When The Poor Boy Gets The Rich Girl

Tonight's marathon is centered around the theme of a young and beautiful girl choosing true love with a poor guy over the rich and glamorous life that she lives under. These men with good morals are often considered either "street rats, savages,"or someone beneath the upper and middle class of society. Even though they lack the finances to make the girl happy, they win each one over with different alternatives such as compassion, excitement, a hint of danger, real love and understanding of who they are as people and not look at them as trophies. These women feel trapped and binded due to their families and societies wishes that they do what is expected and marry their own kind, and what these men give them is a sense of freedom and an act of rebellious nature. Tonight's marathon is designed to show the transition of the women abandoning their regular lifestyles and falling into the arms of men less fortunate but offer them true love. There is also great music to behold in each film and a song that defines each one of them driving home the themes of each story. We have on our menu for this evening:

Aladdin 1992, Tarzan 1999, The Mask Of Zorro 1998, Dirty Dancing 1987, and Titanic 1997

Now this is epic. This marathon essentially has everything in it ranging from action, drama, comedy, romance, excitement, sheer spectacle, and most importantly: Great music. Each one of these movies has a song that defines the movie or it's score and themes build up towards. Some of them have won academy awards and become an iconic piece of pop culture such as Aladdin's A Whole New World, Tarzan's You'll Be In My Heart, Mask Of Zorro's I Want To Spend My Lifetime Loving You, Dirty Dancing's Time Of My Life, and Titanic's My Heart Will Go On. The music plays a huge part in the success and sheer power of these movies. It has helped engrave them into movie and pop culture history. George Lucas once said that music in movies is 50 percent of the films entertainment in which this marathon essentially supports that logic. The first movie of the night is Disney's all time classic titled Aladdin. The film begins the theme of the rich girl choosing the poor boy over wealth with a street kid named Aladdin fighting for the love of the palace princess named Jasmine. In order to accomplish his dream, he uses the power of a magic genie to help turn himself as a prince in order to marry Jasmine. While doing this, Aladdin must contend with the persistance of the king's untrustworthy advisor named Jafar who has alternate plans to take control of the kindgom and marry Jasmine for himself. Aladdin is the perfect introduction for this marathon introducing the theme of a street kid getting the rich girl, and a powerful song to drive home the message. Aladdin is generally considered one of the finest films in Disneys history making 217 million in it's 1992 theatrical run. The second movie of the lineup is 1999's Tarzan which centers around a man in a jungle surrounded by gorillas who falls for a rich girl named Jane Porter who he saves during an expedition. While spending time with Jane, he must decide which family he really belongs with when realizing that he is indeed human. Tarzan was a critical and box office success making 171 million domestically and winning an academy award for Phil Collin's powerful song titled You'll Be In My Heart. It's one of the rare cases in film where the song becomes bigger than the film or matches it's weight. The third movie of the marathon is the 1998 critically acclaimed blockbuster titled Mask of Zorro starring Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas, Catherine Zeta Jones and Stuart Wilson. The story centers around a young street kid and thief named Alejandro who wishes to seek revenge over the death of his brother by a corrupt captain. When seeking revenge, he meets and is trained by the retired old Zorro who seeks his own revenge. While becoming the new Zorro, Alejandro begins to fall in love with Zorro's daughter named Elena who was taken from Don Diego at an early age and raised by his worst enemy whose now the governor of California. Alejandro walks a similar path that Aladdin did with impersonating as a rich and wealthy son of a Spanish millionaire in order to infiltrate the governors circle and ends up getting