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.

The Battle of Algiers-- New York Review

I read the New York Article about the battle of Algiers. The article gave the movie a great war arguing that the director gave a realistic picture of war. I found it amazing that the FLN leader actually played the FLN leader in the movie. Knowing this previously would have changed how I looked at him and paid more attention to him emotions. The article also mentioned Ali, the theif who becomes an FLN radical after viewing many Algerians being executed while in prison. It explains how his character showed true hatred and emotion toward the French and said that his face in the film represented many of the Algerians. When I read the part about how Ali came to be a radical against the French, I came to think that if I were in the same situation in prison I might up becoming a radical too. The whole Algerian race endured so much hatred and resent that it makes sense that they decided that the benefit of war was worth the cost. At the end of the article, it praises the movie for not taking one countries side. I agree with this. People are instinctively out for themselves first, but overall, all people are pretty much the same and they do things for different reasons so you need to respect all people; even the ones tearing your country apart. Today, the United States may or may not be doing what is needs to do, but as a country, we should make sure that we have respect for people regardless.

Chinatown

Chinatown threw me off at first because it is color and it is considered film-noir. This was hard to accept at first because it doesn't look the same with colors other than black and white. Shadoms and gloomy situations look differently. The night scenes made it feel a little more like film-noir but most of the film took place during the day-time. Another thing that seemed odd about the film was that Jack Nicholson wore the nose bandage for almost the whole movie after he was cut and he was the main character. This did make the movie more realistic because being sliced in the nose would take a long time to heal, but let's face it, most movies are not realistic if you look deeply into them and this movie didn't follow that trend. This movie had too many things in it sidetracking the audience from the story.

Kiss Me Deadly

Kiss Me Deadly started out to be a ridiculous film right when the girl was picked up and she made crying sounds which sounded nothing like actual crying. During the first half the movie seemed to be somewhat serious and seemed like it would be a professional-like movie. The movie seemed like film-noir at the beginning but then it started to change into being ridicuous. The main character used senseless violence more and more as the movie went on. He was portrayed as being somewhat like a superman as the movie went on. This can be compared to Live Free or Die Hard, although not to the same extent, where Bruce Willis is basically invincible and cannot be stopped. To me the movie did not seem very professional but it was funny in a way similar to the way the new Die Hard was.

His Girl Friday

His Girl Friday was a good movie for the time period. Movies at this time were restricted by laws and this movie was able to be entertaining regardless of this. The movie was short and faced paced with the dialogue so even if someone didn't love the movie they would probably not be completely bored with it. The fast dialodue made me want to pay attention because there is no time to look away from the screen. The plot took hold within ten minutes of the movie and the entire movie was only a little over 90 minutes. This made it bearable to watch because it probably would have been boring if there wasn't so much of the plot unfolding so fast.

The acting in this movie was amazing from all the actors especially Bruce and Walter. Walter played a smart guy and he knew how to manipulate people to get what he wanted. He was fun to watch because he counteracted with Bruce and his naive stupidness. Bruce was funny to watch because he was such a nice guy and the whole time Walter was trying to ruin his marriage. Walter talked at a slow pace and countered with Bruce this was noticeable. Another funny character was the fat guy who couldn't stop mentioning his wife. His personality was hillarius to watch and the two scenes with his in it were the funniest two scenes in the movie. This movie didn't seem very romantic but it was a funny movie nonetheless for its time period.

Life Is Beautiful

The film Life is Beautiful is based on the Nazi Concentration camps during the Holocaust. The director, Roberto Benigni, is able to make the film funny and happy even though it is about such a sad subject. The movie is based on a charming guy called Guido, played by Benigni, who falls in love with a woman and has a boy. The movie fast forwards until the buy is about 3 or 4 and Guido opens a book shop. Throughout the story the buy follows him around and everything seems perfect for the family. Finally the Nazi's start to show up and the buy starts to wonder why the troops are patrolling. Guido calms his son by telling him jokes and acting like everything is a game.

Things change when the Nazi troops discover Guido and his son who are both Jewish. They are taken away and the mother comes with because she can't see her son go away from her. They are taken to the concentration camp where their future is going to be death. Guido stays strong and doesn't let his son know what is going on. When the Nazi general comes in to give the prisoners instructions, Guido makes up translations to the other prisoners to be funny. Nobody can laugh because of the situation that they are in except for Guido and his son who thinks it is hilarious. Guido convinces his son that the whole camp is competing in a game where whoever gets the most points gets a real-life tank.

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Bungalow/1204/libeaut.htm

This link is where I foung information on Benigni being both the director and the main actor. I think the happyness portrayed in the film was easy to show because Benigni is such an energetic funny actor. Throughout the film during every scene that would seem tragic, Benigni turns into a joke which is equally funny as the scene is sad, so the sadness you feel is countered with laughter. He uses very animated facial expressions in his acting and never shows sadness.

According to http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000905/#director
, Benigni has won an Oscar award. He won the award Best Actor for his role of Guido in Life is Beautiful. The movie also won best foreign film and won an oscar for music (original score). He has acted and directed many films along with Life is Beautiful. The original title of the film in France is Vita e Bella. He has acted in thirty films and has directed nine. Many of these films which were mostly foreign were made into American films with subtitles.

Overall, the movie was good but kind of annoying to follow just because of the subtitles you had to read. Unless you know French it is annoying because there is a lot of dialogue throughout the movie. The movie does a good job of keeping the same soft-hearted sense during the whole story. When they first arrive at the camp you would expect Guido to lose his cool and maybe break down and cry. He keeps a smile on his face for his sons sake no matter what happens to him. The movie shows the importance of life to certain people. Guido values his sons life more than anything and puts himself through hell in order to keep his son happy. This is where the movie got its title from. Other than the subtitle problem, this movie was entertaining and I can see how it won an Oscar.

Stage Coach

I thought Stage Coach was a great movie for the time because the action scences were amazing. The scenes with the Indians attacking were really cool and they had me wondering what they were going to do. The scene where the Indians on horses attcked the stage coach was well-done and took very big risks to make it great. The part in the scene when the one of the indians fell under the moving stage coach seemed very real because the whole time you could tell it was an actual person getting hurt. This movie risked people's lives in order to make it better.

Stage Coach was fun to watch because of the way it portrayed different types of people. Movies these days stay away from this because of political correctness. The Indians were portrayed as ruthless savages. The prostitute was shunned by most of the people and Miss Mallory wouldn't even talk to her. The movie didn't put the viewer in the shoes of the Indians and they were killed like cattle with no remorse. This movie was great overall because of its simpleness and of well-executed action scences.

Alien (1979)

Alien, directed by Ridley Scott, was a typical alien encounter movie which was very unrealistic but enjoyable. The movie did a great job of using surprise tactics to keep the viewer on the edge of their seat. The whole movie leaves you scared to think when the next alien is going to jump out and kill one of the crew members. The plot is formed when a space craft headed back to Earth takes a bad landing on another planet and the seven crew members decide to go off and venture the planet. They find an abandoned space craft with a dead alien with thousands of eggs, the fun gets started when one of the eggs hatches and the alien breaks into one of the crew members space suit and leaves him unconscious. The aliens are out to kill and they are now faced with life or death.



This movie did a good job of putting the viewer in the shoes of the crew. The crew faces survival decisions and debate among themselves and as a viewer you find yourself engaged thinking about what you would do to survive. The director did not shy away from going away from the typical Hollywood action genre. All the characters who die are fully developed which makes the movie seem realistic as it doesn't always have the people you're rooting for win. I love this in a movie because you never know what is going to happen as in some movies where you know which characters are going to somehow end up alive. The killing scenes although were not as brutal as I would have liked, were very scary. The aliens are not shown much which makes them seem mysterious because there is not much known about them.



The setting in space adds to the overall spookyness of the movie. There is no light and the planets is very detailed along with the alien spaceship. The special effects fot the aliens were lacking but this ended up making the mystery about them better because you only see them for short periods of time. If this movie were made today, it could have potentially been worse because the effects would probably have been overdone. Many movies these days use special effects in every shot resulting in the effect of almost a cartoon type look. Star Wars did this in their more recent movies with almost everything in them and they were ruined because of it. The aliens in Alien are actual puppets which had limited movement but were very real looking. The directer did such a good job with the materials he had that you forget that an aliens don't exist to man.

