables him with deafness. Released from the military without the benefits of Veteran funds, Pimentel deals with his inability to hear, meets Art Honeyman (Michael Sheen) disabled by cerebral palsy and the two strike up a warm friendship: the two can understand each other and form a bond stronger than the critical eye of the 'normal world'. Pimentel meets the beautiful Christine (Melissa George) and soon they bed only to have Pimentel discover the Christine shares her bed with another man. From this point the story picks up a pace that is breathless as Pimentel gains his education and a good job, only to join a group of disabled veterans, and eventually devote his life to fighting for the rights of the disabled. And this is all true!
Livingston finds the right balance between dark humor and ambition to create change in a world that views the disabled as 'ugly', and together with Michael Sheen's impeccable performance as the multifaceted cerebral palsy stricken Ken, the spot-on actors transcend the 'docudrama' genre and offer us unforgettable characters that provide a richly entertaining story as well as a plea for understanding the plight of the disabled. The features included with the DVD are full of interviews with the real Richard Pimentel and the actors' and director's responses to the formation of the American Disabilities Act that resulted from this amazing young man's struggle to find his music within. It is a wild ride of a comic film with a very tender message. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, April 08

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Ron Livingston delivers the performance of a lifetime in this acclaimed film based on the incredible true-life story of Richard Pimentel. Deafened by a bomb blast in Vietnam, Richard (Livingston) returns home and discovers his life's calling: helping others with disabilities, including his fellow veterans. Along with his bestfriend Art (Michael Sheen), a wheelchair-bound rebel with a wicked wit, Richard fights for the rights of those whose voices can't always be heard. Music Within is a powerful and inspiring journey that every American should take.

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Narrow Escape (Full) Review

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(More customer reviews)I have been looking for this movie for years. I always thought it was called "Thousand Men and a Baby". Why do they change the names and not cross reference them?
This is one of my favorites. Richard Thomas & Gerald McRaney are wonderful in this, and the actor who plays the Navy Chaplin (sorry I can't remember his name)is great. This is a truly heartwarming story and I wish we had more these days.

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Stand and Deliver/Lean on Me (1988) Review

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(More customer reviews)You simply can't go wrong with this DVD containing two outstanding films on educators who inspire their students in two utterly different ways.
In "Stand and Deliver" Edward James Olmos, almost unrecognizable, rightly earned an Oscar Nomination for his portrayal of an idealistic teacher in a run-down school. He makes extraordinary efforts to connect and motivate his students. He is a shining example of that cliche term "No one cares how much you know until the know how much you care." Olmos's character cares more than any teacher I have ever met myself. Awesomely inspiring!
Morgan Freeman's role in "Lean on Me" is typical of the kind of roles he's particularly good at: "My way or the highway." He nearly sinks his own efforts to turn around a failing school by acting as if he ALONE is the only one that can. This is a lesson for every administrator out there: Trust Your Staff/Facutly. Give your staff and facutly the respect they are entitled to and they will work for you and the students much better than if you brow beat them and circumvent their authority as professional educators. It is only when Freeman's character learns this that things begin to go his well-intentioned way.
As a 16 year veteran teacher I love nothing more than inspirational stories about education. Both of these films are now available in one package and definitely worth the purchase! If you are moved by other stories in the same vein, then check out "Mr. Holland's Opus", "To Sir with Love", "The Blackboard Jungle", "Dead Poet's Society", "Take the Lead", and "Akeelah and the Bee."

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Look at the too-cool-to-cope kids in Jaime Escalante's class at East L.A.'s tough Garfield High, and many will say they see a bunch of losers. Escalante sees scholars. How he cajoles, instructs, challenges and inspires his no-expectations barrio kids to pass the daunting Calculus Advanced Placement Test forms the amazing heart of Stand and Deliver [Side A], starring Edward James Olmos and Lou Diamond Phillips. Paterson, New Jersey's Eastside High is the setting for Lean on Me [Side B], starring Morgan Freeman as bat-and-bullhorn-toting principal Joe Clark, whose controversial methods turned the failing school around and made Clark a national symbol of tough-love education. His message: Don't lean on excuses, drugs or anger. Lean on yourself and me...and learn. School's now in session with these two true-life tales!

