Final Blog Post

Wes Anderson's films were all fun to watch in class because the movies were all light-hearted. Bottle Rocket and Rushmore both had many similarities and the styles were also similar. Both films had many close ups along with quick pans. They also both had slow motion shots at the ends. Anderson's films usually contain a middle aged character whose life is crumbling apart. In Rushmore, Herman Blume was very depressed with his life and in Bottle Rocket, Dignan seemed to be at a hopeless point in his life. Dignan was very stupid and he naturally sees the positive things which made the fact that he was so dumb funny.

The movie I watched on my own was The Royal Tenenbaums. From the start, I could tell that this movie had many sumilarities to the other two. Just like the others, this movie wasn't a movie where the plot needed to be analyzed. It was a very light movie with dry humor just like the others. The movie made the family seem very fictional. The kids were aspiring stars at a young age, and it was clear that this was a movie to be laughed at, not analyzed. The movie used a lot of music similar to the other films. The music Wes Anderson uses is very odd calm music. There were tons of close ups to characters and the narraration was similar to Rushmore. The movie used close ups on characters while the narrator gave us backround on the characters. This reminded me of Rushmore where it showed all the extracurricular activities Max was in. Wes Anderson movies in my opinion, are movies made to get cheap laughs out of people. They are not very funny if you don't like to laugh at dry humor, but Wes Anderson had found much success making these movies.

Rushmore

http://www.ram.org/ramblings/movies/rushmore.html _ Link to review

I thought Wes Anderson did a great job producing Rushmore and Max Fisher was a very well developed character. The review I read talks about how Wes Anderson creates characters that have many good qualities but also bad ones. Max Fisher obviously has many problems, but to some people he is a very charismatic character. He has the type of attitude that never quits and never gives up. The photo at the top shows one of the many extracurricular activities Max led. He is able to do what he loves, but it seems like he is doing this to cover up the fact that he has no friends. Wes Anderson's characters seem to always have a noticable flaw and in this movie, it is Max's social presence. He is an outcast at the school's he goes to, but overcomes this for the most part by taking control of whatever he can. This movie relates to Bottle Rocket because in bottle rocket, Dignand was a charismatic character and his flaw was his lacking intelligence. People might argue that he was smart in a way, but the bottom line is that he just wasn't a very smart guy. Wes Anderson in my opinion produces very, very average movie. Low-budget comedies like this usually never make as much money as major movies such as Lord of the Rings, but they produce enough. I do not like Wes Anderson's movies overall because they are to unrealistic combined with being touchy at the ends.

The Coen Brothaz

I was very saddened and my heart sunk at the end of No Country for Old Men, produced by Joel and Ethan Coen, when the credits unexpectedly appeared. Maybe it was because the media and everybody around me built it up to be a masterpiece, but I was let down. Even so, I thought it was an above average film, just not the academy award winning film it is. I thought they did a great job producing the lone desert feel to the setting of the film. Anton Chigurh, played by Javier Bardem, was a stone-cold faced killer with zero compassion towards people's lives. He made the movie great in my opinion. He was a very flat character in a way because all we know about him is that he likes money and doesn't even have to swallow after killing somebody. Everything he did scared the crap out of me, and when he was in a shootout in the street with Moss I felt like I was in Moss' position and actually running away. Having Moss in the movie made me able to relate because Moss was an average guy like all of us trying to act tough. When he told Chigurh that he should be worried on the phone, and ended up looking pathetic on camera, I thought of a friend trying to act tough on the phone to another high school punk. The thing that brought the film down a level to me was that there was to climax to all the action. The whole movie I was thinking that there was going to be a twist or a car chase, but there was no climax. After seeing Moss dead, I realized there might not be a climax, and my thoughts were confirmed when the credits came up after Ed Tom Bell spoke, "And then I woke up."