The acting in the movie was great. It had contrasting personalities with the leader being Ripley who was a tough man who never would quit on his team. As a plus, it included a very hot woman along played by Veronica Cartwright who played the weak helpless woman aboard. Ripley emmerges to command and controls all the other crew members. The music did a great job of enhansing the action. The movie did a good job of being quiet and dark then surprising you when an alien attacked and the music picked up. You get to see what each crew member is made of with all the one-on-one fights with the aliens. This movie makes you question your own toughness and puts you in the place of the crew.



If you are interested in a sci-fi movie with aliens an old movie is the way to go. Alien was made at a time when people were not overly reliant on special effects to engage an audience. Instead, the movie concentrates on the actual story and has great simple dialogue to get the viewer engaged. The mystery of the aliens leaves you spooked not knowing when you are going to freak out and yell. If you are wanting to watch an alien movie, don't go to the new release isle at the movie store. Go to the sci-fi section and pick up Alien.

One of the best sports movies I have seen in a while is Friday Night Lights. The movie had great football scenes which were realistic, and also showed a town which was overly obsessed with its football team. This movie was set apart from other football movies because it was not meant for little kids and did not have a fairy-tale ending. The movie shows a town with nothing good going for it come together because of a football team. The team made everybody forget about the problems which existed. The movie doesn't directly infer that the town ignores its problems because they are too big on their football team. Watching the movie, I realized at the end that most of the kids graduating went on to do very little with their lives other than the Latino player who goes on to Harvard. For a while, football kept everyone on the team busy, but in the big picture it did very little for most of them. The message from the movie wasn't a big factor in whether I liked it or not. I like almost all football related movies and this movie had great scenes. The main character Boobie Miles was overdone a little bit with his cockyness. The acting was average. Some characters had good acting while others were not believable. I liked the movie overall for its attitude about football because thats how I feel about football, so for me it was worth my time to watch it. If you are not a football fan I would not reccomend this movie.

http://www.mediacircus.net/fatf.html

The review of this movie showed this movie as a movie that had good action but wasn't all that it could have been because of its underdevelopment. The characters in the movie were very undeveloped and most eleven year-olds could have followed the plot, but this is why I liked the movie so much and totally disagree with the critic.

Unfortunately, when the characters aren't hurtling at high-speeds in the film's surprisingly-decent action sequences, this no-brainer actioner feels more like 'the slow and the tedious'.

This is an accurate description of the film, but it is also the reason the film is so great. You can just sit back and relax to this film because all of the talking sequences are just a series of one-liners. Every time I watch a complicated spy movie I end up zonning out completely during the important dialogue and end up getting mad because I don't understand the movie. This movie has all the fighting and action it needs and doesn't waste time with talking.

Many people might think that the movie is too simple and over analyze it and you have to be simple minded to like it. Many young kids would probably like the movie just because of the fact that there are cars racing in it. They would also like the two sequals which in my opinion were horrible. They didn't have the main characted Vin Diesel in them and they were just made because the producers knew that people would go because they liked the first one. The critic from this review mentions that the film has amazing action scenes but says that the characters are not deep enough and it is boring during the non-racing parts. In my opinion i agree that most of the one liners are cheezy but I get a laugh out of all of them. The movie is a bunch of tough guys out to prove themselves on the streets and they aren't very deep people. There are many quotable lines from the movie including from Vin Diesel talking to his friend about dating his sister, "You break her heart, I break your neck." This is probably what the critic means by underdeveloped but its what makes the movie good. Nice and simple!!

The most interesting actor on the screen would have to be Vin Diesel, who manages to rise above the material with his charisma and commanding screen presence. In comparison, Paul Walker, as the film's hero, is rather bland and doesn't do a convincing job of conveying the inner turmoil that supposedly occupies his character.

He does have a good point with cutting down Paul Walker's acting. He is to calm in the movie and used a fake sounding low voice throughout the whole movie. The critic did a good job describing the film accurately although he had a few spelling errors. He also mistakenly referred to "race wars" from the film as "car wars." Overall though he did a decent job. Although he is right about the film the bottom line is that this film was one of the most exciting movies released at the time and is still one of my favorites.

me

Some good movies are 300, harold and cumar, and training day