DOtheRIGHTthing

This movie was a very good to watch becuase of its contrversial issues and funny characters. The ending of this movie was very contraversial in many ways. i was really suprised when mookie went to get the garbage can and threw it threw the window. When Radio Raheem was killed I felt terrible. I dont think that Spike Lee purposly made the viewers feel worse for Sal, because I definatly didnt. I really felt bad for Radio Raheem. I felt bad that that was the way things were then. It made me feel bad knowing that things like that actually happened. In my mind Sal losing his buisiness was sad, but on a much lower level than Radio Raheem's death. I agree with what Spike Lee said for the most part in his interview, except I definatyl agree with Mr. klobachar in the sense that Spike Lee's movies are more balanced than he is. the impression I got from the movie was just that things happened in the past and Sal was a good guy, not a racist. But in Lee's interview it sounded like we were supposed to hate Sal.

The Battle of Algiers

The Battle of Algeirs didnt do it for me. There seemed to be no central conflict. Many of the scenes were damn near exactly the same as the others. The film had no flow to it, it kept jumping around and was hard to follow. I also didnt like how there was no clear protagonist. It would have been a little better if you could root for one side or the other. Overall I would give The Battle of Algeirs a 5/10.

As for my article review, I read the one in the Washington Post by Ann Hornaday. Hornady hit on alot of good points on why and why not to like the movie. She explains that the movie has a deep, good plot, but the story had alot more potenital. LIke myself Hornaday seemed to feel like the movie dragged on with all the violence and bombs. Hornaday did a great job contrasting the good and bad parts about the movie. She also mentioned that there are no heroes in the film, and drew many comparisons to the Iraq war now. For the most part me and Ann Hornady agreed about the film. I think someone with a greater appreciation for Algerian History may have liked the film better.

MOMENTO

I thought momento was a very good movie. Except, I am still a bit confused by it. So was Teddy telling the truth? I feel like he was since Lenny looked at him at the end and said, ok, you will be my John G. That way it takes away from the film becuase the whole movie you find yourself rooting for Lenny to get John G., but finding out that he just made it up kinda kills it I think. But then again Teddy was really shady all movie. I dont know its hard to tell. I thought it was really creative the way the director shows the color scenes in reverse and the black and white scenes in normal order. The movie just wouldnt work if it was all in order. This aspect really makes it unique. Well overall this movie really entertained me even though I was left hanging a little bit at the end.

WTF??

Sorry I dont know if I am aloud to say that, but WOW what a weird movie. Kiss me Deadly was one of the worst movies i've seen because of that ending. It is also comewhat comedic in that sense too. OH and the new alternate ending really saved the film...I know Mr. Klobochar compred this type of movie to an opening band. How its played before the real show and its never very good. That seems to sum up my feelings for this movie. It looks like it was made in about a day and a half and the plot originally seems to have something good, but then ends up being the worse thing ever. Like honestly if you had that setup with a guy picking up a hitchhiker then getting involved with that someones life after they crash and die. Then you found the worst possible conclusion to that setup... you would find this movie. I dont know... I guess soem may get a good laugh at the end, but overall... two thunmbs down for Kiss me Deadly.

Shudup...Baby

In class this past week or so, we have been introduced to the film genre of film noir. The movie Double indemnity is a film that portrays film noir very nicely. Overall I really liked this movie. I would give it an 8 out of ten. Although If Walter never said "baby" throughout the movie, it would get a ten. But, I did love the way he would light his matches with one finger, over and over again. He wouold also always throw is hat down soemwhere when entering a building. These things I noticed I think help the viewer to feel like they know the character a little more, in this case, Walter Neff. Anyway, the film used alot of different techniques that we learned in class. The whole movie seemed to be in low key lighting. This emphasized the importance of each character and what they were doing. The film also had many low angle camera shots. These shots were mostly on Walter Neff. This shows the audience that he is a powerful man in control. But when you think back, the shots where Neff isnt in a low angle shot are when he is recording his story, when Keys finds him in his office, and when he collapses outside Keys' office. In the last two, Keys is towering above him, showing that Keys is now in control and the one that knows everything. Once again I thought this movie was really good. It seemed to get better and better as it went and I felt attached the the characters. Two thumbs up for Double Indemnity.

Groudhog Day

This film was my favorite of the year. This romantic comdedy starts out all goofy laughs and giggles, then rolls into a film you can really think about. The story really has a strong message. That message being, if your going to care only about yourself, everyday is going to be the same, and you will miss important things in life, like friendship and love. This movie really gets this point across as Bill Murray's character makes a total 180 turn. This films uses many of the techniques we learned in class. The editing techniques really play a big role in how this movie is projected. Just in the morning scenes we can break down many aspects of different rechniques we learned in class. At first there is always an extreme closeup up the alarm clock reading 5:59, then 6:00.
Then, "iv got you babe", the musical motif by Sonny and Cher appears many, many times. Then the camera slowly pans to Bill's face. This scene always starts this way and then differenciates throughout the film. It is really cool how the editing really emphasizes different aspects of the film, and is really important to telling the story. Overall this was a GREAT film and I got two thumbs way up for it.

