Movie Transcripts - Free of Charge
Transcripts are provided for all students studying Video English Movie Clips e-book. Vidoes are provided in links from the text to VOA’s YouTube page where each video clip is available, also free of charge. To view and save the YouTube Playlist of VOA selected for this project go to:
1 - Oz The Great and Powerful
Oz: “Ahhh! I don’t want to die. I haven’t accomplished anything yet!!"
Narrator: Like the original, Oz the Great and Powerful, a new release by filmmaker Sam Raimi, opens in black and white.
Oz: “I don’t want to be a good man. I want to be a great one!”
Narrator: Circus magician Oscar Diggs, played by James Franco, is taken to the Emerald City where he’s destined to claim the throne.
Witch: “It belongs to you. But only after you defeat the Wicked Witch.”
Oz: “Just how wicked is she?”
Narrator: He meets three witches. They deny they're wicked.
Witch 1: “You don’t know much about witches, do you?”
Narrator: It will take time for him to figure out who the bad one is.
Oz: “Just how wicked is she?”
Glinda the Good Witch: “Towns were destroyed, children were orphaned. Great wizard from Kansas, I’ve waited for you.”
Narrator: James Franco says the original story inspired him.
James Franco: “I have been a fan of the world of Oz since I was probably eleven, maybe younger. So, I thought it was a really great opportunity to jump into the role of my childhood imagination.”
Narrator: Sam Raimi’s 3D film offers rich visuals, good acting and great special effects. But it can't match the 1939 Wizard of Oz where Dorothy, played by Judy Garland in her ruby slippers, made history. She travels to the Emerald City to meet the Wizard who will show her the way back home -- only to find that Oz is a fake. The journey is an allegory of self-discovery. The Library of Congress named The Wizard of Oz the most watched motion picture in history, says Patrick Loughney, Executive Director of the National Audio Visual Conservation Center at the Library.
Patrick Loughney: It’s a magical film because it captures that concentration of energy, genius and creativity that was apparent in Hollywood, in the movie industry at that time.”
Narrator: Loughney says the 1939 film carried a post-depression message of endurance. Patrick Loughney: To me it's the message of hope in that movie that ultimately connects worldwide with everybody at that time, and even today.
Narrator: Other incarnations of The Wizard of Oz have reflected changes in popular culture. In 1974, The Wiz featured Dorothy played by Diana Ross, with an all-black cast. Patrick Loughney: "I think it reflects a social change that already occurred in America since the 1950s and 1960s. And so you have major movie studios beginning to accommodate creative artists coming out of the African American community."
Narrator: Now, Sam Raimi’s technical marvel, Oz the Great and Powerful, may give new life to the wizard until the next incarnation of Frank Baum's beloved story. Penelope Pulou, VOA News, Washington.
2 - Another Earth
Dr Tallis: “This is Dr Joan Tallis, the United States, Planet Earth. Do you read me? Is anyone out there?”
Narrator: Like its inhabitants, Earth Two is a duplicate of our world. For many, such a prospect is unnerving. For Rhoda, it’s hope. After serving a jail sentence for the deadly crash, she lives at her parents’ house, closed off from the world, unable to forgive herself. On Earth 2 her life might have taken a different course. She might have swerved, instead of hitting the mother and son. On Earth 2 she might be living the life she feels she was meant to.
Announcer: “This will be a trip life no other. We will give those that travel with us a unique and life-changing experience. Travel to Earth 2, now booking.”
Narrator: Rhoda cannot afford the flight so she enters an essay contest which offers her a chance to fulfill her dream. She wins. Meanwhile, her life has taken yet another turn. In an effort to find redemption she goes to apologize to the man who lost his wife and child in the accident. But she loses her nerve and pretends she’s looking for work as a housecleaner. Because she was a minor at the time of the crash, her identity was not disclosed. And John, unaware of her impact on his life, hires her. Cautiously, they start a friendship, then a relationship. When she tells him she won the trip to Earth 2 he keeps a brave face. Again, he’s losing someone close.
John: “First things first, is to start with a drink. We have to celebrate...”
Narrator: William Mapother, offers a compelling performance as pain-stricken John Burroughs. He says the story, albeit science fiction, allowed for dramatic expression.
William: It takes a, what we imagine to be and might not be, but we imagine to be a very outrageous concept of another Earth and it grounds it. It grounds and roots the extraordinary and the ordinary so for the actors, instead of playing something heady, we’re playing something very real.
Narrator: First time actress Brit Marling offers a nuanced interpretation as Rhoda Williams. She also co-wrote the script and produced the film. She explains the story line started with the concept of meeting our other self.
Brit: ...and that became the idea of the story of forgiveness. The person who most has the hardest time seeing herself, and the hardest time sort of letting go, is somebody who can’t sort of forgive herself, or let herself off the hook for something.
Narrator: Filming documentary style with a handheld camera, director Mike Cahill sets a realistic tone to a fictional outlandish story that resonates with audiences.
Mike: I think humans, I think all of us have this sort of primal yearning to connect. The idea of a doppelganger or a person who shares your experiences so intimately that they are you is kind of like a fulfillment of a fantasy that we have as humans.
Narrator: Another Earth is a unique, sensitive drama which raises philosophical questions and offers a provocative ending. The film cost less than $100,000 to make and has already won two coveted awards at the Sundance Film Festival. It has been greeted enthusiastically by critics and viewers who are left pondering possibilities long after the closing credits. Penelope Poulou, VOA News.
