To Do Or Not To Do The Right Thing?

"Do the Right Thing" chronicles race relations between a black population and three intruding white business owners in Bed-Stuy New York, which I feel masterfully portrays how stupid racism is. The film starts off very relaxed, but as the heat burns on racism and hatred start popping up everywhere. One scene which I feel shows the stupidity of racism is when a character of each race starts shouting racist slang directly at the camera. It shows how all of these people are racist against each other, which basically them all the same, hence there should be no racism.
The Film Climax's with a violent riot, where people are killed and shops are burned. Mookie arguably the main character starts the riot by throwing a garbage can through the window of Sal's restaurant. It gets ransacked and burned. Mookie didn't do the right thing, there are better ways to get over the grief of loosing a loved one, that destruction. P.S. I loved the intro Rosie Perez is a bomb dancer.

One word : Epic.

The Battle of Algiers, was actually a fairly interesting historical narrative pertaining to an insurgency in the East. "Film Studies" written by Michael Kaufman (New York Times) parallels this battle to the new battle raging on in the Middle East. Privately screened at the Pentagon in relation to the way to win the war in Iraq, this movie expertly showed a "people's war". Where the people's need for pride, stems deeper than even that of freedom. They fight so hard and play dirty just because they are tired of the abusive relationship they have with the French. Both articles bring up an interesting points, one being that it is impossible to fit this movie into neat partisan formulations. It relates to so many different topics and ideas that it serves as excellent viewing material for anyone of any nature.

I especially like the last line of Peter Rainer's little diddy, "all sides in this conflict have lost their souls, and that all men are carrion." It uses excellent diction, almost as vivid and riveting as the film itself.

Uno Memento, Por Favor!

Memento, directed by Christopher Nolan, was probably one of the most confusingly interesting movies I've ever watched. My favorite of the film noire movies (which is really redundant since it means movies black movies), I at first hated the fact that it was filmed in a crazy weird order with weird black and white scenes dispersed through out the movie to make it more confusing. I kind of think that seeing it over the course of like a week made it more confusing, as at the end being able to piece together all the scenes along with the black and white scenes made it somewhat easier to comprehend.

I really like Nolan's choice in using color (or lack there of) to really emphasis and help the viewer understand the differences in time frame of the scenes. The part where we see Sammy Jankis in a mental hospital in black and white, and then a quick shot of Teddy in color, which went unnoticed by me was really interesting.

P.S i really like photos like that.

Kiss me Deadly

This movie is possibly one of the best movies ever to be filmed. I can't even comprehend how so much drama, suspense and action can possibly be captured in one epic tale. Until the final scene of the movie, I found myself continually questioning the educational merit of this film. It is comprised of all together fairly normal scenes pertaining to the mysterious deaths of awesome characters like the auto mechanic.

The final scene reminded me a lot of pandora's box. The ancient story of a girl given a box which she must never open. Curiosity gets the best of her, and she ends up releasing a wealth of badness upon mankind. The girl, opens up this mysterious box only to symbolically release the bane of human existence. While she only kills herself, it metaphorically speaks to the fearfulness given off by the cold war, and horror of nuclear bombs.

This is how its gonna go, Babe

Over all this movie was really good, however i strongly dislike the lead female character as well as the lead male role. They both felt that they were extremely cool, and really smart and yet each of them was the cause of their own demise. The only character i liked was the daughter. She was extremely good looking, and smooth the entire movie all i could think about was spending a little time with her, if you know what i mean. :)

The lighting was very distinguished, in this entire film. The dark tones to this movie were felt very deeply when paired with the intense music. They made it really, difficult to stop watching, but also with the lack of intensely bright scenes it made me feel really sleepy.

And they said

Arguably one of the best movies seen in Big Timmy's class, Groundhog Day (Ramis 1993) forces it's viewers to empathize with the miserable existence of Bill Murray's character. Filled with joy, anguish, fear and passion the repetitious aspect of his life is taken for granted by him. I asked myself how many years was he stuck in this miserable little town, and while watching it picked it apart trying to prove as many thing in as improbable.

One event that stood out was his final news "speech" if you want to call it that, Murray is sitting there surrounded by countless other new anchors and cheering folks. I just thought it strange that if everyone else has no recollection of anything that happened, how did they know he was going to do anything special?

This movie was terrific and after glancing at the article in TKlob's blog I definitely understand why for this whole movie I kind of thought it was poking fun of religion. I guess not poking fun of, but more showing the importance of. Because of the empathetical nature of this work, ideas are very easy to convey, which is why it's such an awesome movie.

