Key Club Convention: Day 1

     "I pledge on my honor to uphold the objects of Key Club International; to build my home school and community; to serve my nation and God and to combat all forces which tend to undermine these institutions." - Key Club Pledge

      With these timeless words, The 62nd Annual Capital District Convention commenced, to a crowd of 800 Key Club members from all over Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.  Groups screaming, cheering, and literally running around the room, the enthusiasm was very contagious.  As a first year Key Clubber and a first time attendee of DCON, I already feel energized with a new passion for Key Club.
     I was very fortunate to be able to attend Key Club Convention with seven other people from my school; an impressive feat for a Key Club that has been official for less than two weeks.  The first thing I noticed upon arrival was just how expansive Key Club really is.  Being in a brand new Key Club governed by a less-than-active Lt. Governor, I used to have a very isolated view of Key Club.  Key Club was only something that North County did.  Other schools had it, but all their activities were separate of ours.  But there are just so many people here.  My fellow Key Clubbers and I have already made several new friends today, and the number of new friends will only continue to grow as the weekend goes on.
     The first evening's festivities were eventful but short, highlighted by a dance and the keynote speaker, Craig Melvin.  Craig Melvin is a former Key Club International President, and currently works in D.C. as a broadcast news reporter.  His articulate and inspiring speech energized the crowd, and challenged the audience to make an impact in the world.
     I can feel the energy of the Convention infecting my Key Club members.  After only one day they are already determined to increase their service and increase the impact of North County High School Key Club.   The group is beginning to bond as a family unit, and I know they will carry that with them to Key Club back home.
     Our club has certainly been challenged.  Even though having nine members attend for a brand new Key Club is certainly impressive, our club has quite a long way to go.  Several Divisions have over 100 members in attendance, while Division 14 (Anne Arundel County) had 21.  As the Lt. Governor for Division 14, I vow to do everything I can to improve the communication and cooperation within our clubs, and make Division 14 a recognized and accredited Key Club.
     The Zone Administrator for Division 14 has two other districts in his zone.  One of these Divisions has 107 people in attendance.  Division 14 has been challenged with having 108 people attend DCON next year.  That is about 11 members per club.  I believe we can do it, and I am am going to work hard to ensure that this goal is met.
Day 2 is fast approaching, and I have realized that I am getting next to no sleep this weekend.  Stop by tomorrow for my recap of Day 2's events.

Conviction Review

Director: Tony Goldwyn (Ghost, Tarzan)
Screenplay: Pamela Gray
Starring: Hilary Swank (Boys Don't Cry, Million Dollar Baby), Sam Rockwell (Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Iron Man 2), Minnie Driver (Good Will Hunting), Melissa Leo (The Fighter), and Peter Gallagher (The O.C., Covert Affairs)  
Gross Revenue: $6,783,129
Rotten Tomatoes TomatoMeter: 6%
IMDB Rating: 7.2
     Most would say movies are made for entertainment purposes.  Some would say that movies are made to make a profit.  There are even some movies, that are made for the soul purpose of winning awards.  Conviction is one of these films.  All those involved, the actors, director, producers, made this movie in the hopes of winning some serious Oscar gold.  However, as is often the case in these types of pictures, Conviction tries to hard to tell an inspirational story of hard work, family, and love, in the hopes of winning awards for its participants.

     Conviction spans a period of nearly 20 years, featuring the tale of one woman's quest to liberate her brother from prison.  Kenny Waters (Sam Rockwell) is sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder of Katharina Brow.  He claims to be innocent and his younger sister, Betty Anne Waters (Hilary Swank), believes him.  Driven by her love of her older brother, Betty Anne dedicates her life to freeing herself from prison.  She works her way through college, earns her B.A., and finally law school, in order to become a full-fledged attorney so that she can prove her brother's innocence.

     Conviction had all the makings of an "Oscar movie".  Starring a two-time Academy Award winner portraying a real-life woman overcoming adversity in an inspirational film is the recipe for an Oscar smash.  However, one thing the filmmakers forget to do was made the movie good enough to win an Oscar.  Don't get me wrong, the movie is perfectly acceptable.  The story is fairly inspirational, and middle-aged woman will probably proclaim it as the best movie of the year.  But for me, the movie is severely lacking in pathos.  It's as if the filmmakers are trying to force the audience to empathize with the characters in the film.  All the emotion in the movie feels very forced, not at all natural.

