Semi-Charmed Summer 2014 Reading Challenge

So I started this blog to write about movies, but since I have become addicted to the reading challenges posted on the Semi-Charmed Life blog, I figured I would utilize this blog for something else I love.

Below is my preliminary reading list for the Summer 2014 challenge:

5 points: Freebie! Read any book that is at least 200 pages long.
— TBD
10 points: Read a book that was written before you were born.
— Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin (768 pages)
10 points: Finish reading a book you couldn't finish the first time around.
— What is the What by Dave Eggers (560 pages)
10 points: Read a book from the children’s section of the library or bookstore.
— The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (272 pages)
15 points: Read a book that is on The New York Times' Best Sellers List when you begin reading it.
— The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (775 pages) - currently #2 in hardcover fiction
15 points: Read a historical fiction book that does not take place in Europe.
— The Red Tent by Anita Diamant (352 pages)
15 points: Read a book another blogger has already read for the challenge.
— TBD 
20 points: Read a book with “son(s),” “daughter(s)” or “child(ren)” in the title.
— Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie (536 pages)
20 points: Read a book that was/will be adapted to film in 2014.
— The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (started May 1, finished May 4)
25 points: Read a book written by a blogger.
— Julie and Julia by Julie Powell (400 pages)
25 points: Read a biography, autobiography or memoir.
— When Rabbit Howls by Truddi Chase (400 pages)
30 points: Read a pair of books with antonyms in the titles.
— Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink (486 pages) & The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (516 pages)

Ending the Hiatus

So I haven't posted on here in a long time -- mostly because I tend to never finish what I start -- but also because for a bit I wasn't watching a whole lot of movies.  With a newfound boredom due to nights home alone and being awake until about 5am, I have picked up the list where I left off, and have decided to keep writing about my ventures.

I am not, however, going to write a post for every movie I have watched in the past year.  I don't have the energy for that.  So for a small update I will give you my rankings as of right now.  My top 5 is significantly different than the last time I posted...

46 - Forrest Gump

45 - Yankee Doodle Dandy

44 - Butch Cassidy/Sundance Kid

44 - Toy Story

44 - Shawshank Redemption

42 - Silence of the Lambs

41 - Titanic

41 - A Night at the Opera

40 - Ben Hur

40 - Goodfellas

39 - Pulp Fiction

39 - Sunrise

38 - The Apartment

38 - Sophie's Choice

38 - 12 Angry Men

38 - Platoon

37 - Swing Time

36 - Sixth Sense

35 - Modern Times

34 - All the President's Men

31 - Bringing Up Baby

30 - Do the Right Thing

29 - Easy Rider

26 - French Connection

24 - Spartacus

23 - Blade Runner

17 - In the Heat of the Night

14 - Last Picture Show

14 - The Wild Bunch

It seems obvious that Shawshank Redemption currently sits among the Top 5 since it is so widely loved, but I must say that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid proved quite a surprise for me.  I am not a fan of westerns for the most part.  The only western I remember truly loving was the Coen brothers reimagination of True Grit.  I am just not entertained by the John Waynes and Dirty Harrys, etc.  Butch and Sundance, however, were wonderful to watch.  A pair of dirty rotten scoundrels that you were rooting for not only because of their dashing good looks, but their endless humor.  And of course, I am in love with Robert Redford.  End of story.

I finally saw Silence of the Lambs after years of my begging my mother to "rent the butterfly movie".  Although Anthony Hopkins is wonderfully chilling, and Jodie Foster superb as the enthralling Clarice, it fell just short of the Top 5 after rewatching the Shawshank Redemption.

And as for the movie that now holds the #1 spot, what can I say but, RUN FORREST RUNNNNNNNNNNNN.

Easy Rider?

The film Easy Rider (1969) is not good at capturing a viewer's attention.  The first half is quite possibly the most uneventful piece of storytelling I've ever witnessed, that is not an exaggeration.  Much of the first half, or more, of this film is just Henry Fonda and Dennis Hopper riding across the country in motorcycles.  Seriously, just scene after scene after scene of them driving down the road on their motorcycles...   can you say zzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZ???????  I personally have no interest in watching a couple of hippies profit off a drug deal and then start out on a grand journey with the goal of getting to Mardi Gras, where they just end up doing drugs.