They Should Have Burned This Footage

Bringing Up Baby had probably one of the worst plots to a movie that I have ever seen. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for very far fetched plots but this one was just so out there and annoying it became impossible to enjoy. The beginning of the film, which is in my opinion the most important part of the movie, was so over the top and annoying that the rest of the movie was impossible to enjoy. Katherine Hepburn's ditsy acting, paired with Cary Grants blandness created out of the most uncomfortable and blood pressure raising introduction to a movie.

Granted the movie wasn't a complete annoyance, partway through the film Hepburn's character actually partakes in more than one funny and clever scene. The part where her heel breaks and she walks around like an idiot was hilarious, as well as the part where she breaks out of the the jail by outwitting the deputy. Overall the moronic appearance of all of the characters just makes me really mad

Kill Jill

Yes, the title is in reference not only to the fact that Quentin Tarentino's movies are heavily based off Leone's, but also to the fact that people wanted to kill Jill. I know I'm rather punny. There goes another one. But anyways getting down to business, I rather liked the aforementioned director Sergio Leone. Interestingly enough I can actually relate this movie to the other aforementioned movie Kill Bill Volumes 1 and 2. Sadly enough I don't fully comprehend the complexities of either Once Upon a Time in the West or Kill Bill. From what I do understand both Harmonica and The Bride, as Uma Thurman's character are often referred to, throughout the entire flick are each following the road to their arch nemeses. Which they succeed in killing both in dramatic ways, with a shootout and my personal favorite the Five-Point Exploding Heart Technique.

Also similar in each of the films is the directors use of motif when bringing in a character, like Harmonica and Jill, who have songs that play. In Kill Bill Oren Ishi, has special music when she enters a room as well. They also do lots of close shots on the characters. If this Evidence isn't enough to prove obvious similarities Tarantino is even quoted as saying, "Oh yeah, initially I was thinking this would be my Dollars Trilogy. I was going to do a new one every ten years. But I need at least fifteen years before I do this again" (Entertainment Weekly).

Mein Führer! I can walk!

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb¸is critically acclaimed black comedy pertaining to a nuclear fallout caused by a deranged Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper. Feeling that the Soviet Union is behind the fluoridation of water in the United States, the cause as he sees it of his impotence, he takes it upon himself to protect “the precious bodily fluids” of America. He orders a fleet of B-52 bombers carrying nuclear payloads past their failsafe point deep into the heart of the Motherland. The viewer is clueless to the mental sanity of the General at first, and is lead to believe that this is an actual military order. Inspecting further into the movie, the viewers finds out the true cause of the attack, and is led by Stanley Kubrick’s interesting directorial choices into possible fixes to the end of the world.

When he first started writing the screenplay, it was Kubrick’s intention to purely adapt Peter George’s novel Red Alert into a film. But midway through, he realized that many of the most truthful elements of the film were ridiculously absurd, and thus he did what any person in his shoes would do, it changed the film into a nightmare comedy.

Filmed during one of Peter Sellers’ divorces Kubrick was forced to film entirely in England where Sellers’ battles took place, which gave need for Kubrick to make some interesting choices in set design. Made by Ken Adam, the four main sets were each masterfully crafted in Shepperton Studios. Interestingly enough while attempted to recreate an authentic cockpit of a B-52, Adam was unable to actually visit a B-52 due to the secrecy that surrounded the state of the art plane. Unrelented, Adam built the set off of just a picture of the plane. Upon inspection by the U.S Air force, it was deemed a perfect substitute of the real thing.

The ending of the film, which depicts ex-Nazi Dr. Strangelove shouting “Mein Fuhrer, I can Walk!” is actually an alternative ending used by Kubrick because the first one was a “farce and not consistent with the satiric tone of the rest of the film” (Kubrick). The original ending depicted all of the men in the war room engaging in a cream pie-fight of epic proportions. However there were so many pies flying around it became difficult to see who was speaking during this fight, so it had to be removed. Also removed was an opening and ending narration voiced by a supposedly Alien onlooker reviewing the history of Earth.

As an “immature” individual, I found some of the funniest moments in the film arose from often funny names of the characters, such as Major King Kong, Colonel Bat Guano and Jack D. Ripper. The movie seemed almost like a toned down Austin Powers flick than any of Kubrick’s classics, like A Clock Work Orange and Full Metal Jacket. I would strongly suggest to view this movie to anyone, though having some understanding of the Cold War Era and history in general is often necessary to really understand the hilarity of this film.

To be or not to be, that is the question;

Personally My Darling Clementine, directed by John Ford, did not live up to my expectations as a western. Wyatt Earp the main protagonist is not the usual rough and tumble hero depicted in my favorite country themed flicks, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and Walker Texas Ranger. Wyatt Earp is shown to be a caring almost girlish man, it seems he places more emphasis on making the town of Tombstone. Too much of the plot is worthless in my eyes, Ford seems to show meaningless scenes which play no role in the movement of the plot. Scenes like the raising of the Church, and the entire part about the Shakespearean artist play no role in making the plot more interesting. They only serve to further effeminate the main characters Doc and Wyatt. I think Ford was trying to romanticise the old West, which should never be done. There was no room for error out in the dessert it was not a romantic place.

