Inspirational Movies
I rented CONVICTION the other day (Hilary Swank and Sam Cooke I think his name was) and it was sooooo good! The new Blockbuster is doing free rentals through July 4th for most of their movies and I've been taking advantage.
I've been feeling really great lately and excited about life and my goals and all the opportunities that lie ahead of me. I just rented INVINCIBLE with Mark Wahlberg. I haven't watched it yet. This one says it's "inspired by the true story", but CONVICTION was actually based on a true story and I think it took the director 9 years to make that movie.
Anyway, any inspirational or motivational movies you can suggest would be great. Those that are based on a true story are even better.
(Oh, and btw, if you suggest a movie don't say too much about what happens cuz I like to stay surprised.)
Quote: HotBlondeDo any of you have any great inspirational movies that you can suggest?
I rented CONVICTION the other day (Hilary Swank and Sam Cooke I think his name was) and it was sooooo good! The new Blockbuster is doing free rentals through July 4th for most of their movies and I've been taking advantage.
I've been feeling really great lately and excited about life and my goals and all the opportunities that lie ahead of me. I just rented INVINCIBLE with Mark Wahlberg. I haven't watched it yet. This one says it's "inspired by the true story", but CONVICTION was actually based on a true story and I think it took the director 9 years to make that movie.
Anyway, any inspirational or motivational movies you can suggest would be great. Those that are based on a true story are even better.
(Oh, and btw, if you suggest a movie don't say too much about what happens cuz I like to stay surprised.)
Invincible is an awesome film. But I really Mark Wahlberg in general.
I found "La Vitta e Bella" (Life is Beautiful) one of the most inspirational, funny, tragic and romantic movies ever. It's a romantic comedy set in Italy before and during the war about a Jewish man and a his family trying to survive the war. The subject matter is terrible, but it works. The lead actor Roberto Begnini won an Oscar for his lead performance, the only Best Actor Oscar given to the lead in a foreign language film.
The Motorcycle Diaries, documenting the early life of Che Guevera is also a great film, well acted and brilliantly shot and inspiring (at least to me).
Only the latter is based on a true story.
The Blind Side - Football, Sandra Bullock - based on a true story
Secretariat -- Horse Racing - based on a true story
Facing the Giants - Football - Fiction
The Pursuit of Happyness - Drama, Will Smith - True Story
Older:
Rocky - Boxing, Stallone - Fiction
The Karate Kid - Karate, - Fiction
Spellbound - Spelling Bee - Documentary
The Astronaut Farmer - Spaceflight, Tommy Lee Jones - Fiction
Shawshank Redemption - Prison, - Fiction
Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima (watch both) - WWII - Based around actual events
The Right Stuff - Spaceflight - based on actual events
Enjoy!
I've seen both. I do have to say Life is Beautiful was exactly as you said. It was a great movie but sad at the same time due to the subject matter. That movie totally moved me. I saw Motorcycle Diaries too, but don't remember much of it so it probably didn't leave that much of an impression on me.Quote: thecesspitInvincible is an awesome film. But I really Mark Wahlberg in general.
I found "La Vitta e Bella" (Life is Beautiful) one of the most inspirational, funny, tragic and romantic movies ever. It's a romantic comedy set in Italy before and during the war about a Jewish man and a his family trying to survive the war. The subject matter is terrible, but it works. The lead actor Roberto Begnini won an Oscar for his lead performance, the only Best Actor Oscar given to the lead in a foreign language film.
The Motorcycle Diaries, documenting the early life of Che Guevera is also a great film, well acted and brilliantly shot and inspiring (at least to me).
Only the latter is based on a true story.
Shawshank Redemption
Both tend to bring a tear to my eye.
I think I'd like to see The Karate Kid again.
Also just to share another one with you guys that no one mentioned, if you haven't watched PEACEFUL WARRIOR yet, go out and rent it! It is so good!! Even though it revolves around an athlete, it's philosophical and enlightening and will make you think about your own life. Soooo good! Please share with me if you end up going out and renting it.
Here's the link, tell me what you think:
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers
It's funny cuz some of the movies on the list I would consider good, but not actually fall under what I would consider "inspirational". I feel that there's a difference between a feel good movie and an inspirational movie. To me, an inspirational movie is one that makes me want to go out afterward and be my best self due to an example of those featured in the film. Although they were both great movies, E.T. and Schindler's List are not two that come to mind as inspirational (although one could argue that what Schindler did was great, but I'm not sure that was the whole point of the movie).
I just looked at that list ... well, glanced at it, I guess.
Some of those films depressed me.
Some of those films have annoying aspects that I think should deny them a spot on the list.
Bridge of the river Kwai was absurdist nonsense.
Warner Brother's Sergeant York nearly faced propaganda hearings under Senator Nye. And there was no near-miss lightning strike, as with just about any man who turns his life around, a woman did it for him.
Saving Private Ryan? You notice how after one of them is killed, he appears in a long range shot later in the film?
That being said....lots of "inspirational" films can be mentioned....and some great ones have already been. For whatever reason, "Whale Rider" comes to mind. So there you go.
Quote: HotBlondeI just found AFI's 100 Most Inspirational Movies List
Personally, I think As Good as it Gets is a serious omission.
Thelma and Louise
Legally Blonde
That's all I got...
