5 Movies That Make You Want To Do…Something

The Commitments makes me want to be in a band

You’ve either seen this movie and loved it, or never seen it.  Many of you are in the second boat.  It’s the story of a bunch of people from Ireland who form a soul band in the early 90s, which is an admittedly oddball premise.  But damn, does it make being in a band look fun.  Most modern pop music I can’t even fathom what that would be like.  I mean, Justin Timberlake’s a super-talented guy, but it’s not a band.  He’s an entertainer.  It’s a show.  This movie is about a band.

I can relate to that.  They don’t get along – sometimes they’re literally punching each other seconds before going on stage.  They get drunk and make stupid choices. They’re small-time.  The never really blow up.  But man, when they come together on stage and make something happen, it’s magic.  It makes me want to do that, because they’re not so good that I think “I couldn’t do that.”  And I’ve been close enough, musically, to know that it’s at least in the realm of possibility if I met the right people and the stars aligned.  I watch them doing “Try A Little Tenderness” (link below), and I think, “there’s no earthy reason I couldn’t get there if I tried.  I should try harder.  Oh damn, is it time take out the trash again?”

“Try A Little Tenderness”

Never Let Me Go makes me incredibly grateful to be alive, healthy, and free, all at the same time

I suppose this one is cheating a bit, since it doesn’t actually inspire action as much as it does a feeling, but the action is in the gratefulness.  It’s important to step back once in a while and take stock of things from many perspectives.  A human life kind of sets the way we think about things – 80 years, give or take, to make whatever changes we can or want.  And everything is set to that metronome: days, weeks, months, years.  But there are other modes; mountains measure heartbeats by the decade, and by the time you’re finished reading this sentence, your computer will have had a chat with your wireless router more times than you’ll ever talk to your best friend in your entire life.

Anyway.  The point is, a lot of our basic, foundational perspectives are based on things that we don’t even question.  And we should question them from time to time.  And that’s what this movie makes me do.  I can’t really go into detail, because like all good movies, the more you know about it going in, the less you’ll think of it when it’s over.  Suffice to say that it’s not a movie I talk about a lot, or list among my favorites, but nonetheless, if I’d missed it, I would have been missing out.