The Royal Tenenbaums

The Coen Brothers

The Coen Brother's are also pretty good directors..

Just like with Altman, I also enjoyed the three different styles of movies. The first one we watched, Raising Arizona was very funny and I liked the humor in that, and I like also how it focused on the American dream. I enjoyed Fargo, the next movie, because it was set in Minnesota and that held my interest because it was interesting to see things that I reconized. I have heard from a lot of people that they loved No Country For Old Men, although it was a pretty good movie, it wasn't really my type of movie, I hate blood and gore, it definatly draws my attention away from the plot. But I realized it was kind of suspensful to that sometimes brought my attention back until the gross parts came back. I think in all the movies he does a good job of connecting the characters with the setting of the film. Especially in Fargo and No Country For Old Men. Overall I believe The Coen Brothers have become very successful directors with their variety of films, using comedy and suspense.

Altman

I though Altman was a creative director. He used a variety in his films, unlike the last director we watched where it seemed they were all the same. He had Nashville, which was a musical movie, The Player which was more of a detective movie followed by The Long Goodbye. I think having a variety of movies that aren't all alike can keep viewers interested in you because they never know what will come next, and I consider that a good thing. Althougt I didn't really see The Player, I heard a lot of the same styles were used in that one that were used in the other two. Which consisted of few cuts and opening scenes that were long. Out of the two movies I saw, I liked The Long Goodbye the best. I really liked his layed back attitude towards everything. I also really enjoyed the humor he had with his cat and I think that made the movie a little bit more interesting, I love funny movie. Overall I think Altman was a pretty good director!

Kurosawa

While I was watching the first out of three Kuroswawa films, Stray Dog, I realized I was not going to enjoy these movies at all. I thought that movie was very boring and didn't really have a interesting plot. Not only that, but I hate sub-titles and I hate listening to movies in other languages. I just don't believe these movies are my type. Kurosawa is a good director though, his other movies that we watched, Yojimbo and Ran, were better than the first one. They were a little more intense and interesting. Like in Yojimbo, Kurosawa used wind as a symbol to make things more suspensful, the use of weather was very important in this film. In Ran I thought he used a good choice of music, slow or no music when needed or loud at certain points. Weather was also used in this film to make scenes more interesting. I also hate movies with fighting and violence, so that made these movies a lot less entertaining as well because a lot of the times I didn't want to look. The blood was disgusting and I thought it was really unnecessary to watch that more than once because I was going to throw up, I up we never watch a movie with blood in it again. Overall, I think Kurosawa is a good director, but it was just not my type at all, so I wasn't always so interested.

Hitchcock

I thought these movies were pretty interesting, I likes how they all had some of the same reoccuring themes. Suspence mainly, the blonde women, and the wronged man characteritic. "39 Steps" I think had the best wrong man character, he always knew how to work his way out of things and was very witty, but watching movies in black and while and the fact that it was so old just doesn't hold my attention. "Rear Window" was probably my favorite out of the three, I liked the suspense that come with it because it held my attention. The camera angles used were interesting because they were different from other movies. I like having to watch a character put all the pieces together to figure something out, like this murder because you can try and figure it out as well. I thought our third movie, "Vertigo" was..okay, kind of interesting in a bad way but some good. But when it started to get boring, there would be twists to make it a little better. Once again, he has a blonde leading lady and that just shows how much he likes them and almost uses that as a symbol in his films. Overall, Hitchcock it a very good director does a very good job creating suspense, which is the best way to draw in an audiences attention!

Director Blog # 3 : Look Who's Talking

Look Who's Talking is another comedy by Amy Heckerling made in 1989, starring John Travolta and Kristie Alley. Mollie, played by Kristie Alley, gets pregant by the co-worker she is having an affair with, after realizing they don't want to be together, she soon does realize that the cab driver(James) who helped deliver her baby Mikey, may be the right guy for her. Mollie wants the perfect father for her son Mikey, so as she dates around and when Mikey calls James (John Travolta) "da-da", she knows that he is the one. I think this movie is a lot different from her other two high school comedys, Clueless and Fast Times at Ridgemont High, because first of all it is adults and adult situation rather than teenagers, which comes along with different humor and acting. This movie is also very different because there is a baby's point of view..commenting on everything, even his own birth (the voice is played by Bruce Willis). I think seeing the point of view coming from the child is very interesting, especially the way they do it. I thought this movie was pretty good, i enjoyed the other ones more, considering Clueless is one of my favorite movies, but I thought it was funny and the acting was good, I would also recomend the sequal Look Who's Talking Too (funny and enjoyable), there was another one after that as well but i don't remember that one.