Robert Altman

I didn't think any of the Robert Altman films were enjoyable to watch except for The Last Goodbye which was just mildly appealing. In The Last Goodbye I enjoyed watching the main character Philip Marlowe, played by Elliot Gould, act like a low-life but still work as a good detective. His personality captivated my attention during the early scenes in the movie where he tried so hard to get his cat food while he continued to chain-smoke. The smoking did take my attention away from the movie because I thought it took away from the acting ability of Gould. I think that there are better things for a character to do in their down-time than smoke, and I think other things would let us learn more about the character. Besides that, I thought that he was a great actor. Nashville didn't interest me at all because I have zero interest in country music. Although I didn't like it, I thought that the camera work composed by Altman was very good in Nashville. I liked the way the camera would be showing something going on, but be emphasizing a character in the background. This happened once when the woman was being shown in the background while the blonde haired guy who wanted her was singing "I'm Easy." I thought that The Player had too many unrealistic characters to be any good to watch. That type of stuff where characters such as the black cop lady act ridiculous turn me away from movies. I thought it also seemed somewhat unrealistic that the main character killed the woman's husband, and then he went on to fall in love with her. Besides these downsides, I thought that Altman brought a lot of uniqeness in the way he mixed dialogue in with different camera angles. Overall, I don't like Altman much as a director because he apparently doesn't make movies to fit my interests. Film Noir, country music, and the film industry just aren't things that interest me.

Ran and Akira Kurosawa

Ran was a wonderfully developed movie with scenes that intrigued me because of their uniqueness. The reading of the subtitles was bothersome, but not enough to make the movie not worth watching. The way Kurosawa shot the battle scences was very unique along with his portrayal of war. Most war movies these days try glorify soldiers in war and show the intensity of battle. Ran did not follow this pattern. The battle scences were gruesome and the music was mellow and sad. This made the movie very intruging and made me look inside myself and think of war from a different perspective. Sure, I already knew being in a war would be horrible, but it was very interesting to see a movie show it like that.

The other part of the film that I thought Kurosawa did a great job was with the style of the actors. Without the right mindset, one might think that the actors were overdramatic and unrealistic. With the mindset knowing that the movie is for enjoyment and it might not be the most realistic acting, the Noh theatre element was intruging. The main Lord in the movie seemed to be overdramatic in his anger and sadness. Everything he did was like he was going mad and he was just a total nut. It reminded me of a phycho mortal combat movie. The battle scenes were fun to watch as the troops just kept dropping one after another. The overdramatic unique style which I had never experienced before made this movie a fun one.

Philadelphia

This movie produced by Jonathan Demme did not resemble the other movies we watched of his. This movie was more of a drama than an action/suspense. I fould this movie about a court case filled with prevalent social issues to be quite boring. By no means was it a poorly directed film, the plot was just boring. Who wants to see a movie about a boring trial when you could see a movie with a blood and flesh eating maniac?

Besides this movie having an uninteresting plot, it was way too long. I found myself praying to the lord that it would end at least five times. When Andrew collapsed during trial, I didn't find myself shedding a tear, I was rejoicing because I thought the movie could possibly be coming to an end. Was I ever wrong...

Aside from bashing the movie, I was able to pick out similarities to Demme's other movies in the directing style. The use of angles to show authority reminded me of Demme's wonderful film Silence of the Lambs. Denzel Washington was always given a low angle to match his authoritative personality. When Andrew collapsed, a high algle was shot to show the pain and panic he experienced. This made him appear as the underdog in the story, uncapable of winning. He used great camera techniques to add style and interest, but in the end, I don't care because the story wasn't the most exciting.

Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock is widely considered to be one of the greatest movie directors of all time. I found his movies to be quite boring. This doesn't take away from his credentials of being a great director because he lacked the technology and money to make a film that would be popular these days. Analyzing his films, it is easy to see why he is considered an expert producer. He is able to use suspense to get people interested. Out of all the movies we watched, I thought Rear Window was the least boring although I would never waste my time watching it if it wasn't in school. The movie kept me slightly interested because of Hitchcock's use of suspense.

