Myst #3: Drive

I'm not a fan of a dark theme crime movie and often times it's hard to follow with the story or what the main character is doing. Don't get me wrong, there are some crime related movies either because of it's intensive unpredictable scenes to the smaller aspects of the cinematography and fitting well with the story. The director Nicolas Winding Refn directed Drive and other including "Only God forgives", "Bronson" and the "Pusher" which are crime movies that have decent storylines and well appropriate cinematography and fitting in with the appropriate scenes in the movies symbolizing the personality of that certain character. While I was watching the movie, I was wondering if I was going to get bored either from making no sense to me the scenes of being judgmental if the scenes would make sense with what's happening. When I was this movie, I was amazed at the scenes in cooperation with the cinematic aspects and how the characters interacted with those scenes. The movie is about a driver (Ryan Gosling) and that he is a very good at stealing money. As the movie progresses, he becomes fails at stealing a heist. The consequences of him failing is that he ahs to protect Irene (Carey Mulligan) and Benicio (Kaden Leos) from the criminals that want him dead.

Towards the middle of the movie, we are taking a closer look at when the driver kissed Irene. When they kissed, there's light coming from a little source that has it while the rest of the room is covered in darkness and the light shining on their faces indicate that there might be hope in what they're about to do and or their mission to save each other. The darkness indicate that while their might some hope with the light shining upon them, that there might be a chance that death will occur and concur their lives and that they might die with what they're about to do. Their kiss indicate like that of a usual movie that it could be their last time together considering that it might their last time being alive. The high key lighting is separated from the darkness with no low key lighting showing a chance of them surviving and a chance of them not surviving.

In my own opinion, what I enjoyed about the movie was the how the lighting fit in well with each scene and how it set separate tones of the mood of the characters and their situations they're in from the different components that fit well together. What I didn't like about the movie was how (Spoiler) towards the end, the movie left you to ponder as to what just happened and what's going to happen to the main character next. I would recommend this movie to those who love crime related movies and those who always criticize a movie for they might be surprised of what this has got to offer.

 

Drive Official Trailer

Myst #2: Avengers: Age of Ultron

I loved action packed movies a lot and I sometimes lose interest to the movie that I'm watching that is if the action isn't flowing well with the components from lighting, editing to the camera angles. You may think that it may sound weird but I don't want to watch an action movie where the camera isn't flowing but rather it takes a scene then out of nowhere another scene comes into play. The director Joss Whedon directed this film and other including "The Avengers", "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." and "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" which where intended to amuse the audiences from all of the action and amazing graphic editing and amazing camera work that looks like as if there was just one camera filming the whole time and you as the audiences personally spectating from the action is taking place. Action movies varies when it comes to the story line and what other genre it collides with. In most movies that I've have seen have good cameras at scenes but in most however are very little used. I get upset because most movies have the capability to achieve more from their camera work and form better angles. This movie had a lot of really good angles. (Spoiler) The film starts of with the team fighting against the enemies and win as usual. When the team celebrates their victory, they accidentally unleash a powerful enemy named Ultron that somehow cam the cyber world. Ultron came out when the team were celebrating and the enemy downloaded itself into a robot that was built from Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) . When Ultron came to up close, he attacked severely with other robots which he summoned to attack the team. The team lost and they retrieved because they weren't prepared for what happened to them. Upon deciding on how could've they let that happen, they start to turn against each other assuming it was each others fault. When they start to realize that going against each other won't help anything, that's when the team started to suite up and go to the war the verse against Ultron and the enemies he summoned. After an intense battle with Ultron, the team (not surprisingly) defeated Ultron and reclaimed their victory.

In the beginning of the movie, When the team versed against their enemies their was a clean continues good clean flow with each individual fighting the enemies while helping each other fighting with the quantity of enemies. Their was clean continuity editing with each character fighting with the characters fighting one enemy and then fighting another enemy from a different angle. The angle and the height matched perfectly as the characters fought from ground level and fighting on rooftops. The camera was at a good range of distances as the characters fought from one enemy to the next exposing them and the enemy and a little of the background, the long shots. At the above picture, when the characters lined at a perfect angle, it exposes all of them at a long shot along with Hulk and Iron Man being exposed at medium shot.