3 - Batman - The Dark Knight Rises
Fox: “These conversations used to end with an unusual request.”
Bruce: “I retired.”
Fox: “Well, let me show you some stuff anyway. Just for old time’s sake.”
Narrator: Eight years after his last battle as Batman, the eccentric billionaire Bruce Wayne is a broken man. He lost the love of his life and has unjustly become Gothan City’s pariah. His butler, Alfred, is his only friend. A terror attack on the city brings the caped warrior back in action.
Alfred: “You see only one end to your journey. Sometimes a man rises from the darkness.”
Bane: “Mr Wayne.”
Bruce: “Why don’t you just kill me.”
Bane: “Your punishment must be more severe.”
Narrator: Tom Hardy plays the new villain, Bane. He rallies criminals against Gotham City. Once again Christian Bale plays the dark knight.
Christian: This is the first time that Batman has come across anybody who is superior physically.
Chris: Batman might not actually survive conflict with this person, and Bane really presented that opportunity.
Narrator: Chris Nolan’s cast is as impressive as his larger-than-life story. Anne Hathaway plays Catwoman, Batman’s lithe and limber adversary and love interest.
Catwoman: “There’s a storm coming Mr Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches. Cause you’re all going to wonder how you thought you could live so large and and leave so little for the rest of us.”
Narrator: Chris Nolan’s cinematography and great atmospherics tap into fears of terrorism and economic meltdown. His scenario is post-apocalyptic. Its impact is enhanced by the gargantuan sets including a plane that breaks apart thousands of feet in the air
Chris: The Dark Knight rises is certainly the biggest film that I’ve undertaken by far. We really went back to the silent era of motion pictures, when the image was paramount. When all you had was the scope, the scale of the location. Thousands of extras, that kind of thing.
Narrator: Nolan’s Batman films have helped boost the comic book industry says Howard Marshall of Aftertime Comics, a comic book store in the DC area.
Marshall: It’s very exciting, really. It’s never been bigger. The past ten years it’s really grown a lot and the movies have helped. Nightfall is the story that is being adapted for this new movie. The story was written fifteen years ago, I think off the top of my head. Bane is a nightfall.
Narrator: But Marshall says children can’t benefit. Like the movie trilogy, Batman comics have gotten darker.
Marshall: But there’s a rating system now and just for your edification, by the barcode now. Because I don’t want to be responsible for kids seeing something their parents don’t want them to see yet cause they’re only six.
Narrator: The Dark Knight Rises is not for kids.
Catwoman: “You don’t owe these people any more. You’ve given them everything.”
Narrator: ....but it’s an epic tale whose depth and timelessness speaks to adults. Penelope Pulou, VOA News, Washington.
4 - Skyfall
Narrator: For fifty years the Bond franchise has been identified with the spy’s signature introduction.
Bond Girl: “Who are you?”
Bond: “Bond, James Bond.”
Narrator: But the traditionally slick, unperturbed agent with the elegant tuxedos and stiff martinis has evolved into a more rugged Bond, still chiseled, but more haunted-looking. Skyfall starts with her Majesty's Secret Service botching an operation in Istanbul.
M: “Take the shot!”
Agent: “I can’t. I may hit Bond.”
M: “Take the bloody shot!”
Narrator: And so Bond dies, or does he?
Bond: “007, reporting for duty.”
M: “Where the hell have you been?”
Narrator: Bond, played by Daniel Craig, gets back in action. This time, terrorism hits home. M, the head of the foreign intelligence wing, played by Judi Dench, finds out she is the target. The perpetrator is Silva, an ex-agent with an axe to grind.
Silva: “She sent you up to me knowing you’re not ready, knowing you would likely die. Mommy was very bad”
Academy award winner Javier Bardem plays Silva, not the typical Bond opponent. Bardem spoke to VOA about Mendes's drama.
Javier: It took the direction of really creating characters that are more approachable, in a sense of an emotional approach. Sam likes scenes to be playing in his movies, and he put the characters together in order to have the time to go through a process.
Silva: “Not bad James, for a physical wreck.”
Bond: “Well, Thank you.”
Silva: “You caught me! Woooo!”
Narrator: The film is also a visual extravaganza, especially on the 50th anniversary of the franchise.
Craig: It's hopefully to please people, it’s to make them remember that what it is, it's a Bond movie first and foremost, said Craig.
Narrator: Unlike its predecessors, Skyfall uses gadgets sparingly, but modern technology drives the film. Terrorism and undercover war move into cyber space, and MI6's gadget expert and computer hacker looks like the brainy high schooler next door.
Bond Girl: “He doesn’t appreciate the occasional twist, mister?”
Bond: “Bond. James Bond.”
Narrator: Like in all previous Bond films, sex appeal abounds. French-Cambodian actress Berenice Merlohe plays Severine, the quintessential Bond girl.
Merlohe: I always felt connected with the Bond universe, with the music, which is so powerful, and the sets were unbelievable.
Narrator: Naomi Harris plays MI6 agent Eve, a more dynamic female character.
Harris: It’s much more reflective of, you know, the times...that you have a woman who is much more of an equal to Bond. She’s out there in the field with him.
