"Catch Me if You Can"

Another Spielberg film that keeps us on our toes.  Spielberg's films all pocess a common quality in that they have action and are always on the move.  This movie is no different, it is always moving and never focusing too much on one scene.  This movie jumps from one scene to the next and also jumps between time zones via flashbacks.  This gives us a sense of how Frank ended up where he did in the beginning of the movie.

As the book talked about we see bright colors in the film as Spielberg has in his other films.  He tends to keep things very bright and well lit throughout his films.  When the book talks about the concept of style I would have to say that this film is mainly fast-paced and exciting as are most of his films.  Spielberg's films are also more on the unrealistic side such as Jurrasic Park and War of the Worlds.  This is also the case here since the scheme that Frank is pulling would not be as successful in real life as it was in the movie.

For the movie it was very well done.  I personally like Tom Hanks as an actor and so I enjoy his films.  He is one of those actors who is very versatile.  He can go from a very serious role to one with a more comical side.  I also think that Leonardo Dicaprio did a very good job too with his role in this movie.  I like how in the movie he is taking on all these different identities and is still able to portray each of them in a convincing way.  It is interesting how they made him be able to pick up on the different identities by watching TV programs.  Loved the reference to James Bond in the movie.

I liked how they kept the music that played throughout the movie from the same time period that the movie was set in.  It kept the whole setting of the movie in check.  It was also great how they made the scenes jump back and forth from Frank to Carl during the end as the chase was getting closer.  This really made the movie stay interesting instead of just focusing on one character for too long.  Even thought it has the comical feeling throughout the movie it still has the seriousness behind it that he did this all just so they would listen to him and pay attention to him.  This is very real in our real world today that's all anyone really wants.

I will have to say though that the movie does get redundant with going from one identity to the next and how Frank can't hold an honest relationship with anyone.  The ending gets better when he finally gets caught and it breaks up the redundancy.  Also when he and Carl begin to get closer at the end shows that he can form a relationship with someone.  All in all pretty good movie not one of my favorite Spielberg films but still enjoyable to watch.

"The Dark Knight"

This week I watch "The Dark Knight."  The classic batman tale with a new set of special effects and an excellent cast.  Even though Batman is the main character in the movie it also focuses on the Joker played by Heath Ledger.  We see how important a character he is going to be throughout the movie just by the opening scene in which he is shown robbing the bank.  We see the focus on those two main characters and along with them we have the supporting actors who make the story what it is.  Without the supporting characters there would not be much of a story.

Not only is the plot focused on Batman and Joker but it also shows the relationship between Bruce and Rachel, the new DA, detective Gordan, and his butler.  This story shows how each of these characters are linked to each other.  Eventually they are all a part of the final moments in the movie.  The story also has a twist in it when Harvey who is primarily a "good guy" througout the film turns into the new villian of Two-Face.  This makes a point in showing how someone so stable can turn crazy just by something tramatic that happens in their life.

"The Dark Knight" is filled with special effects, music that shows the pace of the movie, great make-up, and some great dialogue.  The Joker has some great lines throughout the movie such as when he is sitting at the table with the mob making a deal.  Heath Ledger did a great job with this character.  He was able to as the book called it impersonate who the Joker is.  He was able to take on the true craziness of Joker and to put himself fully into the role.  Even when getting beat up by Batman, he is still able to laugh and act crazy just as the true character would act.

The music throughout the film plays a great role in showing how the film is moving along.  It slows down during parts where we are supposed to pay more attention and then speeds up again during the action scenes.  This is also one of those movies where the music is ten times louder than just times where there is speaking.  That allows us to notice dramatic changes in the mood of the movie. 

The special effects done throughout the movie are done in a way that they look realistic.  There is nothing worse than bad special effects that make it look fake.  Everything looked real and yet it still took on that fantasy story feel.  This movie also has very dark colors throughout it which lets the audience know this is not going to be a "happy" story but one with action and drama.  The movie also has plenty of close-ups for dramatic effect and uses a variety of camera angles.

When the Joker talks about his scars we see just how much this can relate to other people.  He is wearing his internal scars on the outside and how his story changes everytime he tells it shows how having too much pain in one's life can lead them to absolute insanity.  And then we see how Harvey loses half his face which relates to the pain he feels after knowing they saved him instead of saving Rachel.

This was the type of movie that bored me when it first came out but now after knowing what to look for while watching it, it became more interesting.  It shows how an excellent cast can make a movie top notch by giving it their all in front of the camera.

"The Lion King"

-We're all a part of the circle of life.-

"The Lion King" is my all time favorite movie.  I wouldn't even have to watch it and still be able to recite every line from it.  That is why I enjoyed analyzing it so much.  For those who have not seen this movie I highly recommend it as it is one of the best Disney classics out there.  It is a blend of a love story, struggle for power, and having to deal with the past.  This film incorporates great music and amazing artistry.  I love these old Disney movies since they all have the old style of artistry instead of everything being computer generated.  It makes it seem like what it is an animated film instead of trying so hard to make them look like more life like.  The colors throughout the movie are genius.  Everything is bright and colorful yet it still doesn't get overdone.

