MYST Post #1: The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, has been called "a near-perfect movie." The movie won six Oscars and was very successful. It takes place during the Iraq war and is about an army bomb squad that disarms bombs. They lose their bomb specialist at the very beginning of the movie due to an explosion, and they have to adjust and work with a new bomb specialist who is more selfish and not as good of a partner. The new specialist is very talented however and has disarmed hundreds of bombs throughout his service, and can be described as having a "bomb obsession."

Disarming bombs is clearly very dangerous, which adds to the suspense and excitement when watching this movie. There is one scene where a man has bombs strapped to his body and the bomb specialist has to either disarm the bombs before the timer runs out, or run away and let the man die. The specialist, Sergeant James, does his best to stop the bombs from going off, but he does not have enough time. The middle-eastern man with the bombs is clearly very distressed and does not want to die, as he keeps saying "please help me, I have a family." This is an emotional scene because it seemed like James was going to be able to save the man. When there is only a handful of seconds left on the timer, James has to run away and save himself from the explosion, while the man with the explosives weeps and realizes that he is not going to be saved. The scene seemed so realistic which is what made it so great. Previously in the movie, the specialists were able to disarm most of the bombs, but like in real life, you cannot save everyone and sometimes things don't go your way. I really enjoyed this scene and it was probably my favorite of the movie. The camera work, the close up view of Sergeant James trying to disarm the bomb, and the fear and tears coming from the middle-eastern man made this scene very memorable.
This movie was some what of a silent film because there were only  a handful of conversations in the movie. The majority of the movie was more focused on action and brief talking over walkie talkies. The camera work in this movie did a great job of making it feel like you were right there on the scene and that what was happening, really did happen. When the soldiers were running, the camera was shaking as if you were running as well. The characters in the film also each had a specific personality and way of doing things, which stayed consistent throughout the film, for example, Sergeant James was a selfish bomb-fanatic who did what he wanted, while Sergeant Sanborn was a leader who tried to do what was best for his team.
I think this movie deserves a 9/10 because it portrayed life as a soldier during the Iraq War, and it kept you on the edge of your seat throughout the film. It was informative, yet entertaining, and there were several incredible scenes. I would recommend this movie to everyone because the Iraq War has been a big part of what our country has been involved with over the past decade and it shows viewers what soldiers had to do in Iraq. The movie was also very successful and won several awards. It is very different than other war films such as "Saving Private Ryan," because the Iraq War was different than other wars. This movie focuses on stopping explosives in the streets of an Iraqi city, while other war films focus on battles and fights.

Review of the Reviews

I watched Hot Rod last weekend for the first time in a while and although it is a fairly stupid movie, I still found it to be hilarious and I would like to see what critics thought about the movie. According to Rotten Tomatoes, critics seemed to mainly dislike the movie while audiences tended to favor it. Alonso Duralde from NBC News (http://www.nbcnews.com/id/20042628/site/todayshow/ns/today-entertainment/t/hot-rod-revs-silly-summer-fun/#.UQs6t6Vho-0z) wrote a fairly long review about Hot Rod, explaining what the movie is really like. He makes it clear that the movie is mainly focused on making you laugh and states, "If you came to “Hot Rod” to see some impressive auto stunt work, you’re in the wrong theater, and should consider sneaking into the breathtaking “Bourne Ultimatum” instead."I completely agree with this quote because unlike a lot of new movies that focus on great acting, amazing camera work, and modern special effects, this movie focused on crazy and ridiculous stunts and scenes that were meant to make you laugh, not impress you. If you want to see great acting and breathtaking special effects, then this is not the right movie. He starts off the review talking about what the main character, Rod, is like and goes on to explain what the movie is about and how he felt about it. I think he gave a good and honest review, telling it how it is. He basically said throughout the review that the audience should not expect too much, but if you are looking for a good laugh and a lot of funny stunts then this movie is for you. The tone of the review is pretty positive and it has very descriptive vocabulary such as, "infectious goofiness," and "youthful enthusiasm," to describe the style of the movie. The writers main focus I think was to inform the reader about the style and that if you are a fan of SNL stars Andy Samberg and Bill Hader, and you also like movies with Will Ferrell comedy, then you will like this movie. There were several references to the comedy genre and also to the SNL stars that are in this movie, because they are very well known and this movie has SNL style comedy. 