Narrator: Skyfall takes a more modern approach to Bond, but the film also pays homage to tradition. We see 007 driving his iconic Aston-Martin and still picking a good physical fight with traditional Bond bravado. Penelope Pulou, VOA News, Washington.
5 - Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows 2
Harry: “Let’s finish the story we started. Together.”
Narrator: Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Part 2, chronicles Harry’s last battle with Voldemort - the most evil of all wizards.
Voldemort: “Harry Potter, the boy who lives, come to die.”
Narrator: This final installment is a fast-paced epic that offers grand special effects and a narrative packed with emotion. The Harry Potter series has captivated the planet. Billions of people have read the books and many are going to watch Harry Potter’s final journey on the large screen in 3D no less. The film opened first in London, 8000 people poured into Trafalgar Square to greet the characters portrayed by the equally beloved actors who were there to take a final bow. JK Rowling, Harry Potter’s creator, thanked the actors.
JK Rowling: And they cannot know how much I love them. How. What amazing things they did for my favorite characters. And I just thank them for lending us their talent and all their hard work.
Narrator: This has also been an emotional journey for those who brought life to Rowling’s heroes. Emma Watson interprets Hermoine.
Emma: I guess emotional overall and, but there’s a real sense of ‘I’m really excited’ about the next chapter of my life starting, but then obviously I feel really sad and kind of nostalgic about all this coming to an end, and it’s been such a huge part of my life.
Narrator: She’s not alone. A whole generation watched these characters grow up - young people all over the world were growing up with them. At a Washington DC premiere hundreds of fans anxiously lined up to watch the young wizards’ final chapter. They were introspective of the Harry Potter experience.
Teenager: It's really weird because it is like the end of my childhood.
Teenager2: I’m definitely going to miss having no more books and no more movies to look forward to.
Teenager3: There was this whole other world, you know this amazing world. I think that was probably what intrigued me the most, that there was something so beautiful to be visualized and I think that really kind of enraptured me and caught my heart.
Narrator: Parents were wistful.
Parent: It’s very bittersweet because our kids, this is their childhood, they all grew up with this story and to know that it’s coming to an end.
Mother: It was the best book to come around, and there are so many kinds reading other books now that got started because of Harry Potter.
Hermoine: “Nicholas Fermat is the only known maker of the sorcerer’s stone.”
Ron & Harry: “The what?”
Hermoine: “Oh, honestly, don’t you two read?”
Narrator: The first movie, directed by Chris Columbus was released in 2001
Emma: It was just after 9/11 and I remember Chris making this speech that Harry Potter had come about just at the right time when people needed to escape and believe in magic and something greater.
Narrator: Themes of love, faith and loyalty have defined Harry Potter and strike a high note in its finale. Speaking of the last curtain, Daniel Radcliffe, the incarnation of Harry Potter for all these years, had a message for his fans.
Radcliffe: Thank you so much for your, you know, unrelenting support across the years, I hope you've been satisfied with the films. I think Harry Potter fans have a literary curiosity and imagination. So, I would say, now, take that curiosity out into the world to do extraordinary things with it."
Narrator: A message from an extraordinary wizard who taught us to believe everything is possible and to never give up the fight. Penelope Poulou, VOA News, Washington.
6- Cloud Atlas
Voiceover: “Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we are bound to others past and present. And by each crime and every kindness we birth our future.”
Narrator: From the travails of a young American in the mid nineteenth century on a vessel crossing the Pacific, to a female clone who rises up against oppression in a futuristic society Cloud Atlas is a grand tale about lessons learned from previous lives.
Friend: “What are you reading?”
Luisa: “Old letters.”
Friend: “Why do you keep reading them?”
Luisa: “I don’t know. I’m just trying to understand why we keep making the same mistakes.”
Narrator: Lana Wachowski wrote and co-directed the film.
Lana: We started looking at the way the story is connected, you were immediately drawn to this concept where what if the villain of one story, is actually the hero of another story, played by the same actor.
Narrator: To achieve this, each actor plays multiple roles. Tom Hanks is one of the leads.
Tom: On one page you go from 1851 to 1974 to this dystopian future.
Narrator: The challenge was great says Halle Berry who has significant film presence and interprets six characters.
Halle: Each one of those characters, the soul evolved in order to have the strength to be the character that I ended up being.
Narrator: In her last incarnation, she plays a woman in the future who saves the world. “Cloud Atlas” is also about eternal love.
Susan: Each story propels the next story and then you’re back again, and tells the next one.
Narrator: Susan Sarandon, who appears in the film, says romance links each story to the next as the characters meet again and again.
Isaac: “I have just met her, and yet I have fallen in love with Louisa Ray.”
Narrator: The cast also includes Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant, and Hugo Weaving who is famous for his role as the sinister Agent Smith in The Matrix. Once again Weaving represents pure evil. His goal is to tempt, and to stall the evolution of the soul.
Haskell: “There is a natural order to this world and those who try to upend it do not fare well.”
Narrator: This 100 million dollar production offers costumes and sets that highlight the films different eras.
Tom: The breadth, the scope, the vast amount of time and space that the movie covers. Some buildings are just doors and windows, and other buildings are great architecture.
Narrator: But the film lacks the depth that it promises. The stories meander and there are too many characters. After three hours we are lost between the past,the present and the future.
Voiceover: “Welcome to Absoms!”
Narrator: Penelope Pulou, VOA News, Washington.
Man: “I believe there is another world waiting for us. A better world. And I’ll be waiting for you there.”