The story doesn't really pick up until they breach the border of the deep south where the people's hatred of hippies and what they represent becomes crystal clear.  Fonda and Hopper are seen as the scum of the Earth, insects meant to be squashed, purely because they represent a freedom that others do not understand.  They have no responsibility for anything or anyone but themselves, and no obligation to a job, a family, or even a place to call home.  This is seen as a huge threat to the South's way of life, or rather, the traditional American way of life.  Anything different can not be tolerated and is seen as dangerous.

The moral of this story is that nothing good can come from hatred, and yet the world doesn't seem to be able to learn from this lesson.  Decades have passed since the era of peace and free love but today's world has new rendition's of the same story.  The ongoing argument surrounding homosexuality in this country, for instance, has caused unadulterated hatred to rear its ugly head once more.  Some of the anti-LGBT posts that are seen on the internet are not only appalling and it sickens me to think that some of these witless morons could be my neighbors or the people I work with.  And let's not forget the atrocities that go on outside this country on account of differing political views or religions!  That's my favorite of them all:  hatred based on religious differences, when the sole purpose of religion is supposed to be teaching people how to live morally.  Where did religion go wrong?  How is it that the exact opposite of the initial ideal is now occurring?  How is that history continues to repeat itself over and over again?  Why does hatred still prevail in our world?

Aside from the utterly boring beginning, these are the points that Easy Rider brings to the table, and although the film is not great as a whole, I respect it for its morals.

RATING:

Visual - 5

Acting - 8

Script/Plot - 3

Attention - 5

Emotion - 8

Total = 29/50

Groucho, Chico, Harpo!!!

A Night at the Opera was my first Marx Brothers film and I could not have been more impressed!!!  Not only do each of the brothers have an undoubtable charisma onscreen but the writing was nothing short of brilliant.  This script was by far the most clever I had ever experienced with a level of wit that no other film could possibly challenge.  George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind were true geniuses.

The Marx Brothers each brought something very specific and wonderful to the film:  Groucho is clearly the screwball comic, incorporating slapstick bits and effortlessly pulling off ongoing contradictions and comedic double-takes in his lines.  Chico puts on a miraculously realistic faux New York-Italian attitude and is one hell of a pianist.  Harpo is an absolute sweetheart, he draws his comedy from mimes with genuine goofy bits and can play harp unlike anyone I've ever seen.

This film, even though made in 1935, is one of the best examples of brilliant filmmaking in the history of the art form.  According to my own personal rating system this movie broke into my Top 5 films and definitely deserves to be there.  Everyone should see this movie.  I am so excited for Duck Soup (#60 on the list).

RATING:

Visual - 5
Acting - 10
Script/Plot - 10
Attention - 9
Emotion - 7

TOTAL = 41/50

Platoon

I watched Platoon a couple months ago and honestly, trying to recall info about the movie now is proving difficult..  Clearly this movie did not leave that much of an impression on me.  The big-name actors in this film, i.e. Charlie Sheen, Willem Dafoe, Kevin Dillon, Dr. Cox from Scrubs (haha), Forest Whitaker, and Johnny Depp were all extremely appropriate choices for their roles, and the character development within the story is by far the best part.

One thing I will say is that Oliver Stone was not afraid to be blunt about gruesome events that occurred during the war.  What I did NOT know until writing this post was that Oliver Stone did a tour of duty in Vietnam which gives the movie much more credibility than I had initially realized.  While watching Platoon I had the same sensation as when I had watched the Hurt Locker.  After The Hurt Locker I could feel the heat and the sand on me after watching that movie.  With Platoon I felt as though I was wading through the swamps with Bravo Company, with blood-streaked faces and Agent Orange raining down upon us.  Oliver Stone made the dirt, grime, humidity, and pain come to life.

RATING:

Visual - 9

Acting - 9

Script/Plot - 7

Attention - 8

Emotion - 5

TOTAL = 38/50

Twelve Angry Men

With all of the controversial court cases that have been in the news recently, the film Twelve Angry Men was definitely an interesting inside look into the complicated nature of a jury.  It's no wonder the process of selecting a jury is so long...

This movie depicts the exact benefits and problems with using a jury made up of average U.S. citizens. Every person has their own story, their own opinions, and most importantly their own biases.  Based on this movie the selection process was a tiny bit more lax in 1957 than it is today, but the film's example of this proved the importance of having many different people of varying backgrounds in place on a jury.  It proves the importance of democracy and that someone's fate cannot be left up to a single person, because if that person has a bias against a certain sex, age, color, etc. they cannot be deemed able to pass judgment on their own.  Other perspectives must certainly be brought to the table for a collective agreement.  Below is a clip depicting one of the jurors in the film that held a racial prejudice against the defendant and the culmination of his opinion and how everyone else felt about it:

If only this were the exact response that everyone gave to prejudice like this..  We should all turn our backs to it and make it known that it is not tolerated.

I loved Twelve Angry Men because it is the perfect example of why sometimes the difficult conversations need to be had.  The political argument or debate on social issues and values is at times heated and uncomfortable, but that does not mean that we must shy away.  The ability to express our opinions is what makes us human, and no, we will not always agree that is definite.  But why must we always agree?  We are freethinking and I hold that in the highest regard.  The only thing that must unite us is morality, a code of ethics, and the underlying drive to ultimately do what we feel is just.


Rating:

Visual - 5
Acting - 9
Script/Plot - 9
Attention - 8
Emotional Response - 7

Total = 38/50

Bringing Up Baby

Bringing Up Baby, with Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant, is the ideal "screwball comedy".  A film from the era of the Great Depression, this film is filled with comedy that will transcend all generations.  This sub-genre within comedy was created with the purpose of helping people to forget the financial troubles prevalent during that time, something that people today can greatly sympathize with.  This story is aborably ridiculous and has the ability to make anyone briefly forget their troubles...   and even forget that Hepburn's character is an A-grade bimbo.  In no other movie could that portrayal of a woman be excusable, so the comedy must be great!

RATING:

V - 3
A - 6
S - 8
A - 6
E - 8

Total = 31/50

I See Dead People...

Who hasn't seen this movie?  Seriously?  This movie is one of the most well-known horror flicks of this generation, and if you haven't seen it yet-- congratulations, you're the only one.  Forget the fact that every second of the film is filled with paralyzing suspense, but the ending contains one of the greatest plot twists in all of movie history.  This is a film that can be enjoyed by anyone and everyone, and will never be forgotten.

RATING:

V - 5
A - 8
S - 10
A - 8
E - 5

Total = 36/50

Swing Time

This movie is your run of the mill motion picture from the 30s, to say the least.  Obviously Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are timeless, this is undeniable, but this kind of broadway musical can only appeal to so many people in this modern era.  Swing Time is definitely a treat for people whose movie taste includes classic musicals without a doubt, and a good look into a different time in movie history for everyone else.

RATING:

V - 5

A - 9

S - 7

A - 7

E - 9

Total = 37/50

So Far...

The Current Top 5 Movies (according to my rating scale):

1. Yankee Doodle Dandy
2. Toy Story
3. Ben Hur
3. Goodfellas
4. Pulp Fiction


Yankee Doodle is still holding strong at the top spot with 45/50 points, with Toy Story coming in at a close second (44/50).  I am becoming wary of the fact I may hold a bias towards movies I have seen in the past, mainly because 3 of the movies on the list above are movies I already knew I loved....  will have to determine the accuracy of my rating scale at a later date, I suppose.  Nevertheless, would definitely recommend any of these top five!!  Happy movie viewing :)

#11379

I have heard about the movie Sophie's Choice (1982) many times over the years and how depressing it is, but not once did anyone mention it was about a Holocaust survivor, and not once was I tempted to actually watch it...  but I'm glad I did.  A movie about a woman that survived the Holocaust cannot evade the inevitable sadness that comes along with that topic, but the writers of Sophie's Choice actually accomplished this by basing the majority of the plot on her life after the war and her search for happiness.  I went into this film thinking I would be sobbing for 2 hours straight but for most of the story I actually felt enlightened and truly touched by Meryl Streep's portrayal of the life of a survivor.

