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10 Movies That Will Inspire Your New Year · The Daily Writer

• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome everybody to the Born to Create Podcast.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Kent Sanders, and I'm your host.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm an author, musician, and teacher, but most importantly, I'm a husband and a dad.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Here on the show, we talk about practices, habits, and strategies that help us live out our creative calling.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: This is episode three, and today we're going to be talking about 10 movies that will inspire your new year.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: You can find the post that accompanies this episode, as well as all the links, at KentSanders.net slash 10movies new year.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the number 10 dash movies dash new dash year.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Man, I gotta start making these URLs a little bit shorter.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: The beginning of another year is a great time to think about a fresh start.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Many of us will set goals to improve our lives or achieve greater success.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing quite like New Year's to inspire us to be something more.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: One of the best ways to get inspired is to watch a great movie.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: I recently asked my Facebook friends to share their picks for movies that inspired hope, growth, change, or renewal.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: I was overwhelmed by the number and diversity of responses.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: After careful consideration of the comments, in addition to my own thoughts, I've selected ten movies that will inspire your new year.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: My criteria for selection was simple.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, does the story inspire change, growth, hope, or renewal?
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: And number two, does it do so in a creative, memorable way?
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, my list is completely subjective, but such is the nature of art.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: These movies are not in any particular order, and I've also included a list of honorable mentions for those that didn't make the initial cut, as well as a bonus movie at the end.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: So let's dive in.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Number one is Forrest Gump.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Forrest Gump is a weird and captivating tale of a man who floats through life like a feather on the wind.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Director Robert Zemeckis brilliantly captured the theme in the long opening shot of a feather drifting through the air and landing at Forrest's feet.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: We hear the theme in another way when Forrest shares what his mama always told him.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: And you probably remember this quote Life is like a box of chocolates.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: You never know what you're gonna get.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Even though I don't buy into the story's existential philosophy, the truth is that life throws a lot of surprises our way.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's great to have plans and goals, but sometimes we need to reevaluate based on changing circumstances and opportunities.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: We can stubbornly stick to our plans, or we can respond to surprises and setbacks with curiosity and openness.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Number two is a Toy Story trilogy.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Each of the Toy Story movies is a self-contained story, but taken as a whole, the trilogy reminds us that relationships are what's important in life.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: The last few moments of Toy Story 3 still bring tears to my eyes.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Toy Story 4 is being released in 2019, and I'm really curious to see what's in store for those characters.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: I've always been amazed at how the Toy Story films manage to deal with such heavy themes like loss, change, and death in a way that's really kid friendly.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: But that's the power of great storytelling.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm 42 years old, and over the last couple of years, I've lost more friends and close relatives than ever before.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Despite whatever success we might have, it doesn't compare to the blessing of knowing people who love and care about you.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: We must be intentional about nourishing those relationships.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Number three is It's a Wonderful Life.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's a Wonderful Life is my all-time favorite movie.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Many people consider it sappy and sentimental.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm an unabashed fan of the movie because it's optimistic and hopeful about life.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: When I was younger, I liked the movie because it was entertaining.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Every Christmas I watched it and I felt like a kid again.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: But I began to look at the movie differently when I got into my thirties.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'd been knocked around a bit by life and I experienced some failures.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: With each passing year I felt more like George Bailey, the man who watched some of his peers soar past him on the ladder of success and who wondered how much difference his life had really made.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: But recently my view of the movie has changed.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: I've begun to see George Bailey not only as someone I can identify with sometimes, but as a man who spent his life conforming to everybody else's expectations.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: George Bailey was trapped by his own inability to disappoint others and take a risk.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Jimmy Stewart did a marvelous job portraying the frustration that George felt his whole life.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Consider these scenes, and I've just picked three scenes that I think show George's frustration really well.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, whenever George is talking to his father at the dinner table, this is close to the beginning of the movie, he tells his father that he wants to get out of bed for falls so badly that he feels like he could bust.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, the building and loan board votes to keep the business afloat, but only if George stays and provides leadership.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: You can see the frustrated reaction on his face as he gets ready to leave and he gets that news.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: He feels obligated to stay rather than go to college.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, George greets his brother Harry, who has just come home from college.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: You can see George's repressed anger just under the surface because it appears Harry has broken his promise to come back to the building alone, so George can finally go to college.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Those are just three scenes where you can really sense George's frustration.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: There are others in the movie as well.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Mr.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Potter, the successful businessman, is the villain in It's a Wonderful Life.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: He is presented as a dishonest slumlord, and as far as we know, he never returned the$8,000 he stole from Uncle Billy, despite the hilarious lost ending to the movie that was featured on Saturday Night Live back in the 1980s.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: However, Mr.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Potter does have a point when he offers George Bailey a job and he angrily says, Confound it, man, are you afraid of success?
