Is reading becoming obsolete?: an analysis of 'Fahrenheit 451?'

An analysis of Francois Truffaut's 'Fahrenheit 451'

In this video, I will analyze themes from 'Fahrenheit 451', a 1966 British film by director Francois Truffaut who co-wrote the script with Jean-Louis Richard, based on the 1954 novel of the same name by Ray Bradbury. The film stars Julie Christie as Clarisse, Oskar Werner as Guy Montag, and Cyril Cusack as the Fire Captain of Engine House 451. In a totalitarian society in a dystopian future, individuality is denied, conformity is the law, and firemen are paid to burn books. This is the seminal film on thought censorship, as relevent today as it was when it came out. 

An in-depth Analysis of Sydney Lumet's 1976 film 'Network'

Network 1976 Film

In this video, I analyze themes from the 1976 satire/black comedy 'Network' directed by Sydney Lumet, written by Paddy Chayefsky, and starring Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Robert Duvall, and Beatrice Straight. The film is about a television station that gets a ratings boost after 1 of its anchors tells his audience that he is going to commit suicide on live television. Incredibly, the film won Academy Awards in 3 acting categories (Best Actor: Peter Finch; Best Actress: Faye Dunaway; and Best Supporting Actress: Beatrice Straight). The film also earned an award for Paddy Chayefsky's script. This film is prophetic and more relevant today than when it was made. One of the great films ever! 

An in-depth analysis of Alan Pakula's 1971 film 'Klute' starring Jane Fonda

An in-depth analysis of 'Klute' directed by Alan Pakula and starring Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland

In this video, I will analyze key scenes and themes from the film 'Klute' directed by Alan Pakula and starring Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, and Roy Scheider. The film is about a prostitute who becomes emotionally desensitized as a result of a beating she suffers at the hands of a john.

An in-depth analysis of David Fincher's 1999 film 'Fight Club'

David Fincher's 'Fight Club': an in-depth analysis

In this video, I will analyze the psychological and symbolic themes in 'Fight Club' the 1999 psychological/thriller by director David Fincher based on the book by Chuck Palahniuk starring Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter, Meatloaf, and Jared Leto. The film follows a recall specialist whose existence is defined by materialism and an addiction to support groups, particularly a support group for men with testicular cancer. A chance meeting with a soap salesman named Tyler Durden blows up Jack's old life and gives him a new life free from the norms and cares of society. The 2 men start a new club for men only called Fight Club.  

A complete analysis and breakdown of 'The Thomas Crown Affair' including the famous Chess scene

In this video, I will go in depth into and share my thoughts on Norman Jewison's 1969 bank heist classic 'The Thomas Crown Affair' starring Faye Dunaway, Steve McQueen, and Paul Burke. 

An complete breakdown of Ingmar Bergman's 'The Virgin Spring' and the infamous rape scene

In this video, I will analyze Ingmar Bergman's 1960 film 'The Virgin Spring', an allegorical take on the crucifixion of Jesus Christ about a young virgin girl who falls victim to rape and murder at the hands of 3 herdsmen while on her way to deliver candles for mass. 

A video Analysis of Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey'

In this video, I will analyze key scenes and concepts from director Stanley Kubrick's 1963 science fiction film '2001: A Space Odyssey. 

Star Child

2001: A Space Odyssey gives us an abstract picture and asks us to interpret it any way that we see fit. This is what makes this film great because it is not attempting to answer anything at all; it, instead, forces us to ask questions, about ourselves personally and about where we are heading as a species. The film can be a metaphor for the individual as well as a cosmic metaphor. The direction of an individual in his own life or that of a species completely transformed by a single event. Thanks for watching this video and please feel free to leave a comment.

An analysis of 'Claudine' starring James Earl Jones and Diahann Carroll

In this short video, I will off my perspectives on Lester Pine's 1974 film 'Claudine' starring Diahann Carroll, James Earl Jones, and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs with music by Curtis Mayfield and Gladys Knight and the Pips!

