You need to remember two things if you ever decide to watch The Cincinnati Kid. First, it is a movie set in an era where Stud Poker was king and as such will look very alien to those that picked up the game of poker in the last few years. Next, the purpose of this movie was drama, and not realism when it comes to the game play. However, when it comes to the actual main gamblers, the characters are timeless.

Steve McQueen plays “The Kid”, a fantastic young gambler who is renown for being one of the best players in the world. To go with it, he has the devil may care attitude that often accompanies youth and as such, he thinks he can take on the world. In the poker world of that era, the best in the world is named Robinson, also known as “The Man.” The Man is the best in the world, but he is aging, and as many of us know that age can cause the mental faculties to deteriorate. The Kid thinks he can take him and tries to do so.

While The Kid may come off as brash and a showboat, he is not without honor. This is put to the test when Tom, a player that is seeking revenge on The Man, tries to help the kid by cheating. The Kid does the honorable thing and gets an honest dealer into the game so he can find out if he is good enough to beat the man.

As the big game progresses, The Kid looks to be in control. The final hand goes down between the two and in the final hand, The Kid has aces and tens showing against a the queen, ten, nine, eight of diamonds. The Kid puts all of his money at risk and The Man raises. Nobody believes The Man has it, and neither does The Kid, who calls the raise even though it will put him $5,000 in debt.

The Man shows the jack of diamonds for the straight flush and after being asked about continuing on a three flush when the kid had a pair showing, the line given is one that is very applicable to poker in, “That’s what it is all about. You make a bad play at the right time.” The Kid shows an ace in the hole for aces-full, and shows that The Man is both lucky and good. The Kid then leaves realizing that he is second best, a cruel fate dealt to him by lady luck. The Man goes on to celebrate his new found winnings, once again proving his dominance.

While the odds of someone having a straight flush against aces full in the same hand are astronomical, the final hand is a bit like life. Sometimes, no matter how good you are, someone is out there that is better. At the same time, it is not always about how good you are, sometimes it is about how fortunate one can become.

The Cincinnati Kid can be viewed as a story about many things. It could be a story of youth vs. experience, a story of the school of hard knocks, or even a lesson on humility. However, in the end the movie could be best summarized by saying that “sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.”

“From films classics like “Patton” to modern flicks like “The Dark Knight”, you can be sure that Andrew has watched them. Though he works for PokerJunkie.com during the day, Andrew is a TV fanatic by night who spends most of his time enjoying TV shows like Psych and Mythbusters.”

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Question: What was the right decision for Norma and Arthur to make at the end of the movie?

This is a highly subjective question, of course. On the surface, it looks like Norma boldly sacrificed her life to improve her son’s quality of life. And Arthur also bravely surrendered his life to a prison sentence. How altruistic, and a true noble way to lay down your own life for your children.

But aren’t these the same people who would KILL someone they don’t know for $1 million? What is it about not knowing someone, that makes murder morally justifiable?

Nothing.

The right decision would be for Norma and Arthur to save their own lives, and bring up their son with blindness and deafness. Laying down their lives for their son was the selfish thing to do. Selfish in the sense that they were trying to avoid the long-term pain of seeing their child suffer. Norma chose death, and Arthur chose prison.

Why do people lay down their lives for their children, yet at the same time are willing to take the life of a stranger for $1 million?

Emotions. It’s that simple.

Barring psychosis, if we have any emotional connection to a person, we can’t kill them; even an intense negative connection (sorry, Horrible Bosses). Pressing a button, and not knowing the person we are killing gives us the illusion that we somehow aren’t as responsible for the death of another. Logically, of course, we know we’re responsible. But emotionally, that’s another story.

Through the movie “The Box”, we learn how to make someone morally deviate. Make it as easy as possible for them to do so. I can hardly think of a more effective way than $1 million + the simple push of a button.

Sometimes the things we believe to be altruistic are actually the most selfish. Be careful as you make your way through the world of tempting solutions (quick fixes, make money schemes, etc.) They are attractive and alluring, but by simply considering them, we set ourselves up for disappointment.

