Monday, May 29, 2006

The duke´s top 100 list (2)

Mr Holland´s Opus.

Mr Holland is probably the ideal teacher. He is teaching music at a n american highschool. But the thing that makes him special, is that he changes the lifes of his students. He even gains the respect of his own teenage son (who is deaf, but despite the bad relationship between them during his teens, he decides to follow his dads footsteps). During his years as a teacher, he leads a troupe of like minded coleagues (including the drama teacher and the gym teacher) into fighting with everything they have, against their conservative counterparts, to keep a humanist approach in education. He is a beacon to his students....until the dark ages of Reaganism and Bushism come, and he is forced to give up the fight. An amazingly told story, of a man whose unbelievable 35 year old career has changed a lot of young people, with his wins, his failures, his time of disapointment and his times of joy.
Robert Duval portrays the young (at heart) idealist who never gives up , and always takes a stand, in order to help his students go over the troubles of being teenagers, and follow their own dreams. Probably the teacher I never had.......


Pulp Fiction:
Quentin Tarantino´s follow up to Reservoir dogs, and the movie that made him a brand name. A stand-out soundtrack, and a league of top-noch actors. A relaxed Bruce Willis delivering a kind of performance that has never been seen on cinema (up until Sin City) but only in tv series Moonlighting. Its Travolta rejuvinating his career after the "Look whos talking" debacle...and of course Samuel Jackson delivering the best wuotes ever.....whioaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa