- Make sure you film was O.K.ed by Mr. Walker.
- Write the equivalent of about a full-page word document.
- Include a brief summary of the plot (main characters, setting, conflicts).
- Mention the director and if you noticed anything remarkable he/she did with the film.
- Discuss your opinion of the film, and make sure you support your opinion with "evidence" from the film.
- Remember, you need to watch and review four films before the end of the semester for full credit!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
2010-2011 Second Semester Film Reviews
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In Being There, directed by Hal Ashby in 1979 our main Character Chance (Peter Sellers) is an adult that lives a hum drum life being a gardener at an old mans house. Chance has lived there his whole life and is sheltered from the outside world, and the only way of seeing outside of that house is through the tv. He learns everything from the tv. The old man dies in his house and then they have to sell the house so Chance is forced out to live by himself. Chance struggles with living by himself and dealing with other people because really he doesn't have any social skills from being sheltered. He is stopped in front of a tv store with tvs in the window and doesn't pay attention around him and gets in the way of a car and hurts his leg. That is where we meet our second main character Eve Rand ( Shirley MaClaine). She is the wealthy wife of a very important man who works with the President but Benjamin Rand ( Melyvn Douglas)is dieing from some disease where he is very weak and has to have blood transfused into his body on a regular basis. Benjamin allows Chance to stay at his house to recover from his injury and he also gets taken care of by the doctors on duty for Benjamin, Benjamin and chance start to hit it off because Benjamin admires Chance's bluntness and metaphors to gardening in every conversation that he has. Benjamin decides to have Chance take over his job and go in for his work duties with the President Bobby ( Jack Warden). All of America fall in love with Chance's words, which is funny to me because most of the time Chance didn't really know what he was talking about he just made references to gardening. Eve starts to fall in love with Chance and tries to make a move on him but he doesn't know how to respond until he sees a couple on tv. This whole movie was primarily shot in the house of Benjamins in Washington D.C., and some of it was shot in Chance's old house. I personally enjoyed the film because it was a light film that I didn't have to really think about, and the storyline to it was pretty interesting. I noticed a technique that the director did though. In the first scene we can tell right off the bat that our main character lives a hum drum life because of how the shots were set up. Almost all of the shots were medium shots where we could see our main character and some of the stuff around him. The director did this on purpose to show how nothing else was going on around him. For example whenever he is sitting there watching tv, we see nothing around him to point out that all he ever does is watch tv.
ReplyDeletein the silence of the lambs directed by Jonathan Demme made in 1991. clarice starling (Jodie Foster) must interview the psychopathic Dr Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) to try to figure out if there are any certain patterns serial killers have, and if he has any information on him. The young cadet must face some of her past demons to get anything out of him. The derranged psychopath Hannibal lecter enjoys every minute of her torture. During all this Buffalo Bill who skins women because he wants to have a woman suit is keeping the daughter of a U.S senator hostage in his basement in this giant hole. I like how the director set up the shot of her in the whole after she puts the lotion in the bucket because it tracks up the wall to show blood and a nail stuck in the wall which made her seem weak because it had the high angle on her and there was no way of escape because of the nail and blood. As Clarice gets more out of Hannibal it gets harder because the Dr who has Hannibal under his care is wanting results and does not like her interviewing him. The plot takes an interesting turn when Hannibal escapes after skinning one of the officers faces and uses it as a decoy to escape. He kills the people in the ambulance and gets away safely we never learn anything else after that except for that he was not captured again because at the end he calls Clarice the newest F.B.I agent. The director uses the high and low angles very well to show who has the power and who is the weak ones like in the scene with the senators daughter while she was in the hole. Overall this film deserved the title of best picture due to wonderful directing and brilliant acting by Jodie Foster, and Anthony Hopkins. I definitely would recommend this film to anybody looking for a good dramatic thriller.
ReplyDeleteRidley Scott's American Gangster is about Frank Lucas and his notorious Heroin/drug empire he ran from Harlem New York. Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) is trying to smuggle pure heroin into the U.S through his cousin and the armed forces. Who are crooked because he pays them off to allow it. Richie Roberts (Russel Crowe) is in charge of the newest agency that the U.S is installing its a task force to stop the drug traffickers. His rare honesty made him perfect for this because he would never keep anything and he is one of the best people for the job. Frank Lucas isn't even on their radar until he goes to a boxing match dressed in all flashy clothes and a fur coat which instantly makes them interested in him. They follow him around trying to get evidence of him being a trafficker but to no avail. Until they catch one of his partners shooting a girl and almost kill her. which leads to them breaking into his house and finding his brother. While the set up is in place he doesn't know that his whole empire is getting ready to crumble. I really think that Ridley Scott directed this movie toward any fan of gangster movies or of him that range is to broad to really put any age numbers to it. I like how he was able to do such a wonderful job of turning a true story and putting his own flare into it.overall i recommend this movie to anybody into gangster movies because he did a good job of keeping it historically accurate.
ReplyDeleteCrash (2004) Directed by Paul Haggis starred actors Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock and Thandie Newton. This film is about several inter- related characters during the time of two days in Los Angeles and focuses on their stories and how they are interweaved together. “Crash” tells interlocking stories of Whites, Blacks, Latinos, Koreans, and Iranians. This movie focuses on the underground feelings and action of American people who unconsciously act racist and some of them intentionally are racist for reasons they think are correct. We encounter a police detective whose mother is drugged out and searching for younger brother, two car thieves who constantly think that they are being under act by racist individuals, a sick father with his white racist veteran cop son taking care of him, a Hollywood director and his wife that gets sexually assaulted by a racist cop, a Persian family who’s store gets broken into to, and a Hispanic locksmith and his daughter, a white district attorney and his racist wife. We encounter all of these characters whether being racist or being treated differently because of their race. Paul Haggis did a very good job on directing this film and created a movie that doesn’t really upset people but it gets viewers thinking about the issue presented in the film. I enjoyed watching this film because it had a really good storyline and was a storyline that kept me interested because of the surprising ties between the characters. I think that the best actor in this film was Matt Dillon, he was the most racist character and I believe his actions upset the viewer’s more than any other character. He was the cop in this movie that felt up the wife of the wealthy movie producer. This cop just assumed that there was something going on with the couple in the car just because of their race. The cop later learns from his mistakes and doesn’t act as racist when he saves the girl he felt up from a car accident. “Crash” is a film about progress and pushing the viewers to not act the way they do, this film makes the viewer’s aware of what really is going on in America in attempt to try and fix it.
ReplyDeleteIn “Children of Men” (2006) directed by Alfonso Cuaron, starred actors Julianne Moore, Clive Owen, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. This movie opens in the year 2027, where women have become infertile and no children have been born for 18 years. In the beginning of the film the youngest person in the world baby Diego was murdered. The films protagonist, Theo Faron is almost murdered in the first scene that we see him, so he leaves work early and visits his friend, Jasper who lives in the middles of the woods all by himself with his wife who doesn’t ever talk. After we meet Theo we meet another main character played by Julianne Moore which she plays the character Julianne in the film. We then find out that the two characters had dated before and she asks him for help. We meet Kee, Miriam, and Luke, which are other characters helping Julianne. In a world of a lot of violence and random people attacking these characters they go on a road trip all together to a house that we don’t know of. In the car they get attacked, and Julianne gets shot. They go to their destination and then Kee reveals to Theo that she is pregnant, which is a miracle because no one had been pregnant for 18 years. This pregnancy gives hope to the whole world, so all of these people were protecting Kee because she could get hurt or the government could take her away. We find out that these people aren’t actually helping her though so Theo takes her and Miriam away to Jaspers house. They find them at Jaspers house then so they have to run again, they run to Jaspers friend where he gets them into the jail which is the safe ground away from the other people like Luke that were trying to help them. Theo assists Kee in the birth of her child, which we find out it was a girl. The cop finds the baby and tries to take away the baby because he could gain a lot of money from her. Theo and a new character (a refugee) get Kee and the baby away from the cop and then she gets kidnapped by Luke. Theo saves Kee and the baby from Luke and then the baby starts crying and all the fighting in the streets stops. Theo gets shot during this scene but doesn’t tell Kee while getting her to safety. He takes her to the boat where they have been trying to get all through the movie to keep her baby safe and Theo, Our protagonist, dies on the boat right before the bigger boat comes to save Kee. Alfonso Cuaron Does a very good job on directing this film and uses a lot of long shots to follow characters and see things from their point of view. One very important long shot was when Theo is trying to find Kee after Luke kidnapped her and the baby and all the fighting is in the street so he has to be careful, the camera follows Theo for a very long shot all the way through the little houses on the sides of the street and all the way up into the building that Kee is in. I really enjoyed watching this film because it made me think about what it would be like for us if this really happened. This movie had an equal amount of violence and drama to keep me interested throughout the whole film.