In this video, I will examine the 1st episode of 'Band of Brothers: Currahee'

Utah Beach--code name of the German occupied beachhead on France's northwest coastline; Camp Toccoa, Georgia--home of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division
Utah Beach--June 6, 1944; Camp Toccoa--June 4, 1942

Between Utah Beach and Camp Toccoa, June 4, 1942 and June 6, 1944 , the US Army will train men to jump out of C-47s into hostile territory. But before these recruits can call themselves Easy Company they must conquer 2 great foes: a steep hill called Currahee in 15 minutes, 3 miles up and 3 miles down; and they must also conquer a steep hill of ego in an extremely detailed, overly ambitious drill sergeant named Sobel, who himself finds out that there's a huge difference between having rank and being a leader!

This outstanding 2001 American war drama miniseries is widely considered THE greatest miniseries ever (along with Mad Men) based on Stephen E. Ambrose's 1992 non-fiction book of the same name. Executive Produced by Tom Hanks and Stephen Spielberg on the heels of 1998's 'Saving Private Ryan', Band Of Brothers follows the soldiers of Easy Company, then an experimental regiment of the Armed Forces, and their battles throughout France against German forces. Each of the 10 episodes focus on a member of the unit which gives the series an advantage over other war films in terms of character development. At the time, the series was the most expensive and given that there are 10 episodes, each 1 could hold up to any single war feature in any area of production, nominated for 20 Emmy's and walking away with 7 and numerous other awards. There are war films, but this is the grand-daddy of them all! 

Video analysis of the 1st episode of 'Mad Men'

Some thoughts on Mad Men: Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Don Draper is a product of his time: he is sexist; he is racist; and he smokes! But he is also discreet, professional, and principled. Don Draper is the top ad man at Sterling Cooper because he can sell anything, even a lie, even death--the trick is to make it seem like happiness. Everything and everybody stays in their place, but, like the Dylan song goes, "times are a changin'" and Draper's changing, too, whether he wants to or not!

This period drama that looks at the world of advertising as a metaphor for the 60's-the most turbulent decade of the 20th century-is the history of America in a nutshell. What makes Don Draper appealing to me as a Black man is that despite the fact that he's racist, sexist, and steeped in the mindset of the establishment, he is conflicted as all of us are--if we are willing to admit it! He has secrets and isn't what or who he pretends to be. But, above anything else, he's principled. Don Draper is a microcosm of a nation at the epicenter of changes and revelations. This is 1 of the best written and directed series ever (created by Matthew Weiner), on par with Dallas of the 80's, a truly iconic, larger-than-life-flawed-everyman whom you can't help but like and respect even against your will. 

My thoughts on 'Easy Rider'

Some perspectives on Dennis Hopper's 'Easy Rider'

After scoring a drug deal in Los Angeles, 2 hippie bikers with a gas-tank full of money travel cross-country to Mardi Gras. Their ride starts in the Southwest where they see the American Dream in a man and his family living off the land and a weed-smoking commune, disconnected from modern civilization. Their ride, the American Dream, and the hippie movement ends violently in the Deep South: 

"They talk to you about individual freedom, if they see a free individual, it's gonna scare 'em."
"Well, I don't make them runnin' scared."
"No, it makes 'em dangerous!"

This low-budget 1969 road film written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Terry Southern won "Best Film By A New Director" at Cannes for Dennis Hopper, a film based on 60's counterculture that attained cult status by defining its period in the same way that Saturday Night Fever defined Disco in the 70's. This is a deceptively intelligent and well-thought out film that Peter Fonda imagined as an American Western with motorcycles, shot on a budget of $360,000.00 and going on to earn over $60,000,000.00! 

