Altman Post

The most important scene from my personal favorite film of Altman, The Long Goodbye, is the final scene with Marlowe and Lennox. This scene stood out from the rest in this film and in the other works we viewed because of the shock factor, emotional depth of Marlowe, and for one memorable line. The whole film we go about following a passive nonviolent private eye, (It's okay with me.) who we never see use and sort of violence whatsoever suddenly see Marlowe shoot and kill Terry Lennox. The audience knew Marlowe was frustrated with the case, but the actual murder was something no audience member saw coming. A passive, casual Marlowe turns into a cold blooded killer, only to commence with dancing with strangers as he leaves, very strange indeed. This scene describes Marlowe's inner thoughts in the act of being angry enough at Lennox to actually kill him, but it also informs us that Terry Lennox has been lying to Marlowe since the beginning, he even adds that Marlowe is a loser who has lost everything which leads to Marlowe's brilliant line, "Yeah. And I even lost my cat." BOOM. Lennox slowly fades away in the pool. This line is my personal favorite part of this scene because it shows that Marlowe has been thinking about his cat the whole time, despite the ridiculous situations, which almost brings a sense of humor to this scene. Overall a great film from a questionable director.

Director Assignment Post #1: Goodfellas Directed by Martin Scorsese

Goodfellas is a story about the rise and fall of the infamous gangster, Henry Hill. As a kid he idolized gangsters and started by parking cars to eventually becoming one of the heads, but as his influence grew he became trapped by his own anmbitions.
An important scene in Goodfellas would be when the gang is playing poker and the bartender, "Spider" mistook Tommy Devitos drink. Tommy who is known for his temper gets very upset and shoots Spider in the foot. The next poker game Tommy tries to get a rise out of Spider, which he does, leading to Tommy killing Spider. Afterwards the fellow gang members are clearly perturbed and Tommy blows it off as if nothing happened, meanwhile Henry is sinking deeper and deeper into this dark world of his. This scene is important because it shows the complete coldbloodedness of Tommy and how the gang gets angry at Tommy for killing Spider because of the mess, not the actual act of murder.
The camerawork present in Goodfellas is superb, with very intelligent shots and with an almost minimalist style depending on cuts and editing to increase tension or invoke another emotion. A scene that is a wonderful example of the expertise of the camera would be the tracking shot of Henry and his future wife Karen taking the back door of a restaurant and walking all the way to the front table. The scene transitions wonderfully from a bustling street outside to a nice candlelit dinner in front of the band. There are quite a few tracking shots present in the film but are executed so smoothly that they almost goes unnoticed.
Goodfellas is recognized as one of Scorsese's greatest works due to the jawdropping revelations and masterfully crafted camerawork, this film gets the respect and adoration it deservedly recieves.

Journal #3 Lawrence of Arabia (Reception)

I decided to write about the reception of the film, Lawrence of Arabia, because it is heralded as one of the greatest movies of all times on nearly all respected list of films and respected by many important filmmakers alike. It was releasesd December 16th 1962 and was nominated for 10 Academy Awards 1963, out of the 10 nominted for Lawrence of Arabia only walked away with 7 wins, including best director and best picture.

The public and critics both viewed the film as amazing and influential to fture films as they do today. Directed by David Lean who is well known for many of his other films such as Dr. Zhivago and many more is mostly renowned for his direction in Lawrence of Arabia.

People would react, in my opinion much different than they did when it came out because it doesn't have a very active, intriguing plotline throughout the first half of the film but for good reason, I feel it shows the agonizing slowness an dread of traveling through the desert, while it works very well in the movie it would not grab people's attention today as it would when it was released.

Truthfully I enjoyed the small little tendencies that made the cinematography what it was and how the character of Lawrence changed throughout the story in a almost comical way were just some of the reasons that this fim was given such a big response and is one of the most critically acclaimed movies of all time.

Too Tough To Die

I am almost completely against the article Too Tough to Die because it puts the down the entire genre of westerns saying that they are old and no one wants to watch them, but with the recent resurgence of new westerns I hope that they change everyone's opinion on them. The article puts down the westerns saying that people don't want to watch them because "you can speed up spaceships and cars, but you can't speed up horses." Which by all means is true because most directors are aiming for they're target audience to just make money and not art but westerns were the one of the first monumental dramas that actually changed they way they were made for the purpose of breaking away from the stereotypical western. I am actually excited for the new rise of westerns, seeing them now it doesn't do them the justice that they had and now deserve as truly amazing films. The I hope that when the western catches on and even more people are implementing the typical and expected western aspects and put new and unexpected twists on them will change everyone's opinion on the western from now until it slowly fades out again only to rise anew another time in the future.

The Review Of Vertigo (Journal #2)

Vertigo, Directed by Alfred Hitchcock is a story of a former detective, John 'Scottie' Ferguson who suffers from Acrophobia, (gets dizzy and passes out from 10 feet and up,) is asked to follow a former friends wife who John fears is suicidal, and all the strange events that follow.