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Wow. Vanilla Sky was an awesome movie. I really like movies that make you examine your life, and reevaluate your priorities. Cliche: The little things are the big things. We have seen a lot of movies like Vanilla Sky (The Game). But I really connected with Vanilla Sky, because I believe we all have things/people in life that we really cherish. People that we never want to lose.

In this case, David didn’t want to lose Sophia, the love of his life. He went so far as to freeze himself in order to keep her!

Would we all go to that extent to save someone we love? To keep them in our lives? Maybe we would. But is that the right thing to do? I don’t know.

Whatever the case is, Vanilla Sky opens our eyes to the perspective: Open Your Eyes. Your time here is very limited. Time to make the most of it.

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Congratulations to “Photographs” by Brendan Clogher and Christina “Kiki” Manrique for winning the Best Film Award at the 2011 Beneath the Earth Film Festival!

Photographs is a touching account of an elderly woman reflecting on her past. The film starts off when our protagonist finds a camera in a post-apocalyptic city. I believe that the dark feel of the abandoned city can represent how someone feels when they have reached an ‘old’ age. Being 19 years old, I cannot relate. I can only imagine. Yet my imagination leads me to believe that our memories, or photographs, are golden. And there are 2 ways we can look at our old photographs: We can be depressed that the moments have passed, never to return again. Or we can be grateful that we had the experiences in the first place. As an optimist, I choose the latter.

And although the lady in the film looks lonely, she still has that spark in her eyes. It’s there for a reason…she’s happy about her life, and feels tranquility looking back. I hope I feel the same way when I’m her age. But I won’t just hope…I’ll do something about it. Like work on meaningful projects in order to help others, and accumulate meaningful life experiences. And I hope you will do the same!

That’s what living is all about.

For more info about the ‘Beneath the Earth Film Festival’, click HERE!

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But how about some more food for thought? Let’s talk about the characters. What an interesting character study is “The Prestige”! Let us first talk about Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman). Angier is the epitome of human greed. He represents our lust for complete knowing. The person inside all of us that wants to know everything about everything, because we can’t stand to be in the darkness. We need to know. Nikola Tesla’s device may be fictional, but it does represent the extent that people are willing to go in order to satisfy their selfish curiosity. Make no mistake about it, “The Prestige” highlights the darkness of human nature that lurks inside all of us, ready to burst out at any minute. The good news is that we can learn to control our dark side.

Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) is a much less explicit character. He is the epitome of actual knowing. The man who possesses the ‘secret’. This is the man that Angier envies the most. Seemingly cool, calm, collected, and in control. Borden allures Angier by creating a new, obviously impossible magic trick called “The Transported Man”. Borden never gives away his simple ‘secret’. As a matter of fact, he leads Angier to believe that he has a real secret. Angier falls for the trap.

The only reason that a moral trap like this is possible in the first place, is the gullibility of the subject. There would be no movie without Angier’s insistence to ‘get the secret’. Most people relate to Angier, because many of us feel that we are missing something. We need someone else’s secret to feel happy. We need the gawking of others at our ‘magic show’ in order to feel fulfilled.

Well, if you want a secret, here it is:

The closer you can get to the positive aspects of Borden’s mindset, the closer you’ll be to happiness.

Now, I realize that this may be quite a strange statement to make after watching the movie. However, as far as I know, Borden NEVER looked for any secrets. He simply practiced hard, and made BIG SACRIFICES for his craft. Now I’m not suggesting you make similar sacrifices in your life. Please don’t. However, I am suggesting that you probably have more information than you need. Maybe you should stop looking for secrets, and stop believing people who use great sales tactics to lead you to believe that they have the secret? I’m just throwing it out there. Do with it what you will.

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“Burke and Hare” is based on real events, including Burke and Hare’s murder of 17 people, in order to make money selling cadavers to Edinburgh Medical School.

The main message that I took away from the film: In desperate times, our mind can rationalize nearly ANY action

Murder is the worst crime a human can commit. You don’t own the right to anyone’s life, and you don’t own the right to take away anyone’s life. That’s just the way it is. The only exception is self-defense. There are so many philosophical arguments about rationality/morality regarding homicide. But the right way is common sense. Seriously.