Bringing up Baby

Bringing up Baby is a crazy movie to say the least. This film definatly falls under the crew ball comedy genre. The main characters David and Susan seemed to be opposites of each other; they meet randomly, and random things are contsantly happening to keep them together. Susans continuous talking is hard to cope with at the begining of the movie, but as the film went on, I didnt mind it as much. The two interact in an odd way and the humor is very, "unique" lets say. Personally I didn't find this movie very funny. At the begining I really wanted to throw something at Mr. K to turn it off. But oddly, I grew to kind of like the film as it went on. I still didnt find the comedy very funny, but I found myself routing for them to find Baby and get him back to Susan's aunt. Maybe I just thought she would stop babbling then. Anyway, overall i thoguht this film was alright. If i was watching on my own I would have turned it off after 15 minutes, but since i was forced to watch it in Art of Film class, I got to like it a little more than I thought.

Once upon a Time in the West

Once upon a time in the West so far is my favorite movie we have watched in class. Serio Leone's film eally uses alot of the techniques we learned in class, while keeping the great story going throughout. This film falls under the revisonist catagorie because it is a more recent film, and it has many differences to the classic western films. It is way more complex than the typical western as each character's backround is slowly revealed throughout the movie.

I chose to write about the final scene in the movie because it shows how this film is revisionist and it pieces together the entire film. During this scene we finally find out what is Harmonica's driving force to kill Frank. As Harmonica and Frank stare each other down in the shootout, Director Serio Leone quicky cuts to a flashback in their lives. During this flashback Harmonica has a harmonica stuck in his mouth and is holding up his brother as he is being strangled with a rope around his neck. If Harmonica falls, his brohter dies. The camera then pans to Frank in the corner looking on. So we find out that Frank somehow forced Harmonica to kill his older brother. Harmonica draws his weapon first and hits Frank in the chest. Its over. Frank is done. But right as you think Harmonica will walk away, he goes up to Frank and puts his harmonica in his mouth. This part of the scene adds alot to the movie. It really got me jacked up.

throughout the story I was often asking myself where is this going? But with this final scene it all came together and made sense. The classical, lovable Harmonica gets revenge on the stone cold killing bad guy, then gives him a little taste of his own medicine. It can't really get much better. this movie shows that it is revisionist as all the different clues and backround information comes together with this scene. In the older classical westerns, things wernt so complex. Overall this western is an awesome film and I would reccomend it to anyone, even if you don't like westyerns. I klnow I didn't before this film

First Western: My darling Clementine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UrcR_01-bM

One important scene that stands out to me is the Shakespear scene where the man who is saying the "To be or not to be" poem cannot finish, and Doc Holliday takes over. This scene does alot for the movie. It takes us away from the usuall dancing, shooting and fighting of an old western bar scene, which to me was refreshing.It shows another side of Doc Holliday when he takes over performing the poem. We also find out that Doc has is either very sick or has a disease, when the coughs extremly hard and has to leave the bar. Much of this scene is show from a low angle with low key lighting, especially when focused on Doc and the performer. This seems to slow down the movie to emphasize this scene. Through this scene we see a good side of Doc Holliday for the first time, as he defends the man who is telling the poem. It takes us away from the usuall western bar scene for a while, but also jumps right back into it as Wyatt Earp again shows off his quick release of his pistil and his strong qualities of a marshall.