7 - The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey
Galadriel: “In the land of Mordor, in the fires of Mt Doom,the dark lord Sauron forged in secret a master ring to control all others. And into this ring he poured his cruelty, his malice and his will to dominate all life.”
Narrator: Peter Jackson’s first film in the Lord of the Rings trilogy about the battle between good and evil was released three months after the attack on the Twin Towers. Audiences identified with the filmmaker’s apocalyptic world. Nine years and seventeen Oscars later, Jackson returns to Tolkien’s world with The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey the first film in his new trilogy.
Hobbit: “Here! Mr Bilbo, where are you off to?”
Bilbo: “I’m going on an adventure!”
Narrator: Tolkien wrote this novel for his children in 1937.
Bilbo: “I’m surrounded by dwarves. What are they doing here?.”
Gandalf: “Oh, they’re quite a merry gathering!”
Narrator: From the beginning, this prequel is light-hearted reflecting the author’s pre-war outlook. The visuals are crisp and bright, compared to its predecessor thanks to Jackson’s cutting edge digital technology that brings to life thousands of computer generated characters and three dimensional worlds.
Jackson: It will give you an immersive sense of reality, like taking the screen away and you’re looking into a window into the real world.
Narrator: The scene where the hobbit is lost in a cave and meets Gollum for the first time showcases the film’s technological virtuosity.
Gollum: “Is it soft? Is it juicy?”
Bilbo: “Now, keep, keep your distance. I’ll use this if I have to.”
Jackson: I wanted him to look the same on the outside but underneath his skin his muscles around his eyes and mouth are much more realistic and more complex just like a human being so when Andy Serkis performs Gollum, every little nuance of his performance is now able to be captured accurately one to one in the digital puppet.
Narrator: Andy Serkis is once again Gollum, surpassing his previous impersonations.
Andy: What can I say? Well, precious, you can say it’s nice to be back.
Narrator: Other favorite actors return. Ian McKellan as the wizard Gandalf and Cate Blanchette as Princess Galadriel. Elijah Wood has a cameo role as Frodo. But newcomer Martin Freeman carries the title role as the timid but ultimately brave hobbit Bilbo Baggins, who gets recruited to help 13 dwarves reclaim their kingdom.
Gandalf: “Hobbits can pass unseen by most if they choose which gives us a distinct advantage.”
Dwarf: “We will seize this chance to take back Elebor.”
Narrator: For fans the world over The Hobbit is a skillful prequel reviving interest in Jackson’s Oscar-studded trilogy. But a shorter version of this film would have made for a snappier, more thrilling edition.
Bilbo: “Incineration?”
Dwarf: “Think furnace with wings.”
Narrator: The film’s comic relief undercuts the gravitas of the original trilogy, granted we haven’t yet seen the two other installments but, so far, The Hobbit while impressive cannot match the director’s previous opus. Penelope Pulou, VOA News, Washington.
8 - J. Edgar
J Edgar: “My belief - that when a man becomes a part of this bureau...”
Narrator: The story, which is fiction, focuses on J Edgar Hoover’s anti-communist ideology as early as 1919 and his quest to uproot communism in America, no matter the cost.
Mother: “The most powerful man in the country....”
Narrator: The plot spans more than fifty years, eight presidencies and three wars. He portrays Hoover as a machiavelian figure who believes that the end justifies the means. He systematically collects information on US citizens and politicians. Noone is above suspicion.
Hoover: “You remember that file we created on his wife?”
Secretary: “Mrs Roosevelt?”
Hoover: “Would you make a copy for me please?”
Assistant: “Is that legal?”
Hoover: “Sometimes you need to bend the rules a little in order to keep your country safe.”
Narrator: Filmmaker Clint Eastwood tells VOA some parts of the film are dramatic license but he says much about Hoover’s federal bureau of investigation, and the power it wielded is corroborated.
Eastwood: He was a very important figure. The head, the head of federal top, and he probably was the most powerful guy in the country.
Narrator: The film alleges Hoover collected information on political figures like President John F Kennedy with wiretaps. It shows him using the transcripts as political leverage. Motivated by his fear of communism, Hoover tries to convince Attorney General Robert Kennedy to step up political surveillance of Americans.
Robert: “You can go now Mr Hoover.”
Hoover: “Yes sir.”
Robert: “Please leave the transcripts here with me.”
Hoover. “Yes sir. Oh, feel free and share them with your brother. Let him know that I have a copy of my own in safekeeping.”
Narrator: Bullying aside, the film portrays Hoover as a public relations expert who mingled in Hollywood and exagerated his achievements. But Eastwood also shows him as a visionary whose forensics led to the arrest of the likes of John Dillenger - a notorious gangster of the 1930s, and the film digs into Hoover’s emotional makeup. We see young J Edgar idolizing his mother who fuels his ambitions.
Mother: “I told the whole neighborhood about you, they all know.”
Narrator: The film addresses rumors about J Edgar Hoover’s sexual orientation
Hoover: “Mr Tolson I need someone who I can trust. I want you to be my number 2 man. You understand? I need you.”
Narrator: The movie shows Hoover’s deputy Clyde Tolson with the FBI head to the end. Screenwriter Dustin Lance Black tells VOA that after he wrote the screenplay for Milk about gay activist Harvey Milk he became intrigued with Hoover.
