1. After you read this week's topic or watched the movie "The Bucket List", have you thought about your own bucket list?
If you haven't, why don't you make your own bucket list? I think it would be a good chance to rearrange your thoughts about the
rest of your life. Don't think too much, and try to include at least 5 points on your list.
2. Why do you want them to be listed? Is there any special reason?
3. To carry out your list, what are you going to do? How could you exert your effort for them? If you already prepared something for this, share your story.
[Review]Stars can't bail out 'Bucket List'
Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) is a flamboyant, multimillionaire businessman who has made pots of money in the U.S. private health-care industry. Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) is a car mechanic and devoted family man who couldn't afford to put himself through college.
The two 70-somethings meet in a hospital where they are both waiting biopsy results. The news is not encouraging: Both are told they have terminal cancers. Chambers, confronted with mortality, scribbles down a "bucket list," a list of to-dos before he, you know, kicks the bucket. Spurred on by Cole, they ignore medical advice and pledge to complete their wish list before they croak.
Their adventure takes them to Africa for a safari, Egypt for the pyramids, to high altitudes for skydiving and a race track for some serious motoring.
And there was I thinking cancer was an illness.
The basic setup for this buddy caper looks great on paper. Cole (devil-may-care, rich, lone wolf, scoundrel, aging lothario) and Chambers (loyal, philosophical, gregarious, literate) provide neat contrasts with each other, and whenever terminal cancer is knocking at the door you can expect plenty of opportunities for putting audiences through an emotional wringer.
So why is this movie such a dud? Well, it's not rocket science: The script is flat and leaves Nicholson and Freeman floundering around the set with characters that lack integrity in a plot that lacks plausibility.
First off, audiences will have a tough job believing Cole built a lucrative business. He does not come across as either shrewd or creative enough to be an entrepreneur. Chambers, meanwhile, is clearly a gifted, well-read caring man who, we are led to believe, could not get a better paying job and spent 45 years with his head under the bonnet of cars he could never afford.
I find this hard to swallow.
Since neither character is at all credible, the gags that spin off the conflict between them feel leaden and forced, despite the two leads' best efforts.
Nicholson, though, is a fine comic actor. His role in "About Schmidt" (2002) is a master class in understatement and pathos. But that movie's funny because Schmidt seems authentic: Schmidt retires, his wife dies and he struggles to find meaning in life after years working in a bone-grindingly dull profession: insurance. That's very believable; The Bucket List and Cole are not.
That said, I laughed once, when Cole says to his assistant: "Here's something to remember when you're older, Thomas ― never pass up a bathroom, never waste a hard-on, and never trust a fart." But his quip only serves to remind us that growing old is often an embarrassing, undignified experience that most of us will experience, sooner than we would like. It's not great material for hijinks.
Meanwhile, Freeman is left with the unenviable job of providing some kind of moral center to the movie. But his voiceover drips with such hokey sentimentality and his character is so kind and considerate that there is little chance of humor brewing. He's nice, but not a barrel of laughs.
In the end this formulaic film proves that no matter how talented the cast, without a strong script you might as well kick away the bucket and swing.
***************************************************************************************************************************
You measure yourself by the people who measure themselves by you," says the quietly wise Carter Chambers, played with gravitas and grace by a Morgan Freeman.
In Rob Reiner's moving, often hilarious film The Bucket List, all sorts of people measure themselves against the two heroes, Chambers and his hospital suitemate,
Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson). But as Cole finds, having spent his entire life building a Fortune 500 company, none of that much matters when cancer, the great equalizer, pays a visit. The film traces the adventures of the two unlikely friends, who meet in a hospital cancer ward, each given six months to live.
The "bucket list" of the title refers to a lifelong list of goals that a teacher of Chambers once advised him to compile--and achieve--"before you kick the bucket." Soon the two are off on what may be the last grand adventure of their life, vowing to tick off as many goals (skydiving, race-car driving, seeing the wonders of the world) as they can in the time they have left.
What starts as a medical melodrama becomes a road trip, yet the men's mortality realities are never far from thought. The two leads give impressive performances, and remind the viewer of just how few American films focus on the lives and loves of senior citizens.
Nicholson even manages to lose his persona in his character, much as he did in About Schmidt. There's a lovely John Mayer tune, "Say (What You Need to Say)," that's perfectly matched to the film's clear-eyed view of life: What does one person leave behind as his true legacy? --A.T. Hurley
***************************************************************************************************************************
(3.5 *`s) You've probably seen the previews, so much elaboration isn't needed, but `Bucket List' is still a worthy journey even if the plot is laid out for you already. Sweet, sage, and funny, Rob Reiner delivers another heartwarming gem that's rejuvenating to watch.
They couldn't be more opposite. Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) is a wealthy owner of hospitals where the frills are fleeting at best. "We run hospitals, not health spas," Edward brashly tells his potential clients. "Two guests to a room, no exceptions." Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) is mild and wise. He is a mechanic at a garage supporting his family, but is an academic at heart and a trivia expert who would make Cliff Claven blush. A fellow colleague is always trying to stump him with questions from a trivia book, and Carter's favorite past time is to blurt out the answers (questions really) while watching 'Jeopardy'.
You guessed it. They both have cancer and have to share a room in one of his hospitals. Thomas* (whose real name is Matthew, but is too hard for Edward to keep track of) is his assistant. He can't have his own room because it would be bad PR not to follow his own rules. Edward does get top service by his doctor (Rob Morrow who plays a far different MD than he did on `Northern Exposure'.) The odd couple take a while to warm up to each other. Each is absorbed in his own interests, and each has foibles that would annoy anyone.
As their prospects both turn terminal, Edward comes across Carter's "bucket list". Meant to be a whimsical exercise from Carter's philosophy professor, it gets them thinking about using their precious last moments to do what they haven't done before. Edward has the money but Carter has the wisdom, so sorting out their priorities turns from a final blessing to a final battle. Carter, who always wanted to be a history professor, decides to take up Edward's offer to take a whirlwind tour of the world and discover the joys of skydiving and race car driving to name just two. ("You gonna drive it or give it a dress?" asks an impatient Edward to Carter the mechanic who would truly appreciate the opportunity.)
This is all to the chagrin of Virginia, (also Ginny)[Beverly Todd], Carter's devoted nurse wife. ("You're a fool who's figured out a way not have cancer," she chides her husband. And to Edward: "My husband is not for sale.") Carter rekindles Edward's ability to think deeply. He offers Edward the challenge that below the surface relationships and getting one's house in order really matter. It's not just about the fun.
Once they're on the road, they have several disagreements. One of the best merits of the movie is how it can transition from fun and funny to philosophical. Some may find the whole affair ponderous, but I loved the way both grapple emotionally, physically, and intellectually to the challenges that death provides. If you liked books and movies like 'Tuesdays with Morrie,' then surely 'Bucket List' should appeal to you.
We've all seen "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena" routine so often: Gramps or granny is in a hot rod, saying displaced things like "cool" and "far out." It usually is funny and offensive at the same time. This factor couldn't be more remote from the film. There's never a bitter aftertaste when watching the elderly men doing young things. It's all done thoughtfully and tastefully. The dialogue is excellent. The jokes are funny; the questions posed are interesting, but without the dead ends, for they provide some thoughtful answers as well.
Watching this film reminds me that watching a three-and-a-half-star film can sometimes be more rewarding than watching a five-star film. In the end, 'The Bucket List' is a feel good movie with some substance that should be put on your movie "list".