I was also unaware that Kevin Kline played the leading male opposite Streep in this film, and may I say that his character is truly a whack-a-doo...  quite possibly the most two-faced character in movie history other than......  well, Two Face, or maybe Charlie/Hank from Me, Myself, & Irene.  Not to mention the three's-a-crowd dynamic of Streep, Kline, and their new younger downstairs-neighbor friend, Stingo, was repeatedly awkward throughout the entire movie.  Can you say 24/7 third wheel?

Although there are awkward parts of the movie, if the story told by Streep is all you focus on I have no doubt you'll come away with a warmed heart instead of a bout of depression.  Her strength more than anything is what should truly shine through by the end of her tale.

Rating:
Visual - 7
Acting - 9
Script/Plot - 5
Attention - 8
Emotion - 9

Total = 38/50

F**k You! You Mother F***er You Son of a B****...... uh, you get the idea.....

Let me just say:  Goodfellas.  Kick.  Ass!!!!!  I have seen this film many, many times and it never ceases to disappoint.  The unbeatable combination of Liotta, DeNiro, and Pesci is pure movie gold.  They are without a doubt the most believable mobsters to ever grace the silver screen.  They are gritty and frightening and refuse to take anyone's BS.  Needless to say these are men that no one would want to get in the way of, especially crazy wild card Tommy DeVito who will 'whack' anyone who crosses him without hesitation.

Scorcese did a fantastic job of juxtaposing the glamorous side of the gangster life with the horrendous.  One minute Liotta and his wife are getting star treatment at the local Copacabana show, the next Liotta, Pesci, and DeNiro are inserting a shovel into a man's face.  That's normal........   right?  Not so much for the average citizen but for a New York gangster?  Anything is possible, no matter how gruesome or highly illegal.

Also, has anyone ever noticed how awfully fake and obnoxious Ray Liotta's laugh is????  You will now.......

Rating:
Visual - 7
Acting - 9
Script/Plot - 9
Attention - 9
Emotional Response - 5

Total =  39/50

Le Drug Smuggle Fail

French TV stars and NYC mobsters involved in a big drug smuggle via luxury car???  Eh.

I think I look for something a little too specific when it comes to movies made in the 70s and 80s, mainly because in comparison to what my generation is used to seeing at the movies, mob flicks like the French Connection come off a tad corny.  I was told before viewing this film that it contained THE best car chase scene of ALL TIME.  uh.........  not so much.  It was exciting, it was suspenseful, but THE BEST OF ALL TIME?  not so much.  I already know that the chariot scene from Ben Hur FAR outweighs this even though that isn't technically a chase scene.....  just a small technicality.

As much as I enjoyed watching Gene Hackman and the guy from Jaws being the worst policemen to ever exist, this movie was only mildly entertaining as a whole.

Rating:
Visual - 4
Acting - 7
Script/Plot - 5
Attention - 5
Emotional Response - 5

Total = 26/50

"Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon"

What can be said about Pulp Fiction that hasn't already been said?

It goes without saying that Pulp Fiction is one of the most unique movies ever made.  This can be credited to the unbelievably twisted mind of Tarantino, which I find endlessly entertaining, and the fact that he follows a non-linear plot structure.  The way the movie unfolds out of chronological order but preserves the connection between the characters and the scenes is the true key to enjoying this film.  It also helps if you aren't greatly perturbed by violence and gore...  just a tad.

To say the least, Pulp Fiction is not for the light of heart.  Tarantino consistently means business in his films and the violent scenes he writes are no joke.  At the other end of the spectrum if you can suspend every moral fiber in your body while watching you can attempt at seeing these scenes from the angle that Tarantino intends........   usually just pure unrest of the soul, but that's besides the point.

The bottom line, he's a weird brand of genius, but viewer discretion is advised :)

Rating:
Visual - 8
Acting - 9
Script/Plot - 10
Attention - 7
Emotion - 5

Total = 39/50

As the World Turns in Anarene, Texas

The only enjoyable thing in The Last Picture Show is watching 22-year-old Jeff Bridges and noticing how he hasn't changed.  Other than that, the entire movie is filled with teenage angst and manipulation, not to mention everyone is sleeping with everyone.  The football coach's wife is sleeping with one of his athletes, mother and daughter have affairs with the same person, and apparently this "coming-of-age" story involves the teenage girl exploring the trials of "love" by losing her virginity to the most accessible person in order to find a worthy husband(?), her only goal in life.....  To say the least she really could have used a beating over the head with The Feminine Mystique.