     The movie bounces between time periods, in order to tell the backstory of the two main characters.  It will jump from flashback, to present, to another flashback, back to another time before the present, and back to another flashback, for no particular reason.  All the time jumping distracts from the emotional impact of the story, and is just annoying.  The movie is a poor blend of an inspirational film and a legal courtroom drama.  The legal proceedings are boring and pedantic, and slows the pace of the movie, and takes time away from the far more interesting part of the movie, Betty Anne's journey to becoming a lawyer, and Kenny's stint in jail.  Bouncing between the two makes both parts suffer, and makes the movie uninteresting and uninspiring.
     The best part of the film is definitely the acting.  Hilary Swank tries a bit too hard to play a burdened, overworked woman, but Sam Rockwell steals the show as the tempermental, bitter Kenny Waters.  He refuses to "soften" Kenny to make him more likable and appealing.  He plays him like a real person, with layers and flaws just like the rest of us.  He makes the movie better every time he is on screen.
     So Conviction wasn't bad.  It was interesting to learn about a woman who went through so much in order to free her brother.  I just wish I knew more about her.  The movie gets so bogged down in legal proceedings and exposition, that more important things, such as character development, are short shifted. Conviction is an acceptable inspirational legal drama, bolstered by a strong performance by Sam Rockwell, but is too manipulative and emotionless to warrant must-see viewing.  3/5.

The Outsiders Review

Director: Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now)     
Screenplay: Kathleen Rowell
Starring: C. Thomas Howell (Red Dawn, The Hitcher), Matt Dillon (There's Something About Mary, Crash), Ralph Macchio (The Karate Kid, My Cousin Vinny), Patrick Swayze (Dirty Dancing, Ghost), Rob Lowe (The West Wing, Brothers and Sisters), Diane Lane (Unfaithful), Emilio Estevez (The Breakfast Club, The Mighty Ducks), and Tom Cruise (Risky Business, Mission Impossible)
Gross revenue: $25,697,647
Rotten Tomatoes TomatoMeter: 66%
IMDB Rating: 7/10

     The 1980’s were a time like no other.  While many people try not to remember their time in the 80’s (mostly due to wardrobe choices), no other decade has produced such a stellar track record of teenage-related films.  Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club, St. Elmo’s Fire are all exemplary examples of films that truly capture perhaps the most tumultuous and complicated time period in a person’s life: the teenage years.  No other time period causes such confusion, angst, and troubles in a person’s life, and no other decade has more realistic examples of what teenagers are really like than the 1980’s.  By any indication, The Outsiders should join the ranks of these great films in their nuanced portrayal of adolescence.  Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, the mastermind behind The Godfather trilogy, and starring a plethora of some of the 1980’s most famous child actors, many members of the famed “Brat Pack”, and features a timeless story of a boy coming-of-age in confusing world.  Unfortunately, The Outsiders falls short of these films and fails to present a coherent coming-of-age story and social commentary on the dangers of class division and gang warfare, and is instead an unintentionally comical farce with a muddled storyline, one-note characters, and uneven direction.
     The Outsiders takes place during the 1960’s, and features the conflict between two social groups: the “Greasers”, poor kids who are notorious for their greasy hair, and the “Socs” rich kids who drive Mustangs and always wear khakis.  It is never explained why these groups hate each other so much, but this is insignificant, all that is important is that these two groups are constantly at odds, often to the point of violence.  The film stars C. Thomas Howell as Ponyboy Curtis, a Greaser with a heart of gold and prefers reading and watching movies to fighting in brawls.  He lives with his two older brothers: Darrel (Patrick Swayze) and Soda-Pop (Rob Lowe), and tensions in the family run high as Darrel and Ponyboy are always fighting, with Soda-Pop caught in the middle.  After Ponyboy’s friend and fellow Greaser Johnny (Ralph Macchio) kills a Soc after a rough fight, they flee town with the help of their friend Dallas (Matt Dillon), and inadvertently start a course of events that will change both of their lives forever.
     The movie strives for two things: to tell the coming-of-age story of Ponyboy Curtis as his world around him begins to fall apart, and provide a social commentary on the dangers of class division and gang warfare.  It fails on both parts, mostly due to the muddled screenplay and uneven direction.  Francis Ford Coppola is never able to find the balance between telling Ponyboy’s story and the story of the gang war.  As a result, both stories are shortchanged and underdeveloped.  Ponyboy’s journey to manhood is triggered by a traumatic event, but never given explanation or analysis beyond that, as the movie then returns to focus on the conflict between the Greasers and the Socs.  The Greasers and Socs are both one-dimensional characters, who have no motivation for fighting each other besides the fun and thrill of it.  Instead of providing a commentary on the problems caused by gang warfare, the movie instead finds it more important to show a five-minute brawl, with no consequences other than injuries to the characters’ faces.  An important lesson to be learned: when somebody gets punched in the face, it hurts.
     Some may argue that the character of Dallas is a complex and layered character, who is portrayed as the “good guy” despite the terrible actions he commits during the movie, with deep and hidden reasons for these actions. Dallas is little more than a thug with no compassion outside his inner circle of friends, and any attempts at revealing layers to this character are stifled by Coppola’s poor direction and desire to focus the story elsewhere.  The inherent problem with ensemble casts is that many characters often are underdeveloped and lack emotional depth; unfortunately, all of the characters in the movie are this way, which makes for a rather boring movie.
     What makes these shortcomings even worse is that the movie began quite well and enjoyably.  There was a fine balance between the “coming-of-age” story, and the “gang warfare” story.  However, after a certain church scene, the movie bounces around from scene to scene with very little cohesiveness.  It’s as If the director was not even reading the script while editing; he just spliced scenes together in any random order.
     Supporters  argue that the film is cheesy because it was made in the 1980’s, and that therefore gives it an “excuse” to be cheesy.  This is incorrect as many movies made in the 1980’s, such as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, are still as touching and relevant today as they were nearly 20 years ago.  Not just the wardrobe and the dialogue (it is a period piece so it is excused from this), but the acting is just overly dramatic and cheesy.  Most of the actors here are very young with very little experience portraying a range of emotions, and their stunted efforts are a hallmark of this film.
      Despite early promises and impressive pedigree surrounding this film, The Outsiders ultimately falls short.  It is neither a poignant coming-of-age tale nor a social commentary on the nature of teenage gang warfare.  Instead, it is a muddled jumble of one-dimensional characters, underdeveloped plotlines, and overdramatic acting, due to its unfocused script and haphazard direction.  The Outsiders’ muddled screenplay and uneven direction result in a film that should have been a classic in teen angst, but instead is underdeveloped, overdramatic, and unfocused.  It should have been better.  2.5/5.
"Stay gold Ponyboy"