Pan's Labyrinth

The story of Pan's Labyrinth has a rich backround. Guillermo del Toro is the Director and Writer of the film. The story he came up with is a combination of old spanish myths and an actual civil war that happened in Spain. The name Pan refers to the mythoogical greek god, Pan. Guillermo del Toro got his ideas from a notebook he had been keeping for twenty years. In his notebooks he would write down all kinds of ideas, drawings and plotlines. In Del Toro's original plot, he tells a story of a pregnant women who falls in love with a faun. The final story ended up being very different. The pregnant women and the faun stay in the story, but the focus and main charater is a young daughter of the pregnant women awaiting the arival of her baby brother. A fairy comes to the daughter, Ofelia at night and leads her down to an old labyrinth in the woods. Here, Ofelia meets the faun, Pan. The mysterious Pan explains to her that she is a princess who was destined to return here to help restore the lives of those in the underworld. Pan then tells her how she must complete multiple tasks, using magic to do this. Ofelia meets the challenge and goes through many difficult mini journeys during the night. One encounter with a gaint toad, another with a monster from under the floors.
Throughout her quest she also must attempt to deal with a father he constantly abuses Ofelia and her mother. Even while Ofelia's mother is extremly sick and pregnant with her little brother. The faun Pan, tries to help Ofelia to overcome the troubles at their home by giving her a plant to put under her mothers bed. Each night Ofelia puts two drops of blood into the plant to keep the plant healthy. The magic plant works a miracle and mothers fever goes way down and things are looking up. But then her father finds the plant. Ofelia tries to tell her parents that that plant is the reason for mothers huge turn around, but they dont want her to believe in magic, so they throw the plant into the fire. As soon as the pant goes in you hear a shreek from the flames, and almost instantly after that, her mother drops to the ground, holding her baby in pain. Shortly after the boy is born, but Ofelia's mother does not make it. With this setback, Ofelia strives to keep her brother to have some type of family. She brings him to the labyrinth and there she is faced with her final task. Ultimatly she has to decide how important her family is. If she gives up her borther's life, she will be imortal. She chooses to save him and that ultimatly proves her of being the princess of the underworld.

This story is very interesting for many reasons; the amazing cinematography and music add alot to the film, but most of all the script is unbeatable. The way Del Toro contrasts the real life events, the fantasy story during night and day is so interesting to watch. The way you as the viewer know whatis happenening and are cheering on young Ofelia. Overall it is a great film to think about, especially if you know about the history behind it first.

Throughout Citizen Kane, Orson Welles great cinematography is key to how the movie is presented. During the film. The camera movement is very important to the film. He uses craning, panning and tilting alot in this film. He uses those types of movements to try to show the entire picture, while giving little clues about the film. For instance, during the opening scene the viewer sees the extreme closeup of his fence. Then, the camera slowly tilts upward to a closeup of "NO TRESPASSING". The viewer can infer here, that Kane is a secluded person who wants people to come in and out on his own terms. Welles also uses the craning method at the end of the film to show the large amount of statues in his collection. Then, at the end of the crane, zooms in on the sled, Rosebud. This time, you can imply that KAne had saved this sled since his early days. He saved it with all his expensive statues that came after he got rich. Why is Rosebud still there? Some viewers may say because it was the only thing he owned that represented any type of a childhood, and he wanted to remember that. Bottom line, Welles camera movements play a huge role in this film, and it wouldnt be nearly as interesting without them.

Not long ago I got a chance to re-watch one of my favorite movies of all time; The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. This film is a visual masterpiece. The way directer Peter Jackson uses the camera to catch his characters is amazing.

The story is about a one and only ring that has the power to rule the world. The ring was created by the Dark Lord Sauron. Sauron thought to have lost the ring when it ended up in the hands of a hobbit named Frodo. The story takes place in Middle-Earth which is a dark and stormy place. Frodo must journey across the land to Mount Doom to destroy the Ring. If Frodo destroys the ring, Sauron can't rule the people of middle earth and take over the world; butif he doesnt make it, that exactly will happen.

Throughout his journey, Frodo is joined by his good friend Sam, another hobbit from the Shire. Sam and Frodo struggle through many tough times, but help each other to move on. The ring seems to turn against our protagonist many times, forcing him to want to put on the ring and rellish in its power. When he does this, Sauron's 'eye' can see where the ring is. This is why Sam plays such an important role. Many times throughout the story Sam saves Frodo from putting on the ring, and risks his own life in the process.

During this film I noticed many different uses of cinematography. Peter Jackson uses a range of different lighting to illustrate the different scenes. He goes from the high key lighting of gorgeous panning views of the frosty mountains, to the dark gloomey, low key lighting of the cave where smeegle losses his precious. The camera angles also change alot to add to the particular scene. He often panns and cranes from afar to show the huge landscapes, as well as many high angles to show the monsterousness of Mount Doom, or low angles to emphasize the greatness of Gandolf.

Overall, this film cracks my top 10 list, along with numbers two and three of the series. The make believe world that is created by Jackson really portrays the story, written by JR Tolken. The beautiful scenery and grotesque, hell like areas contrast each other well. The main characters are the ones fighting for the good and the survival of mankind. You cant help but root for the little hobbit friends to take down the mighty Sauron. The special effects make it seem so real, and you start to convince yourself it actually happened long ago. This movie is an epic experience and it will leave you wanting more. Two thumbs up for the fellowship of the Ring.

Shawkshank Redemption

One of my favortite movies of all time is Shawshank Redemption, starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. The film is directed by Frank Darabont.

