Ethan And Joel Coen

These two directors could easily be my favorite directors that we have studied so far this semester mostly because of their interesting story lines and their ability to make the viewer think. My favorite movie from the unit is by far No Country For Old Men but both others are amazing movies as well, the reason I find No Country to be my favorite is because of the way they portray the characters and how they take the screenplay and really make it their own. The dark shadow that seems to follow the characters is extremely interesting and always keeps you guessing as to what could happen next, or more specifically who is going to get killed next and in what way. They also leave alot of questions in the film up to the viewer to decide which keeps the film in your mind for long periods of time and gives good discussions with friends. Other movies of note that I have seen by the Coens and loved consist of The Ladykillers, The Big Lobowski, And O Brother Where art Thou? These films are all spectacular and are always filled with witty comments and thousands of plot twists and never get old or boring.

Phillip Marlowe is Freakin Baller

Robert Altman is a skilled director, however only a single flick of his has caught my eye so far.  Of the three Altman films i have seen (The Long Goodbye, Nashville, And The Player) i have found that only one movie kept my attention and that was The Long Goodbye (Altman, 1973). The reason being is because this film has a ton of film noir elements, and film noir happens to be one of my favorite types of film.  For one there is the hard boiled smart and cunning detective, and there is also the fact that the detective seems to be from a different era in the way he dresses and the way he acts.  The reasons that the other two films were no so interesting to me is mainly the way that the plot line worked out. In Nashville (Altman, 1975) the plot seemed so messed up and so hard to follow that it really did not make me want to watch it all that more, not to mention much of the music played in the film was not to my liking.  In The Player (Altman, 1992)  the acting and the editing seemed way too over the top which really didn't make a good film for watching in my mind.  The musical score was there solely to annoy and was very bothersome while also mocking a classic hollywood film, Altman seemed to only want to mock hollywood in this film and it clearly shows in all aspects.  Although Altman was a very well credited director i do not believe that he could be considered one of the greats in my eyes, however i do look forward to seeing another film of his and i hope it lives up to my standards of The Long Goodbye.

Out of the many directors I have viewed films from, I have found that Kurosawa's films have far surpassed many of the other directors'. The way that he uses the hero in his films reminds me alot of the western, and because of this and my love for westerns, I find that his films are so very interesting to watch. By far his two best films that I have seen are Yojimbo and Seven Samurai, these two are my favorites because of the way he uses the hero. In Yojimbo the hero is just like the revisionist western hero, he is daring and smart but also gets himself into very awkward situations due to his flaws in character. The reason I liked Seven Samurai so much is because of the mixture used in the hero's, on one hand you have the classic hero who is kind, caring and does things for others and not for himself, while on the otherhand you have the Samurai who is almost the opposite. The other thing that I liked about Kurosawa was his use of the actor Toshiro Mifune, I thought that Mifune was an excellent actor and that he was the perfect person to portray many of Kurosawa's heroes with the exception for the main character in Stray Dog. Kurosawa made so many of his films look just like the kinds of westerns that I love, I had never thought that I would like foreign films this much, or ever samurai films in general but because of his unique style, Kurosawa made a new fan out of me.

Dracula.. In German

The film Nosferatu directed by Werner Herzog is based off of the book by Bram Stoker, coincidentally also based on the story of Vlad the Impaler. This film follows the books plotline very well and can also be compared to other films of its kind and genre. Another movie based on Dracula was released in 1992 by the director Francis Ford Coppola who also directed the film Apocalypse Now. Another thing that is weird about these two directors is that they have both directed a film about Vietnam and both done a remake of the book by Bram Stoker. Although each Dracula film follows parts of the book neither is alike when it comes to the ending. The Herzog film shows the main character powerless in the end and eventually he takes the place of Dracula. But in the Coppola film he fights back against Dracula and eventaully aids in his demise.

Dawning Of The Amazing Movie

The movie Rescue Dawn by the director Werner Herzog is an amazing film about the true story of Dieter Dengler and his trek through Laos' wilderness. This film is set during the Vienam war and tells how Lt. Dengler survived a P.O.W. camp and attempted to rescue other american soldiers. This film can be realated to another film that I've seen recently called Apolcalypse Now by Francis Ford Coppola, since both of these films take place during the vietnam war i find it interesting to compare both films and the directors style in them. Coppola's film used a much more expensive budget and you can tell throughout the movie because a lot more of his movie took place in the middle of the action. Both films however show what can happen to a persons mind when they are in a stressful situation such as a war, the character played by Steve Zahn starts to go crazy near the end of the film much like you could see the insanity in Sheen's character. There are also many other characters in the prison camp that show insanity much like you would expect from a person in their situation, you can see that all of them are malnurished and look like they would die right then and there if you were to poke them with a stick. On the other hand there are many distinct differences between the films, such as what and where things occur. Rescue Dawn is much more of a psychological film because there is not much action aside from the opening scene, it takes you much more in depth of how a prisoner of war would have felt. Apocalypse was filled with tons of gunfire and special effects and didn't really give you that mellow vibe. Altogether both of these films are spectacular and give you great insight as to what may have gone on during the war.

Chinatown

The movie Chinatown is easily one of my favorite movies of all time. Although I am more used to the actor of Nicholson of being a much older man, I like his character even more as a younger person. Cuz he's baller. This film was perfect film noir with the dectective, the mystery and the depressing ending. One thing that i would like to question is how the officer actually hit Ms. Mulwray. It almost seemed as though she was shot by a sniper who was in one of the builings one because of how far away she was (handguns are not very accurate, with the exception of short distances) and two because of the bullet hole size (there is no way that a handgun would put a hole that large in a persons head), it abosolutely had to be a sniper.

Kiss Me Deadly

This movie was alright at best, through the entirely i felt that there were was to many weird and strange occurences such as the mysterious box, the torture, and the horrible acting. The ending completly threw me off with the sci-fi and was not a good thing to add. When a movie starts out normal and finishes with an ending that outrageous and obscure i like to question whether or not it was actually a good film.