 

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Director: George Lucas (The Star Wars Guy)
Producer: George Lucas and Rick McCallum
Screenplay: George Lucas
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ian McDiarmid, Frank Oz (The Muppets), Samuel L. Jackson, and Christopher Lee
Gross Revenue: $848,754,768
Rotten Tomatoes TomatoMeter: 80%
IMDB Rating: 7.8
Academy Awards: Nominated for Best Makeup  

     After almost 30 years of making movies, T.V. shows, video games, board games, and any kind of merchandise you can think of, the Star Wars saga would at last be completed.  Fans would finally be able to see the story come full circle, and find out how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader.  Would it be worth the wait for fans?  Would it be an exciting and emotionally satisfying conclusion that gives closure to millions of Star Wars fans across the globe, or was George Lucas going to continue his string of terrible films and end a mediocre trilogy with a mediocre film.  Well, good news and bad news Star Wars fans.  The good news is that Revenge of the Sith is by far the best film in the prequel trilogy, and is as close as any of those films will get to being a good movie.  The bad news is that the film is still not that good, and is nowhere near as good as any of the Original Trilogy films, nor does it adequately wrap up the Star Wars saga.

     Revenge of the Sith takes place 3 years after the events of Attack of the Clones.  The Clone Wars have been raging all across the galaxy, and the Jedi Order has never been spread so thin.  Full-fledged Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker must lead a daring rescue mission to rescue Chancellor Palpatine, who has been captured by the evil droid general General Grievous.  Meanwhile, he has to deal with the news that his wife is pregnant, which could potentially ruin his dream life as a Jedi Knight.  He must also choose between the increasingly paranoid Jedi Order, who have done nothing but criticize and control him his entire life, and his lifelong friendship with his mentor Chancellor Palpatine.
     Of the Prequel Trilogy films, Revenge of the Sith has the most interesting story be far.  This really isn’t a hard contest, seeing as how Episode I was about trade disputes and Gungans, while Episode II featured the cheesiest romance ever put to cinema.  The movie is centered on various Clone Wars battles, which gives George Lucas a chance to show off how many CGI worlds and characters he can create with his vast reservoirs of cash, which albeit, are pretty awesome.  Seeing the Wookies fight the droids on Kashyyyk was pretty awesome, even though it lasted for about five minutes.  The best thing about the Prequel Trilogy is definitely the special effects.  The Original Trilogy took place on about five different planets: a desert planet, an icy planet, and a forest planet.  The Prequel Trilogy has shown off a far greater expanse of the galaxy, and really stimulates the imagination.
     This is supposed to be the “darkest” Star Wars film, and it definitely is.  It is the only Star Wars film to be rated PG-13 most likely for the numerous deaths that occur in the film, some of which are not wholesome.  As far as showing Anakin’s fall to the dark side, the film made it seem like it happened in five minutes, and was not a lifelong internal struggle, which it was supposed to be.  George Lucas almost cheapens the story be showing it happen so quickly, and the movie doesn’t give adequate time to the various factors that influenced Anakin’s downfall.  The movie is edited to make it seem like that the primary cause for Anakin’s downfall was his “love” for Padme (If you can call sniveling pretty-boy stalker obsession love).  While this makes Anakin more “noble”, and makes him seem more like a tragic hero than a villain, I think it kind of lessens the emotional impact of what could have been an awesome transition.

