Oscar-Worthy Speeches in Films #monday #meme #moviequotes

Let’s hope you all kept your thinking caps on after Dale at Smurfin’ the Web took us to school during last week’s Monday Movie Meme. Although I was unable to watch the Oscars last night, I’m using my turn as Meme host to offer a topic based on the biggest movie event of the year.

The entire broadcast of the Academy Awards can be quite boring to watch but we may still take home fond memories of over-the-top or inspiring speeches given by the Oscar winners, before taking their golden statues home -- Who can forget the curly fro-sporting Luke Matheny, who started his Academy Award speech with “I should have gotten a haircut” before plugging iTunes sales of his short film “God of Love” and those of fellow Best Live Action Short Film nominees, and then wrapping up by thanking his mother, who provided craft services for the film. It was a light mix of humor and shameless self-promotion that made the Oscar broadcast more memorable and more entertaining.

So, this week’s theme is: Talk that talk!

Share on your blog or in the comments section, movies that feature your most favorite speeches or your most memorable speeches to date. Also, visit the blogs of other meme participants to read and comment on their list. Here are my selections for this week’s Talk that talk! movie meme.

Any Given Sunday
Tony D’Amato, played by Al Pacino, delivers several notable takeaways as a football coach in this movie. Since I’ll be featuring one of them in a later post on this blog, during the 2012 A to Z Challenge and have already highlighted parts of it in my guest post at Far Away in the Sunshine back in May 2011, I won’t get into it much here.

Instead, I’ll just mention that D’Amato’s pregame lesson where he explains -- “Either we heal as a team, or we crumble, inch by inch, play by play, until we’re finished. We’re in hell right now and we can stay here, get the shit kicked out of us or we can fight our way back, into the light. We can climb out of hell -- one inch at a time. Now, I can’t do it for you.” -- can be about so much more than winning a football game, depending on how it is perceived.

Pacino’s performance as D’Amato gives audiences a timeless piece that brings almost anyone out of the darkest of places, if you let it.

Boiler Room
Jim Young, played by Ben Affleck, is fearless as he leads a group of young investment brokers in understanding the importance of tenacity and getting results. He starts his speech off strong with what appears to be the immediate firing of two people, in front of everyone, as his meeting begins. “That’s it! Pack your shit, skippy, and let’s go!” -- but that is not what makes the scene memorable. Affleck’s firm and brutal delivery in motivating his brokers-in-training gets him, at the very least, an Oscar nomination for “Best Speech,” in my book.

I’ve only watched “Boiler Room” once or twice, maybe, but cannot forget this meeting scene, where he says “Whoever tells you money is the root of all evil doesn’t have any. They say money doesn’t buy happiness, look at the fucking smile on my face -- ear to ear, baby!” before going on to let the broker wannabes know what is expected of them at his firm, with “You are required to work your fucking ass off at this firm! We want winners here, not pikers. A piker walks at the bell. A piker asks how much vacation time you get in a year -- we’re not here to make friends -- you want vacation time? Go teach third grade, public school!”

Remember the Titans
It seems as though football movies have the best speeches of all time with “Remember the Titans” being among the sports flicks with lessons that can be applied in everyday situations.

Coach Herman Boone, played by Denzel Washington, took his team to the field where the Battle of Gettysburg took place, which served as the foundation for one of his most memorable speeches from this movie -- “This green field right here is painted red, bubbling with the blood of young boys, smoke and hot lead pouring right through their bodies. Listen to their souls -- ‘I killed my brother with malice in my heart. Hatred destroyed my family.’

Listen and take a lesson from the dead. If we don’t come together right here on this hollow ground, we too will be destroyed, just like they were. I don’t care if you like each other or not, but you WILL respect each other and I don’t know, maybe, we’ll learn to play this game like men.”

What are some of Your most favorite or most memorable movie speeches?

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Millionaire Dollar Movie Week Preps ABC for Oscar Sunday #trivia #games #gameshow #academyawards

It's Movie Week on the Disney/ABC show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," hosted by Meredith Viera. Those of you who want to test your movie knowledge as we head into Oscar weekend can watch as contestants try their luck at winning $1 million by answering 14 movie-themed questions on this show." Don't miss the last day of Movie Week, tomorrow February 24th, just in time for the 84th annual Academy Awards, which airs on Sunday, February 26 on ABC.