Rear Window was able to keep me awake and slightly interested because Hitchcock gave an interesting perspective on human nature. Having a broken leg in that day and age before XBox's were in existence would leave you stuck in the stone age. It was very interesting to see what what the guy decided to do with his free time. He ended up spying on a murder; whether he was invading people's privacy or not is for you to decide. The suspence of him catching the murderer combined with his love life with his desperate girlfriend made the story worth following. This movie produced today, would be comparable to the great motion picture Disturbia. With the same money and technology, it would be debatable which movie would be more thrilling.

Ridley Scott- Hannibal

Hannibal the sequel to The Silence of the Lambs was a highly anticipated film because of the first movies success, but it turned out to be a major let down. The main reason for this was because Ridley Scott directed it instead of Jonathan Demme who directed the first one. This movie did not have as well thought out of a plot, probably because the director was counting on having people interested based off it being a sequel to a great movie. The plot featured Hannibal on the loose looking for Clarice Starling, played by Julianne Moore instead of Jodie Foster in the first one.

The plot seemed very unoriginal after seeing the first movie of the series. Instead of relying on suspense and a dramatic plot line, the movie used gore and ridiculous unbelievable events for excitement. A 5th grader might find that by itself exciting, but more mature audiences need more than just blood and guts alone for excitement. The problem with this movie, and many sequels to good movies, is that it seems to rely too much on the past movie in the series, and therefore doesn't have as much effort put into its creation. The movie is boring almost throughout the whole thing. The events where Hannibal attacks people are too off the wall and unrealistic to be enjoyable. What made The Silence of the Lambs exciting was the unknown about the characters and their unpredictability. In this movie, there was nothing unknown about Hannibal and there was nothing new introduced. You already know that he is a cannibalistic psycho out to eat the tastiest person he can find. The movie is just a waste of time to watch for most sensible people. The reason I would have loved this movie when I was ten or eleven is because this movie seemed capable of being produced by a kid the same age.

Jonathan Demme

Jonathan Demme- The Silence of the Lambs

Richard Demme created a classic hit in making the suspense horror The Silence of the Lambs. This movie was so exciting it left myself wanting to go rent the sequal right after finishing it. Anthony Hopkins did a Oscar deserving job playing the role of Dr. Hannibal Lector, a phsychotic cannibal out to eat people he thinks look to be tasty. He talked with the slow tone in his voice that sounded like what you would expect of an insane killer. You can tell by his pleasurable expressions that he loves getting a reaction from people as he creeps them out purpousfully. The plot and the twisted mindset of the characters is what made this movie so suspenseful. The characters leave you with suspense because you never know what they are thinking because they come off as having such abnormal minds.

Jodie Foster plays a strong woman named Clarice Starling, who works in a workforce with almost all men who come off as arrogant and sexist and seem to only think of her as pretty woman and nothing else. She works for the FBI and is put out to find a girl who has been kidnapped by a phsychotic molesting rapist similar to Hannibal Lector except he is not cannibalistic. She goes to Hannibal's prison cell in order to talk to him and try and figure out how these types of people think so she can find the kidnapper and the girl. Hannibal is compliant as long as he is able to ask her about herself. He uses her information and creeps her out by telling her much about her life which he already knows and he brings back bad memories from her childhood. She is creeped out but at the very least a person would be because of her strong mindset where she seems to be able to put stuff she doesn't want to think about in the back of her head. After a few days short talks, Hannibal agrees to give her information about where he thinks the kidnapper might be if she lets him transfer to a nicer prison cell. When he transfers, he is able to escape. I am leaving out the rest of the details and plot because I don't want to ruin the suspense for people.

The insane characters did a great job of making the viewer think about humans. The characters left me perplexed at how someone could do and enjoy the thinks they did to people. The obscurity of their actions left me wondering if there were people who actually thought like that. One might think that a movie about crazy cannibals would be too out there and fake, but as ridiculous as people who enjoy eating people for breakfast, lunch, and dinner may seem, the actors were able to give off that image in a realistic way. Hannibal Lector is a very intelligent man who graduated from college and became a therapist. He later took information from his patients and used them as prey. The best part of the movie is just the overall spooky feel the movie gives you. Anthony Hopkins deserves most of the credit. Jonathan Demme deserves some credit also for the scences he set up and the costumes and makeup which added to the spookyness.