The Cove Blog

The Cove is a documentary about Dolphins. This documentary is a heart wrenching film that covers the slaughter of dolphins in Japan. I recently completed reading chapters 12 and 15 in the text book “The Art of Watching Films”. In the text I learned how to fully analyze a film for the message it was trying to portray.

I think this film really touches on irony. The textbook definition of Irony is a literary, dramatic, and cinematic technique involving the juxtaposition or linking of opposites. I say this film touches on irony because the main character of the documentary Richard O’Barry is in a desperate fight to eliminate the captivity and slaughter of dolphins. Ironically O’Barry was the one individual that sparked the capture of dolphins when he trained the dolphins that where shown in the TV series Flipper.

Throughout the documentary the viewer is introduce to vast knowledge of dolphins. I personally did not know much about the animal until the viewing of this documentary. The viewer quickly learns how hard captivity is on the animal. Viewers are also shown the cruelty of the dolphin slaughter that happens in Japan every September.

The slaughter is very hard to watch. I am an avid hunter and fishermen and I even had a difficult time viewing the massacre. Throughout the filming of the slaughters that go on day to day in Japan the director has to use many different types of filming techniques. One of the coolest and most unique was the heat footage that is shown during the film. I have never seen this shown before.

Another thing the film identifies is the amount of mercury that these dolphin hunters are injecting into Japan’s population. Each of the dolphins killed contains dangerous amounts of mercury, this meat is given to markets and schools throughout the country. This is a very touching film but I would not recommend it to anyone with the weak of heart. It is a truly difficult film to view without getting upset or emotional.

The Cider House Rules Blog

The Cider House rules is an classic movie that I really enjoyed viewing. I had never seen this movie until I watched it this week. This film touches on a few very difficult issues but was placed in a time frame when it was not socially talked about. I recently completed reading chapters 12 and 15 in the text book “The Art of Watching Films”. In the text I learned how to fully analyze a film for the message it was trying to portray.

The first difficult issue that the film touches upon is abortion. During the film a doctor running an orphanage performs several abortions. During the abortion process he tries to teach his apprentice that the art of abortion is okay and it actually helps save lives. The doctor’s apprentice is absolutely against abortion. He is against abortion because he is an orphan himself, and claims that he would not be on earth if abortion was always acceptable. Later in the Film the apprentice is forced to perform an abortion himself.

The second difficult issue that the film introduces is inbreeding. The apprentice is forced to perform an abortion on harvester’s daughter who had been impregnated by her father. The girl had threatened to take care of it herself.  After the apprentice hears this he is forced to make a very tough decision. Let her injure herself, or go against his morals and perform the abortion himself.

The third issue that the film addresses is adultery. Throughout the film the apprentice ends up falling in love and having relations with a married woman. The married woman’s husband was away at war during the events.

I believe the last issue the film touches on is the plagiarizing of a doctorate degree. Before the doctor passed away he forged a doctorate degree for his apprentice. The apprentice has had no formal medical education and by the end of the film is able to perform as a gynecologists in the orphanage.

The cider house rules is a very touching movie that I would definitely recommend to anyone to view. I only wished I had the opportunity to view the film earlier.     

The Full Monty Blog

The Full Monty is a British film that I had the pleasure of watching while traveling for work. I have to say I am not the biggest fan of foreign films, they are not my style. I recently completed reading chapters 12 and 15 in the text book “The Art of Watching Films”. In the text I learned how to fully analyze a film for the message it was trying to portray.

I believe the director of The Full Monty was trying to portray a couple of common tough life challenges in a comedic way. Even though the movie was based in a British town these life challenges are very common in the U.S. as well. I believe the director tied into the film three big life challenges.

The first message brought to viewers was a downward trending economy in a classic steel working town. I can relate this town to Pittsburg or Detroit. Both of these are American cities that have taken economic hits in the past. Residents of the British town and the two U.S. cities have suffered a financial hit as work has slowed.