Basically, this movie lost me pretty much from the beginning.  The only thing that made sense was the use of black and white film and choice of a drab location to match the tone of the story: boring.  If it hadn't been for this challenge I probably would have turned the movie off.  Instead of trying to portray small-town Texas in the 50's, the movie seems as though it was actually filmed in the early 50's (not 1971) due to its extreme lack of inventiveness and color, on many levels.

Definitely would not recommend this movie unless you are a serious movie buff.  One positive review I read about this film stated that the 'choppy, awkward transitions and stream of consciousness-like scripting' was supposed to reflect reality, but if this is what reality was actually like in small-town Texas during the 1950s, I would have contemplated the closest thing to suicide.

My Rating:

Visual - 4
Acting - 4
Script/Story - 4
Attention - 1
Emotion - 1

Total = 14/50  (bottom of the bottom)

Pick from #95-100

Based on my ratings, Yankee Doodle Dandy definitely takes the cake!!  I had "You're a Grand Ole Flag" stuck in my head for a damn week after I watched it.

My top two recommendations are definitely Yankee Doodle Dandy and Ben Hur -- two must-sees if you're a movie fan!!

...but also, who doesn't love Toy Story?  That's a given.

Muh-muh-muh-mooooookie!!

Do The Right Thing, written and directed by Spike Lee, is a portrayal of racial tensions in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn in the 1980s.  The interaction of the many different people in this film was the epicenter of the story.  Between the black, the white, the Puerto Rican, the Asian, the Italian-Americans it seems at the beginning of the film that these people are able to share their neighborhood in a modified peace, but at the end of the film it is unvelied that every person was living just on the edge of tolerance, and that even the slightest misunderstanding or difference in opinion is enough to set catastrophic events into motion that affect the entire neighborhood.

I hope that our urban neighborhoods have come a long way since then, and that people are able to live more peacefully amongst one another, but what Spike Lee showed is that you never know how much rage is bubbling just beneath the surface in another person or group of people.  Coming from the background that I do, I hate to admit I'm more than blind to these issues, you could even call it naive..  and if you know me you know I would usually never admit to this.  Spike shed light on this issue in a way that I wouldn't have expected.  The ending scene showed the anger of the black community in a savage manner, one that definitely surprised me, and frankly distracted me from the bigger picture and message of the story.  After reflecting on this film for about a week I was able to come away with a better impression of this tension and what it means for all of us.

My Rating:

Visual - 5
Acting - 4
Script/Plot - 6
Attention - 6
Emotion - 9

Total = 30/50

Forever in Peace May You Wave

FANTASTIC FANTASTIC FANTASTIC

That is all that can be said!  Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) truly has the stuff that great films are made of: song, dance, joy, lovable characters and actors, while preserving a piece of the American spirit that many of my generation never knew existed.  This film is the story of broadway-musical guru George M. Cohan.  He grew up traveling the country with his family who performed vaudeville and various musical acts together, and he went on to produce some of the most well-known patriotic songs in our country's history, i.e. "You're a Grand Old Flag" as well as songs that fed the flames of American patriotism during World War I, "Over There".

I have never been drawn to films made before my own lifetime mainly because I don't find them as complex or interesting as the movies made today.  Whether that be due to technological effects or acting technique, I am not sure...  I don't use this as a general rule of thumb, I just know my own taste in film.  Yankee Doodle Dandy does not possess any of the negative qualities I often find with classic film: the acting was not overdramatic, the plot kept me interested throughout the entire 2 hours, and the lack of visual effects or color did not deter me at all.  The actors' glamour and charisma was undeniable, the tap dancing was heart-stopping, and the story swept me away into a different world.  Many shy away from anything associated with "Broadway", but in the case of this movie that would be a HUGE mistake.  The end of the film left me feeling uplifted with an utmost sense of pride, something that no movie-fan will be able to dismiss.

Historical significance + attention grabbing plot + lovable characters + out-of-this-world song and dance abilities????  Definitely equals one of the top movies of all time.

"You're a grand old flag,

you're a high flying flag,

and forever in peace may you wave.