Dustin: I thought he was thematically the mayor of ville. I had just done this story about coming out the closet and embracing your nature, the good great hope, and I wondered what’s the other side of that? And I felt we potentially could benefit from learning and creating this cautionary tale about a man who was denied love.
Narrator: Leonardo di Caprio offers a daring performance.
Leonardo: This is an incredibly important American figure to take on and so we needed the immense amount of research that Lance had done beforehand, and I think he needed my intepretation of how I was going to put that up on the screen.
Narrator: The actor likes to play contriversial figures and he might get an Oscar for this one.
Eastwood: Well, he probably could. He’s very good, he’s an excellent actor. I enjoyed working with him.
Narrator: The rest of the cast is formidable, Judy Dench as the overpowering mother, Naomi Watts as Hoover’s steadfast secretary Helan Gandy, and Armie Hammer as Clyde Tolson balancing the frustration of unrequited love with dignity.
Hoover: “Don’t get in the car. You can walk back.”
Clyde: “But lunch, we don’t miss lunch no matter what. Remember?”
Hoover: “You pulled away from me in there!”
Narrator: Eastwood depicts Hoover as ruthless but also patriotic. As for his personal life, it remains shrouded in secrecy like much of the information he amassed.
Hoover: “They’re going to come for it all.”
Ms Gandy: “Your private files, sir, noone will ever find them.”
Hoover: “Thank you Miss Gandy.”
Narrator: Penelope Poulou, VOA News, Washington.
9 - Lincoln
Lincoln: “We are stepped out on public world stage now with the fate of human dignity in our hands. Blood's been spilled to afford us this moment. Now! Now! Now!"
Narrator: In January 1865, the Civil War is almost over, but President Lincoln will not sign an armistice until Congress passes the 13th amendment, abolishing slavery. William Seward, Lincoln's Secretary of State, is against it.
Seward: “Imagine the possibilities peace will bring. Why tarnish your invaluable luster with a battle in the House? It's a rats' nest in there. It's the same gang of talentless hicks and hacks who rejected the amendment ten months ago. We'll lose.”
Narrator: Lincoln has never been presented realistically on film.. until now. For about a century, he was portrayed as a monumental figure. In D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of A Nation, he is statuesque. In John Ford’s 1939 film, Young Mr. Lincoln, he is folksy and robotic. Spielberg’s Lincoln is different.
Spielberg: “I was determined to make a movie about a working president not a posing president."
Narrator: We watch the president ending slavery first and then the war. In the museum at Ford’s Theater, where the 16th President was assassinated, historian Eric Martin explains how Lincoln's thought process evolved.
Martin: His first and foremost objective when the war began was not the freeing of the slaves but ultimately the preservation of the Union and Lincoln realizes in order to attain his military goal of ultimately preserving and saving the Union, the question of slavery will have to be addressed.
Stevens: “Abraham Lincoln has asked us to work with him to accomplish the death of slavery...”
Narrator: The film focuses on the last four months of his presidency. The jockeying for votes in Congress to pass the amendment feels eerily similar to today’s wrangling on Capitol Hill.
Seward: “The president is never to be mentioned, nor I. You’re paid for your discretion.”
Latham: “Well, you can have that for nothing, but we need money for bribes, speed things up.”
Seward: “No, nothing strictly illegal.”
Bilbo: “It’s not illegal to bribe Congressmen. They starve otherwise."
Schell: “I have explained to Mr. Bilbo and Mr. Latham that we are offering patronage jobs for the Dems who vote yes.”
Narrator: The arguments in the House of Representatives were bitter.
Stevens: “How can I hope that all men are created equal when here before me stands, stinking, the moral carcass of the gentleman from Ohio, proof that some men are inferior!”
Narrator: The film turns to Lincoln’s relationships with his wife and kids, his convictions and constant self-examination. Daniel Day-Lewis offers an Oscar-worthy performance as the 16th President. Not only does he bear an uncanny resemblance to the president, he inhabits the character.
Lincoln: “In his book, hm, Euclid says, ‘this is self-evident.’ You see there it is, even in that 2000 year-old book of mechanical law. It is a self-evident truth that things which are equal to the same thing are equal to each other.”
Daniel Day-Lewis: "It's the man himself that invites you. Because he was so open and that was one of the most beautiful surprises, getting to know him, was how insanely accessible that man was. The time was actually physically very dangerous in his case to be accessible but the White House was an ever open door.
Narrator: Spielberg’s Lincoln will head to the Oscars. But more important, it will make history.
Lincoln: “This settles the fate for all coming time. Not only of the millions now in bondage but of unborn millions to come. Shall we stop this bleeding?”
Narrator: Penelope Pulou, VOA News, Washington
10 - Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Will: “We’re talking about huge potential for millions of people. Our therapy enables the brain to repair itself. We call it ‘the cure’.”
Narrator: Will Rodman, played by James Franco, is a scientist at a large pharmaceutical company. He’s conducting research to develop a drug that restores damaged brain tissue in humans. His ultimate goal is to cure alzheimers disease, a cause close to his heart because of his ailing father. To further his goal, he experiments on chimps.
Will: “This one.”
Researcher: “Does it work like we predicted?”
Will: “...with one exception: the drug has radically boosted brain functioning.”
Researcher: “You mean increased intelligence?”
