MYST #6

For my last and final movie in my spare time I will be writing about Iron Man. This movie is from marvel and I thought it was really good. There was action at every turn and there was always something interesting up on the screen. I was hooked right from the start when he is in the car and he gets kidnaped for his knowledge of weapons. Tony owns a company that produces very powerful weapons that could hurt many many people so if the terrorist get ahold of them it could be the end. When he is captured he must find a way out of his jail cell so he builds a suit that is now known as iron man. He then breaks out of his jail and flies all the way back to USA. He then decides to fight evil with his new suit and then fights the bad guy which is his company's competitor. This movie would get a eight and a half out of ten stars if I had to rate it. Robert Downey Jr. Is a really good iron man and fits the person really well. I couldn't think of a better person to play Iron man. He also plays Sherlock in Sherlock Holmes and I also think he did a wonderful job in that movie. The two movies are very different but very similar also. For example in both movies he plays a smart guy how calculates everything in an action packed movie. In Iron man the special effects are really good and it looks like everything is real. There are many good camera shots in this movie. When ever he is talking about something serious they zoom in really close to his face and you can only focus on what he has to say. It was really nicely done. I

would recomend this movie to everyone.

MYST #5

After seeing the first hunger games and seeing that the second one was out I couldn't resist and I had to go see it. I thought this movie was great and I would give it eight stars out of ten. This movie takes place after the first hunger games and the people that participate are the previous winners and so the competition is at an all time high. I was at the edge of my seat the entire time and I was nervous for the people and always wondering what would happen next. The colors that the director picked were very interesting because they were all grey and dark showing how sad the people were and how controlled they were by the capital. I remember that when some people died the camera shots were looking down on them showing how little power they had. An interesting part of the movie was when the deadly gas was going everywhere hurting and killing people in its way. It looked like it was really there and I like the camera work as they were running through the forest it was intriguing

. The main person in this film is Katniss Everdeen again played by Jennifer Lawrence. She also plays in another movie that I watched called American Hustle which I thought was interesting also. The roles that she plays in both movies are completely different and in one she is a not careful person who drinks and doesn't watch what she says and in this movie she is careful and pay attention to all little details cause if she doesn't she dies.

MYST #4

With the new Hunger games coming out I decided it was time for me to watch the first one and so that is what I did. I liked the movie and thought it was interesting with the whole kill or be killed idea. I would give this film an eight out of ten stars if I had to rate it. The main character was Katniss Everdeen who was played by Jennifer Lawrence. Another movie that she played in was X-men First class as Mystique which is the one that can change who she looks like. The Hunger games is a giant game that happens every year where two people from each district is chosen at random to fight to the death. Katniss’s sister is chosen as the female from her district and since she is tiny and will most likely die she decided to volunteer for her instead. The whole feel to the movie is really sad and depressing. No one wants to fight and no one wants to die but they must do it because they have no choice since the Capital is making them to show off their power. An interesting part of the movie is when she shoots an arrow through an apple that is in a pig’s mouth to show how good she is at shooting. I picked this sense because while watching the movie I noticed lots of close ups that show how nervous she is. All the close ups help to show emotions and what they are feeling. After she shoots the arrow it does a close up on the other people there too to show that they are surprised and I think that doing a close up was a good idea. A style that was present throughout the entire movie was a lot of CGI. It was there but it was hard to notice which means that they did a good job with it. Through out the entire movie I kept thinking how scary it would be if I was chosen to fight to the death and what I would do.