Director Blog # 2 : Fast Time At Ridgemont High

Fast Time at Ridgemont High was directed by Amy Heckerling in 1982, and was a american teen comedy. It is about the lives of two highschool freshman, Stacy Hamilton (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and Mark Ratner (Brian Backer) and their older friends Linda Barrett and Mike Damone, who are believed to be the romance experts and try to help the younger freshman out. This movie is different from Amy Heckerlings, Clueless, because it a based more off of reality which is different from other teen movies during the 80's. Although, there are still some exxagerations, like when Jeff Spicoli ordered pizza in the middle of class. These characters are not just the traditional stereotypes, but are more natural. The scenes are also most serious and humorous, because some of them are very unpredectable and remind us of what people acutally do in high school. Some of the other characters included in this film include Jeff Spicoli, played by Sean Penn, who is known as the "stoned surfer", who talks back to the teacher Mr. Hand, who believes all of his students are "on dope". Stacy also takes some advic from her older "popular" brother Brad, played by Judge Reinhold, who works at All American Burger. Overall, I think Amy Heckerling did a good job making a more "realistic" teen movie, rather than her other one, Clueless. The characters are well played and the movie is still known as a classic.

Director Blog #1 : Clueless

I thought that the movie Clueless, directed by Amy Heckerling, comments a lot on the social norms of a typical high school. The acting really exaggerates what people may believe acutally happens in high school. The movie focuses most on clothes, sex and popularity. Cher, played by Alicia Silverstone, faces the up and downs of all those. The main focus of the movie starts after Cher and her friend Dion try to give a make-over to the new girl, but Cher soon realizes she is the one who needs a personality make-over, which soon makes her become more caring for other. By the way the end of the movie turns out, I think Amy Heckerling make this parody to teach teenage girls that it is not always just about clothes, sex and popularity but much much more. An example of when Amy heckerling exxagerates something that people believe to go on during high school is when Cher is trying to get he license. She takes out the car without her license and picks up her friend and is bring a really reckless driver, nobody in the real world would EVER drive that bad. And also when she takes her road test, the instructor is really mean and she almost kills someone swerving all over the place, which also just wouldn't happen. Also, when the new girl comes to the school who is "unique", which should be considered a good thing, Cher and Dion try to change her to become "popular". Here, Amy Heckerling is trying to exxagerate the fact that in high school it is hard to fit in unless you are "popular", but in the end of the film she shows us that being unique is important. Overall, I think Amy Heckerling did a good job with this parody, Clueless, because it shows girls what is important.

M

I thought this movie was pretty interesting..both good and bad. I did not like the subtitles and listening to the German language being spoken. The setting was not very interesting so it wasn't such an eye catcher. I thought the character they choose to be the killer fit very well. He almost looks like a kid himself so it makes his look even more creepy..the way he walked and wistled scared me a little because if i saw a man like that i would probably be a little concerned. This movie was pretty slow moving..nothing exciting ever happen throughout after the girl got kidnapped so it didn't really hold your attention throughout. But i was always curious to find out what was going to happen in the end or to the kidnapper. Overall it was pretty boring, but not the worst one we have watched!

Do The Right Thing

I think this movie is one of the most appropraite movies for highschools to watch compared to the rest because it really got a lot of people talking. I thought the characters were very interesting to watch and it was pretty funny. I think Spike Lee did a good job using meaningful scenes, and the topic of racism was important. I really likes how the colors of the movie, using warm and bright colors, also cought the eye of the audience..made it a little more entertaining. The main conflict of the movie is that Sal's Pizzeria doesn't have any pictures up of black people in the wall..this causes a lot of drama throughout the film. This is also what causes Radia Raheem to die.Overall I think this movie was one of the better ones that we have watched because it teaches people and is entertaining.

The Battle Of Algiers

First of all, i hate subtitles..and black and white movies, so that made it pretty bad to begin with. But, I still kind of thought this movie was a little bit interesting. I thought some of the hand-help camera action drew in the audiance so it made us feel some what involved. A lot of the movie was kind of depressing and boring as well. The parts with no sound were made the boringness of it stand out a lot, but in a way it made you think something bad was going to happen so it made you wonder. But overall i would not suggest this movie to anyone else..somewhat interesting but not enough to see it and who likes subtitles?