This film along with others talked about in the text incorporates ideas that are suitable for kids yet has dialogue that brings in the adults.  Each of the characters in this film have many lines throughout the movie that will get a chuckle out of anyone.  "The Lion King" is not as shrewd as some of the newer animated films that have come out recently but still has a story that adults can appreciate.

Early on in the film we can see that there is a constant struggle for power between the male lions.  First it is between Mufasa and Scar and later turns in one between Simba and Scar.  We also see the close relationship between Simba and Mufasa which is why the stampede scene has such an emotional impact on its audience.  The relationship between Simba and Nala starts out as purely just a couple of kids being friends but later we see it develops into much more.  This film has the typical Disney story of good winning over evil but also has the message that you cannot just run away from your problems but need to face them.

"The Lion King" starts out as a happy story with everyone having a good time but then the stampede scene takes place which changes the whole tone of the movie.  We see the true darkness of Scar who is willing to kill not only his brother but his nephew in order to gain complete control of the pride.  Simba runs off and tries to forget about his past and lives a happy life with Timon and Pumba.  This all changes when Nala finds him and makes him face his problems.  I like how Rafiki says either we can run from something or learn from it.  This simple line reaches out to anyone who has ever had a problem they haven't wanted to deal with.

Disney movies are great in that they have some of the best music in them.  The music keeps the audience into the movie and links what they are singing in the songs to what is happening in that scene.  A movie without some type of music in it just gets boring after awhile.  Even just having music in the background of what is going on helps to make the movie move forward.

Throughout this movie there are close-ups, panning shots, and tilting shots.  The most prominent close-up during the movie for me is when Simba arrives on Pride Rock after Scar has yelled at Serabi.  This shows how he is back and ready to claim what is rightfully his.  Many of the panning shots take place scanning over the grasslands and just taking in the view.  The best tilting shot I think of is right before Scar and the hyenas sing and it starts at the top of the rocks and slowing moves down to where the hyenas and Scar are at.

All in all I enjoyed this week as I got to watch my favorite movie and knew how to go about analyzing it.  (or at least I think I do!) "The Lion King" is an absolute must see for anyone who has not seen it.  You do not always have to have little kids to go see an animated movie.

"Slumdog Millionaire"

"Slumdog Millionaire" is a show filled with action and drama.  Jamal is so close to winning 20 million rupees he can almost taste it but then he is accused of cheating.  As Jamal is questioned on how he knows all the answers the film unfolds to show how each of the questions has had something to do with his life.  I enjoyed this movie a lot with a different story appearing in the different scenes which made it unpredictable except for the predictable happily ever after ending.

This movie was shot on location which proved to work very well for it.  Each of the different houses in the slums had a distinct color to them that made it come to life.  The children on the streets with their dirty faces and torn clothes made them seem like the real deal.  At some points it looks like a documentary being filmed with the shaky camera shots but that made it seem more realistic.  With the whole story of Jamal cheating it always comes back to him finding and then losing Latika again and again.

This is a version of the normal love story with a different kind of twist to it.  Jamal is on a gameshow in the hopes that Latika will see him there and come back into his life again.  This movie is very fast moving and jumps from one idea to another while keeping the flowing motion of it.  It is all tied to how the questions on the show are related to events that have happened in Jamal's life that have helped him to advance to the final stages of the game.

The lighting at the end of the movie was genius.  When Jamal and Latika are in the train station and the camera zooms up to them and the sun is shining on them.  It illuminates them kind of saying to the audience that this is it, they finally found each other.  They utilized the fact that the sun was lower in the sky when filming which made it at the opportune position when filming.

When they did the slow motion shot while Latika was driving to Jamal it wasn't neccessary in my opinion.  I feel like that is overdone in movies and that there really is no point to it.  I think it slows down the movie's pace instead of allowing it to keep flowing.  This movie did flow very well though throughout it.  It did not get dull or boring like some tend to do during the middle portions.  I liked how they did the relationship between Jamal and Salim.  It showed how brothers will pick on each other and make each other mad but in the end they will always stick up for each other and help one another out.

The temporal factor was very well carried out throughout the film.  They started out with the characters as small children and it followed them all the way up to adulthood.  They kept this consistent with the development of India.  It went from being mostly slums to having more and more businesses.  It allowed me to see the development of not only the boys but also the area where they grew up.

All in all excellent movie.  I wouldn't mind watching it again and hopefully trying to catch more things that I might of missed.

"Walk the Line"

"Steady like a train, sharp like a razor."