Vertigo is a story of love and obsession and the latter takes control over the last half of the movie as John keeps seeing his lost love in all the places he had followed her when he was hired to follow her. He has these strange dreams excellently choreographed to give the most suspense possible and make you feel truly uncomfortable watching this man so saddened and truly unable to decipher reality and tricks created by his own mind, ultimately his reality becomes ruined by his own doing and his inability to let anything go.

James Stewart plays the lead as John Ferguson, and plays him beautifully. His acting is so life like and real you forget that those scenes of Vertigo are created and not the actual visions of a delusional man. Kim Novak as one of the most interesting characters in any movie I have ever seen, playing the suicidal knowing damsel in self created distress and the uncertain loving and caring disillusioned woman who provides herself as the love interest. These two are the two and only main characters as their are in reality only about eight characters who actually have lines in the entire movie, they basically carry the entire movie on their shoulders and as well as keeping the story rolling and drama flowing.

Alfred Hitchcock again dazzles audiences with his master cinematography skills and his ability to weave a web that ties itself to completely different aspects of the film and ties them together to create a masterpiece of a movie. During the dream sequence of the wallowing state of John Ferguson's self pity, the screen is bombarded with visual illusions, color flooding the screen and eerie music which creates a mood of awkwardness, you don't know what to focus on, so many things are happening that you feel bombarded with visual magic, Hitchcock's true skill at work, the ability to create suspense and unbearable tension.

Overall the film is filled with amazing aspects of visual literacy way behead of its time, characters that compel you to watch them even if you know that they are doomed to lead a life of misfortune, his amazing cinematographic mind or his unparalleled stories, you watch his movies because they completely encompass you forcing you to have a keen eye and ear for details because they will unknowingly appear again, tension is supposed to be the greatest way to promote entertainment, even if the ending leaves you feeling a little short, you can't help but feel entertained.

photo courtesy of pos-pych.com

Philadelphia: Photography

In the clip of Philadelphia, I only saw 2 examples of philadelphia, one was pan, whenn the camera turns slightly to the board members after going from Andy. the 2nd was wide angle lens, when the camera looks at them it kind of makes the table look a lot farther than it really is.

photo courtesy of: gezondeliefe.com

Journal 1: Critique the Critic

The review I am critiquing was written by James Berardinelli from ReelViews to the newly released film Superbad directed by Greg Motolla. The following review can be found here. Superbad is a story about three socially inadequate seniors nearing graduation, who are given the chance to become the big kids on campus by providing the alcohol for a party and in turn achieving their main goal, losing their virginity.

I recently had the chance to see and enjoy Superbad in theatres and had a certain expectation but when I saw the movie my expectation was blown away giving me an entirely new experience I never thought I would get from a movie like this.

"Through all of the mayhem, however, director Mottola never loses sight of his
characters, and that's a key point to remember. While we laugh both with and at the protagonists, we also care about them."

The movie is obviously driven by its crude and embracive humor but there is also an underlying force that keeps you focused and intent on the film, which is, the characters. You put yourselves with the main characters and become enamored with the development of the characters emotional structure and how it develops over the course of the movie and how radically your perception of them change.

"The movie, produced by Judd Apatow, written by Seth Rogan & Evan Goldberg, and directed by Greg Mottola, pushes the genre's envelope a little farther than anything before it has done."

Mr. Berardinelli makes ita point that it has character development and a good comedy plotline, but truly the reason to see this movie is for the comedy, pure and simple. Whether it's Seth's drawings as a child, Evan's awkwardness, or Fogells antics with his newfound friends there is something here, guaranteed, to get you laughing and chances are you won't stop.

"Teen comedies have always found it more interesting to focus on social outsiders than members of the in-crowd, and Superbad is not an exception."

James discusses the focus of teen comedies is usually on the social outsiders because of their quirks and tendencies usually end up more comedic, and Superbad is definitely not an exception, just with some tweaks. I personally agreed with this excerpt the most because it is almost a stereotype of all high school comedies to have a focus on the outcasts due because the awkwardness is a great topic and can almost guarantee laughs if used correctly.

The critic is greatly underestimated due to the fact of controlling a percentage of the populous to see a film due to their opinion, and some abuse that and just focus on the bad and never appreciate the good in a film and James Berardinelli seems like one of those people who appreciate movies by the effort put in and the overall outcome. This review discusses some of the creative aspects of the movie but doesn't go too in depth, but again this is a high school comedy it can be funny but no one goes to see movies like Superbad to discover the symbolism in the actions of characters, they go to enjoy themselves and laugh. I believe James wrote this review this way to show that there is some depth to this movie but overall to see it for the level of comedy that rarely comes around. He wants you to see the movie and to leave genuinely entertained, which in my opinion could be one of the easiest things you can do.

Review by: James Berardinelli

Critique by: Sam Mueller

Photo Courtesy of FirstShowing.net