The second message portrayed by the director is that of a broken family. The films story line is based around a man trying to get enough money together to pay off his backed up child support. He does this in order to continue seeing his son. This can also be related in the U.S. There are many broken families and many men in women out there doing what they have to do to keep their families together.

The last message is “what you see is not always what you get”. In the scheme to raise money a group of older out of shape men gets together and learns the art of strip dancing. At first look you would never think of these guys as capable male strippers. Another form of this happens towards the end of the movie when the one physically fit gentleman that is portrayed as the ladies’ man of the group may potentially be homosexual.   

This was a good movie that touches on a lot of valuable real life issues in a very easy to watch comedic way.

The Dark Knight Blog

The Dark Knight is a classic movie based on good versus evil. This film was directed by Chris Nolan, who also directed the film Memento which I also recently viewed. I tried to link some common characteristics between the two movies. One I came up with was both films had a vigil anti main character seeking to take out evil. In Memento it was Leonard and in The Dark Knight it was batman.

The Dark Knight was definitely a high dollar film with a vast array of actors and extras. The top acting performance has to be given to the late Heath Ledger. From research I found Heath really got himself into the character of the Joker. He mentally took on evil accurately portray evil into his character. Some would say that this character eventually ended up taking the life of Heath Ledger. Another great acting performance was by Christian Bale in his role as the Batman. He changes his voice for the character and plays the role very well. I don’t think there could really be another fit such as Christian for the role of batman.

This film definitely used dark colors throughout the movie. All costumes and clothing was dark in color, black, purple, and dark blue were some of the top colors throughout the film. This film also used a great deal of special effects. The use of explosions in car chases kept you on the edge of your seat. I would recommend the viewing of this film in theaters if possible. If you cannot view this film in a theater try to watch the movie in a dark room and hopefully with surround sound. To get the full impact of the movie the viewer needs to have a full sound experience.

I did not take notice to any music or sound in the movie to show any type of emotion. Most of the sound was from characters talking or action scenes with crashes and explosions or fighting. This viewing of the movie was my third time. I enjoyed it this time just as much as the first. I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys a good action movie.  

The Breakfast Club Blog

I watched the Breakfast Club on a rainy Saturday morning. I have seen the movie one other time in the past. I told one of my friends about my assignment and what movie I watched, he responded “what a great movie to watch on a rainy Saturday” I feel that The Breakfast Club is a timeless classic.

This film was definitely a lower budget movie. I believe there were only 7 cast members in the movie and the film was shot in one set location. The film was directed by John Hughes. John directed quite a few great movies that I was able to watch growing up. The cast of actors fit the characters quite well. There was a perfect mixture of character traits, which is was I think the script writer was looking for. The film had a Red Head, Blond, Brunette, and Brown Haired characters. The characters were also from every different social structure you could find in a high school setting back in the 1980’s. There was a punk rebel, a divorcee rich girl, an outcast introverted girl, a high school jock, and a brainiac un-cool kid.

I noticed that the film used dull or bland colors. The lighting of the movie was not actually dark but dim. I believe that the lighting of the movie matched perfectly with the viewing of it on a rainy overcast day. I was not impressed with the audio of the movie. I felt that I kept having to readjust the volume on my TV in order to catch everything. This could have been caused by the budget or use of technology for the film.

Music was used during the film to play into suspense and drama. This film actually used 80’s rock music. I believe that one of the best parts of the movie was when the kids were trying to evade the teacher in the hall ways. Throughout this entire segment music was playing. The movie also opened and closed with music as well.

The Breakfast Club was a very moving film as far a breaking down of social structures within a school go. At first when the kids are entering detention and choose their seats I initially thought that the princess would fall for the jock and the outcast would fall for the rebel. But this did not happen. As walls and barriers were taken down and broken between the students the exact opposite happened. The jock ended up falling for the outcast girl and the princess ended up falling for the rebel.  

I really enjoyed view this film. I would definitely recommend this show to anyone. As I have already said this movie is a timeless classic that can be viewed more than one time. 