"Walk the Line" is the story of Johnny Cash's life as he moves through his musical career.  Throughout the movie Johnny is faced with different obstacles that he has to make a choice on how to deal with them.  As the movie shows Johnny does not make the best decisions on how to deal with these situations.  I think this movie depicts the life of the real Johnny Cash pretty accurately.

This movie opens with Johnny Cash waiting at Folsom Prison before going on stage and then the rest of the movie is a flashback into his childhood and the rest of his life up to that point.  We see that as a child J.R. has a rough childhood.  He has to deal with the loss of his brother and then the strained relationship between him and his dad.  J.R. and his brother, Jack, had a very close relationship in the beginning of the movie and after Jack's death J.R. has to learn how to deal with both the death and his distanced relationship with his dad.

J.R. always had music in his life which is why him listening to the radio at the beginning showed how important music would be in his life.  The music is a main idea throughout the whole movie.  Each scene has to deal with music of some sort whether it's the actual music itself or the reactions that come about from the music.  This emphasis on music creates an internal conflict for Johnny as he needs to devote time to both his music and to his family.  In the book it talks about how different movies use the symbolism of music.  This is definitely a movie that does this.  The different songs that come about throughout the movie make it known in another way what is happening in the movie.

I liked how this movie seemed to use a more realistic type of lighting.  Sometimes they would have faces in the shadows which is how it is in real life.  I noticed at the end of the movie how while Johnny was doing his concert for Folsom Prison they made sure he was the focal point for the audience by keeping him in focus and having anyone else who was in the frame more blurry.  I also liked how the movie had the other artists that were becoming known at the same time as Cash in it.

The movie also depicts how Johnny goes through this downward spiral.  This was very well done as during the scenes where he is detoxing it actually looked like the real deal.  They also nailed the emotional toll that it took on the other characters.  Basically, this part shows how just by doing some reckless behavior he can lose everything that was once important to him.

By having June in the movie it showed just how much she cared for him throughout the whole movie.  Even when she was upset with him she still came back to him when he needed help.  When she takes him to church towards the end it kind of shows that by having faith you can overcome almost anything.  I love how they did the ending to the movie where June and Johnny are on stage and he's holding her in the air.  It shows how after all they have been through their love has gotten them to where they are.

"Good Will Hunting"

"Good Will Hunting" in my opinion was a very touching and moving film.  Will Hunting goes through life feeling like he has to prove himself to everyone which is why he is constantly getting into trouble.  He is trying to show that he is above everyone and that he doesn't want to seem inferior to anyone.  This movie shows a young man who develops more deeply as a person as he learns more about his true being and how he can have true feelings for others.

The opening of the movie was very well put together in how it showed just how important the symbolism of the books are throughout the movie.  The books represent Will's true knowledge and how he is able to learn just by reading facts in books.  This comes back to haunt him when the psychiatrist proves to him that real life experiences are worth more than knowing facts out of a book are.  With the fight scene at the beginning of the movie it shows the inner struggle that Will has between doing what is safe in his life or going outside his comfort zone and trying something challenging.

As the movie progresses different relationships begin to take shape.  First we see the awkwardness between the two colleagues, Sean and Gerry, which shows that there is a past between them which was not pleasant.  Another relationship is between Will and Gerry and Will and Sean.  At first it appears that Gerry is taking Will in to help him but eventually we see that Gerry is obsessed with Will's intelligence and is just looking out for himself.  The relationship between Sean and Will starts out very strained and then eventually gets to the point where the two are very close.  They can relate to one another with their hard childhoods and having to lose loved ones.

I agree with the article by Patrick McCormick that this movie shows the prime example of what is happening in our society.  In the film, Will is very intelligent but otherwise doesn't know what goes on in life.  This is what McCormick talks about in his article that intelligence is such a focus today and that most of these very intelligent individuals do not know what a life is actually like.  All they know is what they read about in books but have never really lived that experience.

We see both externally observable truths and internal truths of human nature.  The fact of Will having all the hurt he has had in his life is an external truth since this is the way things really are in the world.  People experience hurt and that's just how it is.  An internal truth is when Will takes off at the end to be with Skylar.  This may happen in real life but basically they put this into the movie because it is the type of ending that the audience needs to be happy with the movie.

I think this movie is really well done.  It has both the complex structure and the simple structure that the book talks about.  It has the simple structure of a young man going through his life and developing the different relationships with others.  It gets more complex when it puts in the idea of Will having to figure out himself and how books don't always hold the answers.  He needs to learn that letting others into his life is not such a bad thing and this proves true when he allows himself to love Skylar and how he is able to move on to bigger, better things at the end of the movie.