Burke and Hare rationalized the murder of citizens in order to make a profit in difficult economic times. What was their rationalization? “Everyone is set to die the moment they leave the womb. We’re just doing them a favor”. That’s chilling. They say that people do whatever is necessary in order to ensure their survival. Well, one could argue that commerce has changed our biological programming to: Do whatever is necessary in order to ensure financial well-being. Am I arguing for this viewpoint? No. But “Burke and Hare” are certainly examples of this.

Let’s dig deeper inside of the murderous mind. Keep one thing in mind: Although a murderer knows that what they’re doing is wrong on a deep level, they will suppress their guilty conscience in favor of their selfish needs. Seriously, this film has some great hidden insights, if you just dig deeper beneath the surface. First, we see the ‘slippery slope’ principal at play. Give an inch, take a mile. Momentum. When Burke and Hare sell their first cadaver, they find a dying old man. In that situation, they feel that their murder is justified. Soon enough, they start killing people left and right.

What actually gave Burke and Hare financial incentives to kill in the first place, were the stringent rules that the government had set up regarding the dissection of bodies. Edinburgh Medical School had a great reputation in the field of human anatomy; a stranglehold was put on the program, and they could no longer obtain corpses that were dead beyond a certain period of time. This gave the school incentive to pay a premium for corpses, and that led to all of the murders. Can you pinpoint an exact cause of the tragedy? No. It’s a big combination of things. What we can do to prevent such matters in the future, is to be more aware of our human nature.

That’s what it’s all about, people!! Awareness of our human nature. Once we’re aware, then we have a choice. I have faith in the morality of human beings. I believe that, armed with the right information, we can all live productive and murder-free lives. Let Burke and Hare’s tragic mistakes serve as a reminder to all of us: Be aware of our mind’s incredible ability to rationalize us into instant gratification. With this awareness, we will no longer be slaves to our primitive programming.

Why be more aware? Because instant gratification very, very, very rarely leads to real happiness. Sounds cheesy? It is.

But it’s true. 

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Imagine a world where everything you believe is true, is actually a TV Show. Now you’re in the world of Truman Burbank, an ‘average’ person whose entire life is broadcasted to the world, unbeknownst to Truman himself. The movie is is an absolutely brilliant social commentary on human nature, and should not be missed by ANYONE.

First, let me talk about the clear mocking of the audience that is done throughout the movie. Often times, there are shots of fans watching the Truman show – including 2 elderly ladies, a Japanese family, a bar filled with people, and even a man in his bathtub. The diversity of the audience illustrates that the same rules apply to every human being. We can easily fall into a routine of watching other people’s successes. It doesn’t really matter to us, right? As long as we have our basic needs met, everything is good. Instead of living, we have gradually moved to a life planted in front of the TV, watching other people live. This type of lifestyle is historically very recent, as it could not be imagined by anyone 100 years ago. “Who could sit in front of a box for hours upon hours upon hours, and call it a life?” They would likely say this. And the popularity of “The Truman Show” is clearly a testament to this. Now, the message that I got from the movie is this: If you’re spending your time trapped in the tiny reality of a TV box, you’re actually tricking your brain into thinking that you’ve accomplished the exact things you’re watching. This is why we LOVE (myself included, of course) to watch feel-good movies. They make us feel good because it’s almost as if WE’RE the ones who capture victory. Not a make-believe figure on the screen. It’s a very, very slippery slope. Be extremely careful when you choose to watch TV, and know the exact reason why you choose to watch a particular program.

The other message in “The Truman Show” is even more powerful than the message about television. The most impacting lesson is simply stated in a quote by Christof, played chillingly well by Ed Harris: Upon being asked why Truman doesn’t realize he’s in a TV Show, Christof quickly and effortlessly responds:

“We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented. It’s as simple as that.”

Oh, the intense truth of this statement cannot be expressed strong enough in ANY language. If we can understand that statement, we can realize that we have the power to do nearly anything in our lives. How do we go about realizing our reality? I can hardly think of a better solution to stagnation than a radical life experiment. By radical experiment, I mean something radical for YOU. For some, it could be simply calling a friend each and every day (if you have trouble keeping in touch). For others, it could be skydiving or free falling. Keep the spontaneity alive, for the moment we become content with our lives, is the moment we are living in a neatly crafted yet restricting TV Show.

I have to give it up for “The Truman Show”. The movie creates an atmosphere of high tension and hope. High tension because we feel like Truman is so close to discovering he is on the TV show, yet we feel this intense longing and hope during the movie, just begging one of the ‘actors’ in the show to tell Truman everything. We can’t stand suffering when it is presented directly in front of us, and that is exactly what we see in Truman Burbank. Except for the fact that he doesn’t even know he’s suffering for the first 30 years of his life. But was he actually suffering? That depends on who you are as a person: Would you rather know the truth and risk being in pain, or be covered in a warm blanket of lies? I’ll go with the former.

What do you think about the profound movie “The Truman Show”?

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Paul Giamatti plays Barney, an unforgiving and persistent man, never afraid to speak his mind. His character is very, very flawed, and I will discuss it in-depth very soon. His leads him to various marriage debacles, including the pursuit of another woman at his wedding! But when he sees this woman, he knows it’s life at first sight. That was a Freudian Slip; I meant to write ‘love’. Life at first sight seems fitting in his situation, though. It’s not that Barney lacked vitality, or that he was completely depressed. No. It was the fact that he wasn’t proud of anything in his life. The moment he saw Miriam’s eyes, he KNEW that he had to pursue her. The feeling was so foreign and profound for Barney, he didn’t even know how to react. He immediately chased the moment. Miriam was the representation of everything Barney was missing. He wasn’t a morally complete individual, but it didn’t bother him at all. He found something that would give his life meaning. The mother of his children.

We are blasted with good feelings for about 20-30 minutes, about how great Barney’s life has become. He found the woman of his dreams, he has 2 wonderful children. He doesn’t particularly like his job, but that’s okay. In a way, I can draw a parallel to the American Dream as portrayed in “The Great Gatsby”. In the novel, Gatsby is a very rich man, who is seen by others to be living the American Dream. We later find out that he throws lavish parties in the hopes of winning the affection of a girl. Gatsby eventually comes to a realization that money doesn’t equal happiness. Well, in Barney’s Version, Barney does answer the question for Gatsby. LOVE equals happiness. And without love, Barney’s world fell apart. Literally.

A note about Barney’s fears of his wife cheating on him, and the irony of him cheating: We tend to only see in others, possibilities which we can only see in ourselves. This is why if you’re reading this, you find murder repulsive and unspeakable (I hope!). It’s not an option. Well, to Barney, cheating was an option. And the potential victim became the actual perpetrator. Barney was completely attached to his wife, Miriam. And after one day, his psychological defense system completely took over. He protected himself in a primitive way: by cheating on his wife. Oh, what a horrible mistake it turned out to be.

Miriam does not forgive Barney. And almost instantly, he becomes gravely ill with Alzheimers. The disease progresses extremely fast as a result of the intense grief. It’s a very sad story as we see a man who persistently pursues the one woman he truly loves, wins her over, and then he falls down through his own wrongdoings. His spirit is literally crushed from losing the one thing in life that truly made him happy. Love.

This leads me to the conclusion, and the question I want to leave you with: Can one die of a broken heart? Yes, I do believe so. In “Anatomy of An Illness”, Norman Cousins is able to cure his body of a terminal illness by watching funny movies! And if a human being can do something that amazing through positive emotions, imagine how destructive and poisonous negative emotions could be. Go with the former! It’s more fun to laugh anyway.

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Gulliver’s nervousness when trying to talk to Darcy (Amanda Peet) is gut-wrenching. The filmmaker relates to nearly 100% of us males, and it brings to mind an important lesson. Gulliver ‘talked a good game’. He claimed that he was ‘the man’, and could ask out Darcy anytime. Yet he repeatedly chickened out. Why? Gulliver, in essence, tried to higher his social value by speaking arrogantly about his ambitions. When you don’t back up your talk with action, it backfires. That’s why it’s better to keep talk to a minimum. No matter how great your accomplishments. Talking about yourself and your accomplishments doesn’t do you any good. Think about Gandhi. Would he ever talk about his accomplishments? Nope. He just moved forward, and thought what he could achieve next. This is the ideal mindset.

When Gulliver lands on the island of “Lilliput”, he fittingly meets the little people there. Almost instantly and effortlessly, Gulliver achieves “King” status, and is revered by all of the people in the land. He makes friends with a kind gentleman, Horatio (Jason Segel). Horatio is another life lesson we see in the movie. A little man with a lot of bravery. What can we learn from Horatio’s valiance? We can learn that a great friend can change our life, probably more than anything else. It’s very wise to invest time in making friendships.

Gulliver’s Travels is a pretty decent film. The more movies I see, the more life lessons I see repeated over and over again. It’s almost impossible to avoid cliches. That being said, Gulliver’s Travels offered a good character study. We see how a man reacts when he is “king of the world”, and we see how he reacts when he is literally put in a dollhouse. Talk about gaining perspective!! The ultimate lesson is this: The main way we can change our lives, is by gaining new perspective. How do we do that? You can start by visiting different places (stores, restaurants, places that you don’t normally go to), and socialize with other people. The vastness of the world will become apparent. I think that social interaction is the glue that has the power to keep us in our place, or transport us far above where we are now. Think of everything Gulliver accomplished during the short period of time he was at Lilliput. We can’t really get the same exact experience (how interesting would it be, though?!). But changing your social life is a good start. Things will start to rearrange themselves, and you may start to become the person you’ve always wanted to be.

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Awakenings is gut-wrenching film. There are films who choose to deliver their message in subtle manner, and then there are films who hit you over the head multiple times with moral messages. Neither category is good nor bad. It all depends on your film watching preferences. Awakenings happens to fall into the latter category. The movie itself is beautiful. Robin Williams and Robert De Niro are both absolutely brilliant. They really are, and that fact alone makes it a must-watch.

What would it be like to regain your life after more than 30 years in a catatonic state? In Awakenings, Leonard Lowe (De Niro) is awakened by the skill and persistence of Dr. Malcolm Sayers (Williams). After some initial confusion, Leonard is flooded with gratefulness for the Doctor who gives him a second chance at life. A chance to live, laugh, and love. Unfortunately, after being granted a second chance, Leonard begins to exhibit symptoms of his illness. Towards the end of the film, we see a passionate Leonard deliver a speech while he is possessed deeply by his subconscious. I did not believe that his rebellious nature and speech was a side effect of his medication. Rather, it was a side effect of his natural frustration: of being given life, and having it slowly and painfully relinquished from him.

I relate to this film on a deep level, because I feel I can connect to Leonard Lowe in a very small way. I battled severe Crohn’s Disease for about 2 years. I was in and out of the hospital, and the pain of the illness took over my life. After many months of battle, my doctors found a great treatment for me. Now, I have been enjoying over 20 months of remission. I wish I could say that I feel grateful for every second of my existence. I try my best, but I sometimes forget how bad I had it. I know, of course, that my illness can come back any day. This movie sure was a kick in the head that I really needed. And I believe that you will be able to relate to the film in your own way. It may not be an illness, but you may have gone through different tough experiences in your life. You may even be in a dark place right now. This film serves as a reminder of this: There are a few things that we don’t have control in our life. As sad as that may seem, it’s part of the deal of being human. The day is not granted, but sometimes it feels like it is. If there’s a practical tip in this movie, besides embracing life and loving others, it’s this: Take a walk! Decide whether to turn left, right, or go straight ahead. Because those neurological gifts are also not granted. Our capacity to make decisions could be halted at any moment, by any given thing.

But simply knowing all of these life lessons from a logical standpoint isn’t enough, is it? We are emotional beings, and (for the most part) we respond best to emotional reason. Well, I truly hope that Awakenings was a good emotional wake up call. That’s what movies are for. They dig down into deep emotional crevices. They break your heart for your own good. For the hope that you may better yourself. For the hope that you may live a life of purpose, passion, and most importantly: LOVE.

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