What movies impacted your life?

[jillywilly65]

I know that some movies are for just pure entertainment.I think we need that escape sometimes. I had not intended two movies to have such an influence on my life..forever one is

Simon Birch and the other is Pay it Forward. Those two movies are so profound and make you think, I love them and could watch them over and over
Oh and another was Truly Madly Deeply. It helped me get over the pain of losing my mother. The thought of her coming back and hanging around all the time, Boy that movie is real good

Jilly

[Cheza]

Pay it Forward is a beautiful movie, but the ending made me very angry.

I think, although I prefer the stage version, the film of RENT is a very poignant story about tolerance. It makes me weep every time I watch it. Even if you don't agree with someone's views, lifestyle, or choices - we should remember to try to love one another as we go through this world. Too many people are preoccupied with hatred.

I know there are others, but I'll have to think about this. I just spent an hour or two on coursework...which now I'm done for the night. New week starts tomorrow...course weeks run from Wednesdays to Tuesdays. It's a bit odd getting used to it.

Thanks for the great thread, Jilly.

Peace.

[jet]

I can't remember a movie having an impact on my life but the movie What's Eating Gilbert Grape certainly impacted on my 15 year old son.

He no longer feels strange or unsure when he sees obese or mentally handicapped people. He now talks to the kids in the special education unit that is adjoined to his school and will smile and say hello to large people in the street. He told me he realised they are people with feelings and deserve the same respect as so called normal people.

Now I think about it, the same movie did impact on me...I had tears in my eyes while at the post office a few months back. He smiled and said hello to the very large woman behind us. He went off to look at something else and she turned to me and said most people refuse to even look at me let alone say hello.

I have to say I was a proud mum that day, more proud of him for something as small as a smile than for all his achievments in his sport.

[Cheza]

That's an excellent example, Jet! I love that movie. It's so wonderful it had that impact on him. Most kids can be so cruel to people who are different than them.

[Trees]

Jet I see you listed one of my favorite movies on the movie alphebet. "Whale Rider" I cry every time

This movie just sends tingles up my spine when the father... Well you know the story. We really do need to listen and watch our young ones. Even though traditions are to be "sometimes" followed

Watching movies from down under is really interesting. The culture with the Aboriginies with their Dream Time I thought it was pretty funny when Den was fooling around with the diggery do... Thinking she might just conjure up something.... Good looking Blonde guy ;D ;D ;D

Thanks again

[feather]

I was going to skip this one because I had a big jam up in my brain and could,'t think of any movies. So I am glad I hopped on anyway to be reminded of Gilbert Grape - love (J. Depp) that movie. I thought the kids did the most respectful thing for their mom by giving her dignity at the end. The other one Whale Rider, I LOVE that movie, could watch it once a week. What a beautiful story. One I thought up on my own: In The Name Of the Father (Daniel Day Lewis ) It's been so long since I saw it all I remember is that there was a powerful message. Oh, oh I just thought of 2 more, Freedom Writers - fabulous - a true story of hope and Stomp The Yard (went with my 13 yr. old granddaughter - we love the dance movies), although stomping is not just dancing - very interesting. They do some moves like 'krumpin' that I just love because they are so powerful. Krumpin moves are very STRONG, HARD,SPECIFIC. The first time I saw krumpin (movie: You've Been Served) I was reminded of the ceremonial dance performed by the tribal men in Whale Riders -fantastic!! O.K. I'm done now ;D

[jillywilly65]

Well it seems that Whale Rider is the one to see for sure. I also wanted to see Freedom Writers but missed. There are always movies that come out with agendas and some are obvious and some aren't. Not to me anyway. One of my best friends said that Brave-heart moved her so much she would never again compromise her beliefs. It didn't have that impact on me, it just made me angry at the injustice of life. Pay it forward made me angry too Cheza but it so moved me to think that 1 single act of kindness could change and ripple through a town like that. I started letting people cut in front of me on the freeway and people get in front of me in the check-out line at the store if they only had a few items. I don't always do the right thing but I try.
I also remember a movie that touched on Faith and it is The Hiding Place. The story of Corrie Ten boom (sp?) and how because even though she was Dutch she was put into a concentration camp because she hid Jews in her home during the war. That movie goes right to the heart.
I know theres more but I need a second cup of Joe to fully waken

Jilly

[Heli]

For me, three movies have struck me completely silent. The first was Mononoke Hime. My friends tell me that I couldn't utter a word for a good half an hour. It was one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen, and it certainly opened my eyes to the art of story telling.

Second was Finding Neverland. The reason is something highly personal, and a bit painful, but let's just say that the ending had me sobbing uncontrollably. I've never been so happy that my mother is alive and well.

And finally, the third movie. Pan's Labyrinth was another movie that robbed me of speech for a while. It just blew my mind, and it definitely inspired me to return to writing, yet again. It's pretty much the perfect movie, at least in my opinion.