Formal Film Studies

This time around for my formal film study instead of watching a certain director’s movies I watched movies that all had a mafia gangster theme. The movies that I watched were The untouchables, The Godfather, and Scarface. All of these movies fit really well into the Gangster/Crime genre because they all had the characteristics of one of those movies. The major themes throughout the three movies were Violence, blood, sex, drugs, crime, and respect. The first movie that I watched was the movie The Untouchables. This movie was different than the other two movies because it was told from the police side of things. It was an F.B.I. agent whose mission was to take down Al Capone. Al Capone incase you didn’t know was a famous gangster that lived in Chicago during the prohibition. He made a lot of money from transporting alcohol and killed people that got in his way. The movie was shorter than the other two movies but I still liked it. This movie had a lot of shooting in it and that makes sense because it is also categorized as an action movie. The main character in it was a man that was not afraid of going after Al Capone while everyone else was scared. Everyone else was scared because they all knew that if they tried to mess with him too much he would kill them but this guy was not afraid because he knew what was the right thing to do. In this movie there was a long continuous shot like the one that was talked about in class with The Children of men. When Al Capone’s men go to assassinate one of the police officers the camera makes it look like a first person and you feel that you are the guy’s eyes seeing everything and you remain the guy’s eyes for a while. You follow him looking through the window and then you walk into the house and I think it is an interesting way to film because as you could hear the guy breathing you became nervous yourself wondering what would happen next. The next movie that I watched was The Godfather. This movie was one that I saw part of it in class but I had not seen it all and so I was very curious to see what I missed because it seemed very good and after watching it I think it was very good. Unlike the movie The Untouchables this movie is from the Mafia’s point of view. This movie did a lot of work with the shadows and camera work. An example that I can think about right off the top of my head is when Michael shoots the police chief and the other guy. After he gets his gun he holds it and the camera slowly zooms into his face really close to him and you can tell that he is thinking and is very “Powerful” at that moment. Unlike the other movie this one also makes you think after you watch it since it is mainly talking and not that much action. The Untouchable was fun to watch but there is no really deep thinking to be done while on the other hand the Godfather is mainly talking and making deals. It is like a huge chess game that all the families play with each other. An interesting thing about the movie that I learned after researching it online was that the horse head that was in the guys bed was real. That must make that scene just that much more scary.  The last movie that I watched was Scarface. This movie was nothing like I imagined it to be. All I knew about this movie when I started watching was that one famous Scene from it was the whole Say hello to my little friend thing. I was surprised when I found out that it was basically a movie about an american dream and starting from the bottom and making your way to the top. And once you are at the top you still want more because enough is never enough. Scarface follows the story of a guy from cuba and who does work for gangsters to get a greencard and to get some money to live. The second “job” that he has to do is to pick up some cocaine from a guy but it turns ugly really fast and his friend gets tied to a shower and gets cut up by a chain saw. after some luck and shooting they makes it out in one piece and meets Frank for who he will work but then he kills him and takes his place. Fast forward a bit and he makes a lot of money by selling lots of cocaine and he runs his entire operation and goes crazy with power and does whatever he wants. An interesting quote that I thought was funny was when Bernstein says “Everyday above earth is a good day”. I found this quote very interesting and it basically means just enjoy yourself you're not dead yet. This movie was much more of an action movie than a talking movie like The Godfather. It was a movie that had a clear message of enough is enough and don’t get greedy. All these movies were good and if I could choose again I would probably pick the same topic again. Each movie had its similarities and differences but they all had family in common. In each movie the main guy protects his family in every way possible. All three of these movies had the same main idea but each were told from a different point of view which I thought was interesting. For example in the Godfather the story is from someone already in power but leading the mafia and in Scarface the guy starts from the bottom and works his way up to leading the mafia and then the Untouchables was from the police’s point of view. All these films should be watched by everyone. If you are bored and want to see a film I suggest watching one of these films

http://www.billdamon.com/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-godfather-including-the-horses-head-was-real/