My thoughts on Ingmar Bergman's 'The Seventh Seal'

Some thoughts on Ingmar Bergman's 'The Seventh Seal'

In this video, I offer my perspectives of Ingmar Bergman's 'The Seventh Seal', a story set in medieval Europe that follows a Knight who returns from the Crusades to find his homeland of Sweden ravaged by the Black Plague. Antonius Block challenges Death to a game of chess to buy time to get the answers to existential questions pertaining to the meaning of life and the existence of God. A truly great film from a true master. 

Why 'Citizen Kane' is still the greatest film ever made!

My perspectives on Orson Welles' 'Citizen Kane'

He took a fledgling newspaper and transformed it into the most powerful newspaper in the world; Xanadu, his luxury palace, was half the size of Rhode Island and housed more priceless works of art than any museum in the world; he bought his own opera house and from nothing--like his paper, The New York Inquirer-- took Susan Alexander, his mistress, and willed her from nothing into an opera star; when he needed writers for his paper, he went across the street to his rival's paper, pulled a wad of cash out of his pocket, and bought his rival's entire staff. Charles Foster Kane had everything and lacked nothing, nothing except 1 thing: Rosebud!

Based on the life of newspaper titan William Randolph Hearst, Citizen Kane was a film ahead of its time, so good that it literally destroyed Director Orson Welles's career. Considered the greatest film ever made, Citizen Kane--released in '41--received 9 Academy Award nominations and won only 1 for the script, which Orson co-wrote with Herman J. Mankiewicz. But there is no denying the sheer greatness of this film, told in a series of flashbacks similar to Kurosawa's Rashomon.

My honest impression of Christopher Nolan's 'Dunkirk': a review

An Honest Review of Christopher Nolan's 'Dunkirk' 

Saw Christopher Nolan's World War II film Dunkirk Saturday and it is the lamest of all of his films, surprisingly. Very safe. More of a fall or winter movie. Great cinematography. Heavy British accents alienated me. Should have included subtitles. 90% of my collection of almost 2500 movies are subtitled so I don't have a problem with foreign films whatsoever. Dunkirk seemed very dull and kept me waiting for "the moment" up until the anticlimactic ending. Very little action. Actually, what you see in the movie's trailer concentrates all of the action in the entire film. Like I said, the acting was very good, the cinematography as well, just don't go in with any expectations along the magnitude of Saving Private Ryan as far as characters that are memorable and an engaging plot which I found as flat as a warm beer that's been left out overnight.

Now, I know there are those who are going to have a bias for anything with Nolan's name on it, and believe me, I wanted to leave the theater as giddy as I was going in; actually, I went because Nolan directed it and I respected his talent way before most of his current fans, all the way back to 'Following', his 1st film which came out in '98 (I saw the film in '00) and have been among his most devoted fans since. But Dunkirk is a dud and this will bear itself out in the next 2 weeks as you will see my claim reflected in its free fall in the box office. The film is better suited for fall or winter than it is for the summer because of its pace. It is definitely not a war movie in the sense of what I am accustomed to seeing in a war movie, particularly because there is very little war rather than suspense. I didn't want to go into the plot here as there are places you can go such as Wikipedia or Rotten Tomatoes to get this info plus I wanted to enjoy the film without my pen and notepad. As it turned out for Dunkirk, neither were needed. Look forward to his next film.

An examination of the 1st episode of Mad Men: Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Here are some of the sociological perspectives I got from watching the 1st episode of Mad Men: Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Discontentment

Don Draper is the top ad man at Sterling Cooper. In this episode, he needs to come up with a way to pitch a cigarette brand called Lucky Strike despite the fact that the government says that smoking causes cancer. Today, he’s meeting with the owner of Lucky Strike and if he doesn't come up with an angle around the FTCs findings, the agency will lose the account.

