Simon's Movie Reviews

Noble heroes are easy to root for and vile villains are fun to hate, but characters who are somewhere in the middle can be a lot more interesting. Oskar Schindler, the subject of Steven Spielberg's award-winning film Schindler's List (1993), is a man who could easily deserve the title of hero since he helped save more than a thousand people from the Nazi death camps during the Second World War. Yet by his own admission he was a member of the Nazi party, a war profiteer and a criminal. I would say these flaws, and others, humanize him and highlight the possibility that in times of great evil any person can choose to do something for the good of others. This is certainly a tough movie to watch, but it is essential viewing. I have seen it a couple of times, once with a family member as well as during a history class. Most recently I did a re-watch with my fiancée who is very interested in that period of history, so I got her an anniversary edition of the DVD for Christm...

I have only seen two of the late Anthony Minghella’s films, but based on what I have seen he seemed to have a taste for old-school Hollywood movies that were made on a grand scale and shot on location. Cold Mountain (2003) was a Civil War drama featuring epic battles, a love story, and Academy Award winning performances. Before that his signature film was The English Patient (1996), a World War II drama featuring slightly less epic battles, a love story, and multiple Academy Award winning performances. Although decried by a Seinfeld character for being too long, Minghella’s film deserved every award it received and emphasizes the loss cinema suffered when he died in 2008. Since I had nothing to do last Valentine’s Day (not that I am complaining) I thought I might as well dig through Netflix and cross off another movie off my list. As The English Patient came out when I was around nine years old I of course missed it when it first came out and only heard about through pop cul...