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: And the answer is a clear yes.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: George was afraid of success.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because he never had the courage to live life on his own terms.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: George spent his whole life being a caretaker of others, not because he wanted to, but because he felt obligated to.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: The Building and Loan Board should not have pressured him into taking it over after his father died, but let's be clear, George did have a choice.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: As noble as his actions were, it was not his responsibility to keep the building and loan afloat.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: George should not have felt obligated to compensate for his father's lack of business skills.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I realize a lot of people love It's a Wonderful Life, and that this is probably kind of a controversial viewpoint.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: And we also love to root for underdogs like George Bailey.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, lots of movies feature underdogs, and we love to root for the people who are sort of down and out, who have big problems, and we want them to overcome those problems.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's also tempting to blame Mr.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Potter for all of George's troubles.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: But honestly, George's main problem was himself.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: He couldn't let go of his emotional need to have everyone's approval.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's absolutely true that George Bailey was not a failure because he had friends.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: But in my mind, he never realized his potential because he always did what everybody wanted him to do instead of carving out his own path in life.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I think there are two lessons from It's a Wonderful Life.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, be thankful for what you have and for your friends.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: And number two, don't determine your life path based on a sense of obligation to other people.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Do it from a sense of calling and of giftedness.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: So my thoughts on this movie, It's a Wonderful Life, are quite a bit longer than my thoughts on the other movies in this episode.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's because this movie holds a unique place in my life and my heart, and also because my thoughts on the movie have been evolving the last few years.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Just a side note before we move on to number four, I really love the colorized version of It's a Wonderful Life.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: I know most people don't because it seems, you know, sort of sacrilegious or something, but when you see the colorized version, a lot more detail comes out and it's almost like a whole new movie.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Number four is Field of Dreams.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Phil Alden Robinson's heartfelt story about baseball, fathers and sons still retains a special place in many people's hearts nearly thirty years after it was released.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's certainly a special movie to me.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: The main character Ray Kinsella did something really crazy.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: He ploughed under his cornfield and built a baseball diamond, all because he heard a voice that said, If you build it, he will come.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: People thought he was really crazy, but in the end, he was vindicated when the 1919 White Sox showed up and he was reunited with his father.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Field of Dreams is similar to It's a Wonderful Life in that both films are fantasy movies, and both of the main characters in those movies feel the weight of people's expectations.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: The difference is that Ray Kinsella forges ahead with his crazy plans despite the criticism, while George Bailey remains trapped by other people's expectations.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Are you a George Bailey or Ray Kinsella?
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not suggesting that we do things that are irresponsible or harmful to other people, but there are times when we've got to bypass other people's expectations and do our own thing, and do what we feel like we're being called to do.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Number five is the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: The timeless story of Frodo Baggins and his journey to destroy the One Ring and the fires of Mount Doom has inspired generations of geeks and non-geeks.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: But let's face it, there are a lot of movie geeks who love Lord of the Rings, me completely included.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: The film series by Peter Jackson was a milestone achievement for many reasons, and the final film, The Return of the King, won eleven Academy Awards.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: All of us at heart feel like furto baggins at one time or another.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: We feel too small, too insignificant, too unprepared to overcome the challenges before us.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: My main takeaway from the Lord of the Rings trilogy is that we are capable of far more than we can ever imagine.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Number six is Lincoln.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: More books have been written about Abraham Lincoln than any other American president, and probably most people ever who have lived, because he's such a popular figure.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: But when it comes to movies, there have been surprisingly few notable ones featuring Abraham Lincoln.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: Steven Spielberg's Lincoln, based in part on Doris Kearns Goodwin's book, Team of Rivals, focused on Lincoln's struggle to emancipate the slaves.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: The major theme of this movie and of Lincoln's life in general is that he was living for something larger than himself.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: His desire to end slavery was a force that propelled him forward despite major personal and political problems that threatened to derail him.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Every day we should ask ourselves, am I living for something larger than myself?
