- 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 three films before the end of the semester for full credit!
Friday, April 4, 2014
Spring 2014 Optional Film Reviews
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Jessica Castellanos
ReplyDelete2nd Hour Literature Through Film
April 26, 2014
Optional Film #1
“The Royal Tenenbaums”
“The Royal Tenenbaums” is an off-beat film directed by Wes Anderson that debuted in 2001. Wes Anderson uses quirky, unconventional directorial techniques to tell the story of the Tenenbaum family of prodigies. Royal and Etheline are the separated parents of Chas (a math whiz), Margot (an expert at writing plays), and Richie (a tennis star). After Royal learns of Etheline’s plans to marry another man, he pretends to have stomach cancer in the hope of making her (and their children) love him again. Royal and the children move back in with Etheline, resulting in chaos, comedy, sexual tension, and family bonding.
Wes Anderson has a very quirky directorial style and “The Royal Tenenbaums” is one of the best examples of this. The auteur tells the story like an actual storybook, showing book-related images such as chapter headings and words at the beginning of important scenes. Anderson also uses many mid-shots and scenes with either no music or classical, non-diegetic music to give gravity to the serious situations presented in the film. For example, at the beginning of the movie when Royal is telling the children that he is separating from Etheline, no music is playing and the children are shown with a mid-shot. This adds to the tension that Wes Anderson wants his audience to feel when they watch the dramatic event unfold.
I thoroughly enjoyed “The Royal Tenenbaums” because of its quirky charm, dry humor, message of dysfunctional families still being capable of love, and the way that each character had a story that intertwined with the others. When Royal announced that he had stomach cancer, the whole family moved back home and each character’s lives started mixing with those of the others. For example, Richie and Raleigh (Margot’s husband) both had Margot followed by a private investigator (revealing that Margot was actually having an affair with a neighbor named Eli Cash). The intertwining storylines and the quirky directorial techniques made for an engaging, touching, and humorous film.
This movie takes place in the year 2154 in which two classes of people live; the very rich and the dirt poor. The dirt poor inhabit Earth which is stripped of all usable resources and is highly polluted and uninhabitable. The rich live on an orbiting spacecraft the size of a city. It is free of illness, has plenty of food, and nobody ever has any problems. The medical equipment on Elysium is capable of curing anything, from broken bones to cancer. The people of Earth really need access to the equipment but the people of Elysium are greedy and enforce the anti-immigration laws seriously. A man named Max takes it upon himself to reach Elysium to cure himself of a sickness and takes on the city’s forces on Earth who are trying to stop him. He gangs up with some criminals who are on the same page as him. The movie has a deeply rooted political message that reaches out to all audiences.
ReplyDeleteNeill Blomkamp who is the director of District 9 was in charge of this similar movie. It has the same message as District 9 but without the aliens. The rich and poor live vastly different lives, the elite keep down the poor, and the poor try to take back what they feel should be theirs too. Its a similar political message that you see in District 9. Neill Blomkamp uses a lot of sci-fi themes in his movies with lots of intense fighting and action scenes. My favorite scene is where Max is fighting the half human-half robotic bounty hunter. Lots of explosions and huge hits are my kind of movie.
The movie is slightly disappointing because I’ve already seen the same thing a 100 times in other movies. It not very original but is has some cool CGI effects. The story line was too much like District 9 to the point it almost seemed like the same movie.
Optional Film 1
ReplyDelete“Into The Wild”
Kyle Coleman
Mr. Walker
Into The Wild is a non fiction recollection of the eye opening and life altering events surrounding Christopher McCandless after his graduation from college. Christopher leaves his loving and slightly dysfunctional family, cuts ties with his friends, and abandons all of his worldly possessions to live a life of simplicity and wandering. Along his journey he renames himself “Alexander Supertramp” and decides that his final destination will be Alaska.
His old beaten down car stops working and he takes up hitchhiking; which introduces him to numerous influential characters. Each of these characters teach him a little something about life; companionship, work, romance, and the limitations of aging. This movie shows how a simplistic life can lead to greater understanding of the world.
The director uses a lot of establishing shots to show the surroundings of Supertramp in each new area of the country he passes through. I remember when he made it to Alaska there was a really far shot where you can see mountains and zooms in on a little speck which turns out to be Supertramp.
The film was very eye opening and makes you really think about how meaningless your material possessions are compared to family, love and the simple things in life. It is easily one of the best movies I’ve ever seen and I plan on watching it many times to come.
Optional Film Review 2
ReplyDeleteKyle Coleman
Mud
Mr. Walker
Mud is a movie about 2 young boys’ adventure during their early teenage years that takes place on a Mississippi River delta, outside of a small town. The two boys, Ellis and Neckbone, sneak out onto the river on one of their fathers’ platoon boats and brave the aparantly dangerous waters to dock at an island in the delta. The boys, lead by Ellis, are shown a tree with a boat stuck ontop of it from a flood that happened years ago. They climb the tree and get into the boat only to notice that there are belongings scattered around and appear to be recently used. This intrigues them but they leave the boat to head back home because it was almost their curfew. They stumble into a older man on the shore of the island who they find out lives in the boat. They have no idea why he lives in the boat and he refuses to give them a straight answer.
The man’s name is Mud and he is superstitious and witty.The boys agree to help him by getting food and other supplies because Mud agrees to give them the boat if they help him. Being teenage boys they are up for the adventure and go about doing as he says. They soon find him to be slightly scary, unreputable and cloudy. His stories hint at a dangerous past and shine light on his old childhood love, Jupiter, who he longs to see. The boys agree to help arrange this and also find out about the real story behind Mud’s hidden location, he is an outlaw. They are again coaxed into helping the man further by assisting in getting the boat out of the tree and into the water so Mud and Jupiter can sail off, away from the authorities.
The director, Jeff Nichols is known for making very “American” movies such as “Shotgun Story” and “Take Shelter”. This movie has the same twangy language and curious childhood nature to it. The boys are always getting into trouble and adventures which reminds me of other American literature such as Tom Sawyer.
This movie reminds you what it was like to be a kid. It shows the curiosity, lack of judgment, and carefree nature that kids have.
Jessica Castellanos
ReplyDelete2nd Hour Lit Through Film
May 6, 2014
Optional Film Review: Badlands
Badlands is a 1973 film directed by Terrence Malick that’s loosely based on the 1958 crime spree of Charles Starkweather and Caril Fugate. In the film, 25-year-old low-life Kip (Martin Sheen) meets and falls in love with 15-year-old Holly (Sissy Spacek). They start a passionate affair that only a 25-year-old garbage collector and a naive 15-year-old girl can, and when Holly’s father finds out, their lives are changed forever. Kip shoots Holly’s father, torching the house to hide the evidence, and takes Holly on the lam with him. They camp out in the forest together but are then tracked down by bounty hunters, leading to a cross-country flight from the law that eventually ends in Badlands, South Dakota.
The most striking part of the director’s style is how true he stayed to the setting. Kip and Holly both talk and dress like vagrants from mid-20th-century Texas. Their pithy dialogue might seem pointless to some, but Malick is trying to make their relationship realistic. When Kip swats Holly’s behind and asks “You ever had someone do that to ya?” in his Texas accent, the audience understands his character perfectly.
One motif that Malick includes (if I’m not reading too much into things) is cruelty to animals. At the beginning of the film, Holly’s father shoots her dog to punish her for running around with Kip. Later in the film, Malick shows a slaughterhouse, a live chicken trying to get away as it’s given as a gift, and cows running from Kip’s car as he attempts to flee police. Maybe it’s just the vegetarian in me, but the animal cruelty was the most disturbing part of the whole movie. My theory is that Malick included this motif to show us the ease with which Kip murdered his victims. If helpless animals can be made to suffer without a second thought, why not people?