ReplyDeleteIn Jon Singleton’s Poetic Justice, a young African American female living in South Central, Los Angeles becomes bitter after her boyfriend was gunned down in the car while they were out on a date at the drive in. While mourning, she decided to be alone and not to commit her heart to no man. Justice (Janet Jackson) gives up college to work at a hair salon were the mailman Lucky (Tupac Shakur) tries to hit on her but fails. However this wasn’t the only encounter they had. Iesha, (Regina King) Justice’s client and main girl, ask her to go on a errand with her boyfriend’s Chicago (Joe Torry) and his co-worker to deliver a package to Oakland. When Iesha and Chicago arrive at Justice’s house to pick her up, she discovers Chicago’s is Lucky. As Lucky and Justice struggle to get along, they get to know each other more and more. Along the way they stop to drop off other packages along the way and they also stop at a family reunion. They know no one but pretends to be family to get food. Drama starts between Chicago and Iesha and they had to leave before everyone discovered they weren’t part of the family. If Lucky and Justice weren’t arguing then Chicago and Iesha were. Throughout the whole trip Justice began to fall for Lucky. In the end Justice let her guard down and gave Lucky a chance.
ReplyDeleteI like this film because it shows how people judge people before they get to know them and the person turns out to be the total opposite. When Justice first meets Lucky she automatically thinks he another no good thug who don’t want anything from her but wen she gets to know him she finds out that they have a lot more in common.
Spike Lee’s Crooklyn is about Troy (Zelda Harris), a 9 year old growing up in the 70s in Brooklyn with her mom, Carolyn (Alfre Woodard), a school teacher, her dad Woody, (Delroy Lindo) a jazz-musician, and her four brothers. Troy watches and analyzes other people and their mistakes. She plays with her brothers and help her mom out around the house. As the only girl in their house, all of her brothers use her room to watch television and comes in and takes over and every time they all watch TV, their mom always tells them to turn it off because it’s a school night. Troy and her brothers are some of the kids staring up trouble throughout the neighborhood. If they’re not running through the neighborhood or stealing from the local corner store, they’re throwing trash into their neighbor’s (David Patrick Kelly) front yard. Carolyn struggles to make ends meet as she temporarily kicks Woody out of the house because he was bouncing checks and not contributing to paying the bills. Since Troy is the only girl, her parents want her to spend summer vacation with her relatives in South Virginia. At first Troy is to herself and very observant but then she warms up and befriends her cousin Viola. A lot changes as she’s down there from her hair being in braids and her tomboyish ways. When she returned back to Brooklyn, she learns that her mother is in the hospital extremely sick. When she gets to the room, she sees her father beside her mother. Troy sits beside her and comforts her as her mother tells her to take care of the house. When Woody pulls up to their house with Troy in the car, her brothers hardly recognize her as they roughly greet her. A day later, Woody comes in Troy’s room were her and her brothers were watching television and tell them that the doctors found cancer in their mother’s body. When they receive this news, everyone breaks down crying except Troy. She just takes everything in. A couple of weeks later Carolyn dies and they attend the funeral. Even at the funeral Troy doesn’t cry. In the middle of the night Troy wakes up from a bad dream and finally breaks.
ReplyDeleteI like this film because Troy reminds me of me when I was little. A tomboy and very rough and also srong.
Dead Man Walking is directed by Tom Robbins. Actors/actresses in this film are Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, Robert Prosy and Raymond J. Barry. this movie is about Hellen who is a nun who works with people who are in crimes and death row. She becomes letter buddies with Patrick who had kidnaped and killed two girls. Hellen fights against capital punishment. In the end, Matthew, another guy who Hellen shadows, admits that he killed the boy and raped the girl, and for that he gets executed. I like this film because it showed how Death Row is and how the execution process happens. It is sad and gross at times but kind of gives a suspense and thrill in a weird way. The characters in the film helped balanced one another out with the positive nun and the negative killer. It added edge to the movie. When Vital and Poncelet accuse one another for the killing, it gives the story line a boost because someone has to be lying and having the suspense of finding out kept the movie going. All in all this was a decent movie, I rate it a 4**** because its not my type of movie but is a pretty good one.
ReplyDeleteJenn Sharamitaro
ReplyDeletePunch-Drunk Love was directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. The actors/actresses in this film are, Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Luis Guzman. Punch-Drunk Love was a challenging movie to watch. It was very confusing to me. Punch-Drunk Love is about a business man (Adam Sandler) who seeks romance with a mysterious woman. His abuse from earlier years from his 7 sisters has kept him alone until then, and has caused him trouble for falling in love. In the beginning of the movie it shows (Adam) in his office which is a big opened spaced room with just his deck and a chair. I liked this scene because it really showed the emptiness in his life that he had because he had never loved before. I also liked that in this movie he actually knows that he has a problem and calls a doc/shrink to get help, where as for other movies, the character doesn’t realize that they have a problem. Once he finds this mysterious girl he starts to see how love and falling in love really feels. It was exciting and interesting to watch him go through the different emotions and changes and watch his love grow. In my opinion this was a fairly decent movie considering this is not a movie I was really interested in. So I will rate it 3***.
Karan Johar's "My Name is Khan" is about a guy named Rizwan Khan who has autism. Rizwan is a muslim and he believes they are good people and they are bad people and that good things happen to you if you are good. He finds the love of his life. her name is Mandira who is a hindu single mother. For the next couple of years they have the time of their life until 9-11 happens. After that dreaded day everyting went bad. Rizwan and Mandiras son dies ffrom gettting bullied at school about his culture and religion. Rizwan decides to go to San francisco and see the president to tell him that he is not a terrorist. Throught out his journey to meet the president. He gets detained by security in the airports, save a churh from flooding in Georgia and learns that some people are still good. Rizwan also finds out that some bad muslims are planning to bomb somewhere in L.A s he has to give that message to the president.
ReplyDeletethe Director used this movie as a powerful message about one most biggest topics in this decade. He uses a lot of emotional viewpoints in this movie. For example the scene where the son died will really move people and cause them to think about how they go through and how others should look in their viewpoints.
I really like this movie. I have never seen any other movies that takes 9-11 as the movies subject. Shah Rukh Khan one of India's biggest actors played the role of the main character really well. I suggest people should watch this movie. Its one of those movies where you have to watch every important part in the movie the understand.
