The Sandlot

Directed by David M. Evans, The Sandlot is unfortunately not a movie highly recognized in the bureaucratic world of cinema. It's generally a family film almost everyone has probably seen once or twice on television. When I think of this movie, I do think of my earlier youth, though I can never pinpoint when I first watched it. No one could find a more simple and yet more meaningful movie than this about the lasting friendship of several goofy young boys who bond over baseball, excursions to the public pool (remember Wendy Peffercorn?), tobacco-filled carnival rides, and the retrieval of a ball lost in the territory of the Beast. The soundtrack includes oldies but goodies, such as This Magic Moment by The Drifters and Green Onions by Booker T and the MGs. I always listen to these songs and wish I lived back then -- but maybe that's just me. If you ask anyone what the most memorable part of the movie is, he or she will most likely point to the end, when Benny jumps over the Beast's fence to grab the lost ball signed by the Great Bambino himself and runs for his life all throughout the town, with Beast and the other boys chasing after his bangin' black Chuck Taylors. An American classic is what The Sandlot is, and if you haven't seen it yet, I think it's on YouTube ;)

Man, base up you blockheads!

Amanda

The Departed

It's been a really REALLY long time since I last updated -- sorry!! I'm gonna continue as if no break happened :)

The Departed, directed by the one and only Martin Scorsese, is one of those movies where if you daydream for a minute or blink for longer than 20 seconds, you'll find yourself confused and frustrated. Densely packed with brilliant dialogue, fit editing, and hardcore music, every second of this film counts. From the very beginning, Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Leonardo diCaprio, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, and Alec Baldwin keep you engaged with your mouth hanging open at the fact that the word "Fuck" and all its forms are said 237 times in total. How's that for keeping your adrenaline pumping? The storyline itself is pretty striking -- one rat infiltrates the police force of Boston, another the crime dynasty of Frank Costello -- and Leonardo diCaprio's and Matt Damon's characters parallel each other perfectly. It helps that humor is just as evenly distributed throughout the movie as cussin' criminals, and of course, the seemingly-random collection of songs (Bang Bang by Joe Cuba as well as Shipping Up To Boston by the Dropkick Murphys? Who does that?) makes this a highly unique movie and definitely worthy of the four Oscars it snagged in 2007. Watch if you haven't already -- your life will be better "fahr" it (that was a Bostonian accent, if you didn't know).

To making it count,

Amanda

:)