closer to Elena who falls for him both as Alejandro and Zorro. Mask Of Zorro qualifies as a film which hollywood has refused to make for a long time, meaning it's a classic that relies on pure storytelling and great acting rather than special effects. The performances by Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas are stellar with Catherine Zeta Jones never looking as beautiful as she did in this movie. The film shows the passionate romance between Don Diego and Elena's mother Mrs. Esperanza before it was ended tragicall by his wifes murder and abduction of his child. The final scene of the movie shows Elena and Alejandro living out the same kind of romance with him telling the same kind of bedtime story to their newborn child in the same form Don Diego did to young Elena. It's a beautiful parallel and nice throwback to what the audience saw at the beginning of the film. Mask Of Zorro was a box office success and garnered critical acclaim, earning two Oscar nominations including best sound and best sound effects. The fourth movie of the lineup is the 1987 blockbuster and romantic classic titled Dirty Dancing starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey. Continuing the trend of the marathon, Dirty Dancing centers around summer love in a holiday camp with a wealthy families daughter named Baby falling in love with the camp's struggling dance instructor named Johnny Castle. Much like Aladdin, Tarzan and Alejandro, Johnny is looked down upon by his bosses and those around him as being nothing more than a nobody dance instructor and bustboy. Baby is expected to follow a similar pattern such as getting involved with someone more wealthier even though her heart wants more. Johnny gives her the sense of freedom and understands who she is much like Aladdin and Alejandro. She uses this as an act of rebellion against her families wishes and chooses to follow her heart even though she clearly feels the pressure from her father. The iconic line in the film "Nobody puts baby in the corner," perfectly sets her up as a fitting parallel to Princess Jasmine, Jane, Elena, and Rose Dawson. Dirty Dancing is one of the most iconic romantic films in movie history and spawned an Oscar Winning song titled "I Had The Time Of My Life." The fifth movie of the marathon is the crown jewel of the entire evening, the one film in which the theme of class discrimination and wealth come into play not just within it's romance but within the story structure surrounding it. James Cameron's 11 academy award winning masterpiece Titanic, puts Romeo and Juliet on the iconic yet doomed luxery liner that struck an icberg and sank on April 15th 1912 killing 1500 people in the process. The fictional story that James Cameron incorporates to show the different classes of society on the ship is having a 17 year old rich yet spoiled teenage girl named Rose Dawson played by Kate Winslet being saved from attempted suicide and falling for a young and poor artist onboard the doomed luxery liner. Although Rose is slated to marry a rich and sleazy man named Cal Hockley played by Billy Zane, Rose can't help but be drawn to the man who saved her life and while doing so, opened her heart into figuring out her true self and desires. It was a romance that they hid from her family after her mother instructed her not to see Jack again and to consider Hockley's engagement for financial reasons. When Rose follows her heart and chooses to be with Jack, tragedy strikes when the ship hits the iceberg, making their great love become a thrilling fight for survival as the lifeboats are lowered with less than half of the passengers onboard. The issue of wealth comes into play with the rest of the story because the evacuation only prones women and children to be places on the lifeboats with the men being left behind on the ship to die. Titanic held the record for being the highest grossing movie of all time for 12 years until James Cameron's Avatar came out and surpassed it as the biggest film ever worldwide and domestically. The film won 11 academy awards including Best Picture, James Horner's powerful music, and Celine Deon's unforgettable song "My Heart Will Go On" which became the most requested film to play on the radio in 1998 and top selling soundtrack. There is no perfect closure for this marathon.