Judgement

 My movie is called Judgement. It follows the story of a Chief detective who is trying to capture a serial killer that has been getting away for at least eight known years and maybe more. The police officers and detectives are closer than ever to him. Once our story is in place a flash back happens. You then follow the story of a little boy who witnessed his mother killed before his eyes. Murdered in cold blood and everyone knows who the killer is and so he is put on trial but he gets away once again. You learn that this is not the first time that he has gotten away with murder and that he will be out again to kill more. The killer then comes back and kills the kid's dad to show off and to prove that he feels unstoppable and that no one can get to him. This man is friends with all the most powerful people such as lawyers and judges and is wealthy. The little boy is now growing up to become a detective and is fueled by his anger to avenge his parents and to make sure no one has to go through the pain and suffering he had to go through. You then fast forward a few years to when he is in the middle of the investigation of the man that killed his parents. He follows the man on his own time because that is what motivates him as he believes that this is the reason he is alive. He tracks him down to a warehouse where you learn he is about to kill yet again and our guy handcuffs him right there and he is all alone with him with no one around and decides to take things into his own hands and kills him because he judged him unworthy of living. After realizing what he has just done he runs away to a new city and starts killing again those who he sees unfit to live. All this time you thought that it was the chief detective story but you then realize that it was the killer's once the audience starts to feel comfortable with him and doesn't see him as a monster. Our movie then ends when the serial killer organizes a meeting with the detective. Realizing that he is getting old and cannot continue the way he has been living he hands over a small box filled with little vials of blood taken from every victim he has ever killed. With a little letter that explains how he has only killed those unworthy of living tucked away inside the box. The detective doesn't realize what is in the box and continues to eat with the man who told him he had important information about the killer. They have a nice meal and once the time to go comes he hands over the box and both man leaves. Once the detective is in his car he opens the box and takes a look inside. He was so close to the man he wanted and rushes back in to look for him but he is long gone probably retired somewhere far away by now. And he walks back to his car where he reads the letter and finally connects all the dots and realizes that he might have done better then even the police.

This will be a mystery thriller type of movie. The director will be Francis Ford Coppola. He is the man who directed the movie The Godfather and he did a good job doing so. My movie is more on the side of mind games and talking sense and that is what he did really well in the Godfather. The killer will be played by Robert DeNiro who played as a gangster in the movie Goodfellas who murdered people. And the detective will be Sidney poitier who also played a detective role in the movie called the heat of the night. The focus of the film will be the story and cinematography. I would want this movie to really mess with people's minds and what they think is normal and how they are so quick to judge and believe that the kid is the detective and cheer for him but in reality it is the killer. My movie will be rated R for language, violence and blood, and some drug use. This movie shows many things from a 70's movie including Personal Cinema meaning it follows only my views and no one can tell me what to film. It also includes more mature and hard-edged stories with violence. There is also a blurred idea of good and bad. Some people might be cheering for the bad guy and some might be cheering for the good guy. I decided to make this my story because I enjoy mysteries and movies that have lots of plot twist and things that all come together at the end so I tried to make mine like that. A movie that people would remember and that they would need to watch a few times to understand everything that is going on.

MYST Reservoir Dogs #3

For my formal film study I studied Quentin Tarantino and I thought that his films were very interesting and since they were rated so high on the IMDB I decided to watch another one of his films. This time I watched Reservoir Dogs which was released in 1992. This movie is about eleven years old now but I still find it very interesting. If I had to give this movie a grade I would give it a 8 stars out of 10. This was one of Quentin Tarantino's first films and this is what made him famous. What I found interesting is that he even played a part in his film even though most directors do not.

Quentin Tarantino has a very specific style that I am getting used to seeing. At first you do not notice it but as you watch more films from the same director you start to pick up things that they do more or less then other people. And of course for him the thing that he does well is blood and violence. The movie is basically the story of six guys that are going to rob a store but one of them is an undercover police officer. This guy basically gets shot right away and is bleeding all over the place the entire movie. Once they get to the safe house they are trying to find out who is the undercover guy because there was already police officers waiting for them at the store and since he was shot they do not think it is him. Mr. Blonde kidnaps a police officer and then basically tortures the guy by cutting off his ear and slicing his face many times. This is not a new thing to Quentin Tarantino because torture and blood and violence is used all the time. At the beginning of the robbery they are given fake names and that is what they are called through out the movie and the police officer is called Mr. Orange.

Mr. Orange then convinces Mr. White that he is really a "good guy" meaning that he isn't the police officer and he believes him. At the end of the movie there is a part where the boss and his son are trying to kill Mr. Orange because they know that he is not a real thief but Mr. White is stooping them from killing him and goes as far as to point his gun at his boss to defend him. Mr. White is against killing for no reason and really does not want this but in the end everyone has their guns pointed at everyone and then they all shoot as the police is running in. It ends with Mr. White holding Mr. Orange in his arms while they are both bleeding out and Mr. Orange whispers to him that he is in fact an undercover agent and the screen goes black and we hear a gun shot. This means that Mr. White shot Mr. Orange and basically screwed everyone over. I found that last part of the movie very interesting and well done. Another thing that I thought was very interesting after reading about this movie is that Mr. Blonde is actually Vincent's brother from the movie Pulp Fiction which is another one of Quentin Tarantino's movies that I watched.  