Little Miss Sunshine Blog

Little Miss Sunshine was a great movie about bringing a family together. The film had two directors John Dayton and Valerie Farris. I have never really looked into the directors of films before; I started to research this after reading Chapter 11 of the text “The Art of Watching Films”.

Chapter 10 of the text is about analyzing actors of a film. I think that the actors of the film were very good. At first I notice that Steve Carell was staring in the movie, I immediately thought the movie was going to be a comedy with him as the main role. I soon found out that was not the case at all. Steve actually had a semiserious role within the movie. I don’t think I would actually classify the movie as a comedy but I did find myself laughing from time to time.

Music was used throughout the movie. One of the most memorable was when Olive was dancing for the beauty contest. I believe she was dancing to “Super Freak”. I found this part of the movie very funny. The film used very light vibrant colors as well. All the characters dressed in lightly colored outfits. The vehicle that the family traveled in was yellow, another light color. I definitely feel that the use of light colors in a film picks up the viewer’s spirits.

I also like the way the script writer kept having things get worse and worse for the family. One of the main symbols of deterioration throughout the movie was the family van. I believe they were traveling in a volkswagon van that basically fell apart on them throughout the movie.

I really enjoyed viewing this film. I would recommend it for a family to view as long as the children were at least teenagers. I also think this would be a great movie to be watched by couples.  

Amelie Blog

Amelie is the first foreign film I have ever had the opportunity of viewing. I will say that I am not a big fan or sub titled films. I feel that I spend most of my time reading the captions and very little time watching the movie.

Amelie was definitely giving the correct title as the movie is based around one main character named Amelie. One of the stranger characteristics of the film was the introduction of new characters into the film. Whenever someone new would appear in the movie a narrator would give a few details as to what the character hated and loved. The film was based in real time when the movie was produced place in France during the late 90’s. I also took notice to the use of very vibrant colors and mellow lighting throughout the film.

I believe the producer was looking for an objective point of view with all of the focus on Amelie. I really like how the director would do extreme close up shots and blur out the back ground to enhance the focus on the main character. The movie had a few special effects implemented throughout the movie. Usually special effects where used when a fantasy was being looked in too.

Being the movie was not from my typical culture or genre I was not really into the show. I did feel that the producer was trying to get across a sort of love story. I really enjoyed the photos of the Nome that belonged to Amelie’s father; it reminded me of the Travelocity nome. The producer made the main character an introverted outcast that was afraid to make a move on a guy she had a crush on.

I personally would not recommend this movie to others to watch. I found it hard to stick with it. Many times my attention was lost. 

Memento Blog

Memento was one of the more confusing movies that I have ever viewed. I believe that according to chapter 5 of the text book, The Art of Watching Film, I believe the movie had a subjective point of view. I believe the director was also focusing solely on a few key characters. I believe Memento had a very small cast consisting of 3 main characters. If the movie would have had any more characters than this it would have been nearly impossible to watch.

I have never seen a movie scripted quite this way. The main character Leonard suffers from short term memory loss. The movie starts out where a conventional movie would have ended. As the show progresses you gradually gain information through play backs that describes the actions that previously happened. Throughout the course of the movie the viewer is gradually brought back in time one event at a time.

As I read chapter 4 of the text I was able to tune my attention to the lighting and the time of day the movie took place. I have to be honest this is something I have never paid attention to in the past. Memento was shot during the day light hours. I do not recall one night scene in the entire movie. The movie mainly took place in the main character’s hotel and car.

The producer really helped out the audience through the use of black and white vs. color. The producer had all of the flash back memories recorded in black and white. When the Leonard  is involved in real time the movie is shot in color.

I feel the movie is looking to get a message out about how hard it would be to suffer from short term memory loss. There is a little irony involved in the film as Leonard dealt with an insurance claim where one of his clients had short term memory loss. Leonard eventually ruled that the guy was mentally unstable and his insurance company would not cover the claim. Eventually the client lost his family and ended up institutionalized.