[jillywilly65]

Heli
Welcome and thanks for the movies you listed. I better start adding these movies to my Netflicks list. I love it when a movie touches your heart and mind and helps you see things you never dreamed of. I did see Finding Neverland and I cried alot too, but I did lose my mother and she refused to come home to die. She didn't want our house to be full of sad memories..As if her not being there wasn't sad?! Excellent movie about hope too though.

I'm glad you love the Lovehammers. Have you checked out the archives in the video section to see Marty when he was solo on RockstarINXS ? Lovin those videos even still today

Jill

[Heli]

Jill,

Thank you for the answer, and I am sorry for your loss.

I too love it when a movie touches one's heart. Art should speak to your emotions and your heart, in my opinion.

I have a ton of movies on my shopping list - I collect DVDs - and both Simon Birch and Whale Rider are on it, with about two hundred other movies. Ah, to be wealthy enough one day!

[jillywilly65]

wealthy whats that?
that word isn't in my vocabulary heeehee

[starcrossed]

jillywilly65 said:

wealthy whats that?
that word isn't in my vocabulary heeehee

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

I think the word means when you have a large amount of money to buy things.

I don't think my jar of pennies counts as wealth, does it? It is a large amount of money... ;D ;D ;D ;D

[jillywilly65]

Wow
Thanks everyone for the list of stuff to check out.

Simon Birch
Pay It Forward
Truly Madly Deeply
Rent
What's eating Gilbert Grape?
Whale Rider
In the name of the Father
Freedom Writers
Stomp the Yard
Braveheart
The Hiding Place
Mononoke Hime
Finding Neverland
Pan's Labyrinth

I bet these are all at Netflicks or Blockbuster and I can't wait to see some of these.
If you have some movies but can't share why they moved you, please share them by title and we will share the same excitement you did. Movies help fill the rainy snowy, stuck at home days.


JILLY

[jillywilly65]

I haven't seen it yet but this weekend I am going to check out "Amazing Grace" it tells the story of William Wilberforce and how he help stop slavery in England. That is all I know and then his act helped "?" pen the song Amazing Grace. It can't help but be inspiring I would imagine. That song is known around the world as a song of comfort, humility and grace of course. I can't wait

[starcrossed]

I loved 'Pay It Forward'...I guess after taking a long time to think about it, that movie did make a difference in my way of thinking.

[.::Luna::.]

"Equilibrium"

It has inspired me to fall in love with Christian Bale ^_^

[starcrossed]

That is a good reason to love a movie, and be inspired...LOL

[grumpypirate]

Well, the biggest movie influence on me was The Lord of the Rings. I can't thank my BIL enough for introducing the books and the movies to me. I truly wouldn't be the same without them. Another one is Pirates of the Caribbean, that seemed to come right after LOTR and sweep me off my feet and shape me as a person. Then there's all the Disney movies I watched as a kid and finally, Litte Women. It really makes me think because I have 3 sisters so, there are 4 of us. And the thing that gets to me, is that Beth, the third sister is just like my third sister in the fact that both of them got really sick, the only difference is my sister got better while Beth didn't. Every time I watch that movie, or read the book for that matter, I begin to cry because I think of what could have happened if I would have lost my sister.

[stormkat19]

I'll admit, I watched Pay It Forward just to see Jon Bon Jovi. He's one gorgeous man....

That is a great movie.

Another favorite of mine is "The Shawshank Redemption." The theme of that movie was 'get busy livin' or get busy dyin'.

[Cindy]

I think the first film that made a significant impact on me personally is a film that I saw at age 14. It was so complex in meaning and allowed multiple interpretations, that for days I contemplated what it must have meant. From that I came to realize that great art...or film...or writing...could mean different things to different people and the more layers of meaning or perception added to the art's value. This film was Stanley Kubrick's 2001, A Space Odyssey.

This film inspired me to aspire to be a writer. It sparked my interpretive and critical studies in high school and college. After seeing 2001, I started to read books and poetry and watch films with a different eye. The film opened my eyes to different ways of thinking and presented all kinds of questions that I wanted to find answers too. It freed me up to think of things in less conventional ways and allowed multiple possiblities.

I remember sitting next to my cousin in that movie theater in Montgomery Alabama sharing popcorn and giggling before the movie started and walking out of that theater with a sense of awe and shock about what we had just experienced. There were things about the movie I completely understood and other things I knew could be interpreted toward various meanings. It required me thinking about it for a while. It left me disturbed but enriched.

In a way, I experienced that film exactly as I was moving away from a childhood innocence into a more realistic comprehension about the complexity of life. I see it as one of the catalysts toward maturity in my life to (just like the black monolith in the movie was the catalyst toward advances in civilization each time it was present.)