Thursday, December 15, 2011

The GodFather

The God Father, The gangster film that re constructed the whole genera. This was the perfect grand finale for the semester. before this class I have never seen The God Father before.

At first, the opening scene feels very uncomfortable as the God Father is taking care of business during his daughters wedding.

I think this film reflects the power and corruption in America while adding the elements of obligation and honor within an underground society.

What made this movie even more interesting was the fact that the gangster was now put in the shoes of the tragic hero. I also like the darkness implemented on the god father position. The face was barely lit only allowing you to see a few facial features.

This is a must see for anyone. Since we have watched this in class I now own this on DVD and have watched it 2 times.

The graduate

I enjoyed the graduate the most this semester. It was funny, witty, a little dark and very awkward. Some parts of this film even had me asking myself if that really just happened.

The contrasts present made the film. For instance you had the innocent daughter and the wild seducing mother. This made the main character a little worried about his future. :)

I think that this film reflected the middle classes value systems and threw in an anarchic side which fit right into the 60's mind set.

In My opinion this film was way ahead of it time in terms of content. After watching this, I can see where other films have got their ideas and content from. I Know know that this was the spawning point of your typical "College Movie." This was my favorite film of the semester.

Citizen Kane

Although it rated as one of the best films ever, I have to say it was very weird. Weird but unique.

The main thing that caught my attention was the teqniques used to capture everything. The use of a subjective camera and high contrast lighting gave this film a very unique feel to it. Another thing I found interesting was how the characters aged, showing that a large amount of time had passed. I can easily see why this film is rated as one of the best in terms of  cinematography.

One thing that did confuse me a little was Orson Welles use of flash back and flash forwards. I found myself stumbling around trying to figure out when and who we were focused on. This is one of those films for me that I will have to watch again just to make sure I didn't miss anything the first time. I enjoyed this film over all, and even acquired great ideas and techniques for my future projects.


R O S E B U D!!!

The Grapes Of Wrath

This film started out in the Dust Bowl and is the story of a farmer and his family looking for work and a new home. Due to drought, depression and a changing society, they were forced to leave their last home.

This film was most popular "left Leaning" movie of the pre WWII Hollywood.

The style that this movie was filmed in seemed close to a documentary, showing the "True Life" of rural mid west farmers at the time. Another thing I noticed, (if it wasn't the screen we were watching it on) was the lighting. the lighting of the movie seems very low as if it was candle lit. This added an amount of realism to the film, and really set the mood in this harsh time film.

In my own opinion it wasn't a bad film, but one that felt way to long. After a while it felt like it was never ending and it made it hard to really pay attention to what was going on.

His girl friday

His Girl Friday was my first screwball comedy. After the first 10 minutes of watching it I found out why they call it a screwball comedy. This film was fast paced throughout the entire length and at times dialogue overlapped because of how the characters spoke.

one reason why this film was important is because of the gender swap. His Girl Friday was the first to do this adding a whole new angle to the genre. Another point worth mentioning was the amount of sexual innuendos and play on words. This is combination with the story's plot created a one of a kind film for its time.

I enjoyed this film because of its speed. It kept you on four feet and kept you thinking. If you spent too much time trying to pay attention to one thing chances are that you missed something else that was important.. Would I recommend this to other people involved in film culture? Yes. But it would come with a warning to pay nonstop close attention.