     I have spent a lot of time writing about how much I hate Hayden Christensen’s acting, so I’m not going to spend a lot of time on it.  All I want to say is that he was grossly miscast on Anakin Skywalker, and that I’ve seen a sock puppet give more heartfelt and less wooden performances.  And they deliver their lines better too.

     The rest of the acting ranges from not bad to excellent.  The unsung hero of the Prequel Trilogy is Ian McDiarmid, by far the best actor in the Trilogy.  He’s been sitting quietly in the background for the past two films, advising Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala on one side of the conflict, and orchestrating the Clone Wars on the other as the masterful Sith lord Darth Sidious.  Well in this film, his identity is finally revealed, and McDiarmid plays it so well.  What could have been a cheesy and overdramatic reveal was completely believable and even sent chills down my spine.  If only the rest of the actors in the movie were this good.

     Despite all my “bashing” of Revenge of the Sith, I almost truly enjoyed this film, and it’s certainly better than the last two films.  It’s actually interesting, and isn’t so boring that I fall asleep while watching it.  The special effects are better, the story is better, the acting is better (not that that really matters in a Star Wars film anyway), pretty much everything is better.  It’s easily the best film in the Prequel Trilogy.  Then, why don’t I like it more?   Well because frankly, it’s still not that great of a film.  The George Lucas who made the Original Trilogy is a different George Lucas than the one who made the Prequels.  He’s been corrupted by money, fame, and the seductive power of technology, and all the wonderful things that can be done by a computer.  He no longer places story over substance, and he has lost his touch.

     Revenge of the Sith is “supposedly” the last Star Wars film ever, and was supposed to wrap up what was “always” envisioned as 6-part series.  However, there are too many glaring inconsistencies that make me question that logic.  For one thing, if Padme died during childbirth, than how is it that Leia supposedly remembers her birth mother during Episode VI?   This is a major plot hole that George Lucas chose to ignore when writing the screenplay, probably because his ego is too big for him to care about the little things any more.  The movie just doesn’t match up with some of the things said in the Original Trilogy.  Obi-Wan says to Luke when he gives him his lightsaber in Episode IV that “he wanted you to have this”.  Either an outright lie from Obi-Wan or, far more likely, another in the large pule of plot holes between the Prequel and Original Trilogy.  If this truly is the end of all Star Wars films forever, it just doesn’t seem like a satisfying conclusion to the masterful films of the Original Trilogy.  I don’t know what will happen with Star Wars in the future, but if this is the end, I don’t like it.

     Revenge of the Sith will always hold a special place in my heart.  It was the first Star Wars film I ever saw.  I was invited to attend the movie during its opening weekend by some friends, and I fell in love.  I had never seen Star Wars before in my life, and I didn’t understand a lot of what happened in the movie, but I loved every minute of it.  For a long time, Revenge of the Sith was my favorite Star Wars film, and I can see why.  For an adolescent, this film is pretty awesome.  It’s got awesome lightsaber battles, exciting space battles, and some of the coolest imagery ever produced in a Star Wars film ever.  As I’ve gotten older and wiser, and understand the merits of a good film, I realize how wrong I was.  Yes, Revenge of the Sith is the best film of the Prequel Trilogy, and features dark themes and finals concludes the Star Wars saga.  While all these things are true, it’s just not as satisfying as It used to be.  In summary, the Prequel Trilogy was just one big fat disappointment.  Instead of bringing Star Wars into the 21^st century with an exciting origin story of one of cinema’s greatest villains of all time, the film was an exercise in boring melodrama, painfully bad dialogue, and one-dimensional characters performed by one-dimensional actors.  Though Revenge of the Sith is the best of the Prequel Trilogy by far, and is the darkest and most exciting of these films, it pales in comparison to the Original Trilogy, and fails to adequately wrap up the Star Wars saga.  3.5/5
"The saga is complete"