Heat

Heat is a 1995 action, crime thriller, written and directed by Michael Mann. The first thing I'd like to say about this film is that is that I recommend taking a good nap before watching it as it is a very complex story with two main characters who, and this might just be me, are easy to mix up due to their somewhat similar features. Apart from that though, this movie is definitely worth a watch!
The film displays the life of professional criminals and police men as their work and home life conflict with each other. It sends an interesting message by showing people of very opposite professions finding common ground that they are, surprisingly, able to relate to each other on. I found the story to be a little bit too much to take in at times, but once I put together the pieces of the very complex puzzle of a story, I really appreciated it. It was an un-simplisitc tangle of overlapping characters with their own unique stories. This allowed the audience to deeply understand both the criminal and the police officers and not only sympathize and root for both of them, but realize how similar they actually are. The intense plot line allowed for a very suspenseful movie with exceptional action scenes. I was very impressed with how the lens-flare-scattered action sequences successfully put me on edge by using emotion-revealing close up shots, switching the camera quickly from opponent to opponent and incorporating the a couple point of view shots. It demonstrated very skillful camera work. The gripping performances from the actors in this film greatly contributed to it's mood and overall impressiveness as well. The fairly experienced and talented cast put an admirable effort into convincingly portraying their characters and generating the appropriate emotions for each scene. This was effective in allowing the audience to comprehend their feelings and better understand their character. The attachment that is, in effect, created, adds to the suspense of the film as the audience feels a connection with the character they are cheering for.

It was clear that both the cast and crew of this film
knew what they were doing and all their expertise put together made for a fantastic, extremely thrilling, emotional and unique film. Despite slight confusion, regarding the story, I loved this film and strongly recommend it to suspense lovers!

The Count of Monte Cristo- 2002 and 1934 versions compared

The Count of Monte Cristo is a story that was written in 1844, made into a movie in 1934, and then remade in 2002. There are two other versions of it as well, but out of the 1934 and 2002 editions, I preferred the latter. This is mainly due to the fact that I found it easier to follow and thought that the characters' personalities were much more realistic.

Being that I'm not used to black and white films, I had trouble understanding what was going on at times, especially in dimly lit scenes (which there were an abundance of). The way the dark shadows and flickering lights showed up in black and white was very distracting and it was hard work to distinguish what was going on. With colour, the movie was much more enjoyable and easy to watch. It added another element of entertainment as it helped set the mood of the scenes and increase the beauty of the sets. The 2002 version also had more elements to the story, like when Dantes defeats Jacopo on the beach, but persuades the captain to let him live, putting Jacopo in Dantes' debt. The extra details helped make the story easier to follow and much more fluid.


The characters in the 2002 version of this film were much more realistic and relatable in my opinion. The main character, for example, Edmond Dantes, was thrown into a prison where he was malnourished and tortured for many years. The Dantes in the 1934 film almost seemed accepting of  this situation. He continued life after his imprisonment as if the experience had not effected him. The Dantes in the 2002 film though, took a much more realistic approach, revealing his anger at his predicament in the Chateau D'If and his insane lust for revenge afterwards. This portrayal of the character was much more relatable for the audience as the character's emotions seemed genuine and realistic. This also aided the story to be more believable.

For these reasons, I enjoyed the experience of watching the 2002 version of The Count of Monte Cristo more than that of the 1934 make. The story is exceptional, and the 1934 version was made at a time with much less cinematic technology, but overall, I thought that the story was better presented in the later made film.

Night of the Living Dead

In 1968, George Remero created the zombie movie genre by releasing the film The Night of the Living Dead.  On one hand, I'd like to give Remero major props for his creativity which was brilliant enough to inspire countless movies and TV shows involving apocalyptic zombie attacks. On the other hand though, this is a genre I could live without. Remero was lucky in the fact that since no one had done a film quite like this before, he could give the zombies the characteristics he desired, such as their never-ending quest for human flesh, distaste for fire and their painfully slow speed. This however, allowed for a 96 minute film with a main character that you never grow attached to due to the fact that she does nothing but watch a stranger try and save her life while she throws selfish tantrums, a family with a crazy dad and a soon-to-be zombie daughter, a
poorly portrayed female, her lover and one heroic man stuck in a house. They are trapped there for hours because their attackers move slower than my grandmother when she got hip surgery and their escape plan was, of course, wrecked by a woman. Sexist people those days... Sure this sounds comedic, but by the time the climax hit, it wasn't suspenseful because I didn't really mind if they all got eaten. Honestly, the only good part was when the main character gets slapped in the face and the audience gets a well deserved break from her whining. The man who did it was the bravest, most level headed and most likeable character in this movie. He was also black, and especially considering the time that this film was made, I will say that I was pleased with how the African-American character was portrayed in this film. Another thing I will admit that I liked about this movie was the ending. It was going very predictably at first, but the twist at the end was fantastic! The situational and dramatic irony made up for a bit of the fact that the rest of the movie had gone by so painfully slow. All in all, this film wasn't for me, but I would recommend it to zombie movie lovers as it was interesting to see where the genre started and how the portrayal of zombies has changed.

Stand By Me- Dramatic Aspects

Stand By Be is a 1986 drama, directed by Rob Reiner. It was based on the story The Body by Stephen King and was nominated for an Academy Award for the screen play. I doubt theres anyone who disagrees that this is a superb story, but I believe that the dramatic aspects of this film, such as the acting, sets, makeup and costumes, deserved some recognition as well!

Like The Goonies, the cast of this movie is made up, primarily, of child stars and they were quite talented ones. The difference though, is that while comic relief is sprinkled into the script, the rolls of the children were a lot more serious. This allowed the actors to showcase their abilities to perform extremely emotional scenes. Not all child stars are able to believably act out serious, deep or sad scenes, but the film had been phenomenally casted and this was not an issue. Wil Wheaton claims that the children's real personalities matched those of their characters which helped them successfully portray their roles.  The main characters Gordie, Chris, Vern and Teddy are played by Wil Wheaton, River Pheonix, Corey Feldman and Jerry O'Connell.

Most of this movie was shot on location, therefore the sets are extremely realistic. The boys supposedly live in the town of "Castle Rock", but this town is fictional so the town scenes were shot in Brownsville, Oregon. Most of the other scenes were also shot in Oregon, including the junk yard which is still in operation today. The scene where the boys outrun a train was shot in California on the McCloud River railroad. Having the movie shot on location as opposed to on sets made the movie that much more realistic.

The costumes and makeup in this film were intentionally extremely simple. Anything other than minimal makeup and slightly worn out clothes would have looked out of place. Even though the wardrobe was not extravagant