“There Will Be Blood” is a good movie (for the first time ever, Mrs. Sherpa is wrong on this). Daniel Day Lewis - though he’s playing a similar character to Bill “The Butcher” Cutting - is excellent and his character is exceedingly evil. The trouble is you can’t find much sympathy for his victims.
The movie itself is based on Upton Sinclair’s novel Oil! It’s the story of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis) and his quest for oil in turn of the 20th-century Southern California. He’s quite possibly evil incarnate and the film - though masterfully done - is not an uplifting story. In places, it’s downright abusive to a viewer (kind of like Crash).
From a historical perspective, understanding the legal consequences and interests at play at this time would probably be interesting to ponder. This review however turns on one phrase: I Drink Your Milkshake! The line has inspired its own website (and even its own sports metaphor).
Continue reading ‘Movie Review: There Will Be Blood’
I can’t imagine a law school blog that does movie reviews without including one on The Paper Chase.
Having watching it recently, I’ve been thinking about it a lot. And there’s probably not much I could say about the classic movie The Paper Chase beyond what’s already been well-said.
It’s the story about Hart a 1L at Harvard Law School, his adjustment to law school, and his obsession with impressing his Contracts professor, the legendary Professor Kingsfield. The setting is your stereotypical law school - professor calling on students, giving far too little time to answer questions, students competing to have the smartest answer in class, students crumbling under pressure, some figuring out how to manage it all.
Here’s a taste of it from the movie’s opening scene:
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So, I won’t bore you with a plug for the movie. Instead, I’ll bore you with how I thought the movie captured a side of law school that has really struck me as its essence. That is: law school messes with your head.
Continue reading ‘Movie Review: The Paper Chase (Or: How Law School Messes With Your Head)’