Narrator: That’s obvious in Caesar, a young chimp exposed to the drug in the womb when scientists gave the drug to his mother. Will adopts the baby chimp and raises him at home. Caesar learns to read and write and has a deep affection for his human family. But his animal nature clashes with his human upbringing. After all, Caesar is a chimp. He uses brute force against a neighbor who bullies Charles, Will’s father. Will can no longer keep Caesar. He takes him to what he believes is a place where Caesar can socialize with his kind.
Girl: “This one scared me half to death.”
Narrator: But the San Bruno Primate Sanctuary resembles a prison where the animals are locked up in cages. For the first time, Caesar is confronted with humanity’s dark side. He incites revolt. Filmmaker Rupert Wyatt created a larger than life film with a philosophical concept and great special effects. The story is told from Caesar’s point of view and explains what led to the apes’ supremacy in the earlier installments of the franchise. Andy Sirkis interprets a complex Caesar.
Andy: This is a kind of an unknowing, very innocent child that’s thrown into a very, you know, he suddenly becomes aware that the world is not an easy place to live in and that, you know, he has to make very strong choices to survive, so....
Narrator: To play Caesar, Sirkus studied the movements of real primates. The actor’s facial expressions were transposed onto the ape through motion capture technology first introduced in Peter Jackson’s 2005 film King Kong. Sirkis interpreted King Kong back then as he does now with Caesar. The difference is that Caesar is a far more realistic looking computer generated primate, who interacts with the other characters. The film’s climactic moment signals the end of humanity as we know it and the dawning of a new era as well as the promise of subsequent prequels in the Planet of the Apes franchise. Penelope Pulou, VOA News, Washington.
11 - The Social Network
Mark: “I need to do something substantial in order to get the attention of the clubs.
Girlfriend: “Why?”
Mark: “Because they’re exclusive, and fun, and lead to a better life.”
Narrator: Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, played in the movie by Jesse Eisenberg was not after money when he was creating Facebook. Screenwriter, Aaron Sorkin.
Aaron: It seems to me there are two motivations, one of them, as I said, he wants to get invited to the cool kids table. The other motivation is a much purer one, a much more honest one. The same reason why someone writes a song or paints a painting. He had a creative vision.
Narrator: Another reason, the movie insinuates, is revenge. While at Harvard, Mark was spurned by his girlfriend so he wanted to get back at her.
Mark: “I don’t know if you heard about this new website I launched.”
GF: “No”
Mark: “The Facebook...”
GF: “You called me a bitch on the internet, Mark.”
Mark: “That’s why I wanted to talk to you, if we could just...”
GF: “...on the internet”
Mark: “That’s why I came over...”
Narrator: The film portrays Zuckerberg as someone who understands numbers better than people.
Mark: “We’re ranking girls”
Eduardo: “You mean other students?”
Mark: “Yeah.”
Eduardo: “You think this is such a good idea?”
Mark: “I need the algorithm. I need the algorithm.”
Narrator: The film also questions Zuckerberg’s ethics. In real life he was sued for allegedly stealing the idea for Facebook from other Harvard students and for pushing out his best friend and co-founder Eduardo Saverin.
Eduardo:: “Is there anything that you need to tell me?”
Mark: “You’re actions are going to permanently destroy everything I’ve been working on.”
Eduardo:: “WE have been working on.”
Mark: “Do you like being a joke. Do you want to go back to that?”
Eduardo: “Mark!”
Narrator: The suits were settled out of court. Actor Jesse Eisenberg interprets Zuckerberg as defiant but he also humanizes the character by portraying him as excessively dedicated to his vision.
Eisenberg: So in the movie, his roommate Eduardo Saverin gives him 20,000 dollars to start the company, wants to take the company in a different direction and I think Mark prioritizes Facebook above that personal relationship.
Narrator: Today 500 million people the world over are connected to Facebook so it comes as no surprise that the film topped at the box office when it first came out. On the day of the premier, moviegoers weighed in about Facebook’s founder and Facebook itself.
Woman: I am sorry for the young people that are coming up also. That they’re growing up with these morals? We are not going to have a world that’s worth living.
Man: It gave you a good view of what big businesses are like.
Man2: There’s been Facebook crimes, I mean, people have been murdered, people have been cyber stalker, harassment...
Narrator: The movie’s debut coincided with the suicide of college student Tyler Clementi who jumped off who jumped off the George Washington Bridge in New York City after his sexual encounter with a male friend was taped and streamed live on the internet. Clementi had announced his impending suicide on his Facebook page. This tragedy should not detract from the artfulness of The Social Network. This is an Oscar-worthy film about the human condition with a stellar cast and crisp dialog. It chronicles the journey of a genius from relative obscurity to dizzying success. Penelope Pulou, VOA News, Washington
12 - Super 8
Fat Kid: “...and action!”
Joe: “Guys! Watch out!”
Narrator: The cause of this train derailment in a midwestern town in the 1970s is at the core of Super 8.
Kid3: “It’s a schedule for the train.”
Black Man: “Do not speak of this. You don’t know what’s happening here. If they find you, you and your parents will be killed.”
Narrator: The kids are scared.
Joe: “That train could have killed us.”
Preston: “We’re not saying anything to anyone.”
Joe “Noone’s going to know we were there.”
Narrator: The derailment was no accident and the military knows there are witnesses. They are on the kids’ trail. The town’s deputy sheriff Kyle Chandler is trying to understand the situation.