"In Her Shoes"

For my choice of movie this week I chose "In Her Shoes."  I have seen this movie before which made it easier to analyze instead of trying to figure out what was going on during it.  I liked how the movie opens with the two sisters each in their own worlds and how it shows how different they really are from each other.  First you've got Rose who is ultimate conservative and then their is the wild child, Maggie.  This movie shows the ultimate sister situation that happens in real life.  Either you have sisters who are almost identical in their personalities or you get two sisters who couldn't be more different as is the case here.

This movie is the ultimate example of the complexity of human relationships theme.  Not only does it focus on the relationship between Rose and Maggie but there is also the relationships between Rose and Simon, Maggie and her grandmother, and the two girls with their father.  Also there are the relationships formed between the elderly people and the ones formed between the girls and the elderly.  First in the movie they are all your basic kind of relationships but as the movie progresses those simple relationships turn into something deep and meaningful.

"In Her Shoes" shows not only how these girls resolve a conflict between themselves but also makes the point of how everyone deals with the loss of a loved one.  The true incident of what happened to Rose and Maggies' mother doesn't come through until later in the movie which makes the direction of the movie change a bit as it has to focus on the girls dealing with this.  It also deals with Rose having to deal with her low self-esteem and how she learns to feel better about herself.  Maggie has to learn how to grow up and take responsibility for herself.

I liked the focus of the shoes throughout the movie and how at the beginning they were just shoes that sat in Rose's closet and gradually you see her actually wearing them.  It shows how Rose is beginning to see herself differently and how she is feeling better about who she is.  With Maggie she always had that self confidence but really no respect for herself.  During the film she begins to realize that she is good at something and that she can apply it to her life.  Throughout the movie both of the girls go through their own self discoveries to find out who they really are.

During the movie the poems turned out to be a real significant factor.  The poems allowed Maggie to connect with the elderly man in the care center.  By him helping her to read it makes her feel accomplished and she learns that she can do things that once seemed impossible.  When Maggie was reading the poem about losing a friend it really tied her feelings to Rose.  It made us feel sorry for what they were going through and really pulls the audience into their true feelings and how they really need each other.  Having the poem read during Rose's wedding really showed how the two girls really feel for one another and how important they are in each others' lives.

I really enjoyed this movie with its different resolutions to the problems, the deepening relationships, and the little bits of comedy thrown into the mix.

"On the Waterfront"

This movie opened up very strange it seemed to me.  I didn't quite understand what was going on until after a few minutes into the movie.  The opening music let us know that something intense was happening although it just took awhile to figure out what that something was.  This movie seemed to have a lot of different things happening throughout.  First we start with the mob and then move onto a relationship being developed and then having to make a choice of whether to do the right thing or the easy thing.

I agree with the article written by Phillip Lopate with all the Christian symbolism that is shown throughout the movie.  I didn't pay much attention to it at first but after reading this article I remembered each of those different scenes.  I do agree that I think they overdid that a little and made it look like this should be a stab at the Christian faith with how it is portrayed.  It is weird how a movie about the corruption of unions can turn into something that drags down the Christian faith.

According to our textbook I think that the main idea of this movie is about moral implications.  Terry is constantly having to decide what he should do throughout the movie.  He has to first decide whether he wants to help with the killing of Joey or whether to stay out of it.  His decision to contribute leads to him getting more involved with the mob and gradually getting to the stage that he was in at the end of the movie.  I liked how in the movie they said how the love of a buck is more important than the love of man.  This comes through so true throughout the movie as different scenes of where the people are constantly only looking out for themselves. 

After Terry makes his choice to give his testimony on the mob, he is treated like an outcast from the rest of the people.  First his birds are killed and then they wouldn't let him work with the others.  And yet Terry still knew what he did was the right thing to do and by calling out Johnny Friendly he proved to the others that their is no reason to be afraid of him and that by standing up for yourself he loses his power with each follower you can get against him.

This film also could fall under the social problems category as it identifies a major problem with the corruption of unions and how they needed to be dealt with.  The movie showed how by letting someone have absolute power over everyone else it leads to fear of that person.  The people are not going to want to stand up against a person of such power and the situation will never get resolved.

This movie kept my interest during most of it until towards the middle.  It started to get redundant and kept dealing with the same thing over and over.  I did like the black and white though.  Normally I'm not a fan of it but I think they did the lighting in the right way that made it look great.  I still don't quite understand the whole pigeon emphasis so I don't know if I missed it or it just didn't really say.  I'm thinking it's just because of at the end how they compared Terry to a pigeon so that they would have something to make an emotional scene out of it being as Terry cared for the pigeons so much.

I liked how in the article by Sue Brower how she talks about Braudy seeing both Johnny Friendly and Father Barry as both fathers trying to win over Terry.  This is very evident as they both try to tell Terry what he should do throughout the film. Eventually it is Father Barry that wins over Terry and he takes a turn for the better.  He  has learned that doing what is right is not always the easy thing to do.
Well those are my thoughts about "On the Waterfront" hopefully you enjoyed it!