10. One &..

Lyrics

Is it getting better
Or do you feel the same
Will it make it easier on you now
You got someone to blame
You say...

One love
One life
When it's one need
In the night
One love
We get to share it
Leaves you baby if you
Don't care for it

Did I disappoint you
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without
Well it's...

Too late
Tonight
To drag the past out into the light
We're one, but we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other
One...

Have you come here for forgiveness
Have you come to raise the dead
Have you come here to play Jesus
To the lepers in your head

Did I ask too much
More than a lot
You gave me nothing
Now it's all I got
We're one
But we're not the same
Well we
Hurt each other
Then we do it again
You say
Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt

One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers
One life
But we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other

One...life

One


This is a great song. I am not really a fan of U2 though. I like some of there songs, but they have also made a lot of songs that I don't find really interesting. But no matter what you think of their songs, it cannot be avoided that U2 currently is the biggest and more important band in the world. There is currently no other band that has such a big impact on popular culture and that so consistently fills stadiums and influences other artists. And while Bono seems a bit of a jerk, he currently is the biggest rock icon. In fact I would say that in rock/pop music history there are four bands that stand above all the rest when it comes to longevity, importance and influence. These are The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Queen and U2. They have been of great importance to a great many people and no matter what we think of their songs (I am no big fan of the Beatles either), these are the greatest bands of all time.
The song seems to be about a man trying to make amends with a close family member with whom he had a rather horrible past. This close family member is most probably a father. This is supported by the clip; the old man we see is apparently Bono's father with whom Bono used to have a bad relationship, until they reconciled sometime around the making of the song. Though it can also easily be interpreted that the close family member is a brother.
There are obviously a lot of movies about people who try to make amends with some family member with whom they shared a rather unpleasant past. The movie I chose is a new one that is neither the best film about strained family relationships, nor is that really it's most important subject. But I was very pleasantly surprised by it and wanted to write about it.

The Movie: Warrior (Gavin O'Connor, 2011)

Like all sports movies Warrior is rather predictable. After about 15 minutes we have a pretty pretty good idea of what will happen and indeed everything we thought would happen,eventually does happen. But the movie is so well made and has such wonderful characters that its predictability doesn't really matter. It is one of the best sports movies I've seen.

Warrior follows Tommy and Brendan Conlon. They are brothers, who became estranged from each other after Tommy and their mother left Brendan and their alcoholic, abusive father. Brendan didn't stay because of his father though, but because he fell in love with a girl that is now his wife. And now both he and Tommy are estranged from their father and their mother has passed away a long time ago. The scene where Tommy and Brendan confront each other about why one left and the another one stayed is the only scene in the movie with dumb cliche dialogue. But the look and cinematography of that scene is simply wonderful. Besides being brothers Brendan and Tommy are both MMA fighters who decide to fight in the biggest MMA tournament in the USA, both without knowing that the other brother will participate too. It's a winner takes all tournament with the prize money being 5 million dollars. You can guess which two fighters will be in the final.

On the road to the tournament we follow Tommy and Brendan independently from each other. The plot involving Tommy is nothing really special, but it is handled well. To train for the tournament Tommy returns to his father who was his trainer when he was young. Tommy makes clear to his father that their relationship only extends to training together. He doesn't want any reconciliation or anything. This does hurt his father who is recovering from his alcoholism and is on the brink of being alcohol free for 1000 days. Tommy's reasons for fighting in the tournament aren't clear from the start and the movie does a good job of keeping us curious about them. But it's the plot involving Brendan that's really great. In most movies about sports, especially those about sports involving fighting, the heroes aren't really interesting or intelligent people. As Rocky says himself, he is a bum. Brendan is a physics teacher who when he enters the ring is accompanied by music from Beethoven. He is an intelligent man loved by his students. (Though the movie itself doesn't know much about physics. There is no way in one lesson you would learn about Newton's laws and in the very next one about the law of conservation of energy.) He is retired from UFC fighting, but due to financial problems he decides to participate in the tournament. His wife isn't happy about this. After his last fight left him unconscious she made him promise that he would never fight again. In most movies there now would be a huge fight between husband and wife and the wife would threaten to leave the husband with her kids. Just to make a glorious return by the end. Not here. Brendan and his wife discuss his decision very normally. Both make good arguments. In the end his wife supports his decision, without necessarily being happy about it. And the movie never judges her for the fact that she finds it idiotic that her husband will go back to fight. The relationship between Brendan and his trainer is also presented wonderfully. Besides training together they are also just good friends. This friendship is represented very warmly and realistically in the film. These are both good people who want the best for each other and who respect their opponents.

