I absolutely love What's Eating Gilbert Grape for a lot of reasons. The story itself is something about most people can relate to in one form or another. It's about Gilbert Grape (Johnny Depp) who through a turn of events never did or went anywhere because he has to become the man of the house and be the bread winner for his family, To take care of his Momma (Darlene Cates) who hasn't left he house in 7 years and to take care of his mentally challenged brother Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio) as well as his sisters. There is a resentment that is just under the surface of Gilbert, which Depp played brilliantly. You know it's there, but he never really comes out and complains about it through most of the film. It's only toward the end does it finally manifest itself when he hits Arnie, which made this moment shocking because he spends most of the movie defending and protecting him.

I loved the casting of Cates in this one. She did a fantastic job in her feature film debut and Juliette Lewis as Becky was another standout choice. But the reason why I own this DVD and why anyone that has ever thought about acting or wants to become one, it's Leonardo DiCaprio. The performance he unleashes in this film is beyond brilliant. It's breathtaking. This is without a doubt Leo's finest performance and belongs up there was he greatest performances ever in film acting. There is a reason why he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor here. I was and still am stunned and  p i s s e d  off that he did not win the Oscar. Who the  f u c k  thinks that Tommy Lee Jones role in The Fugitive was the better performance? For me, this is where the Academy lost all it's credibility.

Okay. Rant over. I highly recommend this as a Buy. It's a DVD that I will never part with. I still get joy from watching all the people involved in this gem of a movie.

Hmmmm, I may have to check this out. Besides Chips review, I knew very little of the flick.

Ok... I remember I did not care for Leo in his early years. He had such the baby face. I don't think I bought into him until Gangs Of New York... ever since, I find his performances short of amazing.

Oh and thanks. Some of our luggage got sidetracked, so it may be a little bit before posting pics and story telling.

Sorry, I really didn't. Was Leo on that?

Yea, ya got me. I did watch it... A lot. My favorite episode is when Luke threw the football to hard and hit Marsha square in the nose. Too funny. Then Dr. Smith and Will Robinson came to visit. Wait, no, maybe that was Opie who visited.