Another Part of what I liked was the fight between Hulk and Iron Man. When they fought each other, the camera would go back and forth with each other at a continuous motion when they would go back from the strike and they themselves would hit the others person. The camera would go continuously from long shot to full shot and sometimes to medium shot. There was constantly different shots happening while it's giving a nice flowing and continuity editing with the angles of the camera and the distances.



In my opinion, What I enjoyed about this movie was not the generic exposition to rising action to climax and resolution in a predictive manner but whether I enjoyed the different types of camera angles and the different type of camera shots. The editing was flawless and caught my attention to the movie. It was like seeing an illusion image, it caught my attention to the movie and wondered what other camera cool shots and angles the director was going to bring to the plate. I recommend this movie to those who on behalf love action, superhero movies but also like to see really good camera angles and shots the editing provided for a flawless and continuous motion with the scene. All in all, I think this movie was one of the greatest that's associated the camera but the story was as always generic.

Official Trailer

 

Memento: Blog Post

Memento is filled with different cinematic elements in different unique ways, giving the movie perfection with elegance and something to ponder on. The element I would to focus on from the film is on editing.

In the film, editing was used effectively at most moments of the film when the main character, Leonard, would switch from color scenes to the black and white scenes. The moment where the editing was used most effectively was when Leonard killed Teddy and the scene transitions to Leonard talking in a black and white scene. It was effective because it set the tone that Leonard has short term memory loss because he saying where am I. It also started the movie at the beginning and the opposite from the ending. With the movie playing in reverse, the black and white were playing their scenes in chronological order explaining somewhat of what's going with the movie and also explaining of why the main character has tattoos and other "small" things.

Another moment where editing was important was at the scenes where Leonard was interviewing Sammy Jankis. When Leonard would interview Sammy, he would talk about the side effects of his condition and how Sammy forgets everything. Leonard talks about how he forgets everything and that his wife tries to help but he forgets and that it would be hard it to remember this relates to Leonard and his condition as well. The scenes relates Sammy to Leonard in how they both forget things within the first couple of minutes.

Sammy and Leonard also don't experience any emotion such as fear and anger. Toward the end of the film, Leonard goes to the exact same position as Sammy suggesting that he has the same conditions and experience the same symptoms where it seems like they don't care about anything and don't know where they are.

The scene where it least effective is where Leonard is talking on the phone and then he ask "who is this". I think it's least effective because Leonard at some point did remember who he was talking to but just forgot considering he has short term memory loss. The scene doesn't have any important plot compared to the movie and no foreshadowing but just simply Leonard forgetting who he was talking to. The scene didn't contribute any important information related to the film and the bigger picture the film is trying to bring to the audience. The director's use of lighting helps with the film dramatically because the black and white scenes give the background of the character and who Leonard is. Leonard talks about what he's doing and why he has the tattoos on his body and about who he's trying to catch. The black and white scenes also give a foreshadowing of the movie. One foreshadow was when Leonard sat in the same position as Sammy. It gave information about who Leonard really was because when he described Sammy, he described himself because Sammy and Leonard as the same. A movie that relates to Memento is Inception. Both movies are hard to follow usually lead the audience into confusion while simultaneously trying focus on the main objective. The audience struggles a lot trying to connect everything together to make sense of what they just watched.

Formal Film Study: Movies Where The Main Characters Are Potrayed As TheBad Individuals

Different movies leave different audiences to ponder in their thoughts with the following question of "why"? Movies get its high rating from the audiences either from the movie having a great storyline without the audiences having predictive judgement of what's about to happen or where the audience is kept in suspense on what's about to happen next or from the story line being inverted (where the main characters are set apart from the others either from their behavior or why they matter), not too generic. Some of the most famous movies like Taxi Driver left audiences with a great suspense and in question as Robert De Niro is practicing with a pistol for a future cause. Movies that I found interesting that kept audiences on the edge of their seats was Memento (directed by Christopher Nolan), Nightcrawler (directed by Dan Gilroy) and The wolf of Wall Street (directed by the famous Martin Scorsese). The characters from the movies live in their own world and are also living in the prerogative that they have the right to do whatever they want to get what they want with desire without any restrictions until they achieve their own goals. The characters will also try to lure in others to help them in their way to get their treasure or goal.