You're the emblem of

the land I love,

the home of the free and the brave.

Every heart beats true

'neath the red white and blue,

where there's never a boast or a brag.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot

keep your eye on the grand old flag."

My Rating:

Visual - 8

Acting - 9

Script/Plot - 10

Attention - 8

Emotion - 10

Total = 45/50

I have just one question, Blade Runner.... WTF?

"It's too bad she won't live, but then again, who does?"

Watching the movie Blade Runner (1982) for the first time in 2011 brings up many interesting questions:

1. Why was everyone in the 80s obsessed with the idea of flying cars existing by 2020?
2. Why was Darryl Hannah dressed like a futuristic panda bear getting ready to dance in the Thriller video?
3.  Why is the albino from the Da Vinci Code pushing his fingers into people's eyes?!
4.  Why all the synthesized weird music?  I mean really it just turns any hope of serious movie-making into pure corn......

The list could go on and on and on.  To sum up, Blade Runner wasn't all bad.  I can definitely see why it would have been considered one of the best of all time in the 1980s, and the significance it must have had in that decade, but the problem is simple:  it just doesn't translate well to this decade.  The movie being set in Los Angeles 2019 really doesn't help since we're only 8 years away from that and a) we are still a great time away from the flying car thing, and b) the technology used in the movie that was supposed to be futuristic/mind-blowing/ahead of its time.....  is just laughable.  For instance, instead of imagining portable phones they imagined pay phones where you can videophone with the other person.  An interesting idea, but if you're going to go futuristic you've got to really stretch the imagination, not still be placing quarters into a machine at a dingy bar.

If this movie were to be remade I have no doubt the outcome would be incredible.  The plot was inventive, and albeit quite dull during the beginning, it had quirky characters and some exciting scenes towards the end that would hold any sci-fi movie fanatic's attention..  But if Ridley Scott and the writers of Blade Runner honestly expected this movie's popularity to extend into future generations, why oh why would they have Harrison Ford in an awful romantic scene with a robot incapable of emoting?  Han  Solo and Chewbacca had better love scenes, honestly.

My Rating:

Visual - 8
Acting - 3
Script/Plot - 6
Attention - 4
Emotion - 2

Total = 23/50

(for a more in depth explanation of my rating system refer to my earlier posting)

Twenty-Two Going On Eight...

Toy Story, although an animated film, is a cinematic masterpiece in its own right.  I may have a slight bias towards this film since I was 8 years old when I first saw it, and watching it as an adult produces a tsunami of nostalgia, but watching this movie at 22 years old offers interesting emotions mainly because I am only three years out of my teens.  Three years is a MINISCULE amount of time, and although I strive in my everyday life to pretend like I am a fully functional adult, I am not always successful.  Not enough time has passed since my childhood to allow me to forget the emotions that accompanied inventing fantastical story-worlds starring my favorite toys or the confusion that bore down upon my pre-pubescence, or the dreaded high school years where I was pretty much predestined to hate everyone and everything unconditionally.  Ah, what lovely times....

Early childhood was magical, a time before sentient awareness of an at times harsh reality set in, a time when we were carefree and able to invent and create the unimaginable and impossible.  I had many toys growing up, but one I remember best was a big white teddy bear my mother had given me: Beary, or at times, Elizabeth (for more proper occasions, i.e. tea, weddings, etc.)  Just a simple bear lived out all my greatest childhood fantasies and protected me from the monsters in the closet at night, because at that age the monsters in my room were as real as the monsters that lived outside in the real world, or maybe it was just my excuse to not clean my closet, who knows??  To this day I am saddened by the thought of all my abandoned stuffed animals sitting in my old room, 3000 miles away, along with my childhood.

Toy Story is an adventure for children because of the fun, animated characters and their witty repartee, and is an adventure for adults with the ability to remember what it was like to have an imagination, or as some may put it, the ability to "suspend disbelief", something I hold near and dear to my heart as a child-slash-adult.  To this day the movie still holds my attention, makes me laugh out loud, and allows me to cry without shame, because being able remember what it was like to be a child is not a bad thing at all.

"You've got a friend in me."


My Rating:
V - 9
A - 8
S - 9
A - 8
E - 10

Total = 44/50