Top Ten Movies of this Course

10. My Own Private Idaho - An interesting movie that focuses on a culture / community that is seldom shown within mainstream media, has some cool special effects the one standing out being the magazine stand.
09. Wendy and Lucy - An interesting movie that points out serious flaws within not only are class based system but also how those of higher power (police) can really affect a person because of the laws they are enforcing.
08. The Vanishing - An intriguing suspenseful movie where we actually see how the murderer prepares to get his victims, great acting.
07. Sherlock Jr. - Classic slapstick physical comedy that reminds me of the Three Stooges
06. Detour - Classic Noir film that has an ever evolving plot for our protagonist.
05. Freaks - A disturbing yet accurate outlook on humanity, especially when it comes to greed.
04. O Brother Where Art Thou? - Funny Cohen Brothers movie, where we have three convicts get into unusual situations.
03. Awara - A cultural phenomena with excellent singing, dancing; as well as the effects for the dream sequences.
02. The Good The Bad and the Ugly - A classic spaghetti western film, great acting and plot.
01. Moonrise Kingdom - Very stylish and artistic movie with a very original plot; phenomenal camera work.

End of Watch: A Question on Perspective

For this week’s blog post I am looking at these quick sequences of shots from the movie End of Watch, what is really unique about the filming technique of this movie is the constant cutaways to a first person perspective for the audience. This sequence being near the end of the film especially showcases this technique.

For the first shot we have both Taylor and Zavala running down a flight of stairs trying to escape away from the cartel that are after them.

The next shot does a cutaway to a first person perspective where the film seems to try to put the audience in the shoes of Taylor for this dire situation.

The next shot has the camera pan to the left with the hand moving towards to make sure there is no one who is after them from the left side.

We then cutaway to a third person perspective with Taylor facing opposite of the street light from the previous shot once again following the actions from his training to make sure both sides of the entrance they came out of is not surrounded.

We then cutaway once again to Taylor’s perspective where we are seeing the brush in their way with seeing a street light through a hole within the brush; having his vision blocked by that can have a strong impact morale wise.

We finally then cutaway to a first person perspective of Zavala going through the brush with Taylor not only showing his current physical condition from Zavala’s breathing but also we see how exhausted Taylor is as well as they run towards the street light.

Avant Garde? Moonrise Kingdom

For this weeks movie Moonrise Kingdom, we are treated to a very different method of camerawork where mostly every scene is shot as if its a portrait where you have to analyze the scenery, the foreground, and the background, along with other elements within the shot. I selected this shot because of how all the shadows make it appear as a painting. This is especially attributed with the roof of the building in the background being faded hence to emphasize that building is far away. The contrast of colors between blue and black makes me think of a certain style of cartoons which just use of the actions of the characters to tell the story. I'll have to say the color scheme really reminds me of some of the movie studio logos that use that same colors like Spyglass Entertainment or even Amblin Entertainment.

Wendy and Lucy: A Statement on Capitalism

For this week’s movie, Wendy and Lucy we have a very interesting film that opposes against how society acts, especially when it comes to those who suffer economically. It is a very refreshing film in where we see this coming from a single woman’s point of view and even more interesting enough to see her suffer because of it. The usual tradition for Hollywood for a movie which is focused on a female character where she is not suffering because of the world, she is usually shown being safe and secure from the world and always having all her conflicts being resolved by the end of the movie.

It is in this movie we have Wendy who has everyone initially going against her as she attempts to travel to Alaska. This can only instill a feeling of dread within the character having so much opposition being forced against her with some of these conflicts never having a positive outcome for her. This can be especially shown with the scene of her sleeping in the woods while listening to someone having a monologue of him being in the same situation. Where I believe his most powerful words he said to her which drove her to crying later is, “I’m out here, trying to be a good boy and it’s just like they don’t want to let me you know?”

Wendy's Anguish Given a Physical Form

This statement can best be translated that if someone is within this situation society won’t allow them abide by their rules; they instead force them to go against their rules so they can suffer more. It brings about the question of not only morality but also human decency. 

O' Brother Where Art Thou: Something New?

 Well you can never go wrong with a Coen Brothers movie. This is especially the case of them mixing in elements from one of my favorite Greek stories as well. This movie I will say has a few too many stories going on at once (in the case of the election, the convicts, and their pursuers) with even more stories popping up along the way. Though there was one scene in the film that really stood out to me. It occurred after John Goodman’s character tricked, beat up, and stole from two of the convicts.

The closing shot of this scene greatly resembles the ending transition of the Merrie Melody cartoons. I can only guess for this shot the Coen Brothers were going for that kind of feeling for the scene itself.  I believe this to be so because, of how outlandish the prior events were that led up to this specific point not to mention the usual formula for the Merrie Melody cartoons is to have the main character(s) to end up in either a terrible situation or leave those character(s) beaten or even so much as to have them killed by their situation (most of the time with characters ending up in hell) with no moral or resolution of the problem. 

My Own Private Idaho: The definition of Avant-garde?

This week’s movie certainly brought an interesting perspective to one of the sects of the gay culture. The director of the movie Gus Van Sant had brought about several very different styles for specific shots. This is already shown very early on in both the opening credits and ending credits of the movie with having the shots composed of solid colors with the text of the individuals who are involved within the movie.

One of the more interesting shots I saw in the movie was the display of the model magazines within this drug store. I believe this shot was interesting just from looking at nothing but static objects and then all of the sudden the model magazines that had Keeanu Reeves and River Phoenix all of the sudden started coming to life and having a conversation with each other. Only after a little while they were talking the surrounding magazines started joining in on the conversation with them. This shot left a real impression on me because of the surreal nature of just seeing nothing but 2D images on a stand and then all of the suddenly they are given depth on a two dimensional surface there’s no way you can’t help but not be impressed by this shot.

The Vanishing: Is This Horror?

This week’s movie The Vanishing brought a question to what constitutes as Horror. Defined by Caroll’s Taxonomy of Horror this movie along with Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho wouldn’t be considered as horror due to their not being any form of a supernatural creature. I can see Caroll’s point of view considering something that can’t be explained and is a threat to your wellbeing can instill the feelings of dread not only for the victim but also for the audience empathizing with the victim.

I on the other hand do still constitute this movie as being a part of the horror genre. The one scene within The Vanishing that convinced me of this being a horror movie was the first scene of Raymond performing experiments upon himself. Especially with him inducing himself to sleep with the chloroform which involved him timing how long he was unconscious the amount of chloroform he allowed into his system and calculating the distance of how much he can travel while the victim is unconscious. With someone such as Raymond able to go to these limits and having this level of intelligence can clearly make him a much more dangerous threat to other people especially since his motives are curiosity is what I believe is what makes this movie horrifying.