The story takes place in the Shawshank state prison in Maine, where Tim Robbins' character Andy is falsley charged for murdering his own wife. He and the warden of the prison have many disagreements and eventually get a rivalry going. Because of Andy's banking backround, he is able to get a sport working for the warden. in exchange Andy gets to fix up their library and make it his own. During this stint with the warden Andy finds out about some ilegal buisness affairs that is going on with the warden. This helps him later. Life was tough in prison; from getting raped by other inmates to constant trouble from the warden, Andy's determination and intelligence helps him to keep truckin' through the everyday life that is prison. Andy has one goal of getting out, and that is the only goal he wishes to reach. He once says " Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things; and good things never die"

This film is a story about a man whos life was unfair, but he never quit. This film be a movie for all ages in that sense, but is more of an adult film because of the realness of jail and conspiracy.

Although this movie wasn't a hit out of the gates at the box office, it has gone down as a top notch film that is becoming a classic. Both Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman won the 1994 best actor award for the film. It also won best picture from the national board of review, as well as best sound, editing, picture, cinimetagraphy, and adapted screenplay from the academy.

All the awards were well deserved, but the cinematography stood out to me. I remember the second time Andy gets raped in prison it is in a deep focus lense. I think he chose this lense to show that this wasn't one bad day, but something that was happening frequently, and there was nothing he could do. Yet, Andy kept pluggin' away. The cinematographer also used lots of low key lighting to show Andy in the dark and alone, I think to emphasize his personal struggle. While also using it on the warden to show that his power was soley his, like a dictator.

Overall, I can't say enough about this movie. It will go down with a spot in my top 5. I thought the plot of the story was amazing and the characters were great. But without the eerie sound effects and different uses of the camera, this movie wouldnt be nearly as intense and fulfilling. This one gets 2 thumbs up, 4 stars, 10/10 whatever you want to call it; it was the experience that you look for when walking into a theatre, and then some.

Recently I have not watched many movies. The other night I was flipping through channels and stumbled across Harold and Kumar on TBS. Other than that I havnt watched a movie in a long while, and none since we have earned about the different aspects of directing in Art of Film class. Just today i had mentioned to my dad that we were watching Citizen Kane. He told me it was one of his all time favorite movies; he actually made a top 5 list for me, but i forget most of the others. Anyway, I told him how we were disecting it to find different movie making techniques. He told me he really liked the movie but had an interesting story to tell about his experience seeing it the first time. I was walking out the door to physical therapy for my knee, and he still hasnt told me. So that is one relevent something on my mind to share in my Art of Film blog. Maybe ill blog about his story next time.

Recently I read a movie review by Mark LaSalle about the new hit comedy Superbad. I have seen this movie and thought it was a must see. His review reflects on many of the feelings and emotions I felt during this movie.

LaSalle first introduces us to the general genre as a comedy, while also informing the reader that he absoutly loved it. He even went as far as to say,

For pure laughs, for the experience of just sitting in a chair and breaking up
every minute or so, "Superbad" is 2007's most successful comedy.

Right off the bat he gives the show a great rating, reminding us of our favorite movies where we know we can sit and laugh for a good couple hours. LaSalle then describes the setting and how many highschoolers and high school grads can relate to.

It's a high school comedy, and the humor is sometimes crude, but the
impulse behind the humor isn't crude at all. Behind its bits, "Superbad" is
loaded with genuine and truthful observations about what it's like to be a high
school senior, to have the mind of an adult and the judgment of a house plant,
to have tremendous longings and yet no power - to be at an age when just buying
a six-pack requires the detailed planning of a master criminal.

I think this is exactly what director Greg Mottola was trying to accomplish. The movie's general theme applies to a very wide variety of people and really brings into being a Senior in high school. The movie describes one day when two "losers" finally get the girl and become cool. It is the story of their one last effort to do the things they alwasy dreamed of doing. The two best friends let the word out that their buddy has a fake ID. This leads to both of their high school crushes asking them to hook em' up with some for a party. This is there chance. Turns out their friend ends up getting interegated by the cops while he is trying to buy their presious alchohol. The two decide to ditch him in order to try to fufill there dreams of losing there virginity to those girls. Throughout there long journey they run into many random and hilarious setbacks. But in the end they make it, and thier lives are changed forever.

LaSalle perfectly expresses the thoughts that I encountered while watching this film. He says how Seth and Michael are the perfect characters for the movie, and I agree completly. It wouldnt have been funny with anybody else. Overall I agreed with Mark LaSalle that Superbad is a must see show and will keeping you giggling for hours, and wanting to watch it again. I give this movie a strong reccomondation to high school juinors and older (because of its vulgar language). Hope this review got you excited about the movie, because I still don't think words can explain the laugh out loud comedy Superbad.