In almost all American sports movies the hero is a huge underdog whose victory or near victory is presented as some sort of victory for the American norms and values. Not here. The movie doesn't pretend that the tournament is anything else but a great opportunity to see some great fighting. There is a big Russian, who has never fought in the USA before, but he is not presented as a villain. In fact he has a lot of fans who just find him awesome and would love to see him win and fight. When Brendan beats his brother, that's great for him. He'll now have 5 million dollars. But it is not presented as some kind of victory for some great American ideal. The audience in the tournament cheers for him after the match, mostly because they just saw an awesome match. Besides, Tommy and Brendan aren't even enormous underdogs. In one of the first scenes it is established that Tommy is incredibly strong when he beats up the world middleweight champion and in the tournament he goes very easily through the first rounds and while the movie doesn't say so, he would probably be considered the favorite to win the tournament after those rounds. Brendan may have been retired from fighting, but he is not a nobody. He was a UFC fighter and there is no reason why he couldn't win the tournament.

Lastly some other notes. The movie understands very well how the media in the 21st century works. When Tommy beats up the middleweight champion in the beginning we someone filming this with his mobile phone. This goes viral on YouTube and creates a hype for Tommy. And there also other examples which show that the movie knows that the internet has become of huge importance for the coverage of sports and news. I don't think that there is another sports movie which gives such a realistic depiction of sports coverage.
I am not a fan of fighting sports and in fact I sometimes have some unfair prejudices against both the participants and the spectators of such sports. But if you are going to watch two people fighting, it doesn't get more exciting then MMA fighting.
Nick Nolte, who plays the father, got an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He is very good in it, but the whole cast is great, especially Joel Edgerton as Brendan.

9. November Rain &...

Lyrics

When I look into your eyes
I can see a love restrained
But darlin' when I hold you
Don't you know I feel the same

'Cause nothin' lasts forever
And we both know hearts can change
And it's hard to hold a candle
In the cold November rain

We've been through this such a long long time
Just tryin' to kill the pain

But lovers always come and lovers always go
An no one's really sure who's lettin' go today
Walking away

If we could take the time
To lay it on the line
I could rest my head
Just knowin' that you were mine
All mine
So if you want to love me
Then darlin' don't refrain
Or I'll just end up walkin'
In the cold November rain

Do you need some time...on your own
Do you need some time...all alone
Everybody needs some time...
On their own
Don't you know you need some time...all alone

I know it's hard to keep an open heart
When even friends seem out to harm you
But if you could heal a broken heart
Wouldn't time be out to charm you

Sometimes I need some time...on my
Own
Sometimes I need some time...all alone
Everybody needs some time...
On their own
Don't you know you need some time...all alone

And when your fears subside
And shadows still remain
I know that you can love me
When there's no one left to blame
So never mind the darkness
We still can find a way
'Cause nothin' lasts forever
Even cold November rain

Don't ya think that you need somebody
Don't ya think that you need someone
Everybody needs somebody
You're not the only one
You're not the only one