Don trying to figure out an angle to justify smoking is metaphor for him trying to justify maintaining a relationship and a life that he is not happy with; this is why he has a mistress which is just another dead-end relationship. At the meeting with Lucky Strike’s owner and son, Don’s pitch is not to disprove the FTCs findings that cigarettes are poisonous—all cigarettes are poisonous. What sets Lucky Strike apart from its competitors is that they are “roasted.” Just as he dances around the dangers of smoking, Don uses the temporary pleasure he gets from having a mistress to dance around the fact that he is not happy with his marriage. 

Living a double life

Greta Guttman from the agency’s Research Department enters the office and warns Don that they should police themselves to offset government regulations on their cigarette ads. Cigarettes are part of American life, she says, citing Freud’s theory that some people have a death wish. Sal quips “So we’re supposed to believe that people are living one way and secretly thinking the exact opposite? Ridiculous!”(this statement sums up the entire series as everyone is living some kind of double life starting with Don Draper who is actually a deserter named Richard Whitman who has stolen his identity off of a fellow soldier killed in action. Sal, who comes out as gay in a later episode, is pretending to be straight in a sexist, ultra-masculine culture.)

Sexism

In Mad men, women are exposed to sexism at work, in business and at home. 

• On Peggy Olsen’s 1st day at the agency, ad men make sexist remarks about her in an elevator
• The ad men place bets on who will have sex with Peggy 1st
• Don Draper walks out of a meeting with a female client for being ‘out of line’ by disagreeing with him and voicing her opinion
• Don Draper meets with a female client but assumes that the guy with her is the owner until she tells him that she’s the boss
• The doctor at the clinic asks Peggy, who’s getting a pap smear, if she’s married; warning her that “easy women” don’t get married and telling her not to become the “town pump” because his is  writing her prescription for birth control pills

Racism

There are many examples of racism in this episode. For instance, 

• The manager of a restaurant reprimands a male middle-aged waiter, who is Black, not to be too “chatty” with the customers when he sees the waiter speaking with Don Draper
• Except for Salvatore Romano who works in the agency’s Art Dept. and a young Jewish man who works in the mail room, there are no other ethnic groups represented at the agency
• Before finding a Jewish employee to represent the agency at a meeting with a potential Jewish client, Don makes a racist joke when Roger Sterling asks where they can to dig up a Jew for the meeting, asking Roger “Want me to run down to the deli and get someone?”
• Don recommends to Ms. Menken, who is Jewish, that her store offer coupons to increase business. Ms. Menken insists on raising prices to compete with her competitors who don’t offer coupons which angers Don because the coupons, on a deeper level, suggests that she, a Jew, is a 2nd class citizen and is, therefore, of lesser value than her White competitors 

Conforming to norms

Joan Holloway offers advice to Peggy Olsen, the new girl, on how she should accommodate her male superiors like keeping a bottle of Rye in her drawer for Don Draper to wearing shorter dresses to get her ankles to “sing.” Peggy is portrayed as a fish out of water. In the later episodes, her backstory reveals her as being raised by women and not exposed to the overt sexism she is exposed to at the agency. Joan is portrayed as the native who has shaped herself to survive in a world dominated by White males. As lead Secretary, her function is to teach Peggy how to conform.

Off the chain

At the striptease club, the ad men are at a table drinking and smoking and making passes at waitresses. Some girls arrive and sit with everyone except Sal. One of the girls makes a comment about the place: “It’s hot, it’s loud, and it’s filled with men!” Like alcohol, this environment frees the men of the civil restrictions imposed on them by society. (the striptease is a metaphor of the systematic liberation of the ad men’s egos, particularly, Pete’s who is about to be married and, in a sense, restricted from openly expressing himself). As the stripper on the stage peels off her clothes, Pete’s inhibitions fall away and he molests his date. Afterwards, he stops by Peggy’s apartment because, with her, he can privately express himself as Don Draper expresses his true self with his own mistress. When Peggy takes Pete into her place despite knowing that he is getting married in a few days, she is also agreeing to be a 2nd class citizen in his life as women are 2nd class citizens at Sterling Cooper.