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Pay It Forward (2000) Review

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(More customer reviews)I found this movie to be a compelling and moving cinematic experience, with outstanding, well nuanced performances by Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt, Haley Joel Osment, and James Caviezel. It is a bona fide tearjerker. Those who enjoy that genre of film should love this one.
The movie opens up with a hostage scene being played out in a residential neighborhood, with cops everywhere. A reporter arrives on the scene only to have the cops try and give him the bum's rush. While the cops are distracted by the reporter, the perpetrator leaves the scene in a sports utitlty vehicle, but not before crashing into and totalling the reporter's car. A mysterious stranger materializes and hands the reporter the keys to a new jaguar, saying that he is giving it to him, no strings attached, since he seems to have run into a little car trouble.
The movie then cuts to a scene four months earlier. The viewer is taken to a seventh grade class room where, in a wonderful scene, student, Trevor McKinney, played by Haley Joel Osment, takes his teacher's assignment of doing something that could potentially change the world to heart. His teacher, an intelligent and controlled man, played by Kevin Spacey, whose burn scarred face masks the scars on his heart, gives out this assignment cavalierly, not really expecting that any of his students will come up with something of real note.
It turns out that Trevor, intelligent and introspective, comes up with an idea whereby he performs a potentially life changing good deed for each of three people. They in turn each do the same for three people. He calls his idea "pay it forward". It is your basic pyramid scheme with a twist. Some of the things he does will tug at your heart strings. Some of them will tickle your funny bone. One thing is for sure, unless you are made of stone, you will be moved.
Meanwhile Trevor's stressed out mom, played by Helen Hunt, is a single parent, holding down two jobs. An alcoholic in the throes of a recovery, she does the best that she can. Split from Trevor's dad, himself an alcoholic who used to batter her, she is struggling to keep on even keel. When Trevor's execution of his teacher's assignment results in what appears to be a potentially life threatening situation, it causes his mom to hit the roof and go to the school, where she confronts the baffled teacher.
Ultimately, Trevor's mom and his teacher are brought together, through the contrivance of Trevor. What initially seemed impossible, becomes a reality, and a relationship blossoms. It turns out that they have more in common than was initially thought. Meanwhile, Trevor's plan is catching on, and a number of wonderful scenes in the film illustrate this.
What happens in this film will, at times, thrill and delight you. At other times, what happens will surely move you to tears. Some may call the movie manipulative and schmaltzy. It is simply just an old fashioned tearjerker.

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HOW MUCH IMPACT CAN ONE HEARTFELT IDEA HAVE? A JUNIOR-HIGHSTUDENT'S CLASS PROJECT IDEA IGNITES A CHAIN REACTION OFGOODNESS AND CONSEQUENCES. THE BOY'S IDEA: WHEN SOMEONE DOESYOU A FAVOR, DON'T PAY IT BACK, PAY IT FORWARD.

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August Rush (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)"August Rush" is a fairy tale. It doesn't have princes, princesses, evil stepmothers, witches, or big bad wolves, but it's a fairy tale nonetheless. And as such, it tells a story that resonates so strongly with its audience that it casts a magic spell. This movie is told in the language of music, and it exemplifies the harmonic connections between people, the rhythmic bonds that can never be broken in spite of distance and time. It's also told in the language of faith, of the belief that love will indeed conquer all. No, this is not a realistic idea, but that's not the point. Isn't it nice that we have films like this to escape to when realism is bringing us down? Isn't it wonderful when we find that one film that can raise our spirits? "August Rush" was that film for me, and I recommend it to anyone in need of a rejuvenating emotional boost.
The film stars Freddie Highmore as an orphan named Evan Taylor, a quiet yet determined musical prodigy. He was born as the result of a chance encounter between two musicians: an Irish rock guitarist named Louis Connelly (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and a classically trained American cellist named Lyla Novacek (Keri Russell). While living in New York City, they met and separated through twists of fate--Lyla's controlling father (William Sadler) doesn't take the news of her unplanned pregnancy very well, and when she's hit by a car and injured, he uses that opportunity to make her believe that her baby did not survive. In reality, the baby was delivered and put into the legal system as a parentless orphan. Lyla and Louis go their separate ways, believing that they would never see each other again.
In the present day, their eleven-year-old son Evan lives in an orphanage with a number of broken-spirited boys. They're so disillusioned that they bully him into believing as they do. They constantly tell him that no one is coming for him, that his ability to hear music in everything makes him nothing more than a freak. And they will not stand for his belief that he actually hears the music of his parents calling out to him. But Evan refuses to sink to their level of hopelessness; he runs away to New York City, where the music seems to be beckoning him towards his destiny. It's there he meets Wizard (Robin Williams), a shady musician who houses a number of musically inclined children in an abandoned theater. He, too, is beaten down by life, so much so that he uses these children for his own financial gain. When he discovers Evan's natural ability to play the guitar, he gives him the pseudonym August Rush and forces him to perform in parks and on street corners.
Lyla, meanwhile, is living in Chicago as a music teacher. Single and without any children, she seems complacent yet stable in her new life. But all that changes when (1) she's offered a change to once again play with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and (2) she learns that her baby did not die eleven years ago. With a powerful yet unexplainable determination, she travels back to New York on a quest to find her long lost son, a quest that will hopefully be added by her playing of the cello. Hoping to help find Evan is Richard Jeffries (Terrence Howard), a social worker who met the boy when he was still living at the orphanage.
And then, of course, there's Louis, who has since gone on to be a businessman in San Francisco. His band members haven't forgiven him for leaving, least of all his brother, Marshall (Alex O'Loughlin). But worst of all, Louis hasn't been able to forgive himself, and upon seeing footage of himself performing on stage, he remembers the love he felt for Lyla. The memory is so strong that's he vows to reunite with her. This journey of finding lost love leads him from Chicago back to New York City, where he's inspired to rejoin with his band and restart his singing career. Much like his son--whom he doesn't know exists--Louis is a gifted guitar player; one can hear his passion and energy with every chord, and his music operates at the same frequency as Lyla's cello playing.
As you can probably tell, most of the film thrives on serendipity, and it gets more and more prominent with every passing scene. A kind-hearted pastor eventually takes Evan in, and when made aware of his musical genius, they send him to the Julliard School of Music. He composes a piece within the first six months of his stay, one that the faculty believes is good enough to be performed. Thus sets into motion the events leading to one of the most satisfying endings of any movie I've seen this year, a scene so touching that I was in awe. As I listened to Evan's "August's Rhapsody," I felt as if I had been enveloped in the folds of hope, love, and happiness; the earthiness of the chimes blended perfectly with the smoothness of the violins and the energy of the guitars, all of which made his unwavering faith in the power of connection perfectly clear.
This is the magic of "August Rush," a film so wonderful that I cannot recommend it enough. It's a modern day fable with a timeless message, and it comes across so well that I never once stopped to consider how implausible it is. Plausibility doesn't even come into play, here. What does come into play is the emotional impact, the sense that we can get something out of it if we surrender to pure fantasy. Evan opens the film by saying, "Music is all around us--all we have to do is listen." This is one of the year's best films, and if you keep that quote in mind when seeing it, you'll be more inclined to agree.

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There’s music in the wind and sky. Can you hear it? And there’s hope. Can you feel it? The boy called August Rush can. The music mysteriously draws him, penniless and alone, to New York City in a quest to find – somehow, someway – the parents separated from him years earlier. And along the way he may also find the musical genius hidden within him. Experience the magic of this rhapsodic epic of the heart starring Freddie Highmore (as August), Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Terrence Howard and Robin Williams. "I believe in music the way some people believe in fairy tales," August says. Open your heart and listen. You’ll believe, too.

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