A Clockwork Orange
ReplyDeleteThis movie is about a juvenile boy named Alex in Britain. He and his gang of 4 go around to random victims and beat and rape them. Alex is obsessed with sex and violence, he also love Beethoven. One night he and his gang get into the house of a man and woman, they beat the man and rape his wife and Alex sings “Singin in the Rain” during it all. In the near future the gang plans on breaking in to this house that a woman with many cats lives in; Alex climbs through a window and after a couple of minutes of messing with the woman (teasing her, walking around her with a sculpture she has) he hits her with the sculpture and accidently kills her. The woman was able to call the cops before Alex got into her house and they were on their way. Alex tried to get away but his gang, whom he had a quarrel with the day before, knocked him out and left him. He went to prison, where he was supposed to be for 14 years. A man came in and had a program that reforms criminals and they can let them back into the world. Alex does it and is given medicine that makes him feel very ill, he watches movies that include sex and violence, and in one of them Beethoven is playing. Alex’s body now relates all these things to the ill feeling and he is sent back into the world. While on the streets he runs into people he’s hurt in the past and they get their revenge. He ends up at the house of the man he beat and the man’s wife, which he raped. The man, who is now in a wheelchair, doesn’t recognize Alex at first. The man tries to help Alex since he is all beat up; we find out the man’s wife died shortly after the rape, due to extreme depression. While Alex is taking a bath he is singing “Singin in the Rain”, and the man realizes that he is the boy that destroyed his life. He finds out how Alex feels when hearing Beethoven and poisons Alex’s wine so he’ll pass out. He puts Alex in a room and blasts Beethoven, Alex can’t take it and tries to do himself in by jumping out the window; he lives. He is now in the hospital with many broken bones and tells the nurse he had dreams about many doctors messing with his brain, then the nurse shows him pictures that relate to sex and violence and Alex’s responses show he is back to his old self. Then the movie ends with Alex saying “I was cured alright.”
Stanley Kubrick uses many directorial techniques in this film. He fast forward some scenes that show us a lot about Alex, but to save time and make the scene a bit more comical it is sped up. Kubrick also shows close ups of faces to show emotion, like when Alex is being forced to watch movies and we see the ill feeling on his face. Kubrick also uses full shots to show settings, mostly settings that are inside the houses. We get a full shot of the man that Alex beats sitting at his desk with a bookcase behind him, we see this shot twice in the film. We also get full shots of rooms in Alex’s house, like Alex’s room, and when Alex’s room is no longer his room, but the kid his parent’s are renting it out to now. Which brings us to another technique Kubrick uses, showing us a similar scene twice, assuring us it’s the same setting and same people, but it’s different now.
This was a very odd movie; it was disgusting and sad, yet somehow enjoyable. The oddness of it and the main character, Alex, are what make this movie good. The movie also shows the corruptness of governments and how cruel people can be. If Alex wasn’t crazy and sadistic then the movie would not have a point nor be entertaining. The camera angles and pans also made the movie odder and helped capture the feelings of what was going on in the movie and in the characters minds. I think the more times you watch this movie the more you will understand it and will be able to pick up on more.
Dog Day Afternoon
ReplyDeleteThree bank robbers go into a bank hoping to get money for one of the robber’s gay lover’s sex change operation. Just before the robbery one of the men chicken out and leave, so it is up to Sonny (Al Pacino), and Sal (John Cazale). They have a well thought out plan and everything goes ok, and they are almost done, when the police show up ruining everything. Now Sonny and Sal don’t know what to do, it is just them and the hostages on the inside and the police, media, and bystanders outside. Sonny and the police negotiator make a deal, Sonny will get a bus, that will take them to an airplane, so they can leave the country and Sonny has to give up a hostage for each demand. While the bus takes them to the airplane, the bus driver keeps telling Sal to point his gun up, in case they hit a bump. They get to the plane and another officer acts like he’s helping them out of the bus, he quickly shoots Sal in the forehead and the driver pulls out a gun from the bus’s door, pointing it at Sonny’s head. The movie ends and tells us what happened to Sonny, his gay lover, and Sonny’s wife and kids.
Sidney Lumet uses directorial techniques in Dog Day Afternoon such as quick cuts, to help show the panic that everyone is having. When Sonny shoots out the window above the back door and everyone around starts to panic, we get shots of the crowd outside, the police, the people inside, Sonny, and it all is shown very quickly. Lumet uses close ups to show the emotions of the characters. Lumet also doesn’t use any music in this movie to help capture the seriousness and tension. If not a lot of action is going on in a scene there is just silence and shots of people, showing what’s going on in their heads. If there is action in the scene we hear the yelling of the characters or their movements or breathing to intensify the situation.
I liked this movie, because even though the main characters were robbing a bank, you liked them, even the crowd was cheering for them. They were good guys, who didn’t mean any harm and just wanted money so Sonny could help his gay lover. I liked how there was no music, because there was just no need for it. I didn’t like the end, there was no reason for the cops to kill Sal, but the movie is based on a true story, so what happened, happened.
American History X
ReplyDeleteAmerican History X is about two brothers, a neo-Nazi named Derek (played by Edward Norton), who is in prison for killing a black man and his brother Danny (played by Edward Furlong), who seems to be following in his racist brother’s tracks and witnessed the murder. While in prison Derek joins a fellow neo-Nazi gang, but starts working alongside a black man. Derek is not happy when he sees his gang making deals with Mexicans and becomes independent, eventually befriending the black man who looks out for him. Derek changes his ways and wants to stop his brother from going down the same path he did. When he gets out he tries to keep his brother from his racist friends and tells him to stop. During the whole movie, Danny is writing a paper about his brother, assigned by his principal. Over the course of the movie and Danny’s paper you can see Danny changing because of his brother’s influence on him. At the end of the movie when Danny realizes that it’s stupid to hate, he goes to school with an open mind and an African American classmate of his, who he had issues with in the beginning of the movie, shoots Danny in the bathroom. Danny dies and the movie ends shortly after.
The director, Tony Kaye, uses a number of techniques. Flashbacks are always shown in black and white, and during the movie there is a voice-over of Danny writing his paper, and there are close ups of Derek’s worried face to emphasis his feelings. One of the flashback scenes is when the family is at the table and their father is talking about hating affirmative action because black men are getting jobs white men should have. The flashbacks always giving the viewer more information; this scene particularly lets us know why the boys are racist; we later find out that their father was killed in the hands of a black man, triggering more racism from the boys.
I really liked this film; it shows that people can change. A great quote comes at the end of this movie; Danny writes it in his paper: “Hate is baggage. Life’s too short to be pissed of all the time. It’s just not worth it.” I think this quote is very strong and very true. It sums up the end of the movie perfectly. Danny spent most his life hating, then when he decides to let that go he is killed at a young age and he was so mad a everyone for no reason, he couldn’t enjoy himself a lot of the time because he was so focused on the hate. This movie does a good job showing people’s influences on each other and I think that’s what it was trying to do.
The King’s Speech is a movie based on a true story. The film captures one’s heart by bringing the viewer close to not only the main character, King George VI, but also his family. Tom Hooper, the director, does a fantastic job of incorporating the true facts of the story and adding extra “Hollywood” drama that makes it so entertaining.
ReplyDeleteThe film shows King George VI’s struggle with a speech impediment during World War II, a time when his country needed a leader. Going through many speech coaches throughout the film, the King finds it hard to trust anyone but his wife. His wife desperately wants her husband to succeed and finally finds a speech coach who is willing to work hard and in secret. Together they work hard to overcome the one thing holding him back from being the great leader he is.
Tom Hooper pulls the viewer in by showing the King’s family up-close and personal, making the viewer want the King to succeed just as much as his closest relatives do.
The King’s Speech was a great film I would recommend to anyone because of how inspiring it was. Seeing a great leader go through struggles may inspire anyone to do anything they set their mind to.