Conclusion

Ultimately, this episode lays the groundwork for the changes that will take place in the agency but, most importantly, the changes that will impose themselves on society and the orderly world of Don Draper. The 1st seismic event marking the end of his world is Ms. Menken, the Jewish owner of the department store who embodies 2 oppressed groups challenging him and his world. Don Draper is an amalgam of the 60s, from the civil rights movement to the public’s disillusionment with the war in Vietnam.

Summary of 'Mad Men' Season 1 episode 1: Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Hi, this is a summary of the very 1st episode of my all-time favorite series 'Mad Men'.

Don Draper is alone at a table in a restaurant writing on a napkin. He asks the Black waiter for a light and what brand of cigarettes he likes. The White manager reprimands the Black waiter for speaking to the customers. Don sends the manager to fetch him a drink and picks up his discussion with the waiter. The Black man tells Don that he loves smoking Old Gold and Don writes this down.

Don drops by his mistress’ apartment and they make love and afterwards they smoke cigarettes.

Workers stream into the Sterling Cooper office building. Young ad men surround the new girl in the elevator. The ad men make lewd remarks and ogle the new girl as if the Black elevator operator isn’t there.

A young ad man named Pete Campbell is on the phone with his fiancé telling her that he and some co workers are going to see a movie after work but they are actually going to a striptease club.

A tall curvy redhead in a tight dress and high heels walks the new girl, whose name is Peggy Olsen, to her desk beside Don Draper’s office. Joan Holloway is the head secretary. She schools Peggy on what the men in the office expect of her and advises her to wear a dress showing more of her legs.

Don is in his office changing into a fresh shirt and talking with his partner, Roger Sterling. They’re scheduled to meet the Jewish owner of a department store and they need to have someone there who is Jewish. They have no Jewish employees. Don makes a racist joke: “Want me to run down to the deli and get someone?”

When Roger leaves, Don looks at the purple heart the army gave him and puts it away. Salvatore Romano from the Art Department comes in to show Don a drawing he did for the Lucky Strike ad showing a man with his torso exposed smoking a cigarette; a neighbor posed for it. Don tells Sal to put a woman in the picture with the man. Sal goes over to the server tray to pour drinks. Greta Guttman from the Research Department comes in to advise Don that they should police themselves to offset government regulations on their cigarette ads. She cites Freud’s death wish theory and Sal interrupts her: “So we’re supposed to believe that people are living one way and secretly thinking the exact opposite? Ridiculous!”

Don doesn't think the issue is why people smoke but why people smoke Lucky Strike. She gives him a report on the dangers of smoking and he drops it in the trash can. When she leaves his office, he takes a drink and takes a nap on the couch. Peggy wakes him up; Pete Campbell wants to see him. Pete flirts with Peggy and makes a sexist comment about the excessive length of her dress. 

Pete and Don head towards the conference room. Pete says that he wants 1st crack at Peggy and Don warns him that he’ll wind up alone because nobody will like him. Don enters the conference room and a man and a woman are there. He gives the man a handshake and ignores the woman. The woman, not the man, is the owner of Menken's Department store. Don apologizes. The man with her is David, an employee of the agency Roger found in the mail room. David is also Jewish.

Peggy is in the doctor’s office at the clinic. She’s on the exam table with her feet in stirrups. The doctor comes into the room smoking and coughing. He is also Joan’s doctor. He asks Peggy if she’s married and orders her to spread her knees. He warns her that he’ll take her off the pills if she abuses them. He also warns her that “easy women” don’t find husbands. She tells him that she’s a responsible person. He writes her a prescription and warns her not to become “the town pump.” 

At the meeting with Ms. Menkin, Don and Cooper try to persuade her to offer coupons but she wants the store to have a high-end image. Don warns her that she is way out of line. He thinks that the idea of people going to a store because it’s expensive is a stupid and she reminds him that the customer-meaning herself-is always right. He leaves the meeting with Pete following him agreeing about Menken forgetting her place.

