MYST #3 The Hobbit an Unexpected Journey

I saw this movie a few weeks ago and I am a big fan of all of the Lord of the Rings films. I was very excited when I learned that they were making three hobbit films because I had seen the other three Lord of the Rings movies and I thought those would be the last Lord of the Rings films made, but I was wrong. I thought that this movie would not be as exciting or action packed as the others, but I was mistaken. This movie was full of action and although the movie is very long, the tome flew by because there was so much exciting action going on.
Lord of the Rings movies are known for having great special effects because of all of the created characters and structures. The effects in this movie were again very cool like the others and they make this made up world seem very realistic. The Orc's and other monsters are very intimidating due to the effects and make up work. The music in this movie is also great, another thing Lord of the Rings movies are known for.
This movie is about a young Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins who goes on a journey with a group of Dwarfs and Gandalf. They are on a journey to reclaim the lost Dwarf kingdom of Erebor. They set off on their journey and Bilbo doesn't really fit in with the group because he does not have much experience with fighting, but he later saves the life of the groups leader Thorin, proving his importance and worthiness of being in the group. They fight several Orc's and giants on the journey and Bilbo has an encounter with Gollum. Bilbo takes Gollum's sacred Ring and takes it with him, not knowing of its special powers. This movie is the first of the Hobbit trilogy so the journey will continue in the next two movies.
My favorite scene was when the group was in a Orc cave and they had to escape. They were running through the cave leaping from bridge to bridge with a horde of Orcs chasing after them. This scene was a little unrealstic because they fell hundreds of feet to the ground off of a bridge and were fine after the fall, but other than that the scene was exciting and my favorite of the film.
I would give this movie a 7/10 because it was really well done and intriguing, but the beginning was kind of slow and because of how long it is I don't know if I could sit through the whole movie again. Overall though I would recommend it to anyone who liked the other Lord of the Rings films.

MYST #2 Life of Pi

I watched Life of Pi a few weeks ago and I really enjoyed it. I didn't really know what to expect before watching it because I hadn't really heard much about it, but the storyline, cinematography, and special effects were all great. It also won a few Oscars this year. An adult Pi tells the story of his life to a  man who wants to write a book about him, narrating the story. 

This movie is about a family moving to Canada from India. The family had a lot of exotic animals because they owned a Zoo, and they brought all of their animals with them on the ship to Canada. A violent storm at sea caused the ship to sink and the main character, Pi, escaped on a life boat. After the storm settled, he realized there were other occupants on the life boat. There was a Zebra, Hyena, Orangutan, and Tiger all on the boat with him. Pi spends a lot of time on the boat and the animals and Pi try to coexist. The hyena kills both the zebra and the orangutan. The tiger then kills the hyena and Pi and the tiger live together on the boat for a long time. Pi keeps his distance from the Tiger and he even builds a small raft off the boat to stay away from it. As the movie goes on, Pi and the tiger get closer to one another and Pi feeds the tiger by catching fish. The tiger, "Mr. Parker", serves as an inspiration for Pi and keeps him motivated to go on. 

You later learn that all of these animals are symbols for other people. I believe the orangutan symbolizes Pi's mother, the hyena is the "evil" chef from the ship, and the tiger represents Pi himself. 

I really enjoyed this movie because the plot was exciting, the special effects were some of the most interesting I have ever seen, and the symbolism really made you think. 

My favorite scene was the huge storm sinking the ship because the special effects were amazing and the scene was exhilarating. The boat was getting destroyed, there were animals floating everywhere, the camera focused on Pi struggling to stay out of the water to catch his breath. 

The camerawork in this movie was incredible. The effects and cinematography really made this movie special. The effects were pretty unrealistic at some points, but they were still fascinating. There is one scene where Pi is laying down on his raft watching the stars and the camera is above him looking down, and all around him in the water you can see glowing fish under the water. This was a very cool scene and probably the most memorable to me.

I really liked this movie and I would recommend it to anyone. I watched it with my family and we all enjoyed it. 