Trailer

MYST #2 Memento

The movie that I have recently watched is Memento. We watched part of it in class and I thought it was really good so I went home and watched the rest on netflix. If I had to give it a rating I would give it a 9 stars out of 10. This is a film by Christopher Nolan Nolan who also directed the batman movies. All these movies have the film noir feeling where one man is alone and trying to figure something out and he doesn't always do the morally right thing. They all have the dark feeling to them and they all question what is really the right thing to do.

In class we talked about the femme fatale and I believe that there are actually two of them in this movie one being a man. Natalie and the police officer teddy use him to get whatever they want done. They use him to go kill people that they need erased. You could even say that maybe even he uses himself to get whatever he wants. I really enjoyed this movie and when I thought I understood everything an other part started and again I was lost like the main character. Like the main character's memory the film is told backwards in little parts at a time. The editing is done super well because just like our guy you do not know why he does what he does. He feels so confident why he does things while he really shouldn't. For example he really believes there was a Sammy even though there probably wasn't and when he believes that the car is his because he was wealthy but we find out that it was not the case and that the car actually belonged to a drug dealer. I guess even some of the things he tattooed to his body were wrong even though he believes that they are facts.

One scene that I thought was really good was the last one when he writes down the license plate number of Teddy's car. He just found out that Teddy has been using him many times and so he tricks himself and writes down that John G's plate number is actually Teddy's. He does this so that when he forgets once again and tries to find out who killed his wife he will find this "fact" and start hunting down who ever has that license plate and kill them. This could go along with a quote that he said in the movie that goes something like I do not need to know what revenge feels like as long as I get it. I guess this time he is trying to get revenge for himself.

The Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vS0E9bBSL0

1935 Movie

The Postman is the story of Thomas Carlson who works at a small post office and who wants to do something with his life. One day he ran into his old childhood friend betty lou and after talking for a while Thomas decided to try and run for mayor. He met many people over the ten years that he worked at the post office in Nebraska and they all think he really has a chance to win it. When Thomas talks or gives a speech he always quotes authors from books because he does a lot of reading as a mailman and always keeps up with the latest news. The other person that he competes against is Charles Lee. The Lee family has been running the small town since it was first founded and they do shady things because it is easier. Thomas will try to win the hearts of the people without lying and by using his good values. The message that we are trying to send is that if you try your hardest and work hard you can reach your goal but it wont be easy. The genre that we are going for is a political drama but most important a feel good family movie. This fits well with our story because there will be a lot of drama with lots of unexpected things happening as well as a political story because he is running for mayor but at the same time the whole family can come watch it and everyone will enjoy it. The studio would be Columbia because they are known for good writing and good directing. Columbia would also help us get Frank Capra as the director since he works there. Frank Capra would then help us get our lead actor James Stewart which would be perfect for this movie. This would be a big budget movie since our cast will have so many good actors and props. Clark Gable will also be in our movie but we will have to pay a fee to MGM for him but it will be worth it in the end. The Hays code will have a tiny affect on our production. It will stop Mr. Carlson from having a love interest and there will be no swear words in the heated debates. Even though swears would be perfect to show how much emotions would go into these debates and show how much this means to him we will remove them. We will be using Gregg Tolland as our cinematographer because he does great work and because we want people to be amazed by the camera work that we will be doing. We want this movie to last the test of time and we want people in the future to see how advanced our style was.