Joan takes Peggy to meet the switchboard operators who are all women. One of them comments on Peggy’s long dress, saying that Draper would like her legs if he could see them. 

Don and other ad men from various departments meet with the owners of Lucky Strike over the media’s claim linking cigarettes with cancer. Everyone in the conference room is smoking and coughing. The federal government is suing 1 of Lucky Strike’s competitors for making false health claims. Therefore, Sterling Cooper can no longer claim that Lucky Strike cigarettes are safe. Cooper turns the floor over to Don who is stumped. Pete seizes the opportunity and makes his pitch by comparing smoking to the dangers of driving a car. He cites Greta Guttman’s research; earlier, Greta told Don that no one else had seen her research! Pete tells the old man and his son that the agency can design an ad campaign that can tap into Freud’s death wish theory.

The old man dismisses Pete’s idea and he and his son get up to leave. The son makes a casual remark that their competitors have the same problem and Don stops them and goes over to the chalkboard. Lucky Strike can say anything that they want because none of their competitors could make any health claims either. Don asks the old man how their cigarettes are made and his answer is that they are “toasted,” which becomes the company’s new slogan. 

Roger and Don celebrate afterwards with cigarettes and alcohol. Roger brings up the possibility of the agency backing Presidential candidate Richard Nixon. Pete and others come in with more alcohol to celebrate. Everyone leaves except Pete who places a pass to the striptease lounge on Don’s Desk. Don lays into Pete for using Greta’s research at the Lucky Strike meeting. Peggy enters and Pete leaves. She places her hand on top of Don’s hand and thanks him for standing up to Pete on her behalf; Don takes her hand off of his hand and warns her not to let Pete go through his trash again. She is embarrassed. Don sends her home and tells her to come back tomorrow and get a fresh start. 

At the striptease club, the ad men are at a table drinking, smoking cigarettes, and flirting with waitresses. Their dates arrive and sit with everyone except Sal. One of the girls looks around and says, “It’s hot, it’s loud, and it’s filled with men!” Sal smiles and agrees with her. A stripper is on the stage starting her routine.Pete gropes the woman next to him. He forces his hand up her dress and she gets up and sits with one of the other ad men. The stripper peels off all of her clothes and the song ends. 

Don and Ms. Menken are in a restaurant with low lighting. He apologizes to her for walking out of the meeting and she agrees to another meeting. He asks her why she isn’t married and she tells him that she’s never been in love.

Pete shows up drunk at Peggy’s apartment. When he tells her that he’s getting married Sunday she invites him inside. 

After having dinner with Ms. Menken, Don goes home to his wife and their 2 children.

A textbook example of film noir: Billy Wilder's 'Double Indemnity'

Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity 

Here is a short video I posted to Youtube giving my perspectives on Billy Wilder's great classic film 'Double Indemnity' starring Edward G. Robinson, Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray based a script Wilder co wrote with Raymond Chandler. The film earned 7 Oscar nominations and is widely viewed as the standard for film noir, even to this day!

Summary of Band Of Brothers 1: Currahee

Band Of Brothers: Currahee

Prologue

World War 2 vets recall the draft for U.S. Army paratroopers and their eagerness to sign up.

Story

Film begins June 4, 1944 with Easy Company loading gear onto C-47 transport airplanes. Troops are chomping at the bit and ready to go into battle. But at the last minute, they are told that they can’t go out because of bad weather. Everyone is dejected and the barracks are quiet. 

Two years earlier, Camp Toccoa, Georgia

Fresh recruits stand at attention as Lieutenant Sobel inspects them 1 by 1. Sobel finds everything wrong with them from specks of rust on the stock of a bayonet to a stray piece of thread. He revokes all weekend passes and orders them to run up Currahee Hill—3 miles up and 3 miles down—in 15 minutes.

