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.

Out Of The Past

Though many might not consider film noir to be a specific genre I still feel like this may be a genre, and coincidentally my favorite genre. Many of the movies that I see today fit into other categories but most notably they are a part of film noir. I thought that Out of the Past was an excellent example of film noir and i also thought that it was an amazing film. I thought that this was an interesting and different type of film noir though because of the use of elaborate scenery and lighting.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

The ways that the director used to tell the story of Joel and Clementine in The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind are truly unique. One thing that the director did very well was the use of the open ended conclusion, it leaves the view guessing, pondering, and even wondering if the couiple will stay together because of the past events. Or if the couple will stay together and live a happy life. Another thing that the dierctor did very well would be something that I think of as a scene montage instead of just a shot montage. But not only was it a scene montage but he mixed these scenes up in a specific order to confuse the viewer and to tell the story in a new way. With this scene mixed up scene montage I feel that the viewer was sucked into the film and that they were forced to figure out what was happening in their own heads.

His Girl Friday

Although I have found myself not to be too interested in the romantic/ slapstick comedy, I found this movie to be quite different than its counterparts of today. The reason that I found this movie to be so much better than Comedies of today may be because of the quick talking and the long takes that dierctors of today no longer focus on. I believe that this type of directing and acting requires so much more skill because of how easily it would have been to forget a line or to screw up a scene.

Stagecoach

Along with Citizen Kane this movie quickly elevated itself to be one of my favorites. Not only did it fill my expectations of what a western should be, but it also filled my expectations with some of its amazing cinematic aspects and with the acting.

Stagecoach is about a small group of people who end up traveling together to Lordsburgh in a small Stagecoach, among this group are an outlaw, a prostitute, a drunk, a thief, a gambler, a sheriff, a wife of a calvary officer, a whiskey peddler, and a comical driver. As odd as this small group of people is, most of them come together in the end to survive, there are however, a few exceptions.

One of the things that i thought that Ford did really well was his use of sound. One thing that really interested me was the types of music chosen for the stagecoach (which was usually happy and upbeat) and the music that played in the shots where there was a cut to the Indians (which was dark and quick, with Indian war drums). Another thing that Ford did with the sound that interested me was when Hatfield was holding the gun up to Mrs. Mallory's head, When all of a sudden you hear her speak, and then you hear the Bugles of the calvary off in the distance.

Citizen Kane

A true American classic, the movie Citizen Kane was directed by and starring Orson Welles, and is said to have been told about a multi-million dollar tycoon in the around the time when the film was directed. In this movie Welles included some amazing knowledge of directing and cinematography as well as acting. This film is now called an American classic but was considered less than great when the film first debuted. This film was essentially black balled when it was released by none other than the man that Welles was portraying in the film, and didn't pick up its status until long after it was made. Personally i thought that this film was amazing, and is now among my favorites. I never thought that i could appreciate a film that was created some years ago, and I would have never ever thought that i would appreciate a movie that was created in black and white.

Some elements that have elevated this film to the level that it stands today come from the cinematography, the shots that Welles used are stunning, as are some of the angles that he chose to get his point across. And Welles really succeeded at the deep focus shots, there were so many scenes where Welles kept the character of Charles Foster Kane in the background, but still in some focus. He was always putting his character in the middle of the shot even if he wasn't the center of attention reminding the audience of his character and his importance in the film.

Film Review

Not only with blood and violence but with an amazing plot and storyline, Pan's Labyrinth tells an amazing mythical tale of a young girl with a pregnant mother and a abusive angry stepfather. Guillermo del Toro is an amazing spanish director who also directed films such as Blade II and is the future director of the movie Hellboy II, Guillermo was also nominated for the "Best Writing/ Original Screenplay" Oscar for Pan's Labyrinth. Guillermo not only directed this Academy Award Winner but he also wrote the screenplay for it. Some of the films leading stars include Ivana Baquero (Ofelia), Sergi Lopez (Capitan Vidal), Maribel Verdu (Mercedes), and Doug Jones (Pan). Some of the stars have even worked with Guillermo in other movies as well such as Doug Jones as Abe Sapien in Hellboy.

