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Films that Make the Switch
Monday, March 26, 2012 at 8:00AM 
It’s my turn to host the Monday Movie Meme, after Dale at Smurfin’ the Web had us on Pirate duty last week. I spent the weekend trying to move my blog to a new host, which was finally completed yesterday but the process left little time for me to devote to playing around with the topic that I had in mind. So, I’ll save that to work on for a later meme and keep this week’s theme as simple as cake: Turn the Page.
Share on your blog or in the comments section, movies about characters whose lives are changed due to external or internal circumstances. Here are my selections for this Turn the Page meme.
Friends with Money
One grumpy main character in this film is lashing out on people for no reason at all due to early menopause while her friend swaps a teaching career to become a maid. All the while, a disastrous home remodeling project alienates the neighbors of one couple who are in an already strained marriage. The drama, however, seems to be overshadowed by the fact that most of the main characters share one thing in common -- insecurity.
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
This Tyler Perry movie starring Taraji P. Henson is about a single woman named April who works as a nightclub singer. April’s drunken, self-centered escapades are interrupted when three young children who claim to be April’s niece and nephews are dropped off on her doorstep. She immediately revokes any sense of responsibility or interest in caring for these children and her life kinda takes a huge turn as they find the whereabouts of a missing, elderly relative.
Despite being a fan of most of Mary J. Blige's music and linking some of Henson's performances in other films, Adam Rogriguez (aka the dude from "CSI: Miami" on CBS) is the only reason why I watched this film -- and paid attention to it all the way through. He is one fine sonofagun!
White Material
Shouts out to Couchfest Films for recommending this movie to me! A woman who manages a coffee plantation in Africa tries to keep her business afloat in the midst of a civil war. After losing the majority of her workforce, the main character hires new laborers but faces resistance from her ex-husband, who is making shady business deals behind her back because he wants to flee the country with everyone else.
She is in danger throughout this whole movie and has a gun pointed at her more than once but still keeps on truckin’ -- I don’t know if it’s because of courage or hope -- or if she’s just too plain stubborn to understand what is happening in the world around her. Add to that, a lazy son who goes off of the psychological deep end, and you have another reminder of why it’s so hard for some people to adapt to new circumstances and how some people deal with pressure well, while others are no help to anyone -- not even themselves, and end up causing more problems than being part of the solution.
What movies have YOU watched where the main characters undergo some type of change or transition?
Reader Comments (5)
The new site looks really great Nicole! It is such a beautiful, clean layout. Nicely done.
I'll have to check out White Material. Sounds very interesting!
First off...congrats on the upgrade! Things are lookin' good 'round these parts! :-)
External/internal changes...let's see... The very first film that comes to mind is:
- Fight Club (both external & internal changes going on in here!)
- Alien (the internal change bursts out of a chest, causing permanent physical (read: death) change) Heh...
- District 9 (investigator begins to evolve into the thing he hated, and learns to understand them)
- Wanted (office worker is transformed into a killer with the help of positive (and negative) reinforcement)
- Red Dawn (High school students are transformed into elite killers after the Russians invade America)
And these are the first ones that pop into my head. Have to say I had fun with this topic!
I guess an awful lot of movies have characters who undergo change or transition. The movie the first popped into my mind was A Serious Man where the characters get caught up in live changing events and the ordinary main character gets caught up in extraordinary circumstances.
Another one that I think of is Enemy Mine where a man is forced to survive on another planet with an enemy for whom he has extreme prejudice. He changes as they are forced to cooperate in order to survive.
Your new site looks good, but this font in the comment box is almost microscopic--it's an eyekiller. Can you make it bigger?
Lee
The Dog Lived (and So Did I)
Wrote By Rote
An A to Z Co-host blog
Hi Nicole - I'm just swinging by to say thatyou are one talented lady!
Over the past weeks, I've enjoyed reading your posts on the A-Z Challenge blog... they're always so informative... and your videos have been awesome!
You have an interesting place here... pity I'm not much of a TV/ movie-person :(
Anyway, good luck for April... see you on the A-Z circuit!
Alana,
Thanks, I'm glad you like the new Madlab Post layout. I almost stopped watching "White Material" because I thought it might be bordering on the edge of boring but I'm glad that I watched the whole movie because there were some surprises that complicated matters for the characters even more. I got it from Blockbuster, but I'm sure you can also get it from Netflix or Amazon, etc. wherever rentals are available. Let me know what your thoughts are if you do indeed check it out :)
Herman,
You are the best! Thanks so much for all of your support and participation over here. It is always welcome and also much appreciated. No matter how hot Brad Pitt is, I've been hesitant to watch Fight Club because I heard that it's very violent and I had enough of that with "Gladiator" and "Apocalypto." Good choice with Alien. Oh how I loved Sigourney Weaver in those films. District 9 may be on my Netflix list but I had a weird feeling that Wanted might be corny so I never kept it on my radar much. Now Red Dawn....I can get with that, just based on your description of it alone.
I'm glad you had fun with this topic. If these are what immediately come to your mind....you might enjoy what I have in store for a few of my upcoming posts during the month of April. There will be games to play!
Arlee,
You are so right and I was thinking about the fact that most movies usually have characters going through a change...I mean, that's what sets up the plot or conflict in the story, right?! I guess this forces us to really dig deep into the movie world and find those titles that stand out because the transition is such an influence on the main character. Although I remember A Serious Man from Oscar season a few years ago, I still never watched that movie but I must say, I am quite interested in checking out Enemy Mine...and that one is a movie that I never even heard of before, lol.
Thanks for your feedback on this new blog change and yes, I can and will enlarge the font for the comments box. Question though: Is is the Font or the Font size that is mostly a concern? Let me know if the enlargement is better, K?
Michelle,
Oh my, well thank you ever so kindly for your visit and comment! I am happy to know that my presence at the A to Z Challenge blog has been useful to you and am VERY glad that you liked those videos. I look forward to checking out what you're offering up to readers during the challenge in April. Cheers to you! -- and don't worry, you need not be a television or movie person -- you're still welcome to swing by the Madlab Post and let us movie people show you our funny ways ;)