All In

After my "idea" was chosen to be made into a group for our final project, I realize I didn't put much thought into the actually story, except that I wanted it to be around poker. After a crazy weekend, and some well thought out plots, I have decided to give this one a go. Twin brothers Josh and Dan are attending the same University away from home and taking on the world as it goes by. Josh struggles to receive good grades and also finds himself to get in trouble with the school police, but him on academic probation. School rules state that win on academic probation, all scholarship money granted from the school will be taken away as punishment. Without his money, the brothers won't be able to attend school for it is too expensive. They turn to their best friend Adam for help, a friend who is good with connections and might be able to find them a job. But Adam has another idea up his sleeve. He introduces the boys into an underground poker club on campus that is run by some graduate students. The stakes are high enough to where the brothers could afford to stay at the school only if they win.

With little money to spare, Dan feels its a good idea to borrow money from a towny loan shark. The two then have decided to work as a team, using signs and symbols to communicate what they have and how they should play the hands. Trouble arises when Dan realizes that he is the one with the knowledge, and that he doesn't need his brother to win the money, causing them to fight against each other. At the end of the day, they both find themselves at the final table, Josh needing to win to stay at school and Dan needing to win to pay back the loan shark. Who has the guts to go all in?

If you or someone you know has a gambling addiction please call or refer them to gamblers anonymous.org.

The Greatest Movie of all TIME

For my first post I decided to write about my favorite movie of all time: Back to the Future. Originally Back to the Future came out in 1985 and starred Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly who with the use of Doc Brown’s DeLorean time machine is accidentally traveled back to his hometown in 1955. This is where he alters history and his own existence by bumping into his high school parents and ruining the first time they fell in love.

I have probably seen this movie (and the two sequels) hundreds of times and every time I find something new. I think this is why I love these movie so much. The production team including Director Robert Zemeckis and Executive Producer Steven Spielberg cared so much about the story and focused on so many details that many do not even know existed in the first few viewings. For example in its sequel they used actual sport statistics from 1955 so Biff Tannen, the antagonist of the films, could bet on these events and create an alternate future with this information he stole from 2015. They also use music from the time period and dress the sets with movie posters of movies that came out during the 1950s. Huey Lewis, a popular musician in the 1980s even makes a cameo in the first film as a teacher who tells Marty’s band that they are “too loud” to play at the school dance. It’s funny that he says that because Marty’s band is playing his own song!

One of the coolest details involves the sign for Twin (and later Lone) Pine Mall. The mall in town is explained by Doc to be named after old man Peabody, who used to own the land and had a “crazy idea” about breeding pine trees. Well when Marty travels back in time he crashes into Peabody’s barn and accidentally runs over one of his pine trees. Later in the movie when we return to the present day mall the sign has been changed to affect Marty’s time travel adventure. In my last viewing I also noticed that Marty’s house prominently has a set of electricity poles behind it perhaps foreshadowing the movie’s climax where a single lighting bolt hitting the clock tower will be what is necessary for Marty to make it back home to 1985.

The script is also great and was written by Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis. There is tons of set-up especially in the first film to events later in the movie. For example in the beginning of the film at the dinner table his sister brings up Marty’s parents first meeting. Later in the film you will actually see Marty accidentally take his father’s place thus altering history. I guess somebody should have paid attention at dinner! Also in the first few minutes of the film a lady downtown gives Marty a flyer to “Save the Clocktower!” and Marty just throws it into his pocket thinking nothing of it. However later it will help give Doc Brown the information about the lighting storm that helps Marty get home.

Finally throughout the trilogy Gale and Zemeckis convey the theme that history repeats itself. In every movie Marty experiences ironically similar events, whether it is waking up in a bed next to his mom thinking his adventures were all a dream, being chased by a Tannen family member around the courthouse, or seeing a Tannen get covered in a pile of manure. The writers use these similar yet different scenes to show that it is true history does in fact repeat itself. If only Marty and Doc realized this they would have a lot easier time traveling through time.

See the Back to the Future Poster

See the Mall Screenshot

See the Manure screenshots