Cinema Paradiso

Cinema Paradiso released in 1988 is an Italian film directed by Giuseppe Tornatore. The film won several awards outside of it's home country including the 1989 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

This blogs will be a little different. I'm just going to give 10 memorable scenes.

10. When Salvatore (aka Toto) recieves the phone call informing him of Alfredo's death.

9. Young Salvatore in the film room of the Cinema Paradiso learning how to use the film machine from Alfredo.

8. Alfredo projecting a film onto a building when the theatre is closed for the evening.

7. The fire that causes Alfredo's blindness from which Toto rescues Alfredo.

6. Elena, Toto's first love, visits him in the Cinema Paradiso after he waited outside her window for 100 nights.

5. Toto goes to war and comes back more somber than he was before.

4. Cinema Paradiso is rebuilt after the fire by Ciccio, a lucky citizen of the town who won some money in the football lottery.

3. Toto accidentally sets fire to some pictures in his home including a picture of his deceased father. His mother is in hysterics.

2. The Cinema Paradiso is demolished symbolizing a part of Toto's childhood dying.

1. Alfredo makes Toto promise the he will never return to the village once he has left. Toto keeps his promise until Alfredo dies.

The Simpsons Movie

The Simpsons Movie was released in July 2007. Directed by David Silverman, it was a huge success globally. The film won many awards worldwide including the British Comedy Award, the Best Animated Feature Film in the Golden Globes, Kids' and Teen Choice awards, etc.

The city of Springfield is an environmentally unfriendly town. Lake Springfield is especially toxic. Lisa (voice by Yeardley Smith) along with an Irish boy Colin hold a town meeting to convince the people of Springfield to clean up their lake. They agree that things need to change.

Meanwhile, Homer (voice by Dan Castellaneta) has taken a pig as his pet. He begins storing the pig's waste in a makeshift silo in his backyard. Marge (voice by Julie Kavner) orders Homer to remove it from the yard and dispose of it properly. Homer, being the lazy man that he is, decides to dump the silo into the newly restored Lake Springfield. The lake becomes completely toxic again, this time worse than before, causing wildlife to mutate.

The EPA finds one of the mutated animals and decides to intervene. Russ Cargill (voice by Albert Brooks), head of the EPA, gives the president 5 choices from which the president chooses to place a dome over Springfield.

When the silo is found in the lake and the townspeople learn that it was Homer's property, they form a mob and set fire to the Simpsons' home. Luckily, the family manages to escape through a sinkhole in Maggie's sandbox and hide-out in Alaska.

The people trapped people begin to damage the dome. Cargill fears that if the people escape they will tell everyone of the dome and he will be locked up. His plan is to simply destroy Springfield. When the Simpsons see a commercial advertising the Grand Canyon in the place where Speingfield is, the family abandons Homer to save the town. Unfortunately, the family is captured by the EPA and replaced in the dome. Homer visits an Eskimo shaman and has a vision in which he realizes he must save the town to save himself.

When he arrives to help, the EPA begins lowering a bomb into the city. Homer descends on the rope which forces the townspeople and the bomb back into the dome. He then mounts a motorcycle and reunites with Bart (voice by Nancy Cartwright). Together they manage to throw the bomb outside of the dome seconds before it explodes. The dome shatters and the people are free. They restore the city to its original state.

This movie is funny, full of political satire. Of course that means the genre is comedy. It definitely deserves an 8/10.

My scale is set up thusly:

10-Best movie I've ever seen

9-Amazingly good

8-Definitely recommended

7-Decent

6-Worth watching

5-Average

4-Fine

3-Boring or uninteresting

2-idea is overdone, too common

1-Terrible, don't waste your time

All in all a very funny film. There were few issues that the writers did not touch. Even religion, which tends to be a touchy subject to many people, was openly ridiculed. I loved the fearlessness of the comedy.

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