Privates run 3 miles up Currahee and return downhill 3 miles in 15 minutes total. Sobel berates them on the way up. After completing the hill in PT gear, Sobel makes them run the hill again in full heavy gear. Sobel drives the recruits hard all day long.

Easy Company marches up Currahee hill with Lieutenant Winters leading the way. One of the privates asks Winters why Easy Company is the only company marching 12 miles on Friday night in full gear. Private thinks that Sobel hates them. Jokingly, Winters tells the private that Sobel only hates him.

**

Sobel orders Winters to instruct Easy Company to pour out their canteens and everyone complies except 1 private whose canteen is already empty. Sobel orders the private to repeat the 12 mile march up Currahee and orders Winters to bring him 6 soldiers to punish with latrine duty. 

Montage

• Captain Sobel oversees a paratroop training drill.
• Captain Sobel singles out privates to run Currahee.

Colonel Sink promotes Sobel to Captain and pins emblems on his shirt. Sink is also promoting Lieutenant Winters to 1st Lieutenant but he wants Sobel to pin the emblems on Winter’s shirt. 

**

Sobel does a surprise search of Lieutenant Louis’s belongings (Louis is Winter’s assistant) and finds contraband. Sobel cancels all weekend passes. Later, he pins the 1st Lieutenant CO emblems on Winter’s shirt; Winters will serve as Sobel’s executive officer. Sobel assigns Winters to the mess hall for 2 weeks as a test. He tells Winters to serve spaghetti tomorrow. 

The next day, Sobel interrupts Easy Company’s chow and orders them to run up Currahee Hill. Some of the privates lose their spaghetti on the way up and this seems to please Sobel who keeps pace. Defiantly, the company belt out their running cadence which pisses Sobel off. 

**

Easy Company is taken up 12 at a time in C-47 airplanes to complete 5 exits (jumps) that will certify them as paratroopers. In one of the planes, Sobel looks scared and hesitates before making his jump. 

Easy Company celebrates in a bar after successfully completing paratroop training and earning their wings. Colonel Sink toasts them and leads the chant of their motto: “Currahee!” 

**

In a battlefield simulation, Sobel’s bad leadership skills are exposed when he leads his squad into an ambush by leaving a safe position. 

**

Winters introduces 2nd Lieutenant Louis Nixon to 2nd Lieutenant Harry Welsh from the 82nd Airborne. Word has gotten around about Sobel’s bad performance in the last training exercise. He’s jumpy in the field. As they are talking, Sobel appears out of nowhere and their faces tell him that they were talking about him. Throughout the camp, troops whisper amongst themselves concerning Sobel and distrust his leadership. 

**

Winters, Welsh, and Louis on train. Louis produces a flask of whiskey and takes a swig. 

9/6/43

Troops load their supplies on the ship that will take them to Europe (Roosevelt’s the President). 

9/18/43, Aldbourne England

Troops do battlefield simulations to prepare for the German army. Easy is broken up into squads and each is assigned a captain. Again, Sobel leads his squad to the wrong position and has a great deal of trouble reading his map. Another squad hidden from view, plays a trick on him by getting private Russ to impersonate the major. Russ orders Sobel to cut through the goddamn fence blocking his squad. Meanwhile, Winters checks his wristwatch; Captain Sobel is late. Winters improvises and orders 1st and 2nd platoon to cut off both sides of a T-shaped road. While they are doing this, he will lead 1st squad up the middle of the road to trap their enemy. They execute and Winters pulls off the mission. 

Sobel is reprimanded later for cutting through the fence and is told that the major who told him to do so is in London! Sobel realizes that he is losing Easy Company to Lieutenant Winters. 

Sobel threatens Winters with a court-martial for disobeying his direct order on an administrative assignment despite the fact that Winters was quartered with a family that had no phone and never received the order. Nevertheless, Sobel gives Winters 2 options: to forfeit his 48 hour leave for 60 days or request a trial by court-martial. Nobel hopes Winters will opt for the 1st option but Winters requests the court-martial.  