While it was indeed disturbing, I definitely don’t regret watching Badlands. The movie was like a trainwreck; horrifying but fascinatingly real. Holly’s character was especially fascinating. The laissez-faire attitude with which she talked to the rich man whom they were robbing/poked one of their victims to see if he was dead seemed like something a naive 15-year-old country girl in love could really be capable of. Her narration of the movie helped reveal her naivete, as in the beginning she thought she was in love and at the end her youth had her wanting to experience more than a life of crime. The ending of the movie seemed realistic as well. While I don’t want to reveal the end of the film for those that haven’t seen it, I’ll just say that the way the men questioned Kip as more of an action hero than a ruthless murderer seemed characteristic of American society, which seems to prize drama over integrity.
All in all, everyone should see Badlands; just not when they plan on sleeping that night.
Optional Film #1
ReplyDeleteGus Van Sant’s "Elephant" tracks several high school students throughout what appears to be just another school day, but any sense of normality is destroyed when the school as well as the audience witnesses two students go through with a Columbine-esque shooting. Among the characters the film follows are John (John Robinson), a teenager who has to force his drunk father to hand over the wheel of his car on the way to school, Elias (Elias McConnell), who is never seen without a camera and complains that he can’t go to a concert that night because his “parents are being bitches”, a power couple with a pregnancy scare, three friends that throw up their lunch together and have conversations that reveal them to be the epitomes of the “basic bitch” stereotype, and Alex (Alex Frost) and Eric (Eric Deulen), the perpetrators of the massacre. The film does not follow a linear format and purposely does not have a driving plot; rather, its purpose is to show how an ordinary day has the ability to unexpectedly and unfairly turn into full-blown chaos.
Van Sant consistently uses extremely long tracking shots to convey his message. For example, prior to the shooting, there is a four minute shot of a member of the power couple, Nathan (Nathan Tyson), walking from a football scrimmage, inside the school, and through multiple hallways, until eventually meeting up with his girlfriend, Carrie (Carrie Finklea). For the first three minutes of this scene, the audience primarily sees the lifeguard logo on the back of Nathan’s hoodie as he walks, an image that serves as a reminder of the ordinary lives the students-turned-victims lead. He passes a group of friends jogging, kids throwing a frisbee, a student playing an upbeat tune on a guitar, and the bulimic girls gossiping about how he’s “so cute.” This tracking shot works not only to demonstrate moments that emphasize how normal this high school and this day are, but also to create a realistic effect. Just as there is no cut when a real human being takes a four minute walk, there is no cut when Nathan walks either. Van Sant’s camera technique in this shot develops the normalcy and realism the film strives to promote.
"Elephant" was nothing like I expected, but maybe that’s a good thing. I wasn’t anticipating the first full hour of the film to do little more than observe its characters being just ordinary kids; I didn’t think there would be so many scenes of characters simply walking; and it hadn’t occurred to me that so many questions would be raised without any answers. But I also never expected Van Sant’s purpose. "Elephant" is not a film that seeks to give meaning to senseless violence, nor is it a film that embellishes tragedy; it simply attempts to depict how quickly and purposelessly normal life can be destroyed. While four minute shots of characters walking in silence can be somewhat boring or unanswered questions can be extremely frustrating, the purpose of "Elephant" is not to entertain, but to provide a realistic look at what happens when tragedies like a Columbine shooting take place. For Van Sant, it’s more important to promote a realistic look at disaster than to make a movie that beautifies human misery. I can’t say I disagree.
Celena Rivera
ReplyDeleteLit through Film 3rd hour
In a small town in Mississippi there has been a murder and because everyone in the town knows each other it’s hard to find out who did so where an African American police officer from Philadelphia is passing through, Virgil Tibbs, he ends up helping the police officers even though he is African American. How ever they find out that no matter what color your skin color maybe, you can still get whatever you need done, if people are willing to cooperate.
In my opinion what made this film interesting was how Norman Jewison made the protagonist an African American cop from a big city and puts him in a setting where he is forced to help the local police department in solving the crime. My favorite example of this is when Gillespie and Tibbs go out to the plantation of one of the wealthiest man in the town and Tibbs starts to ask questions that get under this man's skin and he man slaps him because he finds one of the questions inappropriate, he thinks he has ended the conversation but then receives a return smack in the face. The man orders Gillespie to shoot this man because of what he has just done, however Gillespie refuses to do so. This shows that Gillespie has grown to realise that Tibbs is a good detective no matter what the color of his skin may be.
My feelings regarding this film are mostly positive. I enjoyed this film because of how well the actors and how well the director got the same ideas to put into this movie, just as what might of happened back when this movie was set. I also enjoyed how the characters had to put aside that Tibbs was African American
Katie Tevebaugh
ReplyDelete3rd Hour
Psycho, Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
In this Alfred Hitchcock thriller a woman, Lila Crane, is a bankers assistant that doesn't seem to satisfied with her life. So no surprise when she has the opportunity to obtain 40,000 dollars she jumps at the opportunity and then leaves town in hopes to meet up with her out of town boy friend, Sam Looms. After a few close calls and new car she finds herself at an eerie motel run by a Norman Bates that not only changes her life but the entire movie.
Alfred Hitchcock is a master of suspense and keeping the audience on their toes.The quick back and forth shots and the music are a key to this. Drawing our attention to what is going on with the recurring tunes that have a very sever tones and the fast shots that make one feel the urgency in the movie. for example at the end of the film there is a scene where a certain someone is being perpetrated when Marion Crane gets down to the basement there are quick shots back and forth from Marion to the person and so on. This is also accompanied with some music that was used earlier on in the film.
My personal experience with this film was very positive. Before this film I had heard of the film but I had not known about the multiple plot twists which really improved my viewing of the film. I had known about Hitchcock and had watch some of his movies such as vertigo, The Birds, and rear window and loved all of them, Psycho had just enhanced this view on Hitchcock. My favorite thing about his movies are what seem to be a “normal plot” in the beginning quickly turns twisted and far from expectations in the end. An example of this from the film is the fact that Hitchcock tries to make us feel sympathy for the true villain, even if we don't know who it is.In Psycho I personally found myself routing for a person through out the film until I found out who was the villain. I recommend that viewers seeing this movie not search for the ending and or plot twist because it would ruin the Hitchcock experience.
Katie Tevebaugh
ReplyDelete3rd hour
Silence of the Lambs
In this movie a student at a police department,Claire Starling, is recruited to work with a jailed cannibal serial killer, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, to try to “observe” his actions. This soon turns out to be ploy to get the ex psychologist Lecter to help in tracing down Buffalo Bill, who is known for killing and skinning his victims.
Jonathan Demme is best known for his extreme close up on faces while the actor is looking directly into the camera. This helps us see the true reaction of some of the characters, for example when Claire first meets Dr. Hannibal Lecter there are various close ups on both of the characters yet both are portraying different facial expressions. They both seem to be observing one another yet with the close ups we can see how uncomfortable Claire is opposed to how calm he is. This is one for the best film techniques for a suspenseful thriller because we can really see the fear in their eyes and get an eerie feeling when they show no fear.
Over all I thought that this film was okay. I am a huge horror movie fanatic and i felt like this film could have had a little more blood and guts. I really just don’t like feeling such suspense with no reliving blood and guts as a result. Aside from that tad bit I enjoyed the plot and the storyline immensely, especially the fact that the lead was a girl. I feel like the director was making a point of this by making all the men and higher up officials towering over Claire, yet she is still the one who breaks the case.
Maybe it fits into the "thriller" genre - not "horror"
DeleteAnel Jugovic
ReplyDeleteOne Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
The movie starts off with the main character McMurphy pretending to be mentally insane to get out of a prison sentence. We join McMurphy in an institution where quickly McMurphy befriends the people their, and gets close with another patient, Chief. McMurphy becomes somewhat of a hero like figure to the other patients causing them to rebel against the staff and almost start to run the place themselves. With hijinks that follow, the men in the institution start to find courage and strength in their friendships. The staff has other ideas and McMurphy finds out you’re never safe.
The director did an outstanding job with this classic. The color scheme the movie is filled with is white. This shows the conformity and sheep likeness of the patients there. When McMurphy comes into the picture he is shown having colored clothing. he has color even under the white mandatory clothing. McMurphy is a hero in this film and the color lets him be viewed as different, as a hero. The scene where McMurphy finds out Chief’s secret is a great scene because it shows the chemistry and great acting between the two.