Monento

I thought this movie was pretty confusing. I did not like how it was played backwards because I thought it made it a lot more confusing then it already was. I know the idea was maybe to make it a little more interesting and fun to watch, but I like it more the traditional way. It is confusing to whether or not Teddy is bad..there are parts like when Lenny remembered that his wife had diabetes, and that may leave people to think that Teddy is lying. I also feel that Teddy takes advantage of Lenny's memory issues. But there are other times when you think maybe he is right, like when it flashed from Lenny and Sammy. Also, the poloroid that Teddy has, where Lenny is pointing to his chest with the tatooes, smiling. That shows that maybe he did kill John G, so he really would be telling the truth.

Kiss Me Deadly

I thought this movie was a lot more suspensful then Double Indemnity. The beginning of the movie was kind of confusing but you get to understand more along the way which is one the ways that it makes it more interesting. I thought the box in the end of the movie that like, lid up, was very very stupid. It make the movie look dumb and fake, it changed my inpression of the entire thing! I think this movie could have been taken more seriously and woudln't have seemed like such a joke without the stupid thing. I did like though, that the movie had more violence and dramtic scences.

Overall, NOT impressed.

Double Indemnity

Overall, I think this movie fits the film noir catagorie nicely. Some of the film noir characteristics like dramatic crime plot, low-key lighting and black film are all in this movie which makes it good for this catagorie. I like this type of genre most of the time, but not when it includes blood, which this movie didn't have so that was nice. I usually like finding out what happens at the end of the movie...acutally at the end of this movie. I like having that suspence, and not finding out in the beginning! This movie didn't interest me so much, maybe because i'm not so interested in black and white but it did a good job fitting the film noir genre!

Groundhog Day

I thought this movie, Groundhog Day, has been one of the best ones we watched in this class. I think since most people have heard of it or even seen it, made is more interesting for the people who haven't. I thought the idea of this movie was very cool, because it was different then any other. I liked how the in the beginning of the movie they made the main character, Phil Connors(Bill Murray), seem not so likable, so that in the end it would feel like the opposite. I think Bill really grew as a character throughout the film, which i believe was also the intended purpose. He got to find out who he really was and learn to be happy. He also got to realize the important things in life. I liked how Bill ended up falling in love with Rita in the end of the movie, it made it really cute! :)

Bringing Up Baby was by far my favorite movie we have watched in this class so far. Besides the fact that it was in black and white, it was so funny that didn't really matter so much. I thought Susan's character really made the movie. She was so dumb and clumbsy, it definitaly caught the audiences attention, whether it was people hating it even more or laughing at how funny it was. David and Susan clashed so much in character that it almost made them perfect for eachother. Susan was always trying to bring the fun out in David and David was always trying to be more calm with Susan. I think most peoples reaction to the movie at first was that it was so annoying, because Susan was so annoying, but without that, the movie would have been lame. I liked the ending when Susan went to David's work and he was almost finished with the new dinasour and when she feel and knocked it over, he didn't even care because he was so used to her stupidity and realized that he loved her. I think this movie was a good pick for this class because it was different and funny, unlike the rest of them, and I think even though people said that hated it, they acutally liked it just as much ;)

(It wouldn't let me post a picture...)

Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs

For journal number three I watched Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, this movie started to be released in 1907 as a silent film but was really released from Disney in 1933. This story is about a young princess on the run from her evil stepmother. While she is escaping from the wicked queen she comes across seven dwarfs that invite her into their cottage in the woods where they cook, clean, work and sing. The seven dwarfs Sleepy, Happy, Bashful, Dopey, Grumpy, Sneezy and Doc all try to help her from the evil queen. When the queen finds where Snow White is she arrives with a poisonous apple which will put her to sleep when Snow White takes just one bite out of the apple, and once she does, she is later awoken by prince charming and they live happily ever after.
The topic I choose to write about was music in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The composer for the music in this movie was Frank Churchhill, who won an award for best musical score for this movie. He was inspired by Franz Schubert. All the songs are very original and fit for the scene that it is playing in, they are either upbeat for happy scenes or dramatic music is played for more dramatic scenes. Two of my favorite songs are “Whistle While you Work” and “Heigh-Ho”. I like these songs because they are fun and add that touch to the movie. Both of the songs have to do with what is going on at the time. Whistle while you work is played while Snow White and the dwarfs are cleaning the house and making a meal. Just like most of the other songs, this song correlates and was made for that specific scene and not just random music. The song Heigh-Ho is played while the dwarfs are on their way to work in the mine. Throughout the song they sing "And off to work we go", explaining what they are doing. Overall, the music in this film make this film an instant classic because its songs are so easily recognizable to todays and "yesterdays" youth. When it first came out the music was well renowned among critics across the nation. Churchhill did a very good job capturing all the right "feelings" this movie has to offer. Also, Larry Morey, Paul J. Smith and Leigh Harline contributed to the musical score of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Walt Disney Studios created a masterpiece.