Industry: The movies give a different a different path of the story then those from the modern generic movies. When compared to the other Hollywood movies, the directors of these movies decided to take a different approach and give a different look to the main characters. The main characters in the movies have a different attitude, wanting to become the bad villains that corrupted the world or their surroundings in some way either through politics and money or craving their own desires in some way. The movies show how corrupt an individual could be either by cheating through the American currency system to obtain riches or to get to their own personal goal of killing someone or getting rewarded and praise from everybody else. The unpleasant main characters also manipulates others into helping them knowing little the character are using them to obtain and cheating the system to obtain their dream victory thus corrupting the system. Leonard Shelby (played by Guy Pearce) is an individual trying avenge his wife's death by killing the murder go always from the justice system and going by his own justice system the victim whom he thinks killed his wife. I forgot to mention that he by the way has short term memory loss so he forgets what he does in about 10 minutes or so. With the short term memory loss, he kills Teddy (played by Joe Pantoliano) from assumption since he met Leonard's criteria's and not from any actual facts. Leonard also killed him with his own system of justice and not the laws with a fair trial. Leonard also helps Natalie (played by Carrie-Ann Moss) by killing her boyfriend. One of main characters Natalie, manipulates Leonard so that he can kill Her boyfriend for her. Natalie takes advantage of his condition. In night crawler, Lou (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) is an individual who wanted to get and obtain every bodies attention through the use of capturing disturbing videos of citizens being killed or a car chase. Lou manipulates the news station employer Nina (played by Rene Russo) by talking to her in a nice tone showing that he's an intelligent person and by being nice to making not say no to him. At one point of the movie, he manipulates into telling her how much money he wants. In the Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) manipulates the job of an American stock broker by telling the customers that they'll succeed if they invest their money. With the invested money that the customers out, Jordan actually steal their money for himself thus obtaining his American Dream of being rich. Most Hollywood movies tell the story where the main character or characters start being liked and  are at the exposition state. As movie continues, the characters are moved into a rising action until they reach they're biggest threat or climax. Afterwards they fall into a depression and are picked up by resolution. The three movies are showed differently by the main characters being the bad guys instead and they succeed at what they're trying to achieve even though they go through obstacles and challenges ahead of them.

Camera: The camera angles and lighting are unique with the lighting being consistent with the theme of the character and the angles focusing on the main characters but also the other people the main characters come across to.

Citizen Kane: Blog Post

Citizen Kane is filled with different cinematic elements in different unique ways giving the movie and perfection with elegance and something to ponder on. The element I would like to focus on the lighting that is used in the film.

In the film, lighting was used effectively at the moment when the three news reporters were discussing about what Charlie Kane meant when he said rosebud. The lighting indicated that the men are serious and their faces are hiding away from the camera suggesting that the men could be evil and the darkness in the movie. It could also show of how the director wants to cut their faces because it's showing how the news reporters are manipulating the story around.

Along with the midnight like darkness being put on the reporters faces, the lighting is effective in when the wife, Susan, left Charlie Kane after she denied of continuing her singing career being controlled. On the scene when Charlie's wife was is leaving him, she walks away through the darkness into the darkness "world". This could suggest that she is heading toward a dark path in her life as she walks away further and further away from her husband. Her walking away could have a foreshadow of her life going downhill as she steps away from Kane and her singing career.

With these two being very effective, the least very effective one is when at young, Kane is given up to another family. In that scene, there was minimal light and shadows that the characters produce don't matter as it it's not important in the scene as much as the characters being blurred out. How the director's use of lighting helped with the film was that the movie showed key themes and foreshadows with the use of lighting by exploiting that the characters are going to go to dark play or being evil in some way by being blended with the darkness. The director's use of repeated extreme close ups show the expressions being shown on characters.

The close ups show the characters being surprised at what is presented in front of them to the characters looking at something dramatic that's an important key aspect of the movie. Another film in which the lighting played a key role was Insidious. In Insidious, towards the end, a professional is in shock by what she is witnessing. How we can tell is when she looking at him, the room is filled with darkness and only her is filled with light suggesting that she is the source in which the devil is trying to go to. In her close up, she looks in horror and in shock as if she is looking at something will try to kill her.
 

1935 Movie: From Ordniary to Gone

Studio:

director Irving Thalberg

I am choosing 20th Century Fox for their adventure films. I'm also choosing Warner Brothers for their films on social realism.

Cast/Crew:
Director: Irving Thalberg
A very talented young director who made prestigious, best picture-winning films also some very popular films such as the Grand hotel and Mutiny on the Bounty. He also was also known for the extravagant silent films with Erich von Stroheim.
 
Cinematographer: Sol Polito
An Oscar-nominated cinematographer who helped create visual characters for Warner Brothers. Sol will do anything to achieve efficiency and perfection even if that means having additional expenses.

James Cagney

 
Actors: Leslie Howard, James Cagney
Leslie would play in movies where he played the character that's associated with him. he served in World War 1.
James was known as a preeminent male star who was known as the tough guy and was also very accomplished.

Genre:
Drama/ Action. A result and affects of WW 1. The life of two soldiers who are also who are friends and how they both are impacted by the war and the losses they endure.

Synopsis:



Leslie Howard

The movie will began when a an 18 teenage boy named Mark (James Cagney) is about to finish high school and he has fun with his friends and has a good time. While in high school, he starts to have plans on where to go and what to do with his life. While thinking about his life, He discusses with his friends on if they're going to live with each other and if where they're going to live. Mark is a guy who wants to chill and who also loves his friends and wants to live a peaceful live without violence. In approximately one month after finishing high school, he gets enlisted to a WW 1 draft all of a sudden knowing very little why and being confused and scared because he is just starting his life with his friends and with what he wants to do in life which becoming a middle school teacher. After being drafted and put directly to the war front, he encounters another soldier named Alexander (Leslie Howard). When meeting Alexander he finds out that Alexander is a guy is was very poor and lived below the poverty living between different alleys and was exited to join the army because at least he got served food and was put with other soldiers in which where he came from didn't matter but where they're in in that very moment. On the other side, Mark came from a wealthy family where he was treated well and had money for his education and was afraid and scared to go war. Days after the joining the army, Mark and Alexander become best friends because they feel that they can learn from each other with Alexander helps Mark on how to keep calm during the war and telling Mark his stories of him being poor and how it affects the way he lives while Mark tells him his stories and promising to Alexander that he will help after the war is over. From day to day, Mark and Alexander have a very good friendship where they feel as if they're brothers to each other. When they go to the battlefield, they witness a lot of their comrades being shot and injured. After they whiteness it, they are filled with fear and sadness from all their fellow comrades being killed and no one honoring them. While experiencing seeing comrades dying one after the other, they start having nightmares about the war and bullets traveling through their flesh and out the other end and seeing people all around them dying. With fear filling them , they start to go to each other because all they could trust is them. After six months and having two months left, they go to the battle front. In the battle front, Alexander gets shot his right breast. Being in much agony and miles away from the battle front, there's nothing they could do to save Alexander besides him having his last few breaths. Upon having his last few breaths, he tells to Mark to promise him that he'll help him after the war to survive the teal world, being in denial that he is dying. Mark replies with see home buddy while being in tears. Minutes later, Alexander is struggling breathing from a pulmonary embolism and later dies. Mark gets emotionally damaged by the fact that his closest friend ever and his brother died, Alexander. After two months when the war is over, Alexander comes home but develops PTSD and struggles to live normal. Mark starts to get disconnected with his closest friends back at home and from his family. Mark starts to develop depression as his closest friend is dead and that he has nobody else to relate to. Suffering from having images of seeing soldiers dying and Alexander's death, Mark goes into the kitchen writes an "I'm sorry" note to his parents. Afterwards while he's crying, he's going to the center of his kitchen, under his fan and he hangs himself.

