42 Review

I had seen the film "42" while it was still in theaters and I loved it! Before I saw it the second time, I forgot how great it was. I did not know that it was even possible, but I liked it even more the second time. I think that the movie was a fun loving baseball movie with both like-able and hate-able characters. Jackie Robinson and his wife were obviously like-able characters, as well as Mr. Rickey.
In my opinion, Jackie Robinson has greatly helped this country when there was a lot of racism in the 40s. During a time when there were separate bathrooms for blacks and whites, there was also a separation in baseball between blacks and whites. When Mr. Rickey decided to bring in an African American baseball player to play in the Major Leagues, this was a huge change and many people were opposed to it happening. Robinson was able to show how great he was and eventually he proved himself to be among one of the best baseball players who ever lived. He broke the line that separated black and white baseball players. From people like Jackie Robinson, we learn that just by working hard and staying focused, one can accomplish anything.
Some of his values are important to me to face my own barriers. I plan to work hard to get far in life and if I ever get angry or frustrated, I will want to try and avoid lashing out at others because it only makes the situation worse.
Jackie Robinson said "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives." This means that  the most important thing is not to be selfish, but to be selfless. The way to be selfless is to help others and impact their lives. I agree with Jackie Robinson because a life is not important if it does not leave a lasting impact on someone. It could be someone like a mom, dad, brother, sister, friend, etc. They will remember you and pass down the knowledge that you have given them.

Cinderella Man Review

"Cinderella Man" is the amazing story of James Braddock who is a professional boxer trying to make a living during the Great Depression for the sake of his family. I think Braddock is considered a Cinderella Man because his story is similar to Cinderella. Like her, he had a hard life and had a lot to deal with. In the end of "Cinderella," she gets her happy ending by winning the heart of the prince, and in the end of "Cinderella Man," James gets his happy ending by winning the national boxing title. This is a great "feel good" movie and I really enjoyed learning about his story. I felt like the movie was able to get to my emotional side mainly because the acting was excellent. When the characters were sad, I was sad for them. when they were happy and thrilled, I was happy and thrilled for them. I liked James Braddock's character because he was brave enough to go against the tough "bad guy" in the end, despite the many warnings he was given. He wanted to go against him so that he could earn more money for his family. He did not do anything for himself. He usually thought about his family first. There are people our there who are still dealing with financial issues like the Braddock family today. There are people who must deal with the fear of losing a family member, only in the case for today, for people who are in the military. 
The scene where Braddock's son explains why he stole is so powerful because this was most likely very common to steal during the Depression because there were so many people left to starve. Honestly, I would probably have stolen food for my family back in those days. It's a matter of life and death, and I would do anything to help my family survive. 
Also, the way the movie portrayed the opponent, Max Baer is absolutely unethical. The fact that the producers and director didn't even have the decency to tell his family in the first place about how he would be the bad guy in the new movie is just wrong. He seems like the kind of man who would have nightmares because of the way the movie portrayed him. I don't think, however, that it takes away from the story of Max Baer not being the bad guy in real life. He was, I'm sure, a very great and strong opponent to go against. Also, James Braddock still had to struggle with money and would still be considered the Cinderella Man.
When Braddock goes to Madison Square Garden to beg for money, I think it is sad that a strong and honorable man would have to sink so low and beg for money from his former boss and coworkers. This, however, would be something that I would do to help protect my family. So I think his action was very admirable. This particular moment in the film helps define Braddock as a "Cinderella Man" because this is similar to the scene in "Cinderella" where she gets help from her fairy godmother to go to the ball. Only in Braddock's case, the "fairy godmother" are his former coworkers and former bosses, and the "ball" is his family's survival. 

Tombstone Review

I do not usually enjoy watching movies about the Wild West. I can't even sit through a whole entire Cowboy movie without getting bored. This movie, however, I watched the whole thing without getting completely disinterested. When I first started watching the beginning, I was not too thrilled. There were a lot of gun shootings which were entertaining, but the next scenes when everyone is in Tombstone, I got a little lost. There were a lot of different characters with mustaches that I couldn't tell some of them apart. As the movie got more into detail and the stories unfolded, it caught my attention a little bit more. Overall, I would rate this movie as a 5.5 out of 10 because the action scenes were very fun to watch and I liked some of the characters, like Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp. I liked how, despite the hardships they had to face, they remained good friends. I do not think that this movie changed my mind enough to want to learn more about the wild west, but it was interesting enough to watch and I would recommend this to people who like cowboy movies.

What makes an event legendary are the people who continue to remember the event that took place and tell others of this event. What makes a person legendary are their actions. Wyatt Earp is someone that I consider legendary because he helped to "tame the cowboys." Without him, cowboys, like the ones in the movie could still be around today. The cowboys in the movie were trouble makers who never liked to follow the rules, so I could only imagine how terrible it would be if they existed in today's world. I think that the most interesting part of learning about the Wild West are the trips they took to get to the Western towns. The people faced a lot of hardships to get to towns like Tombstone, so it is appealing to me to learn about their journey.

Glory Review

Glory, in my opinion, was a good representation of the hardships African Americans had to face to gain equality in America. It had an emotional and thrilling plot which is what a great movie should have. I am not very interested in the Civil War and the battles that took place, but this movie definitely got me more interested in learning more about what happened during that time. The movie did a very good job at keeping me interested to know what happens next. The main character, Colonel Shaw was the most fascinating to watch develop as a character on the screen because he was already accepting of African Americans to an extent, but became even more accepting and even walked side by side the other soldiers in the last battle of the movie.  The only thing that I didn't like about the movie was how overly dramatic Shaw's death was during the last battle. They made it seem like it was some sort of overly tragic moment in history. There were many people who died during the Civil War and he was one of many who died. In real life his death would have been a thousand times less dramatic. In Hollywood, they make moments like this that can last for hours. 

People are willing to die for their country because they are proud of their country and have a lot of patriotism. They also are willing because they want to bring pride to their families. I consider the men of the 54th to be heroes to an extent because of their bravery, strength, and will to fight. They never give up and continue to want to fight in battle no matter what the consequences. By fighting, thy are helping many others get a chance to live their lives normally. Shaw is just like the 54th men. He has a lot of will power and I consider him to be a hero. 

The significance of the story, specifically the leadership at Fort Wagner is that they showed to other people that African Americans are similar to white people. They have a chance to be treated equally if they were just given the opportunity to be able to do so.