Memento was a very good watch. I do agree with the text in chapter 1 of the text referring to having to watch this movie multiple times. I would recommend this movie with the warning that it will not be satisfying on the first watch. I would also throw out the disclaimer that it needs to be very quiet during the watch. The movie requires your full attention.

Good Will Hunting Blog

I was excited to see Good Will Hunting on this week’s movie list. I have seen this movie twice before and was very happy to watch the movie again. I believe the actual movie title was mentioned in chapter 3 of the text book The Art of watching films. The text references the title of the movie naming the theme of the movie, in which the text says seldom happens.

The movie followed a linear or chronological structure. The film was laid out in a classic chronological order. The main characters was named, we discovered his problems and what he needed to overcome, finally the movie ended happily ever after. Good Will Hunting followed the “Internal Truths of Human Nature: The way things are supposed to be” as stated in the text. I found myself constantly pulling for the main character Will.

I especially liked the way the film made me think and exercise my mind. Will is a very intellectual character with a very rough upbringing. He has a group of amazing rough and tumble friends as well as an association with highly educated people from MIT. I found myself constantly putting myself in Will’s shoes, I found myself feeling sympathetic for him. I want to say the film definitely used internal action.

As I read the text I got caught up on symbolism. I think the boat painting in Robin William’s office was a symbol of some sort; unfortunately I was unable to put my finger on exactly what it was. I want to believe that Robin William’s late wife painted it for him. I felt somewhat angry when Will was degrading the character of the photo during their first meeting.

Good Will Hunting is an amazing movie; I would give this film a strong recommendation with the forewarning of the use of profanity. I do believe that the film needed this profanity in order to get a true depiction of the characters across.

Life of Pi Blog

I sat down to watch Life of Pi after reading the first three chapters of The Art of Watching Films. I had seen the movie once before so this would be my second viewing of the movie. I did my best to limit outside distractions, but I ended up getting pulled away from the show a couple of times. As I watched the movie I began to pick up a few things that I did not remember from my first viewing. I believe the movie was very spiritually related.

The movie kept me very interested. I believe the director and story writer were trying to establish an element of truth through “The way things never were and never will be”. The film put me the film viewer into a very unbelievable and potentially imaginary world. It seemed to me that the film was always based in a very enlightened frame, with the use of extraordinary colors combined with mellow and peaceful mood. What I am trying to say is the movie could have been very suspenseful, but the narration and screen play kept me relaxed.

I was very excited to learn in Chapter 3 of the book the differences in the structures of movies. I believe Life of Pi has a nonlinear structure. I think this because the movie is narrated and told by the main character many years after the events of the movie occurred. It is fun to be able to pick these kinds of details from a film now.

Life of Pi did not have a lot of characters/actors in the movie. I would go as far to say the movie had 1 main character and 4 -6 supporting characters. I think that these characters were Pi was the main character. He was definitely a developing character; he undertook many personality changes throughout the film. Pi started the movie as a young kid seeking the absorbance of knowledge all the time. By the end of the film he was a knowledgeable young man sharing his experiences with the world. Pi grew and matured throughout the movie. I would definitely recommend this film to anyone who is looking for an enlightening movie that relates heavily to the spiritual world

Casablanca

I got the pleasure of watching the classic Casablanca on May 11th 2014. I have to say I found the movie very enjoyable. I was very intrigued with the plot and I liked the way the director led me into the movie. I have to be honest I do not think I would have given the movie a chance if it had not been a requirement in my film class I am currently taking. I also do not think I would have given the movie a fair review or chance if I had not first read The Art of Watching Films 8th edition.
I believe that chapter one of The Art of Watching Films was the most helpful with older movies. Throughout chapter one the Authors give you tips and tricks to open your mind to new films that you may not be used to. I enjoyed the plot as the main character played a duel role. He seemed to mingle with the criminals and crooked characters of the movie as well and helping out the innocent or (good guys) of the movie. This type of film has always been able to capture me. I really enjoyed the film and would recommend it to anyone looking to broaden their horizons in film watching.