Mise-en-scene

Citizen Kane had very good ways of using mise-en-scene in this film. The costume and make-up played a very good role in this, they helped describe the movie a alot. The comtumes were good in showing people social classes and how wealthy people were. The make-up used was alot good showing if people were sad, angry, or happy. For example, right after Susam almost died, they showed her looking very sick by using specific make-up. The scenes were also very important to the film and also showed people's wealth, especially Kane. His house was so big and beautiful it was one of the most important settings to this film. The part that most described his wealth inside that house is when they showed all of this very valued possessions in the end of the movie after his death, which really showed how wealthy he was. The lighting also had very much impact of the film, especially when Kane was signing the Declaration of Principles. Another example of lighting in this movie is with Mr. Thompson. He is always in the shadow and we never really get to see him, I think that has a lot to do with the plot of this film. The mise-en-scene is very important in this movie and impacts it in many ways.

Finding Nemo

Finding Nemo, directed by Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich, is one of the most popular animated features right now, still. There were many people that put a lot of time into this movie to make it one of the best. There were many people involved in the technical aspects of this film in all of the catagories. Such as the sound and visual department, camera and electrical animation, and production design. The screen play of this movie was done by Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson, and David Reynolds and produced by Graham Walters.
Finding Nemo has a very imvolving story, good comedy, solid characters, and great visuals. The title to this movie, Finding Nemo, is pretty self-explanitory is order to what this movie is about. Nemo, with the voice of Alexander Gould, and Marlin, with the voice of Albert Brooks, live in the Great Barrier Reef. The problem starts when their family, mom and children, are wiped out by a shark leaving Marlin, now a very paranoid father, and his son Nemo to live all alone. While Nemo is off to school, he gets captured by a sea diver and taken to Sydney, Australia into a dentist office to live in a tank with other fish, whom he soon befriends.While Marlin starts the seach for him son he meets Dory, played by Ellen DeGenered, who has short term memory loose, which then adds lots of comedy to the film. They meet many other sea creatures on their journey that all have lots of personality. That make the characters very realistic in this film, lots of things that would happen in the world around us as humans. For example, Dory has short term memory lose and doesn't remember anything Marlin or anyone else tells her. Another example is fish school that they have in the ocean for all the baby fishes. Thirdly, the fish that give directions to Dory and Marlin to where Sydney Australia is, which would be just like the internet here telling us when to get right and left, and what to look out for.
The movie has very good animation with many details. Such as the different types of fish, which there were many. There was music that made this movie even better like the famous song for Finding Nemo, Just Keep Swimming, it made the movie more fun. There were also many other sounds playing in the background that made the ocean scene seem very real. The camera angles werent to challenging, they were pretty original, like the mediam shot was common. One that stock out was the long shoot what Marlin was looking out into the sea for Nemo right after he got taken away.
Overall this movie was a great. It would be a wonderful family movie for all ages. The colors will grab your attention right from that start.

Madagascar

The movie i choose to write a review about is Madagascar. I'm choosing to write about this one because it is one of my favorite movies right now. I think it is very cute, fun, and funny. I see it almost everyday at work and have not gotten sick of it yet. When i first heard the name of this movie I always thought it was going to be about cars, but i was confused with the acutual movie Cars. I like disney movies with funny animals and getting to see how they interract with eachother. My favorite characters are the lion and the zebra. I think they have the best sense of humor out of anyone in the movie and I like how they have a love/hate relationship. Marty the zebra wanted to escape from the Zoo once he heard the penguins plans, and he wanted his three best friends, Alex the lion, Melman the girraff, and Gloria the hippo to come along. All Marty wanted to do with be in the wild where he belongs and not trapped in a cage his entire life. He wanted to be out there in the real world too see what it was like. But his three best friends found that to be a bad idea and didn't want to go along. But the zebra leaves anyway and the journey began once the other three realized their friend was missing and went searching for him in the city. Then they end up on a boat, their boxes fly off the ship, and they end up stranded on an island, which is were Marty wanted to be in the first place. One of my favorite parts in the film is when the Marty the zebra walks up from his sleep with Alex the lion licking him, Alex was doing this because he wanted some steak so bad and was imagening Marty as a big juicy stake. I think this movie is hilarious and I laugh through alot of it. I remcommend this movie to anyone of any age to see this because it would be funny and cute for anyone.

Marty the Zebra: I'm ten years old. My
life is half over and I don't even know if i'm black with white stripes or white
with black stripes!