The film is great. Plain and simple, it has funny moments and then an array of crazy/sad moments to have your emotions on a rollercoaster ride. The mix of friendship and the down with the system attitude is enough to have anyone sympathize with a faker who tried to get out the easy way.
Anel Jugovic
ReplyDeleteGoodfellas
Goodfellas is an old school mobster flick and a damn good one. Looked at as one of the best films of all time, it starts us off in the 50’s in New York City following a youngster by the name of Henry Hill. Henry’s dream has always to be a mobster, even saying, “Being a gangster was better than being the President of the United States.” From a young age Henry starts to live out his dream, but things don’t stay sunshine and rainbows for long. After starting off good Henry meets some friends who have some undercover motives. While the going is going good Henry’s life goes downward, he finds himself cheating on his wife, dealing drugs, and doing a term in prison.
The director, Martin Scorsese, does an incredible job with the story seeing as it spans about a quarter of a century. Not only is this a visual masterpiece, but the way this movie used music to set the scene was outstanding. The use of pop music really lets the theme of the movie and the visuals shine, sets the score perfectly.
The movie is a great one. If you’re a fan of mobster films, bloodshed, crime drama, and just good visuals and great story this movie is for you. Not all the credit is to go to the director as the actors did a wonderful job themselves in being the characters and making you believe the story. This movie from the start will have you sympathetic to Henry and will keep you in that mood throughout the film even though he doesn't end up being the nicest of people. Thats all thanks to the great bring up of the story Scorsese made.
Anel Jugovic
ReplyDeleteTaxi Driver
Guess who's back, Scorsese and De Niro in another psychological mash-up of "wtf". We get to meet De Niro's character Travis Bickle in the first scene. Travis is a vet who has a sleeping disorder. To help him with his insomnia he finds a job as a taxi driver but as his nights get longer he gets lonelier and very disillusioned. His world starts to crack under him and starts to view the city and the people of it as something inhuman, scum. His plans start to get crazier as he meets women and even a 12 year old prostitute named Iris who might be his only way of helping himself.
Scorsese does an outstanding job once again, and another classic under his belt. This movie lets you get into the mind of the main character and lets you know something that the people of the city don't, his motives. From the first scene Scorsese lets the viewers get a feel for the character and think what the movies going to be about but all that takes a big change.
The movie was great, blood, crazy taxi drivers, whats not to like. De Niro did an amazing job becoming the character and really giving a great performance. This movie is also very relevant to today as this type of irrational thinking goes on all the time. Hopefully no one tries to kill Senator Palantine.
Kara Dudas-Bellone- Gravity
ReplyDeleteGravity is a 2013 film directed by Alfonso Cuaron starring Sandra Bullock (Ryan Stone) and George Clooney (Matt). The film centers around an astronaut (Matt) and a medical engineer (Stone) who go up to space to do some work which goes terribly wrong. The two become detached from one another and eventually Matt dies in space, leaving Stone to find her way back to earth. Throughout the film we learn more about Stone’s life and why she decided to pursue space engineering. We watch as Stone struggles with herself to get back to earth. After much hardship Stone makes in back to earth and we watch her and she crawls onto and unknown land and stands up.
As the director Alfonso Cuaron had a lot to do with how the film was viewed and received. For a while while viewing the film I was not sure how I felt about it because for a majority of the film there was only one actor and the plot kind of dragged on for me. But eventually I found myself more into the Stone character than the plot that she was lost in space. I found myself connecting her actions to the events in her life, such as her young daughter dying.
One scene that was memorable for me was the final scene when Stone finally returns to earth via a foreign capsule that lands in a lake and sinks when she opens to hatch to get out. On her way down in the capsule she is sitting in a fetal position, and when she gets out she paddles to earth, dragging herself ashore and then standing on the land. In the finals minute of the movie we get a low angle of Stone. I believe that this scene shows Stone’s transformation as a person because of her experience. She is “reborn” which explains the fetal position and is feeling victorious and new as she stands on earth’s soil again.
I enjoyed viewing the film because it drew me in and i found myself very much interested in the Stone character where as usually I would not be very interested in a movie that just had one character. I found myself rooting for her and sympathizing with her. The director really had a way of taking a movie that could be seen as “boring” and making it the exact opposite.
Kara Dudas-Bellone- Harold and Maude
ReplyDeleteHarold and Maude is a 1971 film directed by Hal Ashby starring Ruth Gordon (Maude) and Bud Cort (Harold). The film focuses on Harold, a young man obsessed with death. On multiple occasions he fakes his own death, which freaks his mother out, In addition to faking his own death, he also attends many funerals of people that he does not know. At one of these funerals he meets a woman named Maude, who also attends funerals for fun. The two begin to date despite their age gap (Harold is a young man and Maude is an older woman). They get into shenanigans together and eventually fall in love. Maude has a tremendous impact on the way that he sees life. The films ends by Maude committing suicide on her 80th birthday.
As the director of Harold and Maude, Hal Ashby had a lot of input into how the film was viewed and received. One scene in the film that really struck me as being memorable was the closing scene of Harold driving his car (a heirst) over a mountain and seeing it crash into the mud. After we see the car fall we see Harold standing at the top of the mountain with a banjo which he then skips off to play. This scene uses a lot of symbolism. Maude changed Harolds outlook on life and death, which ultimately kills his old outlook (represented by the car). He is then seen looking over the mountain at it, as if he defeated it and skips off a happy man.
I enjoyed viewing this film. I enjoyed it because it had a bizarre plot that I had never thought of before, and was filled with oddities that kept me interested. I also feel like the movie has a lot to offer in the way of lessons on life and death.
Kara Dudas-Bellone- Psycho
ReplyDeletePsycho, directed by Alfred Hitchcock was released in the year 1960. It stars Anthony Perkins (Norman), Janet Leigh (Marion), Vera Miles (Lila), and John Gavin (Sam). The film begins with Marion being on the run because she has embezzled some money. After a long day of running away so that she will not get caught, she stops at The Bates Motel, a small almost abandoned looking motel on the side of the road. She checks in at the motel and meets the employee, Norman. He seems kind of bizarre to her, but is nice enough. She socializes with him that night and learns that his mother lives in the house just up the hill. Norman’s feelings toward his mother are very bizarre and strong. After their dinner they agree to go their separate ways to bed. Marion never gets to bed, she is murdered by Normans mother that night. The rest of the film follows Marion’s loved ones desperately trying to find the truth of what happened to her. They begin to search the motel and after their detective is also murdered by Norman’s mother they discover the truth. After finding the skeletal remains of Norman’s mother. It turns out that Norman had killed his mother some years ago with poisons because he felt she had left him to be with another man. In his later adulthood he develops a personality disorder where he becomes his mother in certain situations. It is then revealed that in fact Norman (disguised as his mother) killed both Marion and the detective.
As the director of Psycho Alfred Hitchcock had a lot of influence in how the film was viewed and received. In normal Hitchcock fashion, he manipulates us into thinking one thing (that someone else, presumably Normans mother) committed the murders, and then twists the plot (that it was actually Norman in his psychotic disorder that committed the murders).
One directorial technique that Hitchcock uses to enhance the intensity of the film is score. Throughout the film there is a constant score that is played. It is very apparent during Marion’s killing. It almost sounds like a personified stabbing sound. It gives a horrific feeling and makes the viewer uneasy. It achieves Hitchcock’s goal of achieving horror without having gore.
Overall I enjoyed viewing the film because Hitchcock keeps the viewer interested and then changes the plot of the film which makes for a better feeling after viewing the film and is thought provoking.