This film was set in fascist Spain in the year 1944, and the director helps to give the film a dark deep depressing feel by keeping most of the scenes dark and without much color. Much unlike other films in this genre this movie seems to keep to a dark feeling while other fantasy movies are generally composed with a bright joyous color that keeps the movie light and uplifting. The director may have done this just to show how harsh those times were for the people of Spain in 1944.

Ivana plays the character of Ofelia who is a young bookworm who loves stories of another world or one of a fantasy. She and her mother are brought to a fort where her mother is to give birth to the Capitan's first son. But while she is there she finds herself chasing a fairy into the night and into Pan's Labyrinth where she is told by Pan that she is a princess and that she must complete some small tasks so that she may regain her throne and meet her parents in her kingdom. At first Ofelia is hesitant but she agrees and is swept into a world of magic.

All of the dialogue for the film was in Spanish with a variety of subtitles including English. And the acting in the film was very good in some parts and very poor in others, for example I thought that the acting done by Sergi was horrific because I never felt like he really belonged in the movie. He poorly played his part and it greatly showed, when a scene came up with him in it you were almost drawn away from the movie. However parts of the film with Ofelia were amazing, she brought my full attention to the screen and completely convinced me that she was the character.

Overall I recommend this film to anyone, the amazing plot and the excellent directing made this movie one of my favorites. Especially the costume and makeup done with Pan and some of the other creatures that appear in the film. And I completely agree with all of the Oscar nominations and the oscar wins, this film truly earned all of them.

Resident Evil Extinction

Me and a couple of friends went to see this opening night in theaters and i thought that it was pretty good, however i had little expectations coming into the movie. This movie by far surpasses Resident Evil 1 and 2 and finally has a director who knows what he's doing. The ending of the movie actually disappointed me and ruined my anticipation of the fourth movie. Overall i thought that it was a descent movie, mostly because i am a big fan of zombie movies. Although this movie may not compare to other zombie movies such as Dawn Of The Dead, it was good enough for me.

Critique The Critic

Recently I was asked to critique a film critic on their choices and how they viewed movies. As I was searching I stumbled across an almost legendary critic “Roger Ebert” and his review of the film “3:10 to Yuma”. Not only did I find his review insightful and very well written but the review also compelled me to see the film for myself, while analyzing the film Ebert claimed that the remake was better than the original. Now I already have a few reasons that I would love to view the film for myself such as my admiration for the actor Christina Bale, Bale has starred in a few of my favorite movies such as “The Prestige” or the recent Batman film titled “Batman Begins”, but I was also attracted to this movie because of my love for westerns such as Clint Eastwood’s “The Unforgiven”. When I also saw that Ebert had referenced Eastwood’s film in his review I was glad to hear him say that this film also followed the tradition of western films much like “The Unforgiven”. Now I have to say that there have been a few things that Ebert has reviewed that I did not completely agree with, but I feel that he has created an excellent review and that he has fully analyzed this film to the full extent. One thing that drew my attention while reading the review was when Ebert said, “Here the quality of the acting, and the thought behind the film, make it seem like a vanguard of something new, even though it's a remake of a good movie 50 years old.” Now I feel that sometimes it is unfair to compare an original film to its remake just because of the difference technological advancements can make for the film, you normally hear people say these things because the older films such as those filmed in black and white can bore those who do not appreciate filmmaking to its full extent. Most cannot see past all of the digital effects and the technological advancements to things like the plotline, character development, and acting, so they only see the remake as an achievement and treat the original like garbage. But Ebert found something different about the remake, he says that the thought behind the film and the quality of acting were the things that allowed this movies to surpass its predecessor. Building on that we can see where Ebert goes into detail about the actors and their thoughtful dialogue. “Mangold's version is better still than the 1957 original, because it has better actors with more thought behind their dialogue. Christian Bale plays not simply a noble hero, but a man who has avoided such risks as he now takes and is almost at a loss to explain why he is bringing a killer to justice, except that having been mistreated and feeling unable to provide for his family, he is fed up and here he takes his stand. Crowe, however, plays not merely a merciless killer, although he is that, too, but a man also capable of surprising himself. He is too intelligent to have only one standard behavior which must fit all situations, and is perhaps bored of having that expected of him.” I completely agree with Ebert and this review and now I look forward to seeing this film as well as the original so I can make my own comparisons.

Indroduction

I'm in art of film for my first semster of my senior year. i like to skateboard and play lacrosse and i love music