Do the Right Thing

This was a very interesting movie to follow up the Battle of Algiers, in the sense that it was pretty much a complete 180 of that movie. It takes place in New York City, most likely Harlem in a mostly black community with a white owned pizzeria.

It was very unorthodox in the fact that there was no real main character. Mookie the pizza delivery boy was one of the people followed around but this movie didn't really focus on him, instead it focused on many people that ended up bight tied together in the plot at the end.

On of the main issues in the movie was racism. There is racism towards, whites, blacks, Hispanics, and Vietnamese. Basically everyone is experiencing some form of racism. Since Sal's is a white owned store in a dominantly black neighborhood Sal himself is viewed as a racist in some of the black customer's eyes. He is accused because of the fact that there were no pictures of black people on the wall and a few people started to boycott the restaurant. The person accusing is viewed as a racist because he makes such a big deal that black people aren't represented on the wall.

So in the end the racism gets the best and the cops kill a black guy and all hell breaks loss. The restaurant is burned tot he ground and Sal is forced out of the neighborhood because of that. When he tries to make a mends with Mookie Mookie is rude in return, showing the the issue is not solved.

Battle of Algiers

This was a very powerful and deep movie. I can see why the pentagon used it to see the inside of a terrorist organization, since it is based around the FLN, and the France government trying to dissemble it by taking out the leaders. The analogy of the terrorist being like a tape worm were you can pick off the bottom as much as you want but it won't be solved until you remove the head.

Even though the movie was entirely in subtitles and was hard to read from the back of the room the heavy plot of the movie and tensions felt from the characters in the film. There was no real hero and villain, but instead both sides had their moments where you felt sympathetic for their side and other moments where you couldn't help but feel like they were evil.

My overall feel for the film was that the Algiers, and the FLN in particular were pretty much the typical terrorist group, for lack of a better term. They could be viewed as the protagonist at times but they were also blowing you Innocent people. They would bomb anywhere no matter if the people in the place were oppressors or not. They would kill anyone for their cause. But as the saying goes, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.

The French took a darker side showing them use torture to get information and intimidate the people with their army. Also at the end using six sticks of dynamite to blow up I think it was three people and a child. A little over done if you ask me.

But all in all I found this to be a very good movie and would recommend it to anyone who doesn't mind subtitles. As I said this is a very powerful film.

Chinatown

Chinatown was one of the more interesting film noirs in this unit. It might have been my favorite film for this unit if it didn't take us like 3 weeks to watch the hole movie.

It didn't exactly feel really film noirish, in the sense that it was more of a detective movie to me. Most of the movie in the beginning of the film was in brood day light, and it didn't give you the feeling of hopelessness or powerlessness like many people describe film noirs as. Instead it felt almost optimistic and upbeat. JJ wasn't in too much trouble if he didn't investigate the murder case it was just showing that he had made a mistake when he got hired to see if molry was cheating, since it wasn't really molry's wife that hired him.

At any point in the film he could have stopped investigating the case and carried on like nothing happened. In the other film noirs we watch the main characters were in it no matter what from the beginning, like Mike Hammer watching the naked girl being killed or in Out of the Past, having the main character have no choice but to do as he is told or he will get killed.

The ending of the film was the only real film noir scene in the movie and Beau R. pointed out. It was the only scene with obvious shadows and low lighting plus it was the only time you felt the hopelessness. The confusion with the police and Cross, plus Cross being the girl's father and grandfather which is just nasty. Then having evil win over good just made it feel dirty and in a sense more noiry.

Over all I did like the film even though it didn't give me the noir sense in its entirety but it still was a great movie. I would recommend it to just about anyone.

Kiss Me Deadly

What is there that one can say about the movie Kiss Me Deadly. Honestly after viewing the movie I thought it was a joke ending. Nothing against you Mr. K but this was one of the worst movies I have ever seen. And justifying it by saying it was meant to be a B list movie jsut shows they know it was a dud.

The entire story doesn't really make any sense. Hammer picks up a naked girl who escaped from a mental hospital who makes sexual noises. Then gets kidnapped with her, watched her die and is almost killed himself. Then the FBI shows up and there is a big deal around this box.

I know it was a movie and everything doesn't have to work like it does in the real world but you're expected to think that a wooden box in a leather case in some random gym locker holds an nuclear weapon that brings the holocaust. Now what kind of drug was this person on when they made the plot. A group of monkeys with a pen and paper in a room could write a better plot then that. Hell my 3 year old cousin is Shakespeare compared to this.