The time and channel on when this show airs in your area can be found on local listings or the Millionaire TV website.

Now, let me ask...

If someone offered YOU one million dollars for answering 14 trivia questions, all based on one specific film, correctly, what movie would give you the best shot at winning the money?

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Painful Movies are Out, Class is in Session! #school #monday #meme #amblogging

It’s all about alphabet blocks and reading circles this week, as Dale at Smurfin the Web’s son starts nursery school. This week’s Monday Movie Meme makes me want to take a fun trip to the local parent/teacher store and buy some Thomas The Engine puzzles for my nephew. Dale says to share some of your favorite movies where the story is set in a school or a classroom. Here are my selections, not in any particular order, for the classroom theme.



Bad Teacher
Cameron Diaz stars in this comedy about a gold-digging middle school teacher named Elizabeth who really should not be able to step within five miles of anybody’s child. Elizabeth’s idea of a lesson plan is playing movies during the entire classroom session, while she sleeps and does drugs.

She is also verbally abusive to students, yet never gets fired for her inappropriate behavior and manages to exploit an academic incentive, in pursuit of breast enlargements. Yes, I am aware that this movie may seem absurd based on the description, but it IS funny -- so long as she isn’t teaching any of your kids!

Mona Lisa Smile
Oh, how I love this movie, starring Julia Roberts, Maggie Gyllenhal, Julia Stiles and several additional leading ladies in Hollywood! Set in the 1950s, “Mona Lisa Smile” is about an art history teacher who causes a lot of ruckus at an all-women’s college, when she challenges her students to go against the grain of what society expects of their future and strive for more than the role “wife” and “mother.”

Damn, I feel like watching this movie right now! -- If only I had a working DVD player. The computer just won’t do my “Mona Lisa Smile” DVD the justice that it deserves.

Lean on Me
What I find most interesting about “Lean on Me” is not the fights, teen pregnancies, drug use nor funny politics that plague an inner-city school -- it’s the soundtrack. This movie has one of the most unforgettable soundtracks ever, featuring soulful voices combined with some smooth R&B melodies that make you forget that the Eastside High School principal named Joe Clark almost got himself stabbed to death while trying to encourage students to work toward a better future for themselves.

Still, it is a classic drama film that shows the dangers of what happens not only when adults give up on children but also when children give up on themselves. Morgan Freeman gives an excellent performance as the principal, demanding excellence from teachers and parents, in an effort to show how while it does takes a village to raise a child -- that village must be able to lay a positive and solid foundation first, in order to make a difference.

“Lean on Me” also has some of the best movie quotes ever, I mean, who can forget those crazy Joe Clark one-liners -- “Get the chains off the doors...the enemy is here!” and “They used to call me ‘crazy Joe.’ Now, they can call me ‘Batman’!”

Higher Learning
To sum it up, racism and social inequalities collide on campus! Tyra Banks, Lawrence Fishburne, Jennifer Connelly, Michael Rapaport -- and the list goes on and on -- all star in this film about three University students who are trying to find their way but get tangled up in racial, political and social tension at their school -- As if freshman year isn’t already hard enough without all of this extra drama!

I have “Higher Learning” on VHS somewhere in my movie collection and am not sure if I’m going to buy the movie on DVD but I liked it when I watched it several years ago. Still, the explosive ending can easily make anyone disappointed in how we all fail to view our fellow man as just another human being like ourselves. No less, no more, no better, no worse -- just different.

Finding Forrester
Ok, half of this movie takes place in a school and the other half takes place in an apartment, so does it still count? I mean, Jamal was being taught in both places, so maybe Willam’s apartment could serve as some sorta homeschool for the purpose of this list. Yeah, I like that -- “Finding Forrester” representing for all of the private school and homeschooling folks out there! This is a great movie about a teenager who finds guidance in an unlikely source, to hone his writing talents. Sean Connery did well. All you Gus Van Sant fans will love this.

And an Honorable Mention, because it is on my Rental List:

Half Nelson
There’s nothing like a high school teacher with a drug habit!

Do you find the fact that the main character in “Bad Teacher” plays movies in her classroom, quite a coincidence for this week’s Monday Movie meme?

What are your favorite Classroom/School Movies?

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