Formal Film Study

Quentin Tarantino

For my Formal Film Study Project I have decided to do "The Films of a Director". The director that I have chosen is Quentin Tarantino. Quentin Tarantino has directed many famous movies such as Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Inglourious Bastards, and Django Unchained. For my project though I watched Pulp Fiction, Inglourios Bastards, and Django Unchained. When I was watching all these movies I thought that they were all very good and you could tell that they were all directed by the same person. Although all these movies were somewhat in the same genre with adventure and drama in common for all there were some things that were done alot in the movies that you do not see in other movies as much. Some things that you notice right away when you watch these movies include all the swearing and blood everywhere. Another trait of Tarantino is probably violence. In every movie there is always someone fighting and guns. Although many movies have this as well the way Quentin Tarantino does it is different because of the words he uses are always the same. His characters always say the same type of swears over and over while others use different words and variety. Although other movies also have lots of blood in them I believe that Quentin Tarantino probably has a set amount of money put aside just for red paint because he is not afraid to splatter blood EVERYWHERE. For example in the movie Django right after they make the purchase of the girl a fight starts and Django kills so many people and everyone gets shot as blood goes all over the walls and people. Not only living people are getting shot but also the dead people are getting shot again for more blood. A very interesting fact that I read about on the internet while researching for this project is that the scene where Leonardo DiCaprio puts his blood all over the girl slave was his own real blood. This was not in the movie at first and that he cut his hand while hitting the table too hard. While he was smearing his blood all over the girl's face you can only wonder to yourself if she was acting or just screaming of terror because she was getting real blood all over her. In Inglorious Bastard there is a scene at a bar where everyone is shooting everyone. In all his movies there is always at least one scene where everyone is dying or there is blood everywhere. In Pulp Fiction when they are in the car with the guy that they took along Vincent accidentally kills him by shooting his face and blood goes all over the car. The car is covered in blood and I am not even sure there is that much blood in one person. Durring these movies I noticed camera shots and angles that we talked about in class. An example of this would be in the movie Django whenever someone is whipping someone else you always look at the person with the wipe looking up and who ever is getting wiped is always looking down. This shows power how we discussed in class. As far as the movies go individually I liked them all. Inglourious Bastards was a World War two movie from the point of view of the Allies. In this movie a girl's family was killed in front of her and she barley got away and later in life she has a movie theater were she will trap many Nazis and kill them for revenge. Django was a movie that was kind of a western but in the south that followed Django as he tries to rescue his wife. He teams up with a white bounty hunter and together they plan out a plan to buy his wife back but that doesn't go well for him so in the end he needs to use other means to get her back. The movie that I thought was the most interesting though was Pulp Fiction. At first I didn't understand it because unlike a normal movie it is not told in the right order. Another thing that was not normal about this movie was the fact that it was broken up into chapters. This movie tells the story of 3 main people two hit men and one wrestler and how their lives connect. All the movies had some funny parts that relax you a little from all the action and tense scenes. In the movie Django all the KKK people complain about their uniforms and it relaxes the audience from so much drama. In the end I believe that Quentin Tarantino is a good director and he makes very good films. I would watch his next film and I think I am going to watch more of his films. I would recommend all these films to a friend to watch without a doubt.

http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/2013-golden-globes/leonardo-dicaprio-real-blood-django-unchained-scene-201237591.html

MYST POST 1: Wolverine 2

The movie that I will be reviewing is wolverine 2. I found this movie to be interesting and fun. If I had to give it a rating I would give it an eight out of ten stars. I would give it this grade because of many things including how its not repetitive like many other x-men movies and stories and because it has big plot twists in it and i am a fan of those. I always like it when something unexpected happens to keep me on my toes. In the last wolverine movie it was the story of how he lived his first part of his life. From child to before x-men. This time around it was after the x-men.

The Trailer

The actor that played wolverine was Hugh Jackman. I think every time he plays wolverine he does a nice job. I think that he is a good actor and he plays the main guy in Prisoners. Prisoners is a movie that is just coming out to theater and he is one of the reasons i want to go see it. This time it was a different director for the movie and that could explain why it might be a little better then the last. James Mangold was the director for the movie this time around and this was his first movie in a while though. He usually does tv series but i haven't seen any of them.  

A  key scene that happened in the movie that was filmed interestingly was when he was on the train. when he was on the train he was followed by the bad guys and then he had to fight them. Part of the fight took place on the train and it was half cgi. You could tell it was fake but the type of camera angles that they used were some that we talked about in class. some of the camera things that they used were close ups to show emotions like the anger that was building up and they used full shots to get the entire person's body showing how tired they were and how they were giving it their all.