Walker Texas ranger i feel does a much better job showing the true Western Hero. Yes, I know that Walker is from the 1990's and takes place in Texas, but it still has many elements of the great western thrown throughout. Like Wyatt, Walker doesn't carry or use a gun. He relies on his 3 time black belt karate skills, to bring down a myriad of armed assailants carrying knives swords and rocket launchers. In My Darling Clementine, at any point where Wyatt is in real danger, he mysteriously procures a gun and shoots the bandit. A Western should depict a heroic character, stronger enough to fend on his own, beating up bad guys and then going out to his hot woman for some loving. A true American hero is portrayed in Westerns, which in my opinion doesn't happen with Wyatt Earp.

Granted the movie was fairly decent Ford did an excellent job directing and putting his ideas on screen, in my opinion it just doesn't meet my expectations for a true American Western

And With Every Shot You Show A Little Improvement, To Show It All Would Take Too Long

Citizen Kane, Orson Welles' awarding flick about the pitiful life of millionaire businessman, is regarded as one of the best films ever created. Sitting in class staring "It's terrific!" plastered in big bold letters across a 40's era poster of this movie, I found myself wondering why is this movie so well respected. At first glance it appears to be a lame black and white movie about the hardships of having your childhood ripped out from underneath you. While watching it the main thing that stood out too me was how, in an age where CGI was unheard of, Welles was able to tell a story that darted too and fro in the space time continuum.

Due to his relatively small budget Welles had to be creative with his modes of shooting, as is seen in the election scenes, as well as the final scene showing the numerous goods he had amassed in his life. He used different techniques to make the scenery appear much more grand that it was in actuality. Painting the election hall on a canvas, not only saved money but also showed of his true ingenuity.

The make up is what i noticed most during the movie, shorts during the time of his death compared to shots when he was younger, it's seen though with some difficulty the extensive use of make up used on the set. One of my personal favorite scenes was the montage clip showing his relationship with Emily Monroe Kane. With each cut years are added on, showing not only their fruitless marriage, but also more subtly showing the excellent make up work used on set.

Some Like It Hot, and I'm One of Them

When first hearing about the requirements for the movies eligible to review, my first reaction was one of hatred for all literature and literature related courses. I have never been drawn into any older movie, except for the Bond series, up until this point. Some Like It Hot, directed by Billy Wilder, was able to flip my negative view of older movies 180 degrees. Through the use of scantily clad buxom babes, hilarious shenanigans, and of fear this movie succeeded in catching my attention and effectively changing my outlook on what makes a good movie.

Joe and Jerry the main protagonists, played by Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon respectively, were able to really get into character while playing Josephine and Daphne in an attempt to flee an angry Chicago Mob Boss, an aspect of the plot which allowed hilarity to ensue. The fact that they joined on all girls band only made things better. Filling to viewer with suspense as to if or when they were going to be found out for who they truly were, their transvestitism not only laid the groundwork for a hilarious comedy to ensue, but was also a terrific reason to bring in numerous beautiful ladies.

This fact leads to another terrific actor featured in this film: Marilyn Monroe. She shines so bright in this film, appearing in chic negligee for most of the movie made it ever more enticing to watch. Reminiscent of such latter day classics as Old School and American Pie, Billy Wilder really knew how to grab on to viewers’ heart strings, by throwing in such a fine specimen as Monroe, Wilder opened up the audience to not only teenage boys but also their fathers. Comparing this to these other movies however, makes the movie appear tame, but journeying back to a time when women weren’t allowed to have jobs and showing their ankles was scandalous, this movie seems pretty daring, even pushing the line on gay and homosexual marriage. This is seen near the end of the movie, where Jerry, who has been having a grand affair with a gentleman by the name of Joe E. Brown, appears to be almost legitimately in love with his courter.

Ahead of its time, it is also able to play homage to the large bootlegging rackets run out of Chicago. It combines elements from the Three Stooges and Scarface, essentially combining comedy and action into two terrific hours of footage. Being chased around the country by a bunch of mobsters wouldn’t seem fun, and yet through the use of excellent directorial choices it seems like a laugh riot. Airing more on the side of Larry Curly and Moe, in scenes involving elevators a loud whooshing noise each time one of the main characters uses the apparatus.

