Today's marathon is a powerful, moving, and unforgettable emotional experience. It's theme allows for some of the greatest and most iconic love stories in pop culture to join together for one night and build on each story arc to create an amazing night that's firmly centered around the sheer power of undying love. These aren't just any ordinary love stories, these are love stories that refuse to end quietly and show the journeys people endure and how in some cases, find their way back to each other for better or worse. The theme centers around past lovers reuniting and coming together after years of being apart and rediscovering what made the two connect in the first place and working together to face the obstacles in front of them. The love stories are appealing and reach out to all kinds of demographics of moviegoers. For tonight's marathon, we present the following menu:
Casablanca 1940, Batman Mask Of The Phantasm 1993, The Great Gatsby 2013, Superman Returns 2006, Forrest Gump 1994, and The Notebook 2004
One word to describe this marathon is that it's EPIC. It's epic for all the right reasons and really drives home the message of the marathon that sometimes it's not really over until it's over. Love that is as powerful and deep as what's shown in these films can endure a lifetime apart and quickly rejuvenate if given the opportunity. To think that Batman and Superman both have their own different story arcs in this theme shows just how universal this story arc really is. There is no better start for this marathon than to begin with the timeless classic titled Casablanca, a film that to this day is shown in film schools across the world. Winner of three Oscars including Best Picture of 1942, Casablanca stars Humprey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman as past lovers who have a chance meeting in Africa during the time period of World War ll. Their love is challenged by the presence of Nazis in Casablanca along with Bergman's character resurfacing after leaving Bogart's character stood up at the train station in Paris, returning and now married. Bogart's character Rick is forced into helping his past love Isla and her husband whose the leader of a resistance force against the Nazis, to escape from Casablanca using two visa letters as means of fleeing to safety. The film is a terrific start because it shows Bogart's character Rick as the owner of a successful nightclub in Casablanca being forced to reflect on his past hurt when he encounters Ilsa again in his nightclub. The film shows their past as a happy couple in Paris before the heartbreaking train station scene where Rick is stood up by Ilsa with a letter explaining her absence. The rest of the film shows the two struggling to come to terms with reality that they are still very much in love with each other but must put that aside and focus on the bigger picture with the Nazis and Ilsa's husband. Casablanca remains one of the most influential love stories ever told and one of the finest American films of it's time. The second movie of the marathon is the critically acclaimed animated classic Batman Mask Of The Phantasm. Told in a mixture of flashbacks much like Casablanca and Citizen Kane, the film has Bruce Wayne reflecting on his first love named Andrea Beaumont, the woman who like Ingrid Bergman's Ilsa in Casablanca left a huge impact on Bruce's life as well as a similar heartbreak which pushed him towards becoming The Dark Knight. When Andrea returns to Gotham, Bruce is forced to reevaluate his feelings with her while at the same time solving multiple homicides of several prominent mobsters with the involvement of The Joker in the background. Mask Of The Phantasm is a special Batman movie because it has a romance that's very similar to that of Casablanca and shows a more human side of Bruce Wayne in terms of wanting to be happy with Andrea and following the destiny that has been laid out in front of him. The film was a box office flop upon release but has become a cult classic through home video and is still considered one of the best Batman movies ever made or so one of the most down to earth. The third movie of the marathon is the 2013 blockbuster drama titled The Great Gatsby starring Leonardo Dicaprio, Tobey Maguire, and Carey Mulligan. Based on the classic best selling novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald and nominated for two academy awards including Best Costume Design and Art-Set Decoration, the film centers around a millionaire playboy trying to win over the heart of an old flame who got away at an earlier time. The millionaire named Gatsby befriends a Midwestern war veteran who finds himself dawn to the past as well as Gatsby. The girl in question named Daisy is torn between her feelings for Gatsby as well as her love for her obnoxious husband played by Joel Edgerton. Great Gatsby feels like a Casablanca type of romance with a rich young millionaire trying to win back the heart of his past love whose gone to become someone else's wife. It is a tragic love story like the last two and shows how love can either be a positive or negative thing on the people it affects. The fourth movie of the marathon is the critically acclaimed yet general disappointment in regards to the Superman mythology. Bryan Singer's Superman Returns is a bold film which places the love story of Superman and Lois Lane front and center with Superman returning to Earth after a five year hiatus in which he sought to discover if there's any remains of his home planet Krypton left in space. When he returns to Earth he discovers that everyone has moved on without him including the love of his life who is now engaged to another man named Richard played by Notebook's James Marsden and has a child of her own. Superman is faced with the reality that he is truly alone on Earth and lusts to rekindle the romance that he had with Lois during earlier times. Superman Returns was nominated for an Oscar for best visual effects but failed to Superman franchise due to lack of action and a true villain. Lex Luthor was used a total of four times going into Superman Returns and became a boring repetitive villain with fans. What Superman Returns lacks in excitement, it wins in the heart department, generating a love story that's emotionally touching with a surprise twist a the end involving Lois son who shares more similarities to Superman than anyone expects. Lois is torn between her new soon to be husband and the love she still holds deep down for the Man of Steel. The fifth movie of the marathon is the classic blockbuster Forrest Gump. Starring Tom Hanks Robin Wright Penn, Gary Sinise, and Sally Field, the movie is essentially a story about a young man with a low IQ's journey through several decades of major events and while doing so holds out hope that someday he will marry the woman of his dreams named Jenny played by Robin Wright Penn. Gump shows the two consistently crossing paths throughout life and slowly beginning to realize that they quite possibly are meant for more than just great friends. Forrest Gump like Casablanca, Mask Of The Phantasm, Great Gatsby and Superman Returns ends with a downer with Jenny dying of AIDS shortly after marrying Forrest and leaving behind a son for Forrest to look after much like the revelation with Lois son in Superman Returns. Forrest Gump is an amazing film that continues to captivate audiences and leaves behind a legacy of generally making the rounds of the greatest movies of all time list. The film won six academy awards including Best Picture over other films such as Shawshank Redemption and Pulp Fiction. The sixth and final movie of the night is the big finish to this spectacular and moving experience. The 2004 romantic classic titled The Notebook stars Ryan Gosling, Rachael McAdams, Superman Returns James Marsden, James Garner, and Gena Rowlands. From the director of John Q, the story is told through past and present mode with flashbacks much like Casablanca and Mask Of The Phantasm with a poor and passionate young man falling in love with a rich girl, giving her a sense of freedom like Jack and Rose in Titanic. The romance is torn apart by her parents disapproval of her dating the poor boy due to their social differences in regards to wealth. The couple is shown reuniting after years of being apart with McAdams being tied to someone else yet drawn back towards her feelings for her past love named Noah. The story is told from the perspective of an old man visiting an elderly woman in a home with memory issues. The twist that the climax of the film presents is one in which the audience cheers but also cries once the realization of it all sinks in. The Notebook remains one of the modern day's greatest romantic tales standing next to other greats like Titanic, Brokeback Mountain, and Fault In Our Stars for being one of the iconic and influential romance dramas in modern day pop culture. The twist at the films climax essentially makes it the romanticized version of Memento.
So what is the underlying message behind all of these movies when you put them all together as one? The message says that for some people, what they presume to be over and finished may not be truly over if the situation presents itself again. People who shared a deep connection as well as a strong bond can go a lifetime without losing that connection if it means they return to each other in the end. Great loves like the ones presented in Casablanca, Mask Of The Phantasm, Superman Returns, Great Gatsby, Forrest Gump, and The Notebook can endure hardships and pain if it's real. If love is real and it is meant to be, then nothing will get in the way of it from reaching it's full potential.
Our unforgettable characters for this evening:
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