Quote: AyecarumbaDoes it matter to Hot Blonde that the films suggested by the Board are almost all "male" centric (naturally, given the demographic) as opposed to inspirational stories about women? I wonder if this is more what she was looking for?
Thelma and Louise
Legally Blonde
That's all I got...
Well, no, it doesn't matter to me. And the funny thing is I've always loved "What's Love Got To Do With It" but no one ever recommends that one. Maybe it's because it's about a woman, maybe it's because she's black, I don't know. I think it's an amazing movie about finding one's own self-worth but I never hear anyone talking about it.
What movie are you talking about?Quote: PeteMOh, hell yes. My wife LOVES that last 15 minutes. "I'd take a flamethrower to this place!" Anybody notice that the bad kid was a very young Phillip Seymour Hoffman?
Quote: HotBlondeWhat movie are you talking about?
Quote: Scent of a Woman: Al Pacino's characterOut of order, I show you out of order. You don't know what out of order is, Mr. Trask. I'd show you, but I'm too old, I'm too tired, I'm too fuckin' blind. If I were the man I was five years ago, I'd take a FLAMETHROWER to this place! Out of order? Who the hell do you think you're talkin' to? I've been around, you know? There was a time I could see. And I have seen. Boys like these, younger than these, their arms torn out, their legs ripped off. But there isn't nothin' like the sight of an amputated spirit. There is no prosthetic for that. You think you're merely sending this splendid foot soldier back home to Oregon with his tail between his legs, but I say you are... executin' his soul! And why? Because he's not a Bairdman. Bairdmen. You hurt this boy, you're gonna be Baird bums, the lot of ya. And Harry, Jimmy, Trent, wherever you are out there, FUCK YOU TOO!
Philip Seymour Hoffman was in the movie when he just started acting in movies. But he was already in his mid 20's. I don't know why PeteM brought up the movie.
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The Contender (2000) is a very inspirational movie to me, although it is not normally considered as such. Joan Allen does such a convincing job as a Senator with high ideals, that I half wish she would run for office.
In some ways appointing a woman as VP could be tougher than running for the office. If you run at least everything is in the open. In this movie, the old guard simply decides to ruin her life so that she is not appointed. The public is so salacious for gossip that they don't care that a woman's life is being ruined.
While nearly everyone knows that there have been 8 president's who died in office, very few people realize that 7 vice president's have also died in office and from 1789 through today, the vice presidency has been vacant for a total of 37 years and 290 days, over the course of 18 administrations.
However, it's been almost 4 decades since it was last empty.
The movie is good, because the set up is very non-inspirational. The President is looking to appoint a woman for vice president because his term is ending and he wants something for the history books. So while the story has a very selfish political set up, it ends up being hugely inspirational by the end.
Quote: HotBlondeDo any of you have any great inspirational movies that you can suggest?
I rented CONVICTION the other day (Hilary Swank and Sam Cooke I think his name was) and it was sooooo good! The new Blockbuster is doing free rentals through July 4th for most of their movies and I've been taking advantage.
I've been feeling really great lately and excited about life and my goals and all the opportunities that lie ahead of me. I just rented INVINCIBLE with Mark Wahlberg. I haven't watched it yet. This one says it's "inspired by the true story", but CONVICTION was actually based on a true story and I think it took the director 9 years to make that movie.
Anyway, any inspirational or motivational movies you can suggest would be great. Those that are based on a true story are even better.
(Oh, and btw, if you suggest a movie don't say too much about what happens cuz I like to stay surprised.)
Easy question.....'Return to Paradise'.
Ken
Quote: pacomartinPersonally, I think As Good as it Gets is a serious omission.
I've changed my mind about 'Eat Pray Love' with
Julia Roberts. Its been on Encore this month and
I've seen it 5 times. Some good stuff there, not
to mention top notch cinematography in Italy
and India and Bali. This is a gorgeous movie,
with a pretty darn good story.
It's a story I can personally relate to, and really caused me to get much more involved in my daughter's life after her mother and her moved back to Ontario, to the point where I decided to move back to Ontario after seeing this movie. Now, my daughter lives with me full time.
The day of the viewing, (after my girlfriend - now my wife, after we bought our tickets), I also met Dakota Fanning in a store on Robson Street in Vancouver. This girl and her mom were shopping around and the storekeeper started taking pictures of her. I asked her who she was (this was Dakota's first major film), and she was this little girl of only I guess 8 at the time. I told her that we were going to see her movie today, and she said that she was too (she hadn't been to the premiere). Very nice, bubbly child.
I felt that meeting Dakota Fanning the day we were seeing the movie, and the impact of that movie was more than coincidence.
I saw "Letters from Iwo Jima" in Japan in a theater full of Japanese. The audience was in tears by the end of the film. One of the most powerful movie watching experiences ever.
Quote: MoscaOctober Skies
The book was even better. It goes into detail
about what life was like living in a coal town in
the 50's.
Quote: EvenBobQuote: MoscaOctober Skies
The book was even better. It goes into detail
about what life was like living in a coal town in
the 50's.
Yes, the book was great! October Skies had to massage the narrative to make the movie work, and I think it did a pretty good job overall.
Quote: jmurillo74Watch this:
Runaway Train, 1985, Jon Voight, Eric Roberts, one on the best movies of all time.
Runaway Train is the greatest American samurai movie ever.