The second review that I found was not as positive as the first. Kyle Smith from the New York Post titled his review, "Rod Awful."(http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/movies/item_cGNTy61weUZiQiFR2PnmlI) 
This review is very critical of the movie and the writer claims he hardly laughed at all. The review starts off very critical and then goes on to explain the plot of the movie and then at the end it states that if you have to watch the movie, you should bring along a cell phone or some other sort of entertainment to keep you entertained during the movie. The tone is very annoyed and negative and the writer seems like he wants to get the minutes he wasted watching the movie back. The writer used vocabulary and phrases such as, "the script lies motionless in a puddle of unfunny" and "Such "Jackass" moves work if you know someone is actually dumb enough to do all this stuff, but "Hot Rod" is so inept at building raw elements of comedy into actual humor that it's as if a stroke victim presented you with containers of flour, sugar, butter, eggs and cocoa and called it brownies," to display his anger and frustration with the movie. His main focus of writing this review I believe is to stop anyone who is considering watching this movie from watching it. He showed so much disdain in his review that it would stop anyone from watching this movie. He made reference to Will Ferrell and early Adam Sandler type comedy to explain what this movie is like and how stupid he believed it was. There were no quotes from this review that I could agree with because the whole thing was so negative, and I personally enjoyed the movie. 

I think that the first review would be more helpful and convincing had I not seen this movie before because the writer does not say the movie is great or terrible, he gives an honest review. The second review was completely negative and the writer did not have one good thing to say, which is a little extreme and unhelpful. I think both positive and negative comments are necessary to make a great review because no movie is a perfect, yet no movie that is in theaters or on DVD is unwatchable. 

If I were to write a review about this movie, I would write about what I did and did not like about the movie. I would recommend the movie to teens and young adults because I think this style of comedy applies to those age groups. I would also explain the type of comedy in the movie: stupid, crash and get hurt comedy that is meant to make you laugh. The characters are also all very strange and they all seem to be out of school living at home with their parents, with no real direction in life. The movie however has a somewhat inspiring storyline due to the fact that Rod is doing these stunts to save his step-father, however, he is mainly doing this just so that he can beat him up. Overall, this is a very funny movie and if you want to watch a movie that will make you and your friends laugh on a Friday night, then this is a great movie to check out. 

Film Intro Survey

1. What is the first movie that really made a strong impression on you? Star Wars IV. I remember watching it when I was very young, and it really interested my brother and I. We became obsessed with Star Wars Legos, lightsabers, etc.

2. What are 3-4 of your favorite genres? Comedy, Action/Adventure, Horror.

3. What are 3-4 of your least favorite genres? Romance, Silent, Foreign

4. What are your five favorite films? Shutter Island, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Blades of Glory, Lord of the Rings Return of the King, Star Wars III.

5. List three characteristics of what you consider to be a good movie. Interesting plot or storyline, hidden messages-makes you think, good ending.

6. What are 3-5 of your least favorite movies? The Aviator, Young Adult, ThanksKilling.

7. List three characteristics of what you consider to be a bad movie. Dry/Boring, bad topic, poor acting.

8. If you have any favorite directors, list them. Alfred Hitchcock, George Lucas, Adam McKay

9. If you have any favorite actors/actresses, list them. Will Ferrell, Jonah Hill, Tom Hanks.

10. List 3 films that you consider important films for people to see. Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's list, The Titanic.

11. What's your oldest favorite film? Psycho (1960)

12. What's the best movie you've seen that's been released in the past 2 years? The Dark Knight Rises

13. What are the next five films on your "queue"? Zero Dark Thirty, Argo, Skyfall, Looper, Lincoln.