Colonel: “I understand you have concerns about our cargo.”
Sheriff: “Colonel, there isn’t anything I should know, is there?”
Officer: “I can assure you the answer is no.”
Narrator: The town sinks into chaos.
Sheriff: “I’ve got property damage. I’ve got nine people missing now. Got things happening now that I can’t explain.”
Narrator: But there is evidence. During the derailment the kids’ camera kept recording. The military is after the tape.
Asst: “Look. Dispatch just got a call on Citizens Band . Joe and some of his friends, they were grabbed by military personnel at the middle school.”
Narrator: Chandler, also the father of one of the kids, tries to uncover the truth and protect his son.
Sheriff: “Preston, you tell me everything. And I won’t throw you in jail.”
Preston: “Yes sir. But I think you should look at this first.”
Narrator: Director JJ Abrams who also made movies as a teen based tribute to the 70s and genre from a kids perspective. There is also romance.
Abrams: There is two elements in the film. One is the sort of mysterious creature that escaped from the train. The other is a sort of equally mysterious creature, at least for these boys, which is this girl named Alice Dainard goes to their school and the main character is clearly smitten with this girl before the movie begins. And working on this movie, she’s agreed to be part of it, gives an excuse to hang out and get to know each other.
Narrator: Abrams worked closely with Steven Spielberg who produced the movie.
Spielberg: I was telling him about all the adventures I had as a kid making little movies with the neighborhood, my neighborhood friends, and he had the same experience. And so we thought, wouldn’t it be cool to make a movie about, in the 70s, you know set in period times, about young people making movies.
Narrator: The movie borrows heavily from Spielberg classics such as E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Abrams also uses themes from later classics such as M. Night Shyamalan Signs where monsters lurk in the woods. Super 8 is chock full of special effects, the explosions are grand and the stories engaging. The cast of kids is stellar. Joel Courtney who plays Joe Lamb is a newcomer to films and a natural. Elle Fanning plays Joe’s love interest Alice Dainard. She enriches the story with her sophistication and sensitivity.
Alice: “Could you close your eyes please. Yeah.”
Narrator: The film is thrilling.
Kids: “You’re in danger.”
Man: “I don’t have a choice.”
Alice: “You do have a choice.”
Narrator: But towards the end it turns campy reminding horror craving adults that this is ultimately a kids extravaganza.
Actor: “I love you too.”
Joe: “Guys! watch out!”
Fat Kid: “Joe, what the hell are you....”
Narrator: Penelope Poulou, VOA News, Washington.
13 - The Tree of Life
Mrs O’Brien: “There are two ways through life. The way of nature and the way of grace. You have to choose which one you follow. “
Baby Jack: “Alligator!”
Narrator: The Tree of Life is about the quest to find balance between one's spiritual self and human nature. Filmmaker Terrence Malick, a former professor of philosophy,
presents this innate struggle through characters in a suburban American household of the 1950s. The father is proud and oppressive. He struggles inwardly because he has not succeeded in the world. Because of his feelings of inadequacy, he tries to mold his sons to his ideal.
Mr O’Brien: “That’s a good right. Let’s see your left. That’s the most important thing. OK you come in this way, put your guard up. Hit me. Come on. Hit me. Come on. Come on Jack, hit me. Hit me. Hit me. Come on. Come on. Here it is. Come on, son. Come on. Son, left!”
Narrator: Jack is still a boy, but he carries the world on his shoulders. He admires his father but also resents him. For Terrence Malick, the struggle between father and son reflects both the cruelty and beauty of nature. In a twenty minute sequence, the director offers shots of the universe at work, an awesome struggle among natural forces. But there is also grace, kindness and altruism. The mother in the story, played by Jessican Chastain, embodies them.
Jack: “Father, mother. Always you wrestle inside me.”
Narrator: The boy grows up to be a successful, but also conflicted man played by Sean Penn. He struggles as he deals with the loss of his younger brother and the loss of innocence.
Jack: “Someday we’ll fall down and wait and we’ll understand it all. All the things.”
Narrator: Brad Pitt's performance is a tour de force. At the Cannes Film Festival, he spoke of the film's spiritual message.
Brad: And then there is the bigger questions of the impermanence of life that I think we all go through. I grew up with this - being told that God's going to take care of everything and it doesn't always work out that way, and when it doesn't work out that way then we're told it's God's will.
Narrator: Religion aside, the film is a treatise on the meaning of life. Its extraordinary visuals, minimal dialogue and meditative music have a subliminal impact on the viewer and allow the audience to search and come to its own conclusion. Some critics have spoken against the film's drawn-out sequences on the evolution of the universe. But Tree of Life won the Palme D'Or at Cannes for good reason. It offers daring cinematography and an excellent cast. And although it carries Terrence Malick's signature, it's unlike anything we've seen before. Penelope Pulou, VOA News, Washington
Mrs O’Brien: “Unless you love, your life will flash by.”
14 - The Amazing Spider-Man
Father: “Somebody help me! My kid is drowning!”
Spider-Man: “Put it on. The mask. It’s going to make you strong. There you go. OK, now climb. Keep coming! No!!!!”
Narrator: Peter Parker, the son of a genetic engineer is a brilliant, awkward high school kid.
Young Peter: I want to go with you.
Mr Parker: No, we have to go.