Hays Code:
considering the movie has soldiers dying on the battle front and a suicide, this movie will be a challenge to pass through the administration and being put out in public. However, this movies is portrayed as someone who is affected by war and how their behavior can change dramatically from the loss of their fellow comrades friends. For a majority of audiences, this movie isn't relatable in any way but it is relatable to those who served in the army and who have gone though similar obstacles. This movie will show audiences on how much they should honor the soldiers in the battle and to respect them as well.

Technology:
Black and white. Shows the two individuals going through a rough time in the war and how one is affected. receives award for the best drama movie of the year.

Why this is a good film:
This would a good for 1935 because even though World War 1 ended in 1918, I feel like people don't know what it was like in the battle front and don't know how much of impact it can have on a soldier if they join the army and fight. This film is universal because it shows the affect from all the soldiers from any country serving, not just in America.

Myst #1: Insidious

I love horror films and I'm pretty judgmental on deciding if the film is scary enough for me and by the way I'm not so easily scared from horror films and or if the film has a unique ending that will be remembered by me. The director James Wan directed this film and others including "The Conjuring", "Saw" and "Demonic" which were intended to put the audience on the edge of their seats wondering what would happen next while at the same time being scared from what's going on. while watching the movie, I was being judgmental in figuring out that the next scene was going to happen next. however, when half way through the film, I started noticing that the film was taking a different turn in its events. In most movies I watched, I usually get bored while watching about half way of a horror film in hoping that either the movie ends or that someone that I thought would least die would die, but this movie took at better approach. (Spoiler) The film starts of when the child (person on the front cover) of a family of three become possessed by the devil. As a possessed child, the kid starts doing possessed things until the family decide the physically and mentally help the child by tying him up and getting the devil out of his body by saying rituals to get the devil out. When realizing that it was a lot harder than it looks to get him back, the family decide to take a different approach. The family tie up the son and father and put these gas like mask in them. Next, the family brings in a professional to help in bring back the son. With the gas like mask, the professional sends the fathers soul and mind to "hell" to bring back the son's soul. When the father does bring him back, he beats the devil. I thought it would another typical movie where the good guy wins but instead what happens is when the father brings back his son's soul, he becomes possessed coming back. At the end of the movie, the father talk with the professional and in the middle of the conversation, the professional realizes that the father is possessed and when the professional comes to a full realization, the father kills her while the rest of the family is in the kitchen comforting the child who has been possessed.


 

 

 

*    Photo of the father being possessed by the devil at the end of the film.

Towards the end of the movie we are taking a closer look at the moment in which the professional realizes of is happening. (Spoiler) The professional is breathless in what happened

to the father as the father becomes possessed (above picture). The professional takes a photo of the father because she can't see the devil inside him so she decided to take a photo of him in hoping that she might spot the devil in which she did. the camera taken from the scene shows a close up the professional woman face showing that she's scared and horrified. Her action is important because it leads us to a foreshadow of what's about to happen to the character or something more dramatic that's going to happen in the near future. the low key lighting shining on the character's face reveals of a dramatic scene that's going to take place. The character seems threaten and in horror in what she had just revealed. She reveals with the light shining in half of her face while the other side is covered with a light darkness as is if she is looking at something dark from either the object of the threat that fills the room. The background shows that the darkness of the character has filled the room and is approaching the character while the character is in fear.

 

In my own opinion, what I enjoyed about this movie is the major plot twist the characters were involved in, especially toward the ending. The characters endured a lot especially the father and the son with a major battle to save the son while the mother watched in hoping that everything will go fine and that nothing bad will happen. This movie went well when the plot twist came up with weird obstacles and challenges the character faced along with the ending was perhaps one of the best endings and it's usually hard to say with a film never the less and horror film. What I didn't like is that before the plot twist happened everything happened in a typical horror film with a family coming in contact with something possessed and that possessed scaring the victims and audience half to death before killing the victims. I would recommend this movie to those who love horror films but specifically to those who love horror films and who are judgmental when it comes to movies for they may get their comments wrong.

Official Trailer