Good Will Hunting directed by Gus Van Sant in 1997 stars Matt Damon (Will), Ben Affleck (Chuckie), and Robin Williams (Sean). Before I start i want to mention that I found it very interesting that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck both starred in this film and wrote it as well. So now this movie shows a young man named Will who grew up as an orphan moving from home to home as a child. Now all grown up has had his fair share of trouble is now a janitor at one of the most elite technical schools in the country, MIT. A math professor, Mr. Gerald Lambeau puts a math equation on the board that even his top students cannot solve. Once his boy genius talent is found he gets taken in by this professor who wants to mold him into the man he wants and to get a really nice job and all that. In the mean time he is getting sent to a therapist, Sean, who tries to get inside mind and see what he is feeling. It takes awhile and they form a very strong bond with one another but Sean finally gets him to express how he feels and Will begins to cry. All the while he has a relationship with one girl who he cannot come to say he loves. But with the help of Sean, Will turns down a huge job offer and decides to run away and find the girl of his dreams.
ReplyDeleteVan Sant did a great job with this classic movie. This movie can relate to all age groups and will still be relevant in years to come because so many people love to see this kind of movie showing relationships growing with people whether it be about about love or the patient to doctor friendship. Will’s friendship with Sean shows how trust can be built but in kind of an unconventional way. We watch these sessions over and over again but they are different every time but they are for a purpose. In one instance they sit in the session and not one of them speaks almost the whole time until Will tells a joke about a pilot and stewardess and Sean lets him know that his time is up. As his relationship begins to grow with Sean he realizes that he can start to trust and show affection to others so he meets a girl from Harvard, Skylar. Their relationship grows but Will breaks it off after she says she loved him. As his sessions go on with Sean, Sean finally figures him out and Will begins to cry. As Will realizes what he needs to do he goes to California to catch up with the one he loves. Shows a great ending to a movie that portrays these different relationships.
Andrew Smith
ReplyDelete2nd hour lit through film
This movie is set in world war 2 when two members of the ryan family die in war. The Army notifies the mother and tells her they will be bringing back her last son James Ryan. However it is not so easy for Tom Hanks(Captain Miller) and his group to find Private Ryan. Captain miller leads his group across the beaches of Normandy and Behind enemy lines. Finally they find a Private Ryan, but it turns out to be a different James Ryan in the Army. They finally find the right Private Ryan (Matt Damon) and fight to the death against a group of Germans while waiting for reinforcements.
Something I love about this movie is almost immediately after being on Normandy beach, the camera has a close up on Captain Millers face. When the camera uses this you can still hear bullets and explosions while seeing his blank face. You can feel right with him almost what hes going through and how scared he is. After a second he realizes he can't do this and brings together a group.
I loved this movie there wasn't a dull second the whole film. This movie had fantastic actors the complemented each other perfectly. Usually a movie won't keep my attention as good as this film did i was interested the whole way through. The camera work was awesome, including the scene where they come across a small fort of germans and you see from Uphams perspective.
Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) in command of his last flight before retiring. But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky completely alone - tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness. When Kowalsky dies, Stone has to find a way to the nearest space station without dying. Cauron did a great job with this film. I found myself freaking out when Stone was freaking out and calm and concentrated when Stone was. The film kept me on edge the entire time. I think the film partially represented Stone's inner conflicts as well. Stone was insecure and depressed about her daughter's death. She has a "stone heart" of sorts a lot of the movie, never letting her weakness show. I think as the film went on, her heart softened, and by the time she got back to earth, she had a new found appreciation. The camera angles and special effects left the viewer entranced by space and the action included. I would definitely recommend this film to all ages.
ReplyDeleteThe Amazing Spiderman 2 is an action packed film directed by Marc Webb. Peter Parker is late to graduation while fulfilling his duties as Spiderman. On a routine Spiderman case, he saves an Oscorp employee named Max Dillon who is infatuated with Spiderman. When Max goes through a life altering change which turns his whole body into electricity, he begins to think that Spiderman is a selfish super hero, and plots to destroy him. Spiderman battles Max, along with trying to maintain his relationship with his lover, Gwen Stacey. Spiderman battles to defeat Max, complications with Gwen, and many other enemies along the way. While this movie was entertaining and kept my attention, it wasn't anything special. Webb didn't do anything interesting I'd never seen before. I found Spiderman to be a typical "movie" that was only there for entertainment. I mean, everyone loves Spiderman, so this was to be expected. Viewers aren't expecting to think during this movie. It was still a good movie, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants an everyday, super hero movie.
ReplyDeleteIn Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty, Maya is a CIA operative whose first experience is in the interrogation of prisoners following the Al Qaeda attacks against the U.S. on the 11th September 2001. She is a reluctant participant in extreme duress applied to the detainees, but believes that the truth may only be obtained through such tactics. For several years, she is alone in her pursuit of leads to uncover the whereabouts of Al Qaeda's leader, Osama Bin Laden. Finally, in 2011, it appears that her work will pay off, and a U.S. Navy SEAL team is sent to kill or capture Bin Laden. But only Maya is confident Bin Laden is where she says he is. I would like to point out the fact that this director, Kathryn Bigelow, is female. I think that speaks for itself in many ways because she is female, and the main character of this film is female too. That is some serious girl power. Bigelow used some interesting directorial strategies in this film. In the scene where they kill Bin Laden, almost the entire thing is scene through night vision, as if were seeing it through a soldier's eyes the entire time. It made the viewer feel as if they were really there. Bigelow did an amazing job not sugar coating the realism of this film. What you saw during this film is what actually happens in real life, from the brutal interrogation of terrorists, to Maya's best friend being killed in a bomb attack, and the reality of how that night actually came to be. Bigelow also finds a way to portray the message efficiently, which I can also appreciate, she doesn't drag anything on for too long and gets the story across. I think this film is important because it teaches people about the world we live in and how far we will go to save our nation. It made me think about how much we really don't understand or care about our nation because we are so infatuated with ourselves. I would recommend this film to anyone 13 and up (there is some cruelty) because we can all learn from this film in a way.
ReplyDeleteCelena Rivera
ReplyDeleteLit through Film 3rd hour
This film is about a Phoenix secretary, Vera Miles, steals $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a motel run by a young man,Norman Bates, and his mother. When her lover Sam Loomis, John Gavin and sister Marion Crane ,Janet Leigh, go looking for her however there are no signs of her, so they must start an investigation to locate her and the missing money.
In my opinion what made this film interesting was the twist at the end. You would never guess what happens at the end of this movie and since we are trying to figure out what is going to happen to our main characters and we don’t really pay attention to what else is happening during the movie, and what I find good is that they found Vera and the money by the end. However what I did not like about this movie is the very end and we find out that Norman killed his mother, but not only that, he has taken on another personality that seems to be his mother.
My feelings about the film for the most part are good because I think that Alfred Hitchcock did a wonderful job of keeping the viewer on the edge of their seat. An example of this is when Janet finds out what is going on with Norman Bates mother and he walks down and tries to kill her but then John comes to the rescue. Something that I didn't like was that the movie started with on conflict and that didn't get solved until the very end of the movie before another conflict arose, I don't think is was a bad thing to do however if you have problems following films and plots, then this movie may seem a little difficult to follow.
The movie The Breakfast Club is about five teenagers that have detention on a saturday. Each one of them has their own problems at home. There is Andy, an athlete, Clair, a popular girl, John, a stoner, Brian, a dork, and Allison, a weird girl. Throughout the movie they share various stories about their home life and other problems. They all strongly dislike each other at the beginning of the movie, but by the end, the people you would least expect to be together end up together. When they all first sat down in detention the principal assigned a 1,000 word essay they had to complete by the end of the day. The essay had to be about who they thought they were. At the end of the movie Brian writes the essay for all five of them because he was not only the smartest, but Claire thought that one essay could cover how they all felt.
ReplyDeleteI believe the director follows a certain pattern with the way scenes are set up. In the scene where the principal comes in after John fell out of the ceiling, Joen crawls under Claires desk. John makes numerous noises and the other four kids in detention cover him up. John hit his head on the desk and Andy started tapping on his desk to cover it up. John also did something inappropriate to CLaire and Claire started coughing, so everyone else started coughing to help cover it up. SO basically if John does anything bad everyone else helps out aND makes sure John doesn't get caught or in trouble.