Narrator: He was orphaned and raised by his aunt and uncle. While trying to find out about his past he gets stung by a genetically engineered spider and turns into Spider-Man the spindly crime fighter.
Spider-Man: “Come on if you’re going to steal cars, don’t dress like a car thief!”
Thief: “You’re a cop?!?”
Spider-Man: “You seriously think I’m a cop, in a skin-tight red and blue suit?”
Narrator: Andrew Garfield offers a great rendition of the superhero vigilante. As a normal teen full of angst, insecurity and love.
Peter: “Um, so you want to, uh, I don’t know, uh...”
Gwen: “What?”
Peter: “I don’t know we could uh, or we could do something else? Or we could...”
Gwen: Yeah!
Peter: “Yeah?”
Gwen: “Yeah, either...”
Narrator: There is chemistry between Peter and Gwen. Emma Stone plays Gwen Stacy and like Andrew Garfield she fleshes out her character.
Gwen: “I’m going to get everybody out.”
Spider-Man: “Gwen! Gwen!”
Emma: She’s a very well-rounded, I think, superhero girlfriend. She doesn’t just fit into a box of being just strong or just smart, she’s also got elements of being in distress, in being scared and vulnerable and terrified in a lot of senses too. So she’s kind of all of that which I think is even better. She’s human.
Spider-Man: “Whoo! Hey, watch out, I’m swinging...”
Narrator: While the film is action packed it opened to mixed reviews. Critics say despite the 3D visuals the new Spider-Man doesn’t offer anything new. Some fans agree.
Fan1: They mixed the ultimate Spider-Man from the comic books, with the regular Spider-Man storyline, again. Just like they did with the first three movies. They didn’t stick to history.
Fan2: Just about every comic out is terrible now but, it’s good, you know, keep hope alive.
Narrator: Others went to the Washington premier because they relate to the character.
Fan3: Peter Parker is not like exactly a ladies man or whatnot. He’s more geeky, dorky...
Fan4: He’s a superhero but he also has regular life problems like paying bills, problems with his boss, and he still has to fight crime. No matter how bad his life is, he always tries to do the right thing.
Father: “Who are you?”
Andrew: The suit is what people love and whatever body is in that suit, doesn’t really matter. That’s what I find so wonderful about this character, is that he is everyone’s and he is everyone!
Narrator: On its first day Spider-Man raked in 35 million dollars with expectations it will surpass 100 million in the next few days. Penelope Pulou, VOA News, Washington
15 - Gravity
Kowalski: “Beautiful don’t you think?
Ryan: “What?”
Kowalski: “The sunrise. Terrific.!
Narrator: The astronaut’s reverie is abruptly interrupted by mission control warning of debris from a destroyed Russian satellite.
Control: “Mission abort.”
Kowalski: “Explore, this is Kowalski, confirming visual contact with debris. Debris is from a PSE sat.”
Narrator: Senior astronaut Matt Kowalski warns Dr. Ryan Stone.
Kowalski: “Go! We have to go, go, go...”
Ryan: “We’ve lost Houston.”
Kowalski: “Look! We need to get the hell out of here.”
Narrator: But Ryan, played by Sandra Bullock, is on her first mission and does not see the danger until it is too late. Kowalski, played by George Clooney, tries to retrieve her. Director Alfonso Cuaron creates a visceral 3D experience of a space mission disaster where the romantic, quiet void turns terrifying, and astronauts literally spin out of control. Cuaron told VOA he wanted to make these intricately technical images as accurate as possible.
Alfonso: With Emanuela Bensquite, she was the cinematographer, the theme was to do something to look like an IMAX documentary. Also we wanted to do something that honors the loss of physics in space in terms of the microgravity and the no resistance.
Narrator: The actors also had to deal with the loss of physics, especially Sandra Bullock who almost single-handedly carries the movie as mission specialist Ryan Stone.
Ryan: “I’ve got you.”
Sandra: Everything you see we physically shot, even if it was in tiny pieces to string together, but everything physically that you saw we either did in the cube, locked into the system, we did on a 12 wire rig, so I could fly and I could do the body work.
Narrator: Bullock tells VOA that evoking the feelings of a lost woman inside a space suit was even more difficult.
Sandra: You have to have that inner emotional life going at all times. If it is not alive and if it’s not there, you’re going to see it on the eyes.
Ryan: “Houston. Do you copy?”
Narrator: The film feels claustrophobic, and Ryan’s fight for survival futile. Having lost her young daughter Ryan feels she has nothing to live for. Fighting with her inner demons in the middle of nowhere, makes this film an existential drama.
Sandra: It’s someone who has lost their connection to living and life and with you know, with the debris you get the representation of adversity. And that’s going to happen in everyone’s life. We’re all going to be knocked down, we’re supposed to get back up, but why?
Narrator: NASA astronauts Catherine Coleman and Mike Massimino have logged many hours of space walks. They say the film accurately depicts technical and emotional challenges in space, especially the debris orbiting the earth that could endanger Catherine: Every piece of debris bigger than about this, is tracked and in fact tomorrow we will be evaluating some things heading close to the space station. Do we move the space station or not? So it’s a harder and harder problem with more and more pieces of debris.
Narrator: “Gravity” is already receiving Oscar buzz especially for its visual effects and visceral music. Alfonso Cuaron could not be happier. As for his next project?
Alfonso: Whichever filming which characters walk.
Narrator: Penelope Pulou, VOA News, Washington.