Life is Beautiful
ReplyDeleteThe film Life is Beautiful is about a Jewish man named Guido. He falls in love with this woman, Dora, who belongs to a wealthy family. Soon after meeting they get married and have a son, Giosué. This film takes place in the midst of World War II. The Germans take Guido, Guido’s uncle and Giosué to a labor camp. Dora insists on being taken too so she can be with her family. Instead of being with her husband and son though, she is taken to the women’s side of the camp. To protect his son from everything that is happening, Guido tells Giosué that everything is a game. The rules of the game are that you have to stay safe at all costs. Whoever gets to 1,000 points first is the winner and they get a real tank. Guido has a German friend who helps hide Giosué with the other German children so he is safe. Knowing that there isn’t much time left for him, Guido hides his son in a mailbox and tells him that everyone is looking for him as he attempts to save Dora. Guido gets caught and then killed by the German Nazis. Giosué is still safe in the mailbox and the very next morning the Americans break into the camp with a giant tank. Giosué “wins” the game and is reunited with his mother.
One of my favorite parts in the movie is when the German Nazis are trying to explain the camp rules. The officer asks if anyone speaks German and Guido raises his hand so that he can tell his son the rules for the “game”. Another favorite scene of mine from the film is at the end when Giosué gets out of the mailbox. He is greeted by a giant American tank and believes he has “won the game” and is reunited with him mom. He has the happiest expression on his face and you can’t help but cry tears of joy.
I loved this film because it made World War II into a love story. It also showed the point of view of a child during this time in this certain situation. The character of Guido is such a fascinating character. He manages to keep a smile on his face regardless of the situation just to keep his family safe. The little boy in the film is also absolutely adorable!
Fight Club starts off with a character that we never really get the name of (Edward Norton) being held hostage by a person named Tyler and claims it’s all because of Marla Singer (Helena Botham Carter). He then goes back to explain what has happened to lead up to this event. The narrator suffers from insomnia and goes to a testicular cancer help group to cry, helping him release bottled emotions, thus curing his insomnia. He becomes addicted and visits other therapy groups and begins to see a woman named Marla Singer pull the same scam he is. He becomes paranoid that she’ll ruin it for him and loses the ability to sleep. On a business trip, the narrator meets a soap salesman named Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). The narrator’s bag is suspected to have explosives but the guards claim the vibrating came from a dildo. The narrator’s condo explodes and he calls Tyler, they meet in a bar and fight behind it, and Tyler asks him to ask if he needs a place to stay. Every Saturday night they would go behind the bar and fight, which is the start of Fight Club. Marla and Tyler begin hooking up and the narrator’s not so happy about it. Fight Club’s popularity rises quickly and others like it begin to form in various places. Applicants begin to show up at Tyler’s house to join Tyler’s “army”. Tyler then tells the narrator that he blew up his condo to get him to let go of material things. Tyler vanishes and the narrator finds his ticket stubs so he flies around trying to stop him and Project Mayhem. He’s confused when people call him Tyler, until he realizes he made him up and actually was Tyler. He tries to turn himself in but runs into some of his followers that he told to stop him no matter what. He escapes, finds a van full of explosives, fights Tyler/himself and gets knocked out then wakes up in a building. He gains control, takes Tyler’s gun and shoots himself in the face (but still survives). The buildings around them blow up and a penis flashes on the screen (it’s explained why earlier in the film).
ReplyDeleteDuring the scene where the narrator fights Angel Face, he says he feels like destroying something beautiful. The camera follows him to the ground as the narrator destroys him, making the viewer feel sympathetic toward him.
I think Fight Club may have been the first film I’ve seen where the main character didn’t have a name, which made keeping track of him a little complicated. I enjoyed the film because it wasn’t just about fighting, it had a deeper meaning. The main message of the film was instead of letting your job or what you own define you, let who you are define yourself.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas follows a journalist named Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp) and his attorney Dr. Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro) on a drug fueled trip around Las Vegas. Duke is supposed to write an article about the Mint 400, a motor-cross race that sends waves of cyclists out into the desert. They check into a hotel, we see Duke’s hallucinations (the woman at the front counter’s distorting face, guests turning into giant lizards.) Duke then goes to the race and dust is kicked up everywhere, making the place seem like a war zone. Later that night, they go to a carnival themed casino, and go back to the room. Gonzo becomes paranoid and leaves in the night, the room is trashed and Duke tries to leave town but Gonzo calls and tells him to check into the Flamingo Hotel. Gonzo is staying with a young woman named Lucy that likes to paint portraits of Barbara Streisand and has been drugged up. They leave her at another hotel and ironically attend an anti drug seminar. After a drug binge, Duke wakes up in the hotel room, which is completely trashed, and is wearing a tape recorder. He listens to it, recollecting bits of what happened and then finally leaves Vegas.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning, Duke talks about bats flying around and swings at them with a fly swatter. The only time the viewer can see bats is in Duke’s glasses to show that it’s all in his mind. But then when they drive away, a bat is lying on the side of the road so it makes the viewer question whether if Duke was hallucinating or if the bats really were there.
This film was a lot of fun at the beginning and then took a dark and serious turn halfway through. Watching two messed up individuals stumble their way through Vegas starts out comical then becomes scary as Gonzo’s trips make him violent and paranoid. Terry Gilliam’s films are intended to mess with your logic and question a person’s sanity, and that’s probably why I enjoyed it.
Danny boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire" is about a young boy named Jamal an 18 year old orphan who enters in india's version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.Jamal is one question away from earning 20 million rupees in the show, but durng the show's break, the police came and arrest him. After Jamal wakes up in the Police station, The police is torturing him to find out if and how he is cheating in the show. so they go through every single question. It turns out, the questions that was asked to Jamal, Jamal has experienced them throughout his life growing up. so as the police and Jamal go through every question. We get see see everything going on in his life. We find out that he fell in love with a girl he met and left when he entered in the train to run away from the bad guy that uses kids to get money. The girls name was Latika. After leaving her, Jamal then finds her again 4 years later, but then loses her again because Jamal's brother gets drunk and has sex with Latika, Later they ran off and work for a druglord. Years have passes and the story come back to jamal and the police. The police finally aggrees and believes Jamal and releases him. Jamal tells the police he only entered the show to see if Latika was Watching. As the show returns from the break, The last question becomes a hard one because it reference to a story Jamal and his brother had learned when they were little kids. Jamal couldnt remember the answer so he uses a life line and phones a friend. He calls Latika. The phone rings for a long time and at the last ring Latika picks it up the phone and give him what she thinks the answer is. Jamal goes with the same answer and gets the question right and now he becomes rich and he gets the lost love back in his life. That was the ending.
ReplyDeleteDanny made this movie really well, he showed everyone the stuff going around in india and connects it with our culture and shows everyone about india and the hardships of kids that are orphans and have no family. He still includes some on India tradition ins the movie by making a music video at the end of the movie with the song called Jai Ho.
I really liked this movie i give it a 9 out of 10. This movie is the first indian movie that i know that is directed by and American Director. Boyle did an excellent job and discovered two new actors. Plus this movie has won 8 Oscar awards.
"Groundhog Day", directed by Harold Ramis is about a weatherman named Phil Conners, who is given the task to go to a town name Punxsutawney and make a report about Groundhog Day. This is not the first time, he has been asked to go to Punxsutawney to make the news report. During Groundhog Day, a groundhog name Phil, predicts how many days winter will last in the year. When Phil Conners arrives at the event, he treats his producer (Rita) and his cameraman (Larry) very poorly. To make matters worse, an unexpected blizzard forces the crew to stay for another day. When Connors wakes up the next day, he finds that everything that happened during Groundhog Day is reoccurring again: people are saying the exact same words, he finds himself doing the exact same routine, the same events are happening all over again. He finally realizes that he is stuck in a time loop, and takes advantage of it. He uses the time loop to gain the heart of Rita, but has to do it all over gain. He fails the other times, because the same moves he tried before does not have the same effect. The time loop finally ends, when Conner decides to be nice to everyone and treats them with respect.
ReplyDeleteIn the movie, the director uses lots of cuts to show that there are reoccurring events taking place. We can see that Conners uses the mistakes he did the day before, to lure Rita into loving him. Also, the alarm clock sounding to the same broadcast, shows that there is a time loop during Groundhog Day. There were not many unique directorial techniques; what made the movie fun to watch, is the acting of Bill Murray (Phil Conners). Already a comedian, Bill Murray plays the leading role very well; his reactions to the time loop keeps the audience in laughter. What makes the movie interesting is how the plot is played out. It makes the audience wonder what they would do, if they were Phil Conners. I believe "Groundhog Day" is a great comedy for everyone to see; the acting of Bill Murray really brings it to life!
King of Kong is a fascinating documentary involving a real and still on going battle between Billy Mitchell, a winner who refuses to lose, and Steve Wiebe, a loser determined to win, and their battle for number one on the Donkey Kong scoreboard. Billy Mitchell has been known as the "vintage video game master" since the 1980's and the film documents Wiebe's attempts to defeat Mitchell and get his name at number one on the Galaxy Arcades High Scores for the vintage arcade game Donkey Kong. Wiebe becomes a loveable underdog in the film as Mitchell easily becomes a classic nemesis. I think part of my love of King of Kong is the subject matter, being a nerd it is very simple to understand Wiebe's defeats and makes it easy to root for him. However, this is not just due to Wiebe himself. The filmmakers could not have shaped a viewers perspective any more perfectly. I don't want to hear that argument that, "documentaries should not be shaped" because all documentaries are shaped in some way. Never have I seen a film, well a documentary, such a classic tale of an underdog trying to beat the guy who is just an all around a-hole and refuses to lose. The intensity of a battle over something so stupid, to many, shows a new kind of American dream; a dream where every American has to be the best at something no matter what that is, they have to be the very best and this is shown through Wiebie and Mitchell in a different way. I can't praise this film enough for how good it is. If you don't like documentaries you will still like this film. It does not have a traditional documentary feel, it is so good it feels as though it has been scripted, but it's not it's an encouraging underdog story that is as funny as it is dramatic. You feel the emotions for Wiebe and truly feel joyful for him and at other times sad for him, and this is all over a competition over a video game that at this point is over two decades old and the battle continues to this date. This is a perfect documentary and a must see. I give it a perfect 5 out of 5
ReplyDeleteTrolls 2, how on earth do you describe the plot of this film? Well there are these goblin things, thats where the name Trolls 2 comes in because the director thinks that trolls and goblins are one in the same, and they need food so they have humans drink this green goo crap so that they turn into plants so the goblins can eat them, because everyone knows that goblins are vegetarians and can't eat meat. The Hardy family decides to exchange houses with some people living in Nilbog in order to get a taste of the country side. So they spend a week in Nilbog and terror and unintentional hilarity ensue. Oh and the kids grandpa is a dead ghost who like every grandpa knows everything there is to know about goblins. Many praise this film as the worst film of all time; it is number 69 on IMDB's bottom 100 and on Rotten Tomatoes it has a 0% as in not a single reviewer like the film. Why is this film so bad? Well I described the plot to you as best I could, there is some really weird scenes for example there is one in which a character is making out with a girl with corn between their mouths and there is popcorn popping in the room.....it is 100% irrelevant to the plot. This film may have the very worst acting I have ever seen, many actors try to hide this film in shame. Many of them in it never pursued acting in the future, the lead actor is a dentist now. On top of horrible acting the director is an Italian man who has literally never seen an American child in person, he takes his ideas of what hip young American teens said in the 1990's and uses it in the dialogue. It's hard to describe anything about this film without jumping all around. This is the worst movie ever made and in it's own way the best movie ever made (watch Best Worst Movie - 2009 documentary on Trolls 2 and the actors in it) In every possible way a film can be good Trolls 2 doesn't have it, it has horrible acting, awful plot holes, and the very worst plot twist. But in it's own way, in my opinion, Trolls 2 stands as one of the most entertaining and quotable films. It needs to be looked at in a different way, when watching you need to know that you're watching a bad movie a movie that is so bad that it is hilarious and by watching it this way the film is....well a masterpiece. Rating this movie on an actual scale of what makes films good is simply unfair. If that were the case I'd give the movie a 0 out of 5. You have to rate it on how bad of a movie it is, yeah that sounds weird but it fits the saying that, "it's so bad it's good" but it's better than good it's great. And on this scale I give it a 5 out of 5 as it's a film not to be shunned but to be shared.
ReplyDeleteP.S. At one point the kid freezes time, with the help of grandpa, and pees all over the family dinner in order to stop them from eating goblin goo that will turn them into plants (because you know he couldn't knock it all off the table or something)
Below I put some of the best quotes and a link to the trailer, enjoy.
(Spoilers below)
Joshua: Nilbog! It's goblin spelled backwards! This is their kingdom!
Michael: Do you see this writing...? Do you know what it means...? Hospitality. And you can't piss on hospitality! I WON'T ALLOW IT!
[reaching for his belt]
Joshua: What are you going to do to me, Daddy?
Michael: Tightening my belt one loop so that I don't feel hunger pains, and your sister and mother will have to do likewise. Okay, Joshua. You wanna get rough with me? You wanna show me that you don't like the choice of this house for our vacation by going on a hunger strike? Well, I'll accept the challenge. But just remember when I was your age, I really did suffer from hunger. We'll se who gets through this, but just remember I've got more practice than you. I'll see you tomorrow.
Arnold: They're eating her... and then they're going to eat me... OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KCct4RwLNM
Physco is an Alfred Hitchcock, not to be mistaken with the awful Gus Van Sant 1998 remake, horror film about an insane killer. Without really giving too much of the plot away the main character, Norman Bates, owns the bates hotel along with his "mother". Murders begin to take place at the hotel and detectives grow suspicious of Bates in connection to them. The film has one of the mos iconic scenes in film history, it has the most perfect score to match an excellently shot scene. During the time it was shot no nudity could be shown. So as the lady in the shot is murdered Hitchcock does a lot of quick cuts and shows a lot of skin to give an illusion on nudity as the lady is violently murdered in a shower. It feels violent and it seems like there is nudity but there is not and you never even see a knife go in, it shows death without having to be gruesome like many films nowadays. Physco is my favorite horror film of all time and also my favorite Hitchcock film. I just love everything about it. It is shot so perfectly and Bates is so genuinely creepy and the perfect character for a horror film. It plays with your expectations for a satisfying film viewing experience that leaves the audience wanting more. I give it another perfect 5 out of 5.
ReplyDeleteMy my my Clint Eastwood in the movie The Good The Bad and The Ugly was amazing I had thoroughly enjoyed this film. Its starts with us seeing a man meeting the Ugly who is played by Eli Wallach who had recently escaped from some sort of peril. All covered with dust and hopping mad when then move to what had seemed like a quiet little pueblo house where a man was readying to have dinner with his family when approached by Angel Eyes played by Lee Van Cleef who was sent their to assassinate him. The man also man offers him money and lets slip that he had help bury the generals secret stash. After learning this Angel eyes moves on his way taken out his target and his poor interfering family.We then move back too Tuco who is slowly being triangle d in when a man rides in and takes out all of the people seeking to take Tuco's bounty in. They then strike a deal that tuco would get turned in and read his rights prepare to hang and the stranger was to save his life. After saving tuco for the first time we are introduced to the Good of this movie and this is the first time the Good the Bad and the Ugly are in the same place at the same time. Blondie played by Clint Eastwood sees that tuco will never be worth anymore that 3000 so he decided to abandon him in the dessert to find his own way back.While this is happening Angel eyes had made his way too his destination where he had planned to find the general's wife too find the whereabouts of the gold. After being abandon and betrayed tuco plots his revenge on blondie by hiring his old group of friends he will end up using like decoys to distract blondie. But he didn't make it in time to catch him but he catches up to him and he was assuming his role that he had assumed for tuco to save his life and then begins the long walk in the dessert no food or water Tuco had planned to torture blondie to death. But in the dessert as luck would have the caravan carrying Carson the person who had hid the gold was near dying in the van tuco gets to him and learns the location of the gold but as he fetch the water blondie had made his way down there and learned the name of the grave that it was put under. With the help of the men in the monistary blondie as able to get back on his feet and tuco and blondie set out again and end up being captured by union soldier who take them to the prison camps where the Bad had been residing for a while since he was searching for the gold. He had been torturing the inmates to find out information for the gold he had learned about tuco is tortured for his info and Angel eyes recruits Blondie to help him leaving tuco with the large guard who already doesn't like him. Tuco escapes from the guard while Angel eyes and blondie are making there way to the gold. Both Blondie take out all of angel eyes men and angel eyes escapes ahead to the the site where the gold is they meet this captain who wants to stop the senseless violence and death of his men tuco and blondie blow up the bridge make there way to graves meet with angel eyes again blondie kills him and gets his little bit of revenge on tuco. The most intriguing scene was when i had noticed they had made a triangular composition around the stone with the "name" on it. Like i said in the beginning i really enjoyed this movie and thoroughly recommend it to other people who want to see a good western classic.
ReplyDeleteCameron Crowe romantic comedy Say Anything (1989) will leave you crying and laughing. The best part was that the film didn’t use cheesy pick up lines. It was a realistic portrayal of how a relationship develops. It also explores the depth of a relationship.
ReplyDeleteLloyd (John Cusack) and Daine (Ione Sky) have recently graduated. Lloyd seems unmotivated and lacks any goals, except to get Daine. Daine is beautiful, smart, and has potential. Lloyd becomes interested in Daine and repeatedly calls her. Eventually, she caves in and goes out with him. The two don’t drop into love, they slowly fall. The viewer sees the transitions of their relationship (the awkward parts, getting to know each other, etc. )
Both want to avoid the fact that Daine is going to England soon. Along with this, Daine’s father doesn’t exactly approve of the change occurring in his daughter.
Though the film is partly a of the change in his daughter and the fact that her father might be hiding something (IRS trouble) comedy, there is little comedy. It’s extremely emotional at times. Because of that, the relationship seems authentic.
Personally, I loved the film. It got to me emotionally, but the film also was put together well and the shots were nicely done. As a viewer, I felt what the characters felt. Crowe took notice of body language and the mid-shots and closeups helped portray the character’s moods. The best scene was near the end, where Lloyd stood outside of Daine’s window with the song “In Your Eyes” blasting through the boombox. With everything the characters and the relationships have endured, the ending ultimately makes the viewer happy.
James Wan’s and Leigh Whannel’s Insidious (2010) uses classical ghost-story elements while opting out of the use gore and adding a drop of humor.
ReplyDeletePatrick and Rose move into a new house. Unexpectedly, their son Dalton wanders into the attic and in an attempt to turn on the light while standing on a ladder, and falls into a coma. The mother Rose becomes spooked by the moving furniture, weird voices, and her other son’s story of a man walking. She explains this to her husband, but he keeps writing it off though he has a sense that something is wrong. He gives in and the family moves. But the story does not end. Slowly, Wan and Whannel link different parts of the plot and the story comes together. The directors add a surprise twist here and there. Oh, and the movies ends with a bang!
A memorable scene from Insidious is when Patrick transitions from the real world to the sleep world. Everything at first is gray from the smoke and seems a bit blurry. This atmosphere adds mystery. The smoke represents the blurred line between our world and the spirit world.
Wan and Whannel rely on smartly executed shots and shock. Going in, I thought the movie would be another predicable ghost story. Thankfully, I was wrong. Insidious is well-done directorially and the plot had a storyline that flowed.The acting was up to par. With worse actors, Insidious would have just been a movie with 'potential' . Overall, the movie not only took the viewer on a thrill ride, but on a journey.
hey mr.walker,
ReplyDeleteJust letting you know zsanelaz12= Sanela Osmanovic
(:
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteJonathan Demme's Silence of the Lambs is a great and well known horror film unlike any. Straying from the blood drenched "slice em up" horror film, Silence of the Lambs offers the viewer a more suspenseful and mysterious murder story. Agent Starling, an FBI rookie, is given the opportunity to meet with one of the world's most dangerous cereal killers, Hannibal Lector. Starling is following a current cereal killer known as Buffalo Bill, a man who kills and skins women. As Starling visits Lector in jail she becomes somewhat intrigued with his cunning ways. As she begins the attempt to gain information from Lector he refuses and turns the tables. Lector was a psychiatrist who eventually became obsessed with cannibalism. Lector begins to ask Starling questions becoming more and more interested in her past and her emotional life. Lector finds a liking for Starling and in a creepy way be friends her. Lector then releases information to Starling regarding Buffalo Bill, a former patient of Lector's. We soon meet this Buffalo Bill as we follow him kid nap a Senator's daughter and bring her to his “lair”. This lair is actually a house where in the basement a large hole houses the kid napped victims before they are skinned. Buffalo Bill is a transvestite who is attempting to sew himself a good-old lady skin suit. This particular victim does end up escaping, with Starling's help. Starling finds Buffalo Bill's house and discovers the victim as well. She stumbles around in the dark during a dramatic chase scene in which Buffalo Bill the freak tranny uses his (her) trusty night vision goggles to assist his pursuit of Starling in the dark. Starling eventually has enough and enters Super B.A. Female Cop Mode and smokes Buffalo Bill in the forehead with a dramatic last second 180 pistol snipe. Now that Buffalo Bill is dead and gone, everyone is happy. However Hannibal is still alive and up to no good and eventually will endure mischief that will lead to a sequel. This movie was done extremely well because it started a new line of horror films.
ReplyDeletePulp Fiction
ReplyDeleteWhere to begin or shall I say where to end. Pulp Fiction is basically three different stories put together into one First with the couple in the diner. Then the beginning of butch s story and his watch and finally the story of the two Hit men Vincent and Jules. We begin the Movie in a small quaint little Diner with Actors Tim Roth playing the husband to Amanda Plummer. They begin it with the planning of robbing the diner and then we move. To the beginnings of the story with Jules Winnfield played by actor Samuel L. Jackson and Vincent Vega played by John Trovolta they are Marsellus Wallace's played by actor Ving Rhames hit men Soon after moves to the pub where Marcellus discusses his business with his ?associate Butch Coolidge played by Bruce Willis. Then moving onto Vincent and Mia's ?ateMia played by Uma Therman is mister Marcellus's wife she accidentally over doses on the drugs that Vincent had bought earlier from the dealer named Lance Eric Stoltz. Then we return the story to Butch and hear about his childhood and the watch his grandpa and father passed down to him. Captain Koons played by Christopher Wilkins played they general too pass on the devastating news to young butch. Fasts forward too buck frantic about his watch not being packed by his sweet heart heads back to his apartment to find Vincent in the bathroom and kills him from there believing he can fully make a clean getaway he rides back and runs into Marcellus where they fight and chase to an old pawn shop where they are knocked out. When they awaken they are ball gagged and tied and told they were to get ready for unmentionable torture . Marcellus ended up being forced to go first he was raped. But in the end butch got free and saved his and Marcellus's life. Thus moving back to the hit men in the room picking up there package surviving a few shots and Jules has epiphany about god ride back Vincent accidentally blows guys head off they then get help from Wolf played by Harvey Keitel he ends up saving them. Vega Suggests breakfast and then they end up in the dinner that was being robbed in the beginning of the movie.
The scene that I really liked the most was when they had arrived to the place where they were supposed to pick up the package and bring it back. I liked that most of the scene on the way to the room was in deep focus and the use of the changing in mid shot to close up on jules to show the intensity of the moment really made the movie even better. Also the director actually played a big part in this film because he was actually in it he was the first friend that jules called after Vega accidentally killed the guy in the back seat.
Casablanca (1942) is set during World War II in Europe. The Nazi’s are dominating and it seems as though everyone is trying to escape to the U.S. via Casablanca. These letters of transit are the safe way out. Because of this, Ingerd Bergman (Ilsa) and Humphrey Bogart (Rick) are war torn lovers as well as ex-lovers. Mochael Curtiz adds yet another twist, Ilsa is married. Rick’s and Ilsa’s life goes into a spiral.
ReplyDeleteCurtiz really focused on dialogue. Dialogue adds to the forbidden air of romance. I just love the little things Rick says. For example, “"Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world." Then Curtiz focuses on Bergman’s face. Her face reveals all. We see the spark she feels for Rick and accept it, though it is unmoral. The actors deliver amazing performances.
Though a Casablanca is a romance, I think Curtiz’s main message was that sacrifices need to be made for the greater good. Though Rick (doesn’t want to give up his papers that let him escape) is at first impression cold hearted, he proves to be a character just crushed by the world. But in the end, he lets Isla go so she can fight for something bigger.
The film was great! Though the dialogue seemed to go on for awhile at times, the film was amazingly done in all aspects (shots, dialogue, acting, etc). I love how Curtiz combined many other genres into this one movie. For example, Casablanca has a political as well as a war message. I especially loved the final scene. It was utterly romantic. The music was a mix of desperation and romance because Rick loves Isla but he needs to let her go inorder for her to live her life and make the world a better place. Curtiz again focuses on Isla's face and we see she realizes she needs to listen to Rick, but is crushed to be leaving her love again.
David Fincer's Fight Club is a creative and inventive film. The unnamed main character is a shadowy and shady man who's only likings persist to the furniture of his apartment. This lonely man lives a dull life with no excitement. He suffers from sleep insomnia and in a crazed attempt to deal with it he fakes diseases in order to attend group meetings where he can express his emotions. Sometime into his new found love of attending meetings, the man meets Marla. The man begins to notice that she also is faking diseases. On a plane, the narrator meets a man named Tyler. The two become good friends quickly and move in together. They become increasingly closer and decide to great fight club in effort to create something to live for, essentially. They establish a unique set of rules, beginning with the infamous, never talk about fight club. Fight Club explodes and is eventually evolved into Project Mayhem ran by Tyler. The narrator eventually finds out about Tyler's plot to erase debt. He plans on destroying credit card buildings. Soon it is revealed through much turmoil that the narrator is actually Tyler and almost kills himself.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this film and thought that the twist at the end added a lot to it. The film was new, fresh, and creative, not like anything I had seen before. The director did a great job.
Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan is a war film unlike many others. The movie is filled with blood drenching scenes and graphic content throughout. One of the movies first shots, although no the first, is the battle of the beaches of Normandy. We follow Tom Hanks and his platoon as they fall into machine gun splatter. Many die, we see some shot, and one get his intestines blown everywhere. Here the reality of war and the gruesomeness is presented to the viewer. The platoon moves up the beach and eventually overtakes command. We then see that a mother has lost three of her children in the war. With this learned Tom Hank's platoon is given the duty to find and secure Private Ryan, hence the title. They search and search as they add Lt. Opum to the gang. They finally come across their target only to learn that this Ryan is the wrong Ryan. They then continue their para less journey until they come in contact with a German force, small in number. The platoon moves in and wipes them out, taking one prisoner who they let free. The move on to come to a bridge where a small American force has Private Ryan, the one they have been looking for. Tom Hank's troop is angry because in search for this Ryan, they have lost men, in an explosion and to a sniper. Although they found the right Ryan they have no time to take him home. German forces are on the way, and a duty to blow the bridge is in tact. One last epic battle occurs and the Americans use things such as sticky bombs to defeat the Tiger Tanks. Tom Hanks is then shot and fires his pistol in last stand at a tank. The convenient timing of the air strike makes it seem that Hanks blew up a tank with a pistol shot but he truly did not. He then dies. We then see Private Ryan morning Hanks' death years later.
ReplyDeleteThis film was done very well and gives people who have never experienced war an idea of how gruesome and destructive it can truly be. I really liked the scene with the old Ryan because you see that remorse. Something most don't know.
The 1990 film “Goodfellas” directed by Martin Scorsese is a story of three mobsters in the 60’s and 70’s. The movie takes place in New York and the three main characters in the movies names are Jimmy Conway, Tommy Devito and Henry Hill. Jimmy Conway, played by Robert De Niro, is a small time burglar who wants to make his way up the chain in the mob. Tommy Devito is a gangster played by Joe Pesci and Henry Hill is a small time gangster played by Ray Liotta. In the movie these three characters become close friends when they try and climb up the social ladder and are caught trying to go behind the back of a mob boss and are stuck doing whatever they have to in order to stay alive.
ReplyDeleteMartin Scorsese did an exceptional job of directing this film. In the “Billy Batts” scene the camera starts off across the street from a bar. Music is playing in the background and the camera pans in across the street then jumps inside of the bar to a close up of the jukebox that is playing. The camera then zooms out of the camera and turns to show the bar. It stops on a few characters sitting at the bar then carries over to other characters who are sitting in the bar and transitions over to the door where Tommy Devito walks in with his wife. There is a confrontation at the bar and the music fades then Tommy leaves. When he comes back he begins to hit Billy Batts and the music starts to play loud again. The film does a good job of showing us how the middle class mafia operates and how life is being a mobster. Overall, I believe Martin Scorsese did a very good job of directing the film. He did research on organized crime and the mafia and also did a good job of organizing the shots and using different techniques with lighting and panning the camera to enhance the film. I believe that Joe Pesci had the best performance in this film by playing Tommy Devito. He did a very good job of playing the role of the gangster with attitude problems and this film was his definitive role that made him big.
The Big Lebowski is a comedy film directed by Ethan and Joel Coen in 1998. In the film, Jeff Bridges stars as a character named Jeff Lebowski. Jeff Lebowski, also known as “The Dude”, is an unemployed Los Angeles citizen who is an avid bowler as well as a loafer. In the movie there is a case of mistaken identity when Jeff is confused for a millionaire also named Jeffrey Lebowski. Later on in the story the millionaire Lebowski's trophy wife is kidnapped, so he has The Dude deliver the ransom to secure her release. The plan becomes skewed when The Dude's friend Walter Sobchak, played by John Goodman, schemes to keep all of the ransom. In my opinion, The Big Lebowski is one of those films that you need to watch two or three times in order to fully understand what is going on but when you do you will really enjoy this film. It is a masterpiece written and directed by the Coen brothers that will never be forgotten.
ReplyDeleteThe Shawshank Redemption is a great drama written and directed by Frank Darabont. The film came out in 1994 and is still a big hit today. In the movie, there is a man named Andy Dufresne, played by Tim Robbins, who is a banker that spends almost 20 years of his life in prison for a crime that he didn’t commit. He is sent to Shawshank for killing his wife and her lover and when he arrives to the prison he tells everyone that he is innocent, but everyone just laughs. When he is first at prison he is quiet and shy and stays to himself but soon finds that another inmate nicknamed Red, played by Morgan Freeman, can get things from the outside so they become friends and Andy asks for a rock hammer so that he can chisel rocks to pass the time. It is later on that the warden finds out that Dufresne was a banker and shortly he is doing everyone’s taxes. Dufresne is tormented by other inmates during his stay at Shawshank but that all ends once Andy becomes the warden’s key to making money. They begin a money laundering operation and begin to makes lots of money. Andy teaches prisoners at the prison in the new library that he requested to get and a new prisoner seeks help in getting his GED. They begin to talk and as it turns out the prisoner has proof of Andy’s innocence but when Andy tells the warden of the news the warden has the new inmate put to death so that Dufresne can continue laundering money for the warden. Andy finds out and decides that he must find a way out. This film is my favorite movie of all time. The plot and storyline is perfect and the message of the power of hope and the corruption of crime is great.
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ReplyDeleteTrue Grit
ReplyDeleteThe film is narrated by the adult Mattie Ross (Elizabeth Marvel), who explains that her father was murdered by a notroius mass murdered, Tom Chaney (Josh Bolin), when she was 14. Inaddition to murdering him, Chaney made off with her father's horse and his two California gold pieces. The 14-year old Mattie (Hailee Steinfeld) then begins asking about hiring a Deputy U.S. Marshal to track down Chaney. She asks the Sheriff and he gives her three recommendations, but she decides on Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) because he has what she's looking for : "true grit" . He repeatedly turns down her offer. After being shot down the day before, she offers him $50 and reminds him that the government will pay too. Meanwhile, Texas RAnger LaBoeuf (Matt Damon) begins trail Chaney. He had been tracking him for months for the murder of a state Senator in Texas. He then runs into Mattie, he proposes that they should team up with Cogburn, since he knows the Choctaw terrain where Chaney is hiding, while LaBoeuf knows how the man is most likely to behave, but she refuses. Mattie is instructed to meet him the following morning to begin the search for Chaney since she insists on going. Instead of meeting Mattie, Cogburn leaves a note and a train ticket telling her to go home while he goes to apprehend Chaney. After she is refused passage on the river ferry that conveyed Cogburn and LaBoeuf, Mattie rides into the water and is pulled across by her swimming horse and Cogburn reluctantly allows her to come. After a dispute, Cogburn ends his and Laboeuf's deal and he leaves. Later, they meet a doctor who instructs them to a cabin for shelter. Two outlaws, Quincey (Paul Rae) and Moon (Domhnall Gleeson) are staying there, one of whom Cogburn knows to be a friend of "Lucky" Ned Pepper. Moon is fatally stabbed by Quincey whom Cogburn kills. Before he dies, Moon explains that "Lucky" Ned Pepper and his gang were planning on returning to the shack later that night. Cogburn kills two members of the gang, as well as Pepper's horse, but accidentally wounds LaBoeuf. During the night and the next day, Cogburn drinks a great deal of whiskey. He and LaBoeuf argue again, and LaBoeuf departs once more after he and Mattie show respect for each others persona.
True Grit Continued*****
ReplyDeleteThe next morning, Mattie encounters Chaney at the river. She draws her father's pistol and shoots him. The pistol misfires as she tries to finish him off, and he drags her back to Pepper who uses her to make Cogburn leave. Being short a horse, Pepper leaves her with Chaney. Pepper orders Chaney not to harm her and to take her to safety after his remount arrives. Once alone, Chaney tries to kill her. LaBoeuf appears and knocks Chaney out. They watch as Cogburn takes on the remaining members of Ned's gang. After the gun battle, Ned is mortally wounded and the other members of his gang are either dead or fleeing. Cogburn's horse is dead also. Before Pepper can kill Cogburn, LaBoeuf shoots Ned through the heart and kills him from four hundred yards away, impressing Mattie with his skill as a marksman. Chaney comes to and attacks Laboeuf, and Mattie shoots Chaney in the chest and knocks him over cliff, killing him. The recoil however knocks her back into a pit. When she unwittingly disturbs a ball of rattlesnakes, she calls for help. Cogburn arrives, but she is bitten before he can get to her. Cogburn rides day and night to get Mattie to a doctor, carrying her after he has to kill Mattie's exhausted horse. Twenty-five years later, Mattie – now 40 and with only one arm, the result of an amputation necessitated by gangrene from the snakebite – receives a note from Cogburn with a flyer enclosed inviting her to meet him at a traveling Wild West show with which he is performing when it stops in Memphis. When she arrives at the site, she learns that Cogburn died three days earlier. She has his body moved into her family farm plot, and the film ends with her standing over his grave and pondering how people talk about that, how she has never married, and how time catches up with everyone. She also states that she never heard from LaBoeuf again and that if he was still alive she would be pleased to.
The Boondock Saints
ReplyDeleteThe Boondock Saints takes place in the seedy underworld of Boston. Connor and Murphy McManus, (Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus respectively) two Irish brothers working in a meat packing plant, act on what they believe to be a message from God and will stop at nothing to reach their goal to rid the world of violence. Flanery and Reedus don't seem inspired by the opportunity, and as a result, they come off as inept and ham-handed in their roles. While the characters of the brothers McManus are indeed captivating, it is perhaps the dynamic nature of their roles that masks the deficiencies of Reedus and Flanery.
The brothers McManus are soon joined by their overly enthusiastic friend and mob runner Rocco (David Della Rocco). The three begin their crusade by eliminating the Russian mobsters who attempt to close down their local watering hole. They then work their way on up through the ranks of the Italian mafia. Although society views them as Saints whose actions should be heralded, in comes detective Smecker (Willem Dafoe) who vows to stop at nothing to bring their vigilantism to a halt despite his sympathy with their cause. Willem Dafoe delivers an absolutely outstanding and hilarious performance, as the gay F.B.I. detective who, while working the crime scene, plugs in headphones, cranks up the classical music and dances through his detective work routine, even giving us a memorable rendition of River Dance. The sardonically sinister role is perfect for him.
The story is nothing original or groundbreaking, but it's the way the story is told, coupled with the performance of Dafoe, that keeps this thing from having absolutely no value at all. In what is one of the more creative aspects of the film, we never see the crimes as they are being committed. We learn what went down from Det. Smecker himself as he is superimposed over the action describing the crime scene as bullets fly past in slow motion, hitting bodies, tearing flesh, and splattering blood on the surroundings. Six different types of bullets at a crime scene can either mean six different perpetrators or it might mean one guy with six guns who runs through his ammo clips and grabs the next gun from his full body holster.
While Boondock occasionally displays flashes of brilliant film making, more often than not, it grows tiresome and seems to lack the feeling of genuine cohesiveness. After the first few overly-violent encounters, the gig begins to grow old and we see that no matter how far-fetched the scenario – whether it be falling from the ceiling upside-down-guns-a-blazin' or escaping from handcuffs chained to a commode – the brothers are not going to lose. Just as in the typical teen-action films in which the bad guys with machine guns can't hit the heroes, yet the good guys can take out an army with a bullet and a copper wire, it becomes evident early on that we are in for another implausible fish story with guns and blood, not integrity, at its core.
I expect that we will soon hear of some disillusioned violent teenagers who committed their crime after watching The Boondock Saints as was the case in The Basketball Diaries. It IS that violent and controversial including the shooting of a house cat. I understand that the movie posters for this flick are hot items as kids are drawn to the main graphic of the Brothers McManus standing side-by-side pointing guns with silencers.
I'm not here to say that I believe that violent movies make violent people - that discussion is for another time - but I see no real reason why this movie needed to be made. Boondock Saints has that straight-to-video flavor with its cursory story and its clichéd inspiration. The acting doesn't deserve much mention other than that of Dafoe and the movie's message is misguided with a purposefully directed appeal. On a final note – gunplay inside Catholic Church confessionals should be left to reality if that day ever comes.
Check out the rest of the Boondock Saints review at ViewPoints.com. Fail, Amber
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