I think this was a great movie and id be happy to watch it again. Not many movies can actually make me laugh out loud or smile, and this movie made me laugh more than once. It had a good original story, and It made sense throughout the whole movie. It also kept my attention, which is really hard to do.
Char B
The movie The Good Girl is about a 30 year old woman named Justine who is depressed and bored with her life. Justine’s husband does nothing but sit around and smoke pot with his friend after work everyday. Justine is also worried that she can't have a baby because her husband might be infertile. Justine works at the Retail Rodeo and meets a man named Holden that has just gotten a job at the Retail Rodeo. Holden is also very depressed, much worse than Justine, and they end up falling in love. Justine cheats on her husband with Holden more than once. They often go to a motel for privacy. Eventually someone finds out about Justines affair and Justine is offered a choice to either cheat on her husband with the man who found out her secret, or the man will tell her husband her secret.
ReplyDeleteThis movie has interesting shots such as the shot where Justine and Gwen are eating lunch and Holden is in the background eating lunch at the table behind them. This shot is interesting because later in the movie, Gwen and Holden are switched, and Holden is eating lunch with Justine, while Gwen is in the background at the other table where Holden was before.
I truthfully went into this movie expecting it to be really boring, but I actually enjoyed it. It was really depressing, kind of hard not to cry at times. Just the fact that you have to watch this woman who is already unhappy in her own situation at home with her husband go through with having sex with her husbands best friend just so she wouldn't get caught cheating. Its just sad to me that she was unhappy enough that she actually cheated on her husband. I don't know how she kept the secret either that would eat me alive. Pretty much though this was a good movie in my opinion, just really sad and messed up at the end.
Char B
The movie Roxanne is about this man named Charlie who has a ridiculously big nose, and a woman named Roxanne who is very beautiful and smart. Charlie is really smart and has a beautiful way with words, especially romantically. Charlie starts to fall in love with Roxanne but thinks that she would never fall for Charlie because he is not handsome. There is a new man that starts working for Charlie at the fire station and Roxanne falls for him because of his looks. Charlie helps this man write Roxanne a letter, with her thinking that the man wrote it himself. Roxanne soon realizes that this man just wants sex, and that Charlie is the nice guy she wants to be with.
ReplyDeleteThis movie was made in a comical way. Throughout the whole movie there are sound effects that you would expect to hear in a cartoon. The first scene in the movie where Charlie comes accross two big tough looking dudes shows alot of this comical style of directing. Charlie has a tennis ball racket and the two men try fighting him. Charlie uses the racket against the things that the two men have in their hands and wins the fight. With every swing there are cartoon noises, its a pretty funny fight. Charlie gets away from the two dudes and he has won the fight.
My feelings aboput this film are okay i guess. It was a good flim, but i dont really like love stories. The way the film was made is what i like most of all. There is nothing cartoonish about this movie, and yet with every movement Charlie makes, there is some type of cartoonish sound that comes with it. It makes the movie enjoyable to watch. If i had to watch this movie again i probably wouldnt be too happy, but it was overall a good happy movie.
Char B
Mud directed by Jeff Nichols is a great mixture of drama, thriller, some action, and even a little bit of comedy thrown in. It’s a story of two young boys about 14 years old who live on the Arkansas river with their families. They love to take their boat out on the river and just be outside and are always looking for new things to do. This time they decide to go out on a small island on the river and explore and look for the boat in the trees. Once they find it they climb up and realize someone is living in that boat. They see fresh bread and food stored in the boat. As Neckbone’s alarm goes off they know they must leave but realize someone was in their boat. This worries them but Ellis is curious and eventually they meet Mud for the first time. The trips back and forth from the island becomes a regular thing and Mud asks them for help. They now know he is running from people because he has gotten into some type of trouble. But they want to help him find his girlfriend, Juniper. All while Mud is having his relationship so is Ellis’s parents and himself with Mary Pearl. Things eventually break off with Mary Pearl but there is still hope for Mud and Juniper. So the boys finally get everything together for Mud but Juniper doesn’t show up and is with another man. They break the news to Mud and Ellis goes back and gives Juniper a letter from Mud and Juniper tells him that Mud is a liar and is using them. Ellis goes back furious at Mud and runs away but falls into a pit with the water moccasins. Mud grabs Ellis from the pit knowing he very well could die if he got bit but he had to save Ellis. As he gets Ellis to the hospital people recognize him and tips off the hitmen. Who later come to find him at Ellis’s place and shoot up the house where we think Mud dies. After this tragic event Ellis moves off the river and then we see Mud in a boat with Tom who are driving the boat into the Gulf of Mexico.
ReplyDeleteNichols did a fantastic job with this movie. It shows what two typical young boys would be doing. Every young boy wants some kind of adventure some more extreme than others. What I really found interesting were the relationships in this movie. Mud and Juniper, Ellis’s parents, Ellis and Mary Pearl, and also Mud and the boys. It shows how every relationship has its rough patches and that some people are just not meant to be just as what Mud tells Ellis one night. That line is true about the main relationship that is focused on in this movie and that is Juniper and Mud. No matter what Mud will do it will never happen because Mud is a liar and that is how Juniper sees him.
All in all it was a great movie its a movie I would watch over and over again. Definitely recommend it.
12 Years Of Slavery
ReplyDeleteThis movie is about a African American man named Solomon Northup who is born in New York state as a free man. Solomon gets kidnapped in 1841 in Washington D.C. and sold into slavery. He was on a business trip with two men who wanted him to perform as a violinist in Washington D.C. They drugged him and Solomon woke up in chains about to be sold into slavery. He was also renamed to ¨Platt¨. Solomon ends up being a slave to William Ford. He was good to Solomon and Solomon wanted to be on good terms with him. The only problem for him was the over-seer. His name was Tibeats. He treated Solomon bad for things that weren't his fault. They ended up fighting and Solomon fought back and man handled Tibeats. Tibeats and his friends wanted to lynch Solomon so this made Ford sell Solomon so he doesn't get killed. His name slave owner was Epps. Epps was not a good man. He raped Solomon's friend and fellow slave named Patsy all the time and let his wife treat her bad. Solomon stayed on Epps plantation for the rest of his slave years. Solomon started helping to work on a gazebo. He met a canadian laborer named Bass who was helping Epps build it. Bass was a very good man. The opposite of Epps. Bass ended up hearing Solomons story about what happened to him. Bass took his word up north where he use to live. After he did that the court people came to get Solomon and he was finally set free after 12 years.
I liked the movie alot. It really showed how bad slaves were treated. Chiwetel Ejifor did a very good job acting Solomons part.
Harold and Maude
ReplyDeleteHarold and Maude was one of the most entertaining movies I’ve seen in a long time. It highlights something that in today’s society is looked down upon, that being the relationship between an older woman and a younger man. The movie is seen mostly through the eyes of Harold, a young man who through many parts of the film contemplates suicide after his mother tries various times, unsuccessfully, to find him a new wife. Maude is the older woman who helps Harold realize that killing himself is not the answer to his problems. They slowly develop a relationship that turns from friendly to sexaully and when Maude dies, Harold finds that life is what he wants it to be and not what others expect to be. With many memorable scenes such as escaping from the same police officer twice and having Harold’s uncle attempt to enlist him in the military, it gave great relief to something that at first seem like it would end in travesty into an above average work of art. The movie was something I’d highly recommend to anyone who wants to enjoy something thats a great mix between comedy, violence, and romance. The choice of music really benefited the film with the great timing and scene choice between each song. Many songs by artist Cat Stevens filled the film, making way for many great, heart-warming sequences that added to what was an already interesting plot.
Psycho
ReplyDeletePsycho was a film that I didn’t find highly enjoyable but felt that it served its purpose. This film begins being revolved around a woman named Marion who skips town with one of her clients money but later becomes about Norman Bates, who murders Marion and is later arrested, diagnosed with a mental disorder, and taken to jail. My expectations going in weren’t very high and when it end, it left me with many questions that I’ve yet to come up with answers to. Like how come after Marion is killed they pretty much completely forget about her for about a half hour and then all of the sudden she’s important again? And why did it take so long for the police to realize that Norman was the murder? An why didn’t anyone else think about the possibility of Norman pretending to his own mother all this time. Maybe I’m just being too blonde to realize what all took place but at times it seemed like parts of the movie just transition well especially with a big plot twist like that. I did find the ending very enjoyable with Bates’ memorable quote about not even harming a fly. For a 60’s horror film, the quality was acceptable with the shower knife scene being a great example of what good sequence was during the time. The score pretty much stays the same throughout the movie except for the driving sequence where Marion is trying to get away from the cop when escaping with the money she stole.
Nate Sonntag
ReplyDelete2nd Hour Literature Through Film
Monday May, 19, 2014
The film Mud was released in 2012. It was written and directed by Jeff Nichols. It stars Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, and Tye Sheridan.The plot begins with the main character, Ellis, finding a boat stuck up in a tree while playing with his friend. They find some bread and a few other things that suggest someone might be living in the boat. Not too long after that they meet Mud. Mud befriends Ellis and tells him he will give them the boat after he is done using it if they bring him a number of items on a list. While driving in the car Ellis is stopped and asked if he has seen a man in a picture who is a fugitive. This turns out to be Mud. However they continue to help him after hearing his story about his girlfriend and his pursuit to meet with her and run away. Ellis has a rough family life and he wants something to believe in. He believes that Mud and his girlfriend are in love and he believes in it because he can relate to it. He also has feelings for a girl but she is a few years older. Eventually Ellis gets sucked further into Mud's dilemma and begins stealing things from people to get the items on Mud's list. Ellis eventually learns that Mud and his girlfriend don't have fairytale love and things are actually very complicated. Eventually, Mud escapes and Ellis moves away after his parents get a divorce. I enjoyed this movie and thought that Nichols did a fantastic job of stepping into this crazy situation and manipulating me so that I don't really know what was gonna happen next. He used a lot of subjective angles and put me in Ellis' shoes so that I felt what he felt. One scene that was particularly memorable occurred when Mud went back to visit Ellis before he left and the cops showed up and started shooting. Mud dives into the water and the audience is left clueless as to whether he lived or not. I would recommend it if you are in the mood for a more serious movie.
Nate Sonntag
ReplyDelete2nd Hour Literature Through Film
Monday May, 19, 2014
Harold & Maud was very different. Not necessarily in a bad way but it was definitely unique. So much that im not exactly sure what genre you would put this movie in. It is a love story with some complex psychological situations.The director Hal Ashby twisted my mind over the course of the film. The film stars Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon. It came out in 1971. The plot of the movie revolves a round a young man named Harold is obsessed with death. He reenacts his own death through various fake suicide attempts. Also he attends funerals of people he does not know. AT one of the funerals he meets a woman named Maude who is 79 years old. Somehow they begin a romantic relationship. She teaches Harold about enjoying the simple things in life. She steals a tree for no reason other than she doesn't think it should be in the city. ON Maude's 80th birthday she kills herself by overdosing on sleeping pills. In the end, Harold's car is seen going off a seaside cliff, implying that he actually did kill himself this time, but the final shot reveals Harold playing his banjo and being happy. I had to think about this movie before I realized that the meaning is simple and it it just to enjoy life instead of trying to make everyone else happy. Hal Ashby does a great job of showing how complex his characters are and shows many sides of their personalities. One of the scenes which stood out occurred when Harold's mother is speaking to a woman about potentially dating her son. In the background you see Harold wave to the both of them and then suddenly burst into flames. Then while the young woman is in a panic he walks up behind her like nothing was happening. I will admit I was completely caught off guard and found myself laughing at the strangeness of the situation which was beautifully portrayed by Ashby.
Nate Sonntag
ReplyDelete2nd Hour Literature Through Film
Monday May, 19, 2014
My last optional film goes by the name of Psycho. It was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and was released in 1960. This is often referred to as Hitchcock's best film, and after seeing it I could see why. Psycho is a thriller starring Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin, and Janet Leigh. The plot starts with a woman named Marion who steals $40,000.00 from a client and decides to go on the run. While on the run she checks into the Bates motel. The owner of the hotel, Norman Bates invites her to dinner but they get into an argument. Later while she takes a shower a figure which apperars to be Norman's mom emerges and stabs Marion to death. Later Norman finds Marion and puts her in her car and sinks it in a nearby lake. Later Marion's sister comes to the hotel after wondering where Marion is. However when they get there they find that a detective who was researching Marion's involvement with the money was stabbed to death by the figure as well. However when they go upstairs they find Norman's mothers decayed remains. It is later revealed that Norman killed his mother because he felt that he had been replaced by his moms boyfriend. Also Norman has developed a psychological disorder which causes him to become his mother which occurred when Marion and the detective where murdered. Alfred Hitchcock does an unbelievable job of creating suspense before each of the murders along with using the score to build up to the climaxes. And we cant forget about the score while the stabbing is occurring which has become infamous. A notable scene from this move occurs when theya re talking at the dinner table and norman says " It's not like my mother is a maniac or a raving thing. She just goes a little mad sometimes. We all go a little mad sometimes. Haven't you?" and Marion replies,"Yes. Sometimes just one time can be enough." This foreshadows her upcoming death and hints that Norman is kinda crazy and fully accepts it. I would recommend for anyone who like not just scary movies but mystery movies that you have to really think about.
Jessica Castellanos
ReplyDelete2nd Hour Lit Through Film
May 19, 2014
North by Northwest Review
North by Northwest is a classic suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The film stars Cary Grant as Roger Thornhill, who is kidnapped by men who think that he is a mysterious man named George Kaplan. He escapes and is pursued by the men, who think he is preventing them from obtaining a microfilm containing government secrets. He soon meets and falls in love with a mysterious woman named Eve Kendall (played by Eva Marie Saint). The film takes numerous twists and turns, as Thornhill tries to escape his attackers and tries unsuccessfully to convince others (including the police and his own mother) to help him. Along the way, typical thriller movie events such as murders and plane crashes and gunfire abound.
As always, Alfred Hitchcock uses several interesting directorial techniques. One directorial technique that I noticed was the repeat use of extreme long shots. Hitchcock uses multiple extreme long shots to show us the setting of a place. It heightens the suspense of a scene when the viewer knows the setting that a character has to hide in, escape from, etc. Hitchcock also uses a montage in the film. When Townsend is murdered, a montage (accompanied by a dramatic Bernard Herrmann score) is used to show the horrified reactions of the people witnessing the crime.
I enjoyed North by Northwest, even if it was a little hard to keep track of. The constant plot twists and deception meant that I had to pay close attention and rewind a few times to watch a scene over again. I felt like I was missing the point behind all the action, as I felt that all of Hitchcock’s films must be like Vertigo in that everything must have a second meaning behind it. Reading more about the film, I’m simultaneously glad that I wasn’t crazy for not finding any second meanings and disappointed because the second meanings are fun. One interesting comment that I read in an interview by Hitchcock was that he wanted North by Northwest to be a simpler film than Vertigo but that the final scene, in which Thornhill and Kendall are embracing on a train that’s leading into a tunnel, is a phallic symbol.
American Psycho is about a rich man who has a crazy ego and hates people. He has a fiance who sleeps with another man and he knows. She knows that he sleeps with other people. This is normal for him and all his co workers. His name is Patrick. Patrick can barely fit in with people. He is crazy about everything. He keeps everything in his house super clean and goes crazy if something is a little bit wrong. Patrick finds a homeless man and is so pissed off about how the man is a bum that he decides to kill the homeless man. Patrick ends up picking up a prostitute and another women and brings them back to one of his places. As he is having an affair with them he plays music. He loves playing a collection of his music while he is either having sex with the women or killing them. He does this with Paul Allen. Paul is a man Patrick is extremely jealous of and wants to kill. Patrick ends up bringing him to his apartment and kills him while he blasts one of his songs off his collection. Patrick ends up going crazy. He breaks up with his fiance and she makes him so angry that he goes on a rampage. He kills almost every man in his sight from the streets to an hotel. He ends up in a shootout with two cops in a cop car. Patrick kills them and runs off. He becomes depressed and sad about it. He calls his lawyer explaining everything that he did. He tells him every kill that he made. Patrick ends up finding his lawyer and his lawyer assumed he was joking and didnt believe Patrick. His lawyer doesnt believe him because he said he was with Paul Allen in London. The movie ends with Patrick and his co workers in a bar or club just like how it began. Patrick gets away with everything.
ReplyDeleteI liked the movie alot. It was super entertaining. I thought he was going to get caught at the end but he didnt. Even though he committed a crime i dont hate him or want him to be the bad guy and im satisfied with the ending.
Steven Spielberg's film Schindler's List was made in 1993. The film was set during WWII in Poland. It's focus is on how the Germans were trying to take over Poland and how they treated the Jewish people. The Nazis would invade people's homes, took all their belongings, separated families, and then either sent them to concentration camps or just killed them then and there. In these concentration camps you would more than likely die of either starvation, disease, or be executed. One man, Oskar Schindler, decided to take a stand and help many Jewish workers as he possibly could. He did this by creating hundreds of job opportunities in his factory. He took men, women, and children; he provided them with jobs, which in turn, saved thousands of Jewish people's lives.
ReplyDeleteThere are some very important details that make the film have a huge impact on the viewers. One moment that really stands out to me is the part when there is a little girl in a bright red coat walking down the road, This stands out because the movie is already set in black in white. Then later in the film they show an enormous pile of clothes with the bright red coat sitting on top of the pile of clothes. These were the clothes of the people who were just executed in the gas chambers. Another scene that impacted me was when a Nazi officer wakes up and just starts shooting prisoners within the camp from his balcony just for fun.
I liked the film, it gave a real look at the horrors of the holocaust and what went on in these camps. At times it can be disturbing but it shows that even during such a horrible time people can still be good at heart.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOptional Film #2 (Spoiler Alert):
ReplyDeleteAlfonso Cuarón’s “Gravity” is your ordinary archetypal hero story with the slight twist that its setting is somewhere in the middle of outer space and its hero is an astronaut who spends the vast majority of the film literally and figuratively fighting against the universe’s gravitational pull. Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is on her first space shuttle mission. She is accompanied by Matt Kowalski (George Clooney), a wisecracking veteran astronaut completing his last mission before retirement. The beginning of the assignment runs smoothly, but while in the midst of a routine spacewalk, Ryan and Matt get word from Mission Control that a Russian satellite explosion is sending an enormous amount of debris their way. Unable to stop the debris from hitting their shuttle, the two find themselves in a crisis. When it becomes impossible for both Ryan and Matt to survive, Matt sacrifices himself for her, and she is left with the challenge of beating all the odds and finding her own way back to Earth.
Cuarón tends to make very few cuts in his shots in order to emphasize the constant feelings of panic felt by his characters. For example, shortly after Ryan loses contact with Matt, there is a two minute shot of her drifting through space. The scene begins from Ryan’s viewpoint inside her helmet, and slowly transitions out of the helmet so that the audience viewpoint focuses on her. The background of the scene - the entirety of the distant Earth and the nearby surrounding galaxy - never sits still and is constantly being shot from different angles in order to make the audience feel the same drifting effect that Ryan does. We clearly hear every breath she takes, a technique Cuarón employs to emphasize the human terror so prevalent in the scene. Through the interesting directorial choices in this scene, as well as in the majority of the film, Cuarón effectively conveys the fear and mortality that is so vital to “Gravity.”
I, along with 2/3 of my current English teachers, don’t like that I don’t like this film. I get that in terms of technical aspects, Cuarón’s work with “Gravity” is pretty damn awesome. I know that in scenes like Ryan’s drifting ones, he is manipulating the camera and the sound and the point of view to make his point, and I get that that kind of stuff is the reason he won Best Director this year. And I respect that. But to my mind, “Gravity” lacks the plot substance to be a perhaps really important film. Maybe I’m just missing the big picture, but I feel like I could’ve told you all of the basic plot points by the time I finished the trailer. However, I have to recognize that there's a chance that maybe I shouldn't be worrying about plot so much. “Gravity” may be a film that's more focused on delivering an important message about humanity and using really neat technical work to do it than it is on keeping up a solid, unpredictable storyline. And, despite my unpopular overall opinion, that may just be ok.
2001: A Space Odyssey Review- Mya Herrmann
ReplyDeleteThis is a Sci Fi movie about a race in evolution between man and his tools. A monolith appeared when apes evolved into humans. Now in the future a monolith has appeared on the moon. After investigating it is concluded that man must go to Jupiter. With the help of a man-made computer controlling the ship, astronauts journey to Jupiter.
Visual effects was the style of this film. I couldn’t believe this movie was made in the 60’s because the effects were so good. When Bowman journeys through the stargate the visual effects definitely show through. Also the apes looked super realistic. I have no idea how they filmed this girl in the space ship walking up the wall and onto the ceiling then back onto the ground.
This movie was interesting but incredibly slow. Like one of the slowest movies I’ve ever seen. Everything was drawn out so so painfully slow. I feel like I watched apes scream at each other for half the movie The stargate scene was freaking 10+ minutes long! I do like sci fis though and the plot was thought provoking. The music was extremely creepy at points and almost kind of scarey. It really set the mood for some of the scenes.
Blazing Saddles Review- Mya Herrmann
ReplyDeleteIn a Western town a new railroad is being constructed. After the construction of the railroad track is blocked by quicksand the route must be changed. It is decided that the route will go through a small town called Rock Ridge. The State Attorney wants to take the land by driving out the townspeople. A new sheriff is appointed to the town in hopes that he will make people want to leave because he is black.
This film is a satirical comedy. The satire is mainly focused on racism. An example of this is the quicksand scene. Bart and his friend are sent to check the railroad path for quicksand. After they end up getting stuck in the quicksand they call out for help. When help comes they are more concerned with rescuing the $400 railroad car than Bart and his friend. After that when the two manage to crawl out of the quicksand they’re yelled at for “taking a break”!
This movie is hilarious and the silliness never stops. The governor was my favorite. There also was a lot of irony which goes along with the satire. The point of this movie is that racism is idiotic and Mel Brooks manages to make that point while still keeping all the humor with it.
ittle Miss Sunshine Review- Mya Herrmann
ReplyDeleteA dysfunctional family sets out on a road trip to take Olive to the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. They face many obstacles along the way like their car breaking down, the death of a family member, and the father going into bankruptcy. When they finally make it there they see that Olive doesn’t fit in with the other girls at the pageant and the whole family is kicked out after her performance. These obstacles ultimately bring the family together.
Even though none of the family members really get along most of the time they have to come together to succeed. For example, in the scene where their car breaks down they find that the only way to get the car to shift to a higher gear is if the car is already moving. They all have to get out of the car and push it to make it go fast enough to shift. After the car is moving fast enough they have to run and jump back into the car. They all have to come together to make things work.
At first I didn’t really know how i felt about this movie but i came to like it. The film has meaning behind it that stays with you after you watch it. To me the movie is about accepting yourself and the people you care about. Another meaning in this film is to be yourself. This meaning is apparent when you see all the girls at the beauty pageant. They are all made up, have fake tans, wearing glamorous dresses and swimsuits, and heels. They obviously are not themselves. Then you see Olive who is just wearing the clothes that she always wears and acting the way she always acts. She is being yourself and the point is you should be yourself too.
Optional Film #3 (Spoiler Alert):
ReplyDeleteBilly Wilder’s “The Apartment” is an important lesson in the pros and cons of letting your bosses use your home as a place to screw their mistress without their wife finding out. C.C. “Bud” Baxter (Jack Lemmon) is a young, lonely clerk in a giant Manhattan insurance company who finds that he can speed his way up the corporate ladder by lending out his apartment to several of the company’s executives. When the head of the company, Jeff Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray) finds out about what goes on in Baxter’s strategy, he offers Baxter a promotion in return for exclusive access to the apartment. Baxter accepts, but when he finds out that Sheldrake’s mistress is Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine), the elevator girl that Baxter is in love with, he is left with the problem of having to pick whether to break his own heart or to break his career.
Wilder intertwines comedic and dramatic elements in his scenes to convey “The Apartment"'s message. In the final scene, for example, when Fran realizes she loves Baxter and runs to the apartment to be with him, she, along with the audience, is shocked to hear what sounds like a gunshot from his side of the door. However, it is soon revealed that Baxter has not shot himself, but has merely opened a bottle of champagne. Wilder uses this to trick the audience into believing there has been an apparently dramatic climax, but the belief is humorously taken almost away as quickly as it initiated (kind of like “The Artist"). After calming down from the shock, Fran begins to nonchalantly set up a game of cards (a reference to a time Baxter had tried to calm her down through playing cards) while Baxter admits his love for her. However, instead of saying she loves him too, Fran simply smiles and tells him, “Shut up and deal.” This line, accompanied by romantic music that becomes louder and more triumphant as we see the last shot of the two, implies that she loves Baxter. She does not need to say it because Wilder’s musical choice along with the card game symbolizing how much the couple cares for each other speaks louder of her feelings than an “I love you” could. By using both lighthearted and serious components in the film, Wilder delivers his message that actions speak louder than words.
I loved “The Apartment” for its acting, wit, and storyline. Wilder’s use of comedy and drama throughout the film’s entirety blend incredibly well together to make for an entertaining, enjoyable film. Maybe even better than the story were the film’s performances. Jack Lemmon, for example, perfectly played the role of the nervous everyman. “The Apartment” is engaging right through its last scene, and Wilder’s at times unconventional, yet always pleasurable work with it makes it a film worth watching.
Alien resurrection(optional film) - Bradley Novotny
ReplyDeletein this alien film of the series we get years after Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) who had died in the 3rd movies of the series and scientist from the company try multiple attempts to clone her and finally get it right with her and the alien in tack. So a group of people get hired by the company to deliver cargo to them which is people and they are going to be the host of the aliens used in their experiment so that they can train the aliens and study them. soon after that is done the aliens kill another using the acid to break out of the cell escaping their cell and wreaking havoc upon the ship. So they all try to run to the escape pod, but every path is blocked so they must take alternative routes throughout the ship and one by one they are all picked off until just a few make it aboard the vessel. meanwhile all that is happening the queen is giving birth to a human alien creating a mixture of Ripley and the queen’s DNA to make and abomination which is now Ripley’s child. After they thought they are all in the clear her child is now on the escape pod with the survivors. So Ripley makes her decision and decides to kill her child otherwise everyone, but her would probably be killed.
during the underwater scene the director used lighting above the water in very few spots to make it seem so dark and scarier making it difficult to seem and swim at the same time while watching their back to make sure that they are in the clear. when the alien approaches one of the members of the group you get a sudden loud and rushed sound and a close up on her to see that she has to swim faster and it is after her.
I thought this film was awful, I didn't not like it one bit only thing it had to me going for it was that the alien looked more real ,but that was about it. to me this film lacked a lot of directorial techniques i feel as if this was more of a movie with fluff and stuff then a film. had a bad storyline i feel that they could have come up with something other than the ending to the first movie. Also that human alien thing was freaking weird looking i was not even sure what to think of that thing other it looks humorous for how ridiculous it looks.
The Abyss(optional film) - Bradley Novotny
ReplyDeleteThe Abyss is about an oil rig crew that gets asked by the government to help with recovering people that may be alive in a submarine that had crashed into a wall moments before. So they eventually agree so they send navy seals down to the rig, even the rigs captain’s wife, Lindsay, who is the chief technician for the rig to help out, they search the submarine and find that everyone on board is dead about time they are about to leave they lose power and Lindsay sees an alien thing she tells them what she saw they all think they are crazy. more repeat occurrences happen where she sees it. Then is comes aboard the rig kind of and they all see it all amazed and astonished. while the oil rig crew is trying to figure out what it is still the people sent by the government have another agenda they get a hold of one of the warheads from the submarine and plan to blow it up so that the Russians never get a hold of their technology. After the oil rig crew figure out what is happening they try to stop it, but it is too late the leader of the seals has gone mad and sends the warhead on a camera submarine and goes through with their plan. Virgil does his best and knocks it off course where it goes way below the ocean almost 2 miles down so he goes later on and tries to disarm it after 30 minutes he reaches it and runs out of the breathing fluid not enough to get back then he meets his alien friends. the alien then takes virgil into their ship and they have a nice talk. meanwhile all the chaos is going down under water there is a tsunami happen about being caused by the aliens. after their brief talk they call off the wave they return Virgil to the surface.
this film had a lot of techniques since a majority of it was underwater it you we got people perspectives through the scuba suit which made me feel closed off and hard to see anything not my favorite part. then lots of lighting where the lights went off and the alien was the only source or a glow stick was ad you can’t see much. like where Virgil was descending down the abyss there was no light, but a flashlight not even a ground he just kept descending down then once he reached the warhead the light ran out had to use a glow stick then got it throw his perspective having to cut a certain wire in the dark with a specific color. I could see how it was possible the colors on each were so closely related. then the aliens appeared and with their glaring purple light after he thought he was a goner.
I did like this film it kept me on edge almost the whole thing, so much suspense the fact that no one gave up if when it seemed impossible. i liked this film because it made me really take their perspective of being cold and alone a body of water surrounded by death . I also liked the story line it always kept me guessing i actually couldn't predict what was going to happen not even a bit. my favorite part was when they were receiving Lindsay when Virgil slaps her I started to laugh i was so confused why would he do that wouldn’t help at all, but she eventually comes back after being drowned in freezing water.
Aliens(optional film) - Bradley Novotny
ReplyDeleteIn Aliens they find Ripley(Sigourney Weaver) floating through space just by accident they find her adrift and they recover her and ask her what happened. She tells them what she came remember and all they care about is the billion dollar ship she blew p and blames her for it. Later on the get a distress from a planet and they ask Ripley to accompany them down there since they seem to think it is alien related. After countless nos they plan to take off without her and she thinks they won’t make it without her so she tags along. After the touch down on the planet they scout out the area and they think its a waste of time and that nothing is there then they find something on their radar its Newt a little girl that got separated from her parents and probably the last and only survivor on the planet. time goes by and they explore the place more and they find an opening where the nest is one by one they are picked off until they decide to run the commander in charge is just sitting there doing nothing and Ripley is pissed so she takes action and rescues the few survivors. still one by one they are picked off until they find a way to get off the planet the android from the crew works his way to get the plan going Ripley and Newt come in contact with an alien and starting running next falls on the other side of the giant fan so Ripley goes an rescues her having to descend way down in this places to find Newt, but she finds the queen alien as well as Newt and incinerates everything down there. They get out, but the queen is still chasing the android has the ship and they take off, but the queen is persistent and climbs aboard they fight her once upon the big ship an Ripley and Newt and half of the android are the only survivors.
in the scene where Ripley is fight the alien queen, they use back lighting while she is on the robot and while the queen and her are fighting you only get glimpse of them fighting since there is a flickering light so he can not see too much. then you get continuous close ups to see how determined Ripley is in beating this monster. Also while fighting the queen you get multiple angles of the alien, so you can see what she is doing and how she can fight.
This was my favorite movie from the Alien series i liked it to me it had a better storyline and i thought Sigourney played her role very well. I liked this movie because of the action and the directorial techniques used in the film such as the lighting, oblique camera angles. my favorite scene is where Ripley descends down to the queen to retrieve Newt who fell through the floor and an alien grabbed her and brought her down to have her killed. So Ripley risk her own life and follows the tracker to saves Newt ,but now has the queen following her after Ripley incinerates the queen. These two are now running for their life following the trail Ripley put down on her way descending down.