"Far Away Love" Post

Far Away Love is a story about an American soldier fighting in World War I in France. He meets a French girl on a farm, and they fall in love. The soldier then has to return to battle, but the girl secretly follows him. She ends up in a dangerous situation in the middle of the war zone and he has to save her life.
This is a romance/war film and I think it would greatly interest the public in 1935 because romance was a very popular genre at the time. One message behind this movie is that "love has no boundaries." We went with this genre because or studio, MGM, made a lot of romance successful romance films. Most of the actors and actresses that we chose had been in MGM romance movies in the past as well.
We chose MGM Studios because this is a very large scale film and MGM has the money to fund and support everything that would be needed to make the film. MGM has also created several other romance films. MGM also has a number of good actors and actresses including Gretta Garbo, Clark Gable, and more.
For the cast we have Clark Gable, Gretta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery, and Fred Astaire. Gable and Garbo are the lead actor and actress, with Gable playing the soldier and Garbo playing the French girl he falls in love with. Crawford, Montgomery, and Astaire will play the supporting roles, with Crawford and Montgomery as the parents of the French girl and Astaire as another soldier. These actors and actresses were very prominent during this time and were some of the best. William J. Tuttle will be our make-up artist which is very important for this film because the actors and actresses that we chose are all around the same age, so we need a good make-up artist to make them look older or younger based on their part in the film.
Due to the fact that this is a war film, the Hays Code will prevent us from showing explicit violence. To avoid this we will only show people firing guns, but we will never actually show people getting hit by bullets. We will also not show any sexual interaction between the soldier and the French girl. This film will be in black and white so we don't need a technicolor camera, but there will be sound so we need microphones, and we need lights.
If I was working alone I would have changed the plot of the story a little bit, but other than that I was satisfied with everything else that we did. The plot we created I thought was pretty good, I just would have added something else to create more of a controversy and then add a surprise ending, for example: the parents of the french girl are rich, but they do not like that their daughter is spending time with an American soldier because they think it is too dangerous and they do not particularly like Americans, but at the end of the movie the soldier gets shot and he needs money for an operation in order to save himself from dying, and the parents of the French girl realize how much their daughter loves this soldier and they pay for the operation and the soldier is saved.

FORMAL FILM STUDY: Horror

For my Formal Film Study I watched three horror movies, Nosferatu (1922), The Exorcist (1973), and The Ring (2002). I wanted to view three movies from different time periods to see how the style, technology, cinematography, etc. of these horror movies changed over time. I believe that horror movies have become less and less about developing a good plot, and more on the "shock factor." Modern Horror films seem to focus more on making the audiences jump than on making audiences think about the movie and be frightened.
Nosferatu is about a man named Tomas Hutter, who goes Transylvania to visit Count Orlok to try and sell him a home in Bremen, Germany. After a few strange experiences in the Count's castle, Thomas learns that Orlok is a vampire and tries to hurry home to save his home city of Bremen from being attacked by the Count. This film was made in 1922 and is a silent, black and white film, yet even without sound they were able to create a creepy plot with eery scenes. The music added a creepiness to the movie and whenever the music sped up you knew something bad was about to happen. There was also one scene where the camera was aimed down a hallway behind Thomas, and you could see Count Orlok appear down the hallway and he slowly gets closer and closer to Thomas.  There was also another scene where Count Orlok was slowly creeping up to a bedroom door to attack Thomas' girlfriend, and all you could see was his shadow, and his long, pointy fingers reaching for the door handle. Due to the early time period in which this movie was created, the technology and special effects were not near what they are today, but the eery music, camerawork and creepy appearance of the Count, combined with the overall plot of the movie made for a good horror movie.
The Exorcist has been considered one of the scariest movies of all time due to its frightening story and terrifying scenes. This movie is about a girl named Regan who seems to have become possessed by the devil. She continues to act weirder and weirder and her mother becomes very worried that something is seriously wrong with her. She is visited by several priests, doctors, psychiatrists, etc. and they have a difficult time figuring out exactly what is wrong. They later determine that an exorcism is necessary to save her. The combination of the horrifying plot with the alarming scenes in which Regan is either throwing up on the priests, or spinning her head completely around make this largely considered one of the scariest movies of all time. The technology and effects improved a lot between the time when this movie was made and the 1920's when Nosferatu was made and it helped make this movie even more frightening. The deep voice used when Regan is talking in her "possessed voice" and the effects used to make Regan levitate were chilling. There is one scene where you hear someone walking around upstairs and then the camera aims towards the staircase and Regan crawls down the stairs on her hands and feet while upside down. I thought this was one of the creepiest scenes in the movie.

The Ring, also considered one of the scariest movies of all time, focuses on a video tape that people watch, which then prompts a phone call that says, "you're going to die in seven days." The video is of a young girl who was killed by her mother and thrown into a well. This girl continues to haunt the world, and in one scene crawls out of a TV to attack a man who is watching the video. The story in this film is  very grim and the main character, Rachel, tries to figure out what exactly the video tape is about and why people keep dying after watching it. Samara, the girl that was killed that is in the video tape, has a very gruesome and ominous appearance. The scene when she crawls out of the TV is definitely one of the best scenes I have seen in any horror film. The special effects were clearly much better in this movie compared to the other movies. The appearance of Samara was traumatic. The complete silence every time someone received a phone call also added to the suspense and the voice on the phone was harrowing.

http://www.ramcigar.com/entertainment/horror-movies-throughout-decades-have-constantly-reinvented-genre-1.2852148#.UTVp3KVho-0
http://www.mhsuproar.com/entertainment/2011/11/02/how-horror-has-changed/
These websites both state that many horror films today just go for the "make you jump of out of your seat." The Ring is one of the better modern horror films because it has a very creative and creepy idea behind it, and it stands out from the other new horror films. Other movies today like Paranormal Activity, just aim for the unexpected jump in front of the screen to scare audiences. Older films such as Nosferatu, Psycho, and the Exorcist developed creepy plots to scare their audiences because the technology was not good enough to make horror movies like they do today. Horror movies should be about thought provoking ideas and plots, not making you jump because of an unexpected loud noise or sudden flash on the screen.

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.