So what is the message behind all of these movies when you place them all together? The message says that a woman's heart should always choose true love over wealth and just because someone doesnt have money, that does not mean they are not richer in other ways. The death of a loved one should be avenged and a legacy should carry on. No one should be put in a corner or forced to marry someone because of their financial upbringing. And most importantly, wealth should not dictate who gets to get placed on a lifeboat to survive a disaster such as the sinking of the Titanic.

Our characters for this evening:

IM FLYING

When Good Men Become Crime Fighters

Tonight's marathon is epic in the sense that we are witnessing ordinary men turn into crime fighting heroes. Whether they actually have powers or not, these men either experience personal tragedies dealing with the death of a parent or loved one or learn about their true destinies abroad and return to America to fight injustice and corruption. Each men becomes a symbol of hope and fear in the hearts of man, and also a symbol that things have changed forever. For tonight's powerful and exciting vigilante  marathon, we have on the following menu:

The Shadow 1994, The Phantom 1996, The Green Hornet 2011, Daredevil Directors Cut 2003, Man of Steel 2013, and Batman Begins 2005

Some of the great and underrated superhero origin stories are presented here. These heroes all experienced loss and pain but through that pain, their anger turns to power and the will to fight back at evil. Many parallels run throughout each of these films binding them all together and giving off a supernatural feel. For example, The Shadow parallels Batman Begins in many similar ways with a hero learning about his true destiny abroad and returning to America to make their mark as a symbol of fighting crime. The first movie of the evening is The Shadow starring Alec Baldwin, Penelope Anne Miller, Tim Curry, and Ian McKellen. Based on the popular radio show of the 1930's, Alec Baldwin plays Lamont Cranston, a rich playboy like Bruce Wayne who begins his journey towards becoming a superhero in Tibet. Beginning as a brutal warlord whose brought to a temple where he meets a holy man who tells him that he will begin his resurrection as a force of fighting for good, Cranston barely survives a battle against the mystical flying dagger that belongs to the temple. When Cranston recovers from his defeat, he returns to America seven years later as The Shadow, a crime fighting superhero draped in cloak, a cowboy hat, red scarf, and a pair of guns who fights crime in New York City in the 1930's. He uses his invisible and mind controlling powers to battle an enemy from the past whose a descendant of Ganghis Khan. His mission is to bring a new order to the world through the use of an atomic bomb. The second movie of the marathon is the 1996 superhero film titled The Phantom starring Billy Zane, Kirsty Swanson, Treat Williams, and Catherine Zeta Jones. Much like The Shadow, this comic book origin story also takes place in 1930's New York City where a superhero named The Phantom, a descendant of a line of African heroes travels from the jungle to New York City where he battles a criminal genius on a quest for supernatural power in order to control the world. Whereas The Shadow introduces the theme of a man being reborn from being evil into a person who fights crime, The Phantom introduces the theme of a hero being transformed through the death of a loved one and seeking vengeance. The third movie of the marathon is the 2004 directors cut of Daredevil starring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Colin Ferrall. The story of Daredevil centers around a young boy losing his vision due to a toxic waste spill which enhances his remaining senses such as hearing and seeing shadows. After discovering the death of his father by the mob, the boy named Matt Murdock uses his remaining senses to fight crime as a blind martial arts superhero in the quest to bring down crime boss named The Kingpin. The Shadow, The Phantom, and Daredevil were not necessarily critically acclaimed films but are the only representations of these iconic characters on films with the first two becoming cult classics within their respective fanbase's. The Directors Cut of Daredevil which runs 30 minutes longer than the theatrical cut and is R rated is generally considered a much better films by audiences. The fourth movie of the marathon is the 2011 superhero film based on the popular 1960's show which costarred Bruce Lee titled The Green Hornet staring Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Cameron Diez, Tom Wilkinson, and Christoph Waltz. The story centers around the death of Britt Reids father, whose the heir to his large company. Using all the resources available to him through his families wealth, Reid teams up with his late dad's assistant Kato to form a masked crime fighting team with Reid taking the superhero name The Green Hornet. Much like The Phantom, and Daredevil, the character of The Green Hornet is driven by the loss of his father and goes from being a spoiled rich kid into becoming a crime fighter. He embodies the traits of Lamont Cranston from The Shadow, and Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins using his wealth as a means to fight injustice. The fifth movie of the marathon is Zack Snyders 2013 reboot of the Superman origin story titled Man of Steel. In this tale, Clark Kent played by Henry Cavill is sent to Earth by his parents after their planet Krypton is destroyed. While on Earth he is raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent and grows up to become a superhero named Superman. While beginning his journey towards fighting injustice, he is summoned by an arch enemy of his parents titled General Zod whose bent on destroying planet Earth to ensure the survival of the Kryptonian race. Man of Steel also stars Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Amy Adams, and Michael Shannon in the supporting roles. The film proved to be a much bigger success than 2006 Superman Returns which didn't reboot the franchise the way it was intended to do so. Man of Steel proved to be such a huge success that it has a much anticipated sequel due for release in 2016 titled Batman and Superman, uniting the two DC comic titans together for the first time on film. The sixth and final movie of the evening is the one that all the movies have been building up towards with it's similarities and parallels. Christopher Nolan's 2005 blockbuster titled Batman Begins is the film that resurrected the Batman franchise after being temporarily destroyed after the disastrous release of Batman And Robin. Batman Begins was not only a successful reimagining of the comic book story but also was the film that invented the term Reboot. Starring Christian Bale in the title role with Morgan Freeman, Katie Holmes, Michael Caine, Tom Wilkinson, Cillian Murphy, Ken Watanabe and Liam Neeson, Begins tells the origin story of a young boy named Bruce Wayne who witnessed the murder of his parents at a young age, and flees America after his parents murderer is killed after being acquitted by a corrupt judge. While living abroad for a total of seven years like Lamont Cranston in The Shadow, Bruce Wayne is shown a path that leads him towards becoming a crime fighter through the training of Ras Al Ghoul. Once Wayne makes his return to Gotham City, he forms a partnership with sergeant Commissionar Gordon and through the help of his butler Alfred Pennyworth, begins his legacy as a crime fighter known to the criminal underworld as The Batman. Batman Begins is the first film in the popular and epic The Dark Knight trilogy.

So what's the message behind all of these films when they are all combined into one marathon. The message is simply that one who begins their life as a corrupt individual can change their life for better and use their resources to fight injustice and stand up to crime. What may come off as one's grief or pain over the death of a loved one can be turned into something else, something greater. Another message that this marathon delivers is that you don't truly know your destiny until its revealed to you in the most unusual circumstances. It is not who you are underneath the mask but what you do that defines who you are.

Our heroes for this evening: