Do The Right Thing

I found Do The Right Thing to be one of the best moies so far this year. It kept my attention throughout. I felt that a major theme in this story is speaking your mind and expressing your way the way you want. I felt that little to no one took crap from anyone else. The Pizzeria owner Sal didnt take anything from his customers who sometimes put up arguements. He stood up for what he believed in, which at one point was mainly the pictures on his wall and what they represent to him. He defended himself through culture and believed that he coudl do what he wanted, especially on his wall at his Pizzeria. Buggin' out was no exception of speaking his mind. He tried to boycott the pizzeria and eventually from being so upset fromt he pictures, he ended up bringing up a fight that ended it all resulting in Radio Rakim's death. Radio Rakim spoke his mind and no one really resisted his personality because of his big size. His size did help, but i believe if he wasnt as big, he still would have repped the " Fight the Power" on his boombox till the end which was ultimately his death. He died over his boombox and the way he expressed himself. Mookie at the end also stood up for himself by throwing the garbage in the window destorying the pizzeria. He stood up for what he believed in, which was Radio Rakim over Sal, resulting in chaos in the city street. I believe that everyone stood up for what they believed in, they stood tall, they stood strong and woudlnt take anything from anyone. This is what kept me going the whole movie because the personalities were so different and attention grabbing.

Battle of Algiers i found to be a very unique film and original in its film styles and its plot line, something completey out of this world and so real. I listened to the audio of :: NPR Story: All Things Considered Audio , They believe it is one of the most realistic reenactments of a terrorism attack. It does portray a very terroristic style and without a doubt is filled with terrorism. It obviously is realistic because searches have been preformed like this for the safety of society. I feel that terrorism is left open to ones mind. It is a basic example of terrorism i believe, but if you use your head you can creat terrorism in a whole different mannor. I see that it relates to 9/11 very much because of the bombings. The bombings in the buildings were planned to work and work effectively, which they did, very similiar to 9/11. The bombings were planned strategically, and followed through with pride from terrorists. They did end up dieing in their bombings which is a difference but they all risked many dangers to help their side. I do believe that all countries are all different which they say, and to follow the movie as an example and the lines it draws. It is a guideline to terrorism and what the effects they can turn into towards a society which is a negative impact. Pride seems to be something that is the pushing force for each side, not to lose and to never give up. It seems that no one ever will give up to save lives, they must live and prove a point that they are the dominant force. Their seems to not be a peaceful way out of it if it starts in a violent way. All in all, I feel the Battle Of Algiers is a great example of how to address a terrorist problem and how to possibly react to it with the least pain inflicted towards a side or another.

Memento

Memento was quite a change in movies. It was very different from the other Film noir movies we watched because it didnt seem to be set at the same time, it wasnt 100% black and white, and it was just newer age. There were defiantely details like low key lighting which i picked up right away as well as the switching on and off of black and white filming. I felt this was a unique film noir movie and as well, a unique film. Its a movie where it seems lots of thought process had to go through it. Im not saying other movies dont, but that this one just had you thinking the whole time. It was very creative in the way it was filmed. Going from the end to the start is very different and a great way to tell a film if you can pull it off. It keeps the viewers watching and on their feet, because if you miss a scene you may seem to be lost. Each scene was very unique and each scene kept you geussing of who had the motive to do what, what is happening because at times, you were put out with a blank sheet and had no clue what was going on. I felt that the unique filming style they portrayed is what made this movie a success. It kept you going throughout and there was never a dull moment to be found. Memento is a classic and is an exceptional portrayl of film noir, just a little different.

Double Indemnity

Double Indemnity was a whole new idea too me. I never suspected a film to be put into a category of "film noir" just because of these characteristics. I just thought that these movies were just cool, under the radar, sneaky, and dark. Throughout Double Indemnity, Neff is displayed as a character who is in it for the money, greed, and love. On the other hand, Phyllis is in on the scheme for a new life and money. They both are on similiar grounds which really helps create team ethics which would most likely turn out to be the best in the end, even though such didnt happen. I felt that Film noir is very distinct in the various way they are filmed. I noticed that throughout, even if it was day time, shadows were conveyed at any given time. It gave off the essence of trying to be unnoticed and to be under the radar. It always kept you geussing. For example in the first scene, we dont see Neff's face until he goes into a very horribly lit room only by a light. The shadows convey a gloomy feeling, and kind of like everyone is out to get you and to watch your back. It gives the characters much more distinct characteristics. They all seem eery, in it for themselve, and ready for the worst. Film Noir and Double Indemnity are prime examples that reflect one another.

Groundhog Day was a transformation from one person to a whole new person. Phil began the story as a self centered, errogant man. He didnt really care one bit about his co-workers and just kind of lead the way like he superior to them and everyone else around. As the day keeps on repeating and repeating, we begin his transformation. He eventually learns that, being cruel and acting superior wasnt working out for him, it just got to him that it got old. I feel that the theme of the movie is treat others like you want to be treated. He becomes true to himself, which allows him to be true to others such as Rita, who who eventually falls in love with based on his true self and not the self centered self. I believe that after he realized that being negative towards others was the wrong way to live, he started to learn that being kind isnt so bad afterall. Its much easier and in the long run it helped him gain a love and possible life with Rita. His first attempt to sleep with Rita was sleezy because he just made the date perfect which made it almost creepy and weird. At the end, he was his true self and let her know who he was by gaining so much positivity from others he helped prior in the day. It really impressed her and i believe that since he treated others nice, they treated him nice which ulitimately landed him a date with Rita, and the begginning of tomorrow, which has seemed like a year.

Bringing Up Baby

Bringing up Baby brought a new aspect to film to me, annoyance. Within the first five minutes of listening to Susan talk about literally nothing and manipulate the situation at any given time almost sent me to the insane asylum. It's impossible to not notice Susan, shes brings so much emphasis into what she does. Susan is a type of character that craves attention and will do so by creating a scene. In The movie, you find that she clings on to David almost instantly and makes all her problems, his. David isnt the one to speak up, so she works on this trait that davids lacks. Multiple times we see Susan doing a wrong, and manipulating the situation and causing David to feel the guilt. Susan is a problem that David cant get rid of, she clung on since the start and stayed to the end. Susan is a nuscense throughout and literally just her voice made me want to punch a baby (kidding). I find that the reason this film went as big as it did, was because of the annoyance factor susan brought. It's too a point where its so annoying, it keeps your attention throughout. I find that the theme of annoyance kept the audiences attention and didnt let anyone daze off.

Westerns: a preference in taste

I dont think thats its fading out. I feel as if this question is aiming towards the teen audience because i do believe that most teens dont find interest within western themed movies. Teenagers want to relate to their surroundings and want to watch movies of interest. Most teens dont have experience with living a western lifestyle riding horses, whereing spurs, and living in the rugged rural west. I feel that as life grows on you, some people begin to find new interests past their teen years and will run possibly run into an interest in a western themed hobby. im not saying it will happen, but the possibilities are much more possible because you have that much more freedom to do what you want when older. I feel that as a teenager, your more involved with friends, society, driving, and family not so much duels and roping caddle. Its a complete preference question. For example, i find no interest in love movies, but im sure that majority of females do as well as males. I just dont find it interesting and spell binding to keep me watching a whole movie about love. On the flip side, i do feel that superhero movies are easier to watch because the director has so much to work with, they can recreate reality and create a fantasy land and put it back into reality. The west is complete reality and all of the stories cant be changed as much compared to "super hero" movies. To asnwer the question of if america doesnt enjoy the past, i find this impossible to believe. People are so intrigued with the past and the history that millions of people have jobs just studying the past. Kids are forced to study the past, its obviously not something that should be forgotten about, many films from the past or based in the past are very influential. The old movies are the stepping stones and the layout for movies we view today. To say that old/original movies and ideas are boring and lame, is considerable to calling your favorite movie from today bad because chances are, without movies in the past, the movie wouldnt be anything like it is today. In the end, i believe its all about preferences, priorities, and influences within society.

Guillermo del Toro’s Pans Labyrinth is a taste of reality, fantasy, and love. Through my first viewing of the film, I noticed that the whole movie had a distinguished color throughout the film. I realized first that the fantasy worlds were very rich, deep, and vibrant in colors. It almost felt welcoming until you discovered what was in these fantasy worlds. In reality, Ofelia the main the character, she feels discomfort and unaccepted. The only true love that she felt was the love for her mother, who died and was left with the last person she wanted to be with, El Captain. El Captain was displayed as a cold man who had no fear to kill. Guillermo del Toro’s commentary on the set design is exactly what I thought he tried to do. IN the fantasy worlds the colors are very warm, welcoming, and accepting while in reality, it was very cold colored like blues and greys. It conveys the point that Ofelia didn’t want to be in the real world, she wanted to be the princess that the faun said she would be.

There are many ideas that relate together in both worlds. For example, Guillermo del Toro describes in the commentary that there are doors that are important in both worlds. The doors that Ofelia can draw with chalk which makes a door anywhere she wants, helped her get through reality and discover her family in the underworld, where they could rejoin in peace and live together once again. In reality, the doors show importance to El captains presence because whenever he went in a room with one other man, he seemed to torture them and would leave everyone to believe that he is cold as ice and has no emotions or regrets when bashing a mans skull. This door closing can relate to the cold colors that we see in reality too. The cold colors help us get the picture that El Captain is a mean man, but the doors when they close, solidifies that he has no fear to kill. There are also keys in both worlds that seem to help vastly. The key that Ofelia gains is a key to succeeding and being the princess that she thrives to be, once again. Her first task is to be fearless with a very large scary frog monster that later pukes up a key. This key later on helps open a safe in another fantasy world. The keys in reality that Mercedes, the housekeeper, gains helps the other troops facing El Captain survive when supplies are scarce. She can unlock the ration shed and provide them with limited amount of goods.

In the end, we realize that there is a clash of reality and fantasy world when both colors are conveyed very vibrantly in the fort burning down. It signals us that the movie is ending and that something significant is going down. The manners fire is very vibrant and it reminds the viewer of the fantasy world that had deep and rich colors, which felt almost welcoming and nurturing. Throughout the film you can realize where and why Sofia is longing to be part of the underworld. It’s the only thing she can find with comfort, which shows through the colors conveyed because she has nothing in reality, a hateful stepfather who ends up shooting her. As the viewer, I realized that Sofia had no likings of reality and truthfully hated the position she was in. She realized she needed to leave. She found comfort in the fantasy world and the urge to discover what the underworld was, is what drove her to do the courageous things she did. Guillermo del Toro believes that conveying emotions is very important and that he wanted to work with everyone to make sure the sets were perfect. The colors conveyed in the movie help the viewer understand who the characters seem to be based on warmth or coldness of colors and where Sofia wants to go in the end, the underworld because of its welcoming presence.

My Darling Clementine

I believe that one of the most significant image/scene presented in the movie is when the church is put up. It doesnt seem to be like a beatiful monument quite yet, but it shows so much more. It shows how the town has changed, a change of chaos to unity. Wyatt really shows leadership skills when entering and leading Tombstone to success.

We enter Tombstone almost immediately in the film and are assured that the town is a typical chaotic western town. Almost right away Wyatt realizes that the town sheriff doesnt enforce the law and this is why so many things can be done without a penalty. A lack in leadership is what the town seemed to have, which Wyatt imediately shows when arresting the drunk indian shooting crazily causing a ruckus. He shows the town that right there and then that he was the man to lead the town to success and so be it, they gave him the sheriffs job.

Throughout the time period that Wyatt manages Tombstone it gets a new facelift. Everyones attitude changed when there was someone to follow. The Church scene really shows us the unification that the town gained throughout this experience. It shows that they all had to come together and do something, and not fight about differences. The towns people seemed to have benefited very much with Wyatt as sheriff. He turned Tombstone around from a negative to a positive. The church shows the unity and teamwork that the towns people put in to make it showing the drastic change they have gained.

Citizen Kane

I believe that the filming was outstanding throughout Citizen Kane. It really seemed like something new and original, and it seems like it almost paved the way for future movies. It may or may not be that influential, but none the less its very unique. The scenes where they literally took out the floor boards just for that angle seemed very well shot. I feel the whole flow of angles weren't always new, but some just jumped out at you. The way he entered through the gate at the start, where they then craned down into a dinner table, seemed very creative. It was a cool new way to look at it and it was also a very good transition from one scene to the other. I also enjoyed the pan over all of Kane's possessions at the end. They shot it well enough to get the image that, Kane was seriously rich and that he owned a ton of stuff. Overall, i would say that he was very unique and different and it a cool way to view the film.

Alien

Alien (1979), directed by Ridley Scott, was a movie that defined science fiction, a movie that set the standard for all other scary movies. It was one of the first to really learn scare tactics that would literally have you jump out of your seat. The movie seriously had you thinking there was an alien coming out at any given moment. The movie was a hit because they had a cast of amazing new actors. They all seemed very tough and rugged, but yet intelligent and tactful. The leader was Ripley (Sigourney weaver), who lead the members throughout tough situations, with aliens popping out and killing at ease.

This movie would be similar star wars and fly for its time because all these movies seemed to set the stage for movies. Star wars was a movie that was set in space, which is the same for Alien. Alien relates to the fly because it was a science fiction movie that was very creative, yet disgusting. The aliens and the “fly” were pretty gruesome when face to face. Alien took place on a mining ship deep in space. The setting doesn’t change too often, unless when they discover the aliens on a new planet. The whole movie begins with a scare when an alien surprise attacks a crew member, rendering him unconscious for hours. We later discover that this thing that attacked him has embedded an alien inside of him, knowing in the future that this alien is going to cause some trouble. The aliens slowly, develop, mature, and kill the crew one by one. Ripley now has to act on instinct and survival tactics to get to one point of the ship to the next discovering deadly aliens all over the ship. The crew is left in a serious situation of survival that many view as an impossibility.

The plot seems to be very simplistic and very science fiction (fake). Everyone knows that if there were aliens this scary and deadly, no one would venture into space. These aliens are the classically definition of scary. The movie seemed realistic when it came down to acting. The cast seemed like they all fed off one another in times of survival. Ripley was a great leader because she was a ripped woman who had no intent to die, and lots of intent to kill aliens. She seemed to fit the part because no women other than her could have played her part. Most commonly a woman isn’t found to be that brave nor man; Ripley is the perfect leader of the movie. The crew mates all were very tough, but you could still sense that they were scared throughout. I believe that the main theme for Alien is to stay alive and that the strongest of the fit, only the strong survive. It seriously fit this movie because its everyone for theme self in the long run. It may be a team effort in some situations, but many cast members find themselves one on one with the alien, usually costing them their life. You really had to be ahead of the game and one step ahead of the aliens, who seemed to be everywhere. The crew was stuck in a sticky situation that only Ripley could resolve.

The acting in the movie was very well fit, the actors all preformed as if it was a true ship filled with aliens, just with a little more juice than most people. When I say juice, I mean they are tough cookies, people who aren’t afraid of anything, other than aliens. They all seemed very strong physically and emotionally, and yet knowledgeable at staying alive. They all acted tough, but only Ripley preformed to act tough the whole time. The lighting was found to be very similar throughout the terrifying film. It was very dark which made the audience much more scared. It felt as if they were an alien in every part of the ship, whether there was or wasn’t. It just added an effect that scared you throughout and kept you thinking. The ship was where the majority of the movie happened, It seemed to be very hi-tech but yet still junky and cluttered. The sides of the ship seemed very cluttered, and places where aliens could just sit and surprise attack. I believe that the music, the cinematic effect, helped the movie be as frightful as it was. Music is a key ingredient to scaring an audience. With a mix of some of the scariest aliens ever seen, a dark ship in space with no one to help, and some of the most intense music that only had you thinking ahead throughout, is what brings you the perfect elements of a perfect science fiction movie, a movie ahead of its time. Alien is a superb movie that set a path for many other scary movies.

SupaBad

"The guy's either going think 'here's another guy with a fake ID', or here's McLovin, 25 year old Hawaiian organ donor," Evan. Super bad is super good, throughout the movie i found myself laughing out loud with the entire audience. It caught your attention from the first scene to the last scene with standout comedy. The lines in the film were all hilarious one liners that would promise to make anyone laugh. I feel that the comedy in the movie is really original and not just another movie. Most comedies seem clique, but Super Bad reaveals us with a whole new reel of comedy. TO bring out such comedy, i feel that they needed a perfect cast. The characters all vibe with one another and it really brings out the laughs. THey really work together to pull out every single last laugh of the audience. Whether it was McLovin, THe cops, or just the routine one liners, superbad was and is a hit. It seemed to be a dream to any teenager, having the cops be on your side for once. It's quite the underdog story and many find it to be entertaining. THe plot was quite basic, but the jokes kept on coming and coming with laugh after laugh. Superbad is a classic and i hope will be remember as one of the funniest movies in the summer of 07'!

shreddin the gnar

Pulp Fiction Review

Quentin Tarantino brings us yet another original movie, Pulp Fiction. i not only find this movie to be one in a million, but i find it to be one of the most original and creative movies of its time. Not only I, but Lori Hoffman as well. Lori Hoffman critiques Pulp Fiction in only the best of ways in this review.

"Tarantino is never boring. IN the courses of three different tales that are woven together, we meet a thoughtful, intelligent hit man and his more explosive partner; a washed up fighter who isn't as punch drunk as he appears; a wild drug-loving gangsters moll; a couple of small time crooks who need a reality check, and a couple of perverted rednecks," Lori Hoffman.

Hoffman describes Tarantino as a director with a very unique personal style which he has seemed to perfected over the years. The movie as i remember, is filled with top of the line acting throughout weather it was one of the big name actors like Bruce Willis, Uma Therman, Samuel L. Jackson, or John Travolta. Each character brings a unique personality to the table which overall gave the viewer good over impression when it comes to originality. The movie seemed to be one of a kind, especially for the times. No one had seen such a violent movie with such interesting plots. Throughout the film, we discover many different and unique ways that Tarantino develops the characters through intense and terrifying scenes where only the strongest will survive.

Tarantino absorbed the language of cinema -- with extra study hours in film noir, blaxploitaiton and the french new wave -- and has now created his own language," Lori Hoffman

I agree very strongly that Tarantion has created his own language when it comes to filming in new creative ways and not following the conventional plot line. He went outside the box for Pulp Fiction when involving more than one story in the movie, but including three which all end up in messy situations. The situations only help the audience realize what the actor is truly like. Tarantino puts the characters in the most intense places which at times, can help reveal the character to the audience. There is never a dull moment throughout the film, Tarantino throws out some of the most absurd situations which only seem to catch the audience's attention.

"This is perhaps his most mind-altering skill -- putting all of us inside
his gloriously invented mind. He even jolts us by messing up the time frame of
his narrative. As the final of three stories begins, Tarantino takes a step or
two back in time. His characters have been running around at different moments
in time in circles that intersect,"Lori Hoffman

Tarantino has a
very unique style of filming and very out of the box. Throughout the film, you
find twists and turns which you would have never expected to happen. I agree
with Hoffman that the stories are very attention grabbing when each stories
characters run into one another. The movie in all, is very different which
appeals to the audience much more than a straight forward plot line. Tarantino brings us the whole story and then some when presenting this film. You seem to never find a dull moment throughout the film because there are these multiple stories happening all at once. The multiple story line keeps the audience in check with whats going on with the movie, the movie will always have the audiences attention with all the twists and turns. Pulp Fiction is arguably one of the greatest movies that Tarantino has created and will be remembered for its originality and
creativity.