When Winters is transferred to the mess battalion, the NCOs of Easy Company are not happy about it because they trust Winters on the battlefield. They all agree to turn in their resignations to Colonel Sink. The Colonel is furious. With D-Day fast approaching, the Army needs all of its NCOs and if not for this fact, he would line them all up in front of the firing squad. He denies their requests and tells them to get out of his sight immediately.  

**

Colonel Sink has Sobel in his office and tells him about the NCOs that tried to turn in their resignations earlier. Sobel believes that the majority of the NCOs respect him. Sink compliments Sobel on the great job he’s done with Easy Company and reassigns him to a parachute training school in Chilton Foliat to train chaplains and doctors. Sobel objects to this but Sink’s decision is final.

Sobel is driven off the base in a jeep. He glares at Winters on his way out; Winters salutes him. 

5/31/1944, Upottery, England

US soldiers and British soldiers meet. Winters and the new captain of Easy Company, Lieutenant Meehan, study a large map of Normandy. Later, Louis goes over the Allies’ deployment strategy with the COs and later the COs take this strategy to the troops, giving each a sand table, a map, and reconnaissance photos to memorize until they can draw the area by memory. They will arrive at the beach 5 hours ahead of 4th Infantry in an area called St. Marie Du Mont to take out the German garrison between them and their objective. 

**

Troops prepare for the flight to Omaha Beach, packing up their gear and signing their life insurance policies. NCO Guarnere’s brother, who’s also a soldier, got killed in Italy. Guarnere doesn’t know his brother is dead yet and 2 of his fellow troopers debate on whether to tell him. 

Easy Company is told that the invasion is postponed for 24 hours due to bad weather. 

In the makeshift movie theater, Guarnere discovers that he has on another trooper’s jacket. He finds a letter in one of the pockets saying that his brother died in Paris. Winters writes in his journal. 

June 5, 1944, Upottery Airfield

Troops load their gear into the planes that will take them to Omaha Beach. Troops sit on the ground in neat rows and columns waiting for Winters to pull them to their feet. They board the planes and the planes take off and cover the sky over the ocean (Gen. Dwight Eisenhower is the Supreme Allied Commander)

An analysis of Gaspar Noe's 'Irreversible'

Gaspar Noe's 'Irreversible'

What will we find if we backtracked our lives to the beginning, the very beginning? This is the question Gaspar Noe asks in his ingeniously constructed riddle 'Irreversible.'

A beautiful woman named Alex (Monica Bellucci) is brutally raped in a subway just moments after seeing her boyfriend in the arms of another woman. When Marcus (Vincent Cassel) sees Alex on a stretcher he vows revenge and embarks on a journey that ends at an S&M club called The Rectum where he finds the man who destroyed his Alex, the man known as The Tenia. Afterwards, a series of effects and causes backtrack to the beginning and the chain of events leading to the Rectum. Some choices we make can be changed and others are immutable.

Gaspar Noe’s ‘Irreversible’ is not a film, it is an experience and a most strange tribute to Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey that you have to see to believe. No matter how many times I see this film, the effect it has on me is as profound as the 1st time. You either love this film or you hate it, there's no in between. Irreversible’s non-linear structure makes Tarantino's 'Pulp Fiction' and Nolan's 'Memento' look like kids stuff. Be warned, though, if you haven't seen it yet that it is extremely graphic and contains a brutal rape scene that fits within the context of the story.

My perspectives on Alfred Hitchcock's 'Lifeboat'

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My Perspectives on Mike Nichol's 'Carnal Knowledge'

Mike Nichol's 'Carnal Knowledge'

In this video, I offer my perspectives of Mike Nichol's 1971 comedy/drama 'Carnal Knowledge' starry Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel as coeds whose philosophies on love and sex follow them into middle age.