Review of the reviews

Like that movie, “Oblivion” incorporates all sorts of themes, ideas and images from science-fiction cinema of the last several decades, including “Blade Runner,” “The Matrix,” “Total Recall,” “2001: A Space Odyssey” and Andrei Tarkovsky’s “Solaris,” among others. I found this statement to be true. While I was watching the movie I noticed that at one part Jack is in a giant room filled with pods that look very similar to the ones in the Matrix. I noticed that it looked like the Matrix before I even read this review. I also noticed that when Morgan Freeman takes Tom he looks a lot like Morpheus and when he tells him that it is time to learn the truth and that he is the chosen one and so on.

It's apparent now, after two similarly pristine and vacuous productions, that Joseph Kosinski makes films as if he were building IKEA furniture: He follows a simple template, allen-keys the requisite pieces into place, and at the end of the process winds up with something both blandly functional and broadly appealing. This is also perhaps a little true. Although I feel like this is harsh his movies do seem to resemble alot. Like the other review said there were also signs of “Blade Runner,” “The Matrix,” “Total Recall,” “2001: A Space Odyssey” and Andrei Tarkovsky’s “Solaris,”. This is not a very original movie but I believe that it still was a movie that was fun to watch. It probably wasn't my favorite movie to watch but I do not regret watching it.

If I did not see the movie yet I probably would believe the review that is more negative. I would believe it more because it used more links and quotes. That makes his writing more reliable and he seems much more passionate and seems like he cares what he is writing about. Since he used more quotes and link it is more likely that his work is more creditable and true. He also makes very good points that even the good review makes.

If I were to write a full page review on this movie I would include the fact that this movie is nothing new. Although this movie is fun to watch it is stuff that has already been done in the past and it is very important to remember. The most noticeable thing is how much this movie is like The Matrix. I remember thinking to myself wow this movie seems familiar and now I am glad to see that I was not the only one that saw it. I would probably recomand this movie but I would not put it as a top choice I would say to put this movie on if there is nothing else to watch. Although it isn't bad it is not that interesting to watch. There are a few mind games but its easy to understand.

http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/oblivion-2013 – bad review

http://www.salon.com/2013/04/19/pick_of_the_week_oblivion_tom_cruises_gorgeous_sci_fi_allegory/ - good review

Film Intro Survey

1. What is the first movie that really made a strong impression on you?

I am not sure what the movie is called but a movie that made a strong impression on me was this monster film that my parents were watching one day and I decided to watch it from afar where they would not be able to see me at night because I was supposed to be in bed and a werewolf started eating a guy and it scared me.

2. What are 3-4 of your favorite genres?

Some of my favorite movie genres are Action/Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi, Mystery/Thriller.

3. What are 3-4 of your least favorite genres?

Some of my least favorite genres include Romance, Horror, Musical, and Biographies.

4. What are you five favorite films?

The movies the I really enjoyed watching were The Dark Knight, The Matrix, Boondock Saints, The Dictator, a french movie called Les Visiteurs.

5. List three characteristics of what you consider to be a good movie.

I think that a good movie has a new or a good story, cool effects, and is well told.

6. What are some of your least favorite movies?

Some of my least favorite movies are Spring Breakers, spider mans, anything scary.

7. List three characteristics of what you consider to be a bad movie.

I would consider a movie bad if you can tell what is fake and real, if there is no real story, and if it looks like the only reason it was made was for money.

8. If you have any favorite directors, list them.

I have never really paid much attention to who directed which movies.

9. If you have any favorite actors/actresses, list them.

There is not really anyone that I hate or dislike and there is no one that I really enjoy watching more than another.

10. List 3 films that you consider important films for people to see.

I think that movies that people should watch are Schindler's list, The Godfather, The Matrix.

11. What's your oldest favorite film?

My favorite older film is The Godfather.

12. What's the best movie you've seen that's been released in the past 2 years?

In the past two years I liked the Batman movies and the superman movie.

13. What are the next five films on you "queue"?

The next five films that I would like to watch are The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, Kick-Ass 2, Elysium, and oblivion.