Swingers (1996)

Entertainment Rating: 3 of 5

Great music, ok story. Vince Vaughn really gets annoying here, plus the language is pretty coarse. If you can get past that, this really is a nice story dealing with friendship and romantic relationships.

Moral Rating: 3 of 5

Trent’s character is portrayed as the enviable one, with Mike being the lame, whiny friend who can’t get over his recent split-up with his girlfriend. Trent seems to be a valuable friend, in that he doesn’t abandon Mike, and frequently tells him how “money” he is, but Trent seems to miss what Mike really needs. Mike ends up finding out what he needs on his own through making his own mistakes and discoveries. Because he does this by himself, he ends up happier in spite of all the help his friends were trying to offer him. It’s a big plus that the climax romantic relationship in the film has nothing to do with sex (at least through the end of the movie), is not shallow, and brings genuine happiness to Mike.

Besides the language pulling the moral rating down quite a bit, the positive message of quality relationships shines through.

Temple Grandin (2010)

Entertainment Rating: A

This was a great movie following the life of Temple Grandin who had autism and helped the world understand how to help those with autism succeed like she did.

Orson Scott Card summed up our feelings well:

“Last year might have been financially good for the movies, and films like ALICE IN WONDERLAND and holdover AVATAR might rule the box office this year. Films by directors whose hands are always distractingly visible might win the accolades of the cognoscenti. But TEMPLE GRANDIN is, without pretension, the finest artistic achievement in filmmaking I've seen in years; it easily elbowed its way into my lifetime top ten movie list.

It's an emotional rollercoaster, this movie. I laughed and cried so often I thought I had lived an extra year by watching it. Yet this was not because manipulative filmmakers juiced things up; on the contrary, the writers, director, and performers used amazing restraint. This movie never bludgeons us with something that can be conveyed through nuance alone.”

Moral Rating: 5

A lot can be learned from this depiction of the life of Temple Grandin. Even though her autism made her different (not less) than the average person, she learned how to exercise self control, how to hone her skills and apply them productively, and she wasn’t afraid to share her knowledge with those around her.

Her method of giving herself a hug was rather interesting, but demonstrated her desire to exercise control over her emotions and ultimately over her autism. We should all exerted the same effort to control our own emotions, instead of looking for ways to victimize ourselves and complain to or at others.

With the help of a loving family and her school teacher, Temple was able to realize what her strengths were and actively pursued avenues that enabled her to ultimately change the world: She re-engineered the cattle industry and opened up the eyes of the world to autism.

Go out of your way to check this film out.

House of Flying Daggers

Entertainment Value

Rating: A

Beautifully done (acting, music, and art), just like Hero. And also like Hero and many other Chinese flicks, it was rather sad. Not a very complex story, but the simplicity of the story adds to its beauty.

Moral Value - Failure to Communicate?

Rating: 3

Mei held her love for the one that she was promised to, but in the end sacrificed that love for someone she had fallen for in a 3-day period.

[Spoiler Alert]

You can take the message two ways: one, as if the bond between Mei and Leo signified marriage and so marital fidelity is most important and she should have stuck by Leo; and two, that Mei wasn't married and should have been free to make her own choice and Leo was at fault and couldn't control his jealousy and pride.

Either way presents an interesting predicament and overall the show shows how sensitive emotions/passions are if they are not bridled. 

Karate Kid I

Synopsis

Having to move to a new town due to his mother's new job, Daniel finds it very difficult to make friends at school.  The one girl who is interested in him also happens to be the ex-girlfriend of a high-ranked karate nut.  Daniel soon finds refuge with the apartment complex janitor who sees Daniel's need to learn discipline.  He consents to hand down his ancestral knowledge of Karate, accentuating that its use is only meant for defense.  As Daniel continues to struggle for a place in life, he must face his enemies in a Karate tournament.

Entertainment Value - A

Out of the first two movies, this is by far better than the second; I have yet to see the third again - but am not as excited after watching the second one.  It is almost a coming of age story as Daniel learns to cope with his emotions and harness his anger.  It's a convincing story of high school relationship dramas and the "in-crowd."  I've heard this compared to Rocky, and I think that's a good comparison.

Moral Value - Failure to Communicate? - 4

This was a very inspiring film that accurately displayed the consequences of decisions we make.  It also teaches us about trust.  As Daniel didn't understand what it was that Miyagi was teaching him, we don't always understand why we're asked to do something by our leaders/teachers, but by trusting them we grow stronger and more capable.

The bullies philosophy required no self-discipline and they fought to feed their ego.  In the end, they learned that real respect comes from fighting honorably.  I don't know that Daniel was necessarily a better fighter physically than any of the other bullies, but Miyagi's wisdom in teaching him the martial arts as a means primarily for defense helped Daniel have the right attitude to win the tournament.

I really liked Miyagi's approach to challenging the bullies: in a tournament.  This was a very appropriate way to resolve differences; had Miyagi decided to match Daniel brauns against brauns, everyone would have been worse off - Daniel seriously hurt, and the karate punks would still be clueless to their uncontrolled ego.