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: Our success isn't about us, it's ultimately about helping and serving others.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: Number seven is Amazing Grace.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: The themes of Lincoln and Amazing Grace are similar.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: They both deal with the abolition of slavery, but the stories are obviously really different.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing Grace tells the story of William Wilberforce, who struggled with the British Parliament for years in an effort to end the transatlantic slave trade.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: The main takeaway from Amazing Grace is the need to persist until you get what you want.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Far too often we quit because the work is too hard or it's taking too long.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: But this film shows us that sustained effort toward a great cause can give us great rewards.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: eight Apollo thirteen.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: Apollo thirteen tells the true story of the doomed nineteen seventy moon mission that barely made it back to Earth because of a technical malfunction.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's a rare case when the movie didn't have to concoct false dramatization because it was a riveting story to begin with.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: The movie was based on astronaut Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger's book Apollo 13, which I highly recommend.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: The astronauts, as well as the NASA Command Center staff and engineers, had to do whatever it took for them to make it home safely.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: They had to focus on the objective and use whatever materials that were at hand.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: As much as the Apollo 13 crew wanted to land on the moon, it wasn't going to become reality.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: As soon as the accident happened, they didn't waste any time wishing things were different.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, they recognized what their situation was and got to work on the tasks ahead of them.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Those are all great lessons we can apply to a year that will surely bring surprises, disappointments, and they need to pivot with changing circumstances.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Number nine, remember the Titans.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: This movie has been out for quite a while, but I recently saw it just for the first time.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: I was substitute teaching one day for a shop class of all things, and the teacher left the DVD for the class to watch because he was going to have a substitute that day, and I gotta admit that was a pretty fun day of substitute teaching.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Although I did have to watch the same movie several times.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: Remember the Titans is based on the true story of a 1970s high school football team in Virginia and their journey of dealing with their first season as being a racially integrated group.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: Denzel Washington does a marvelous job playing Coach Boone, who is a force of inspiration that impacts not only the team, but the whole community as well.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: The movie is a great reminder that people can change and why it's important to keep working toward a worthwhile goal.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Number ten is Rogue One and A New Hope, and I'm putting these two movies together.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: These movies, in addition to the whole Star Wars series, have been discussed ad nauseum, so I want to focus on the main theme that's in both of these movies, which is hope.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, it's the last word in Rogue One if you've seen that movie.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: In the story of Rogue One, a group of rebels must steal the plans to the Death Star and deliver those plans to Princess Leia.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: In the movie A New Hope, Luke Skywalker and the rebellion forces must use these plans to destroy the Death Star.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: In both films, the main characters are almost defeated numerous times by the Evil Empire.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, the Star Wars movies are escapist fantasy, I'll give you that, but the themes in those movies resonate deeply because we all feel without hope sometimes.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: On a bigger level, I'm inspired and entertained by the creative storytelling and the artistry behind all the Star Wars movies.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: There's a reason why these movies are almost universally loved.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: So that's ten movies.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: I do have a bonus movie I want to share with you, and that is the Shawshank Redemption.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: And to be honest with you, I was almost finished writing and formatting this original blog post when I realized I mistakenly left out the Shawshank Redemption, and there's absolutely no way I could leave it off this list.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: Shawshank follows the journey of Andy Dufrein, a successful banker who is wrongly accused of killing his wife and her lover.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Over the course of his decades-long stay in prison, he befriends inmates, gains the trust of prison guards, and transforms the whole community because of his influence.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Andy keeps hope alive in the worst of circumstances and eventually finds the freedom that was taken from him.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's a great lesson on the importance of patience, relationships, and taking the long view of things.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: As the warden says, salvation lies within.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: So here are some honorable mentions.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: You notice I just keep putting movies into this post because I love so many movies, but I do want to make several honorable mentions that didn't make the top ten list or the bonus list, but they're worth checking out because of their power to inspire and motivate you.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: Here they are Le Miserab, Hoosiers, Mr.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Holland's Opus, Goodwill Hunting, the Rocky series, especially the newest movie, Creed, Seven Pounds, Pay It Forward, October Sky, The Pursuit of Happiness, Rudy, and Gladiator.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think about my selections?
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: What other movies would you add to this list?
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to hear your thoughts.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: You can join the conversation and find the post and the links that accompany this episode at Kent Sanders.net slash ten movies new year.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's the number 10 dash movies dash new dash year.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: When you visit my site, you'll find all kinds of great resources to inspire your creativity.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'd also love to share a gift with you when you subscribe to my newsletter.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: You can check it out as well as learn more about my books, writing, and services at Kent Sanders.net.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to connect and you can tweet me at Kent Sanders, and you can also find me on Facebook and Instagram as simply Kent Sanders.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: I also hope that you'll consider joining our Born to Create Facebook group by visiting Kent Sanders.net slash Facebook group.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, remember that you were born to create and designed to make a difference.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: What will you do with the time you have left?