I am not really a fan of Guns N' Roses. It's impossible to say that they are a bad band, but except for Sweet Child of Mine there is not a Guns N' Roses song that I really like. November Rain is widely considered to be a classic rock song in the vein of Stairway to Heaven and Hotel California. Unfortunately, to me, the only thing in common between November Rain and the aforementioned songs is that they are long. Quality-wise a song like Stairway to Heaven is incomparable to November Rain. Up until the last two minutes I find November Rain even to be a pretty dull, annoying song. While Slash's solo's (especially his last one) are pretty fantastic, I find Axl Rose's voice a bit annoying. Still even if I don't really like the song, the Roses should be applauded for making it. Even when it was released in 1992, the days of the long ambitious rock songs were pretty much over and since November Rain no new rock band has even tried to do something similar. Therefore it doesn't really deserve that the corresponding movie is so bad. But, even while I knew its pretty horrible reputation, it was the only movie I could really think of. The lyrics of the song actually fit it really well.

The Movie: Sweet November (Pat O'Connor, 2001)

I had never seen Sweet November before, but I knew it as movie with a very bad reputation. After seeing it I can say that its reputation is fully earned. It is rather horrible. It is a remake of a movie from 1968, by the same name. First I thought to watch that movie, because I thought it might be a better one, but that version is incredibly hard to find. Besides, both movies are rated similarly on IMDB and the premise of both movies is so stupid (A dying woman lures emotionally crippled men into one month affairs, and tries to help them repair their lives) that it's hard to make a good movie out of it. And I thought I might enjoy the 2001 version more since Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron are both actors I like. And they did save the movie from being completely crap, but it is still horrible.

Keanu Reeves is often ridiculed, but I do like him. He is at his best when he plays lighthearted,naive romantics, as in 1989's Parenthood for example. Yet he was also convincing in three of the best action movies of the 90's (Speed, The Matrix and Point Break). What he shouldn't play though is an arrogant asshole. And during the first half of the movie that is exactly what he is supposed to play. He does that with some of the most horrible acting I have ever seen. To be fair though the movie doesn't go easy on him. At one point he has to talk to a sausage.

While the movie portrays Keanu Reeves as an asshole at least it acknowledges that he is an asshole. On the other hand Charlize Theron's behavior in the first half of this movie is that of an insane bitch, but the movie seems to think she is a wonderful person. The movie manages to make us hate a dying woman. That's something few movies can achieve, even intentionally. All of this makes the affair between Theron and Reeves incredibly unbelievable. It's hard to believe that Reeves would fall for Theron. And it's hard to believe that Theron would pursue Reeves so relentlessly. Considering she is dying and has little time left you would think that she would go after someone nicer and someone who can be more easily pursued then Reeves, who rejects her about four times before finally succumbing to her 'charms'.

When they finally start their affair the movie becomes slightly less bad for awhile. The behavior of the characters normalizes, which makes their previous behavior even more bizarre. The movie now follows all of the old romantic cliches and Theron and Reeves try to make the most of it and manage to bring some charm to the whole thing. It's hard not to enjoy a smiling half-naked Charlize Theron, no matter how bad the movie is. Then Reeves finds out Theron is dying and the movie becomes very bad again.

Besides telling a love story, the movie also tried to make some kind of anti-materialistic point. It wants to claim that pursuing love and good relationships with people is much more important than pursuing money. In any scene shot in the financial district of the city the characters are enclosed by buildings and chaos. There is no human contact and everybody minds their own business. On the other hand In the suburbs, where Theron lives there is a lot of open space. There is serenity and a sense of community. People know each other and talk to each other. Charlize Theron mentions that she once had a company where she was doing something with pets, but the company became too big, the human touch was lost and she left it. Anyway, the movie forgets all this in a very stupid scene near the end.

Theron has pushed Reeves away, so he wouldn't have to be bothered with her during her final days. This hurts him a lot and he wants to win her back. So during Thanksgiving he climbs into her apartment dressed as Santa Claus (so she would experience one last Christmas) and brings her twelve gifts. He lists every single gift and in the end literally says: "if these final gift does not show you my love for you, then nothing will." In most romantic comedys/dramas such a scene would be at the beginning to establish that the current lover of our hero(ine) is a jerk.