Thanks in part to the pure sexuality of Marilyn Monroe, extremely witty one lines gush from the screen. Having watched it with Buster, we found ourselves in awe of the sheer power held in such few words. On his pretend yacht, Joe, pretending to be a rich oil tycoon named Junior, is able to entice Sugar Kane, Monroe, on to his couch breaking down all her defenses by expertly crafting an ailment where he isn’t turned on by woman. A true ladies man, he proceeds to play his mind tricks with her into the wee hours of the morning (if you catch my drift).

Over all I would say that this movie unlike other more serious older movies would be a big hit with today’s crowd, replacing Marilyn with Jessica Simpson and Tony and Jack, with two guys I know I’d pay 8 dollars to essentially see it again in theaters.

After sleeping for a good 5 hours last night, an epiphany hit me: I actually sort of enjoy movies. Up to this point in my life, when ever someone has asked me what is my favorite movie I'll either say Dogma, because of it's hilarious, or else I'll say I don't like movies. Up until now, I've felt that unless movies have an artificial interresting plot, like action movies or comedies, I can't watch them. By artificially interresting I mean to say, that without huge explosions or raunchy things to catch my attention, after 15 minutes my mind is adrift to a land of pink unicorns and cuddly monkey gnomes made out of candy canes. I think my previous view of movie going is utterly pointless. Apparently movies are just like books, which as much as it pains me to say this, I kind of think I kind of think they should be analysed just like books to find their true meaning.

My friend's dad manages an office building in Bloomington, one of his tenants is the director a supposedly horrible movie Mulligan. Sitting in his basement I casually glanced over the cover of this book, it looks so good "Caddyshack with Clerks" it states, to terrific comedies. But apparently this version sucks more than soccer playing duck. I guess I'm questioning what makes a good movie, a good movie? I don't understand how critics can make a list of the best movies of all time. Why is Citizen Kane up there instead of Mulligan? Hopefully I'll be able to figure that out this year.

Why do I love things like this, but dislike other things? What makes me tick, hopefully Klobuchar will help me figure this out.

So apparently Wes Anderson, potentially Mr. Klobuchar's favorite director (I don't know this he just talks about Wes Anderson alot), has made a whole slew of Commercials for AT&T. Having never seen his movies, I don't know if his directorial style is the same for both his movies and his commericals, but I thought it was interesting none the less. All the other ones are available here.

The Bourne Ultimatum

While I may agree with Richard Corliss, of TIME Magazine, that the Bourne Ultimatum is a very suspenseful movie, his review of the movie pays homage more to my 4^th grade English class, than a well respected periodical. Upon reading his piece, it appears to me as if he utilizes creative writing solely because he has nothing else to say. His metaphors and analogies lack creativity and bore the reader by throwing in too many words better left unspoken.

“Eluding or dispatching bad guys, fighting off six at a time in a stairwell, wrecking more autos than in a NASCAR blooper reel.”

It would be possible for a well versed 12 year old to come up with something better than that.

If the reader is able to get past Corliss’ drab writing style, it’s easily seen why he is a writer for TIME, a plain conservative magazine: he has an excellent point of view. He comes up with terrific ideas, and truly demonstrates to the reader that he knows what he talking about. Looking at Greengrass’ directorial decisions Corliss makes a seemingly well educated conclusion about Greengrass’ camera choice.

“[He has defined] Bourne location work as guerrilla filmmaking — using concealed cameras in "wild" situations — and he overuses the hand-held shaky-cam to shout, visually, that this is all real, man!”

He uses information given to The Art of Film students in their first few weeks of school excellently, basically giving word for word what shaky-camera shots are used for.

Corliss is able support his ideas with numerous examples of other films which, like the Bourne Ultimatum, are so suspenseful make it hard for the view to breath during the course of the movie. Tying this movie into two other of action dynasties, Bond and Die Hard, Corliss puts Bourne with other quintessential action heros. He writes,

“That's the secret of [Bourne], and Bond and John McClane and all the other action-movie studs. They are a projection of American power — or a memory of it, and the poignant wish it could somehow return.”

As many millions have seen the Bond and Die Hard films, Corliss is able to demonstrate the true determination and mastery of combat Jason has.

Although he has in my opinion one of the most uninteresting writing styles out there, this review is still a success. It makes the reader want to go and spend 8 dollars on a ticket plus popcorn to truly experience the movie.

“A pounding of the eyes and ears (John Powell's score is all urgent percussion), the movie is one continuous, exhausting, exhilarating chase.”

Making it seem as if my simple 42 incher and Dolby 5.1 surround sound system won’t be able to capture the epic nature of this film.

After giving the reader a sense of the pure unadulterated action that unfolds during the movie, Corliss casually touches on Damon’s portrayal of this invisible agent, by saying that his acting is what in effect makes Bourne invisible to the C.I.A and a hero to the viewer.