And in genarl the Mike Hammer character is just some asshole who is looking for a fat check to come out of this one. Plus if I got a brand new jaguar from some random guy, bombs or no bombs you take that car and keep you mouth shut. That car probably cost the entire movie bugdet.

Well all in all I think you know my opinion of the movie and my review. so low writing about it is making me think about it which is giving me a headache.

Out of the Past

I have to admit coming into this film, I was expecting to watch some corny, cheese detective story. You know the kind. The ones with the private eye in a trench coat, calor popped, and a hat pulled down low. Because that is what I thought of when I thought film noir. And in some cases that is true but in this film out of the past i was pleasantly suppressed because I actually liked it a lot.

I mean what more can you ask for then a kickass hero who basically does every hot girl in the movie, even the bad ones. He's even got a deaf mute sidekick who doesn't even get a real name just "The Kid". Here's a guy who at the beginnign of the film just wants to move on in his life live a motist existance running a gas atation in some small town. But no his past comes out of nowhere to finish what he started. You might even say it came "Out of the Past" if you will.

Jeff was definately no of the coolest characters we have seen so far in art of film. But the way the movie makes him quietly appear and have low key lighting on his face just makes it that much more intense. And even though you never actually see a gun shot every time you hear one you know someone just died, usually by the hands of Kathie.

Now which this movie being followed by Kiss Me Deadly it makes it look just that much better. So if you have yet to see this movie and like old style crime solving films, pick it up sometime you might just be suprised.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotles Mind

This was a movie unlike any I have seen before. And I can honestly say it made me think about school on the weekend. I found myself going "I can't wait til Monday so we can finish the movie in class". For those of you who know me you will know that school is not what I'm interested in outside of the classroom, and usually in the classroom too.

The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was on of the most artist films I have ever seen. Everything in the movie was done on purpose. The small things too, like when Joel walks into the kitchen to find the nose and the TV shows his body, and the words slowly disappearing from the street signs and the books. And having the car crash out of nowhere when Joel talks about how his world is falling apart. It was the small things like this that show just how much thought was put into the making of this movie.

And the plot of this movie was unbelievable. A love lost and the anger impulse that follows to erase the memory. Then in the possess realizing why you fell in love in the first place and trying to stop the memory lose. You find yourself throughout the entire movie feeling for Joel, wanting him to somehow sucseeded and keep his memories just to watch it all slowly slip out of his hands. No matter how hard he tried to resist the memories just disappear. And the side plot between Frodo and Clementine, stealing Joel's past with Clem to win her heart. Then the Doc and Mary having a history and Mary not knowing it. The though of losing your most dear memories is frightening, and it makes you think about your own past relationships that when wrong. Then you realize yourself that you were only remembering the end, the bad times. The fight that ended it, the build up of anger, the break up. Well this movie, at least for me, made me think of relationships like that, then I started thinking of how the bad overshadowed the good times. I gives you a new perspective on you past as a whole. All the bad times you had don't seem as important, but the good seem stronger. And I think that that is one of the many ideas from the movie.

Plus this movie had a comic side to it. A movie that had very serious ideas behind it also had pothead jokes. The friend who was a stoner kept adding in comments about it, talking about how the smoking even out his drinking, then saying he can't see a thing. And Jim Carey being Jim Carey at some points, making it feel like a more manageable movie.

This is now a movie I am willing to add to my favorites list, and I recommend it for anyone who breaths, and even some people who don't.

His Girl Friday

The movie that we just finish watching in class earlier this week was His Girl Friday. This was to cover our screwball genre for the class and I felt it was a great choice. Now normally I don't really like the older style movies or the romantic take a girl to see it movie. But this one was not unbearable.

I won't lie it isn't making my all time favorite movies list but at the same time I've seen worse. The thing that I like about this movie is you don't have a chance to not pay attention. The movie moves so fast, the action happens quickly, the characters that at a ridiculously fast pace, they have multiple phone conversations at once, and you can never see what's coming next. Maybe that is because you don't have a chance to stop and think about it but that's besides the point. A movie that can keep me on my toes, trying to keep up with what is going on appeals to me. I mean I liked the Matrix trilogy cause it had the same kind of thing going for it where there is so much happening. Now It's not like you can compare The Matrix to His Girl Friday, since they are completely different styles of movies but they both keep you thinking.

But I also didn't like this film for the way that they expect you to think that this all happened in like one day. Hildy and Walter were married and got a divorce. Hildy just stopped by to say she quites and Walter starts trying to win her back. Then conveniently there is this huge story going on that Hildy has to report on for one last story. Then this story gets huge and they act like they never had the divorce. Now I've had friend with divorced parents and sometimes they can remain friends, but those two were ready to jump in bed together. And at the end of the day they want to get married again forgetting that they already tried that just a little while ago.

So over all I have to stay neutral on this movie. There were too many conflicting things to have me make a choice to like or dislike. I'll have to stay on the fence.

Unforgiven

Will I decided to write on the use of lighting throughout the film. There was a very clear intent to use the high key and low key lighting to show power and fear for character and I thought it was very well used. For instance The first time the Schofield Kid talks to Will Munny trying to convince him to do another job with him and kill the two cowboys for the whores one thousand dollars. The director decided to make the entire sense in low key, which I think really added to the seriousness of what was happening. I mean Will was a retired bounty hunter basically and was reformed by his late wife. But in the sense you could tell from the expression on his face and the way the light caught it that there was a true killer hidden inside. I also noticed how the Schofield Kid did not have that kind of lighting on him at the time. He was closer to the window and didn't exactly have high key lighting but there was more. Which was really a for shadow of the fact that the Kid had never killed anyone. Obviously at the time I had now idea that, that could be a reason for the different light but looking back it kind of makes sense.

Next major one that comes to mind is when Will is sick and at the whore house. Now in this case the low lighting wasn't used to make Will seem more dangerous, in fact it was the opposite it help to establish the crappy feeling and showed the severity of Will's illness. The Lil Bill shows up and starts to beat the crap out of Will having the lighting even lower and Will laid on the ground in darker shadow showing the pain he was receiving from the beating.

Last but not least was the final shoot off at the whore house. Now this time was a lot like the first example I talked about using low key lighting to show the killer inside of Will. But this time Will isn't just hiding deep inside, the killer comes out and everyone in the place is terrified of what is happening. It makes Will look like a bad ass shooting up the place killing all who he sees as guilty. This light almost makes Will look like the bad guy. And instead of riding off into the sunset he rides off into the dark, like an evil returning home.

So through the use of lighting the director of this film help to make the shots mush more meaningful and strong. Clint Eastwood clearly know what he was doing and turned out a great film.

The film that I viewed to meet the criteria for movie before 1960s was “The Bribe of Frankenstein” created in 1935. Well to start off with all the TVs in my house must have been broken cause no matter which one I tried the movie kept showing up in black and white. It was really weird cause after I was done watching and flipped to TV channels it worked again. Weird. And I don’t want to ruin the ending for anyone so if you don’t already know don’t read the last paragraph of this.

It was a very creative script and the main plot of the movie was very intriguing. The writer for this movie was the late William Hurlbut. There was a lot of this movie that I did not previously know, for instance the actual story of Frankenstein was created by a writer in the movie and she is merely explaining what happens next after her book left off with the windmill burning and everyone thinking the monster was dead. Now in the credits it says this movie was based on a novel by Mary Shelley but I couldn’t find out if that was just for the first Frankenstein of both so I don’t know who to credit with this creative way of telling the story.

The chief cinematographer of the film was the late John J. Mescall. He was cinematographer for ninety films and was most noted for his work on the Invisible Man in 1966. There was a lot of low lighting throughout the movie making it have more of a scary feel to it, but as for the camera work there were just a lot of common things such as tracking, close ups, etc. They were all just common things used right.

I was unable to find anything on the set designer or anything like that. But I was able to find out who was in charge of the music. His name was C. Bakaleinkoff who used an original score and was nominated for 4 Oscars for this movie. There were composers involved in the making of the sound track obviously to create the music and they were striving to create a sound that would add to the scariness of the situations.

The acting was nothing really special other then it was extremely dramatic. All of the actors and actresses spoke very loudly and freaked out over everything. The creepy old lady who was the servant scared me way more then the actual movie. The main actors were: Boris Karloff who played the monster, Colin Clive Dr. Frankenstein and Ernest Thesiger Dr. Pretorius. For the actresses there was only one main one, Valerie Hobson who played Elizabeth Frankenstein.

One thing that really bothered me for the end of the movie was the fact that there was one random lever in the lad that seemed to serve no good purpose. The lever was very large and stuck out, it was a lever that when pulled blew up the castle. I don’t know if that was just a design flaw from the contractors of the castle or what but I don’t think I would want one of those in my house, especially one that was huge. I mean what the hell?

Even though I was not there to see the end of the movie Stagecoach, I still feel like I got a good read on the movie. It was a very interesting movie, I had never seen a Western that was that old before and I was interesting to seen an old style movie featuring John Wayne in his break though movie.

The acting in the movie was a little dry for my liking. I never really felt pulled into the plot and really wasn't that interested in the story and the reason all of the characters were going. I felt like just a random bunch of people put together in a stagecoach and riding through dangerous Native American land.

As far as the camera angles go, that is where I felt the movie made up for the lack of plot. Even though it was somewhat ovious that the director was shooting from the same place in different directions the long shots of the desert and the terrain were amazing. And the camera angles for the narrative were impressive too.

Overall Stagecoach is not my favorite movie but I still can appreciate the art behind it. Westerns seem pretty cool to me and I am looking very forward to seeing all of Client Eastwood in Unforgiven.

Citizen Kane is viewed as one of the most innovated and artistically original that it was a mile stone in all of film making. And I have many things to write about for Citizen Kane being so creative in my viewing guide, and Mr. K. also said to refer to it to help find some guidance. Well unfortunately Mr. K. also had us turn in those viewing guides with my notes in today. So I will do my best to remember.

The narrative in Citizen Kane is very creative. It is the story of this man’s life without any one person telling it. Instead it is a reporter talking to people that were in Charles Foster Kane’s life recapping their memoirs of Kane. But since it is the story of one man’s life you would think there would be someone telling to overall story. Instead there is no main narrator, just flashbacks of Kane’s life some of the same moments just from different perspectives. Like Susan’s first opera show, when it was Jed’s view it was just Susan’s open and two stagehands making fun of her. Where as Susan’s view was much more detailed showing the audience and more of her performance.

Also the movie really started from the end. Kane dies in the opening scene of the movie then Thompson the reporter is instructed to find out what rosebud is, Kane’s dying word. So from there Thompson digs into Kane’s past finding out what his life installed, interviewing Kane’s friends, wives, and coworkers. He even reads Thacher’s (the man who raised Kane) memoirs showing what his childhood was like. So it’s like you already know what is going to happen; now you just have to find out how he got there. With this style it gives a new way to tell a story, bringing the audience in more to find out why this happened the way it did. And it was Orson Welles who played Kane in throughout the years, so he knows what he wanted and he could put it to action with the way he played Kane. It made the narrative easier to understand and get a feel for what is happening.

Picture from www.laurahird.com/showcase/alanbissett.html

The movie that I will be writing about is already acknowledged as an America classic and is viewed by many as one of the greatest movies made, I’m talking of course Mario Puzo’s The Godfather. Now I’m sure this isn’t the first time you have heard this name before and for many of you, you most likely have seen this film. Well if you haven’t then in this writers opinion you have either been living in a hole or are crazy cause at one point in your life you must fall in love, get you heart broken, and watch The Godfather.

If you fall into one of the two categories above The Godfather is a drama based in 1946 following the Corleone family, a Sicilian crime family that is one of five that run New York. The leader of the familia Corleone is Don Corleone played by Marlon Brando refuses to support this new hot shot narcotics dealer Sollozzo (Al Lettieri). Now after this refusal Sollozzo and the Tessios, another family, attempt to kill the Don shooting him five times. The Don survives but in his weakened condition Sunny (James Caan) runs the family until his father is healthy. Sunny being the hot head he is wants to go to the mattresses (gang war) with the other families but winds up getting killed leaving Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) to run the family and deal with the huge problems facing him. Having never been a big part of the family’s business running a crime family is no easy job.

I personal think that this is a work of art. Now my opinion may be a little unfair growing up in a family that thinks this movie is almost and significant and maybe even the bible. Be there is a lot to this movie. You get so sucked into the complex plot you will think you are there with Michael through his struggles. Being based off of the Mario Pazo book the writing for this movie is unbelievable; there is an amazingly large amount of quotes produced from this film from the powerful text.

One thing I couldn’t stop noticing is the fact that the entire movie seems to be shot in low lighting. This adds to the felling, making it seem like the movie is really a documentary, showing the power and passion spewing from the Don and the angry and unstoppable rage of Sunny. It isn’t uncommon for a director to use low lighting in movies, but the director Francis Ford Coppola seemed to be really initiative using it during the entire movie.

Next it is the small symbols that really stuck out to me pulling me into the movie just that much more. Like for instance the red rose worn by the Don symbolizing how elite and powerful he is setting him above everyone else. And there is a fish put in someone’s body armor saying he is sleeping with the fishes. It is the small things like this that really make to movie for me, if there isn’t an effort on this level the there wasn’t enough effort put into it.

I would recommend The Godfather to anyone who can see and many of the blind too cause they can still listen to the plot. This is and will always remain one of my favorite movies and I recommend that everyone give it a shoot at least once. You’d be surprised how much you might like it.

Well to start off I’m not really sure what you are looking for in this assignment that has no real requirements, so I am just going to talk about a movie that I feel is overlooked and unknown. The movie I am speaking of is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas starring Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro. Now this is an older movie and maybe in its day it was well known but now it is in my opinion a forgotten classic. As far as the plot goes, there really isn’t one. That’s kind of the genius behind it. I is more of a fake documentary of a reporter named Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp) and his “legal advisor” named Dr. Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro) who actually has no reason for being with Raoul. This odd couple wind up getting a job reporting on a race in Vegas, but instead go on the biggest drug binge and acid trip in the city of lights. These two just go around getting whatever they want and escaping before getting busted or having to pay of any of it. Now this may not be a real appropriate movie from its adult content but the way thing are portrayed in the movie are amazing. The is no real way to describe how a drug will effect someone let allow show it through the person’s eyes in a movie, but through a very creative script, well used camera shots and amazing acting possible on the edge of psychotic this film is a work of art. I is amazing what they portrayed through this film showing that which can’t be capture or described, and yet I found myself getting so pulled into this crazy confusing movie that I watched it two times in one day just to be able to wrap my mind around the underlying meanings behind the actions of the characters. I would recommend this movie to anyone who can keep an open mind but don’t even try to understand it the first time you watch it. Just buckle up and get ready to follow a crazy ride.

The first movie's review that I read was Amy Biancolli's impression of Superbad http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/movies/reviews/5030667.html. I many ways I agree with what Mrs. Bianolli had to say, she spoke of how Superbad was an epic journey of three high school boys trying to reach the ultimate goal of all teenage boys, to score with some hot girls that are way out of their league. Maybe they will be fortunate enough to be the ones the girls so "What the hell I probably won't remember anyways". Bionaolli also talks about the none stop comedy displayed in the movie that is a mix of dirty sex jokes and the will of high school boys to got some. She also compares Superbad to one of the funniest movies you will ever see that is just about getting some fast food, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. I find this to be a great comparison, even though the main plot of the movies are different the overall feel of the movie is the same. A couple of young guys trying to do a seemingly easy goal but along the way run into all kinds of trouble and misadventures. Now Bionaolli also talks about the two police officers in the movie that bring McLovin, also know as Fogell along on a ride along against his will at first. Now she refers to them as corrupting Fogell but really they were not. They even explain that to Fogell himself when the "cock block" him. They knew all along that he was not twenty five but the wanted to prove to Fogell and themselves that not all cops are stuck up ass holes and that some can be fun. I think the Bionaolli completely missed that point cause that was the reasons for Fogell's adventure of the night, hell he can even say the I got drunk and shot at street sights with two loaded cops. That is the ultimate story to tell people because who else can honestly say that they have done that too? This movie may not have done some amazing camera shots of breath taking special effects but I have a feeling that we will be hearing quotes from this movie for years to come. They may not be used as much as Borat quote but they are also a little more dirty, like "The thing about my back is its one my cock" and "You know when you hear a girl say 'I was so I can't believe I did stuff with him'. We could be that guy". I my opinion and from what I can tell Amy Bionaolli's opinion is that Superbad will become a classic comedy of three high school guys trying to get some booze, get some action and have some fun. I would watch this movie again and again and I sure I will keep laughing just as hard, nothing can beat dirty humor and sex jokes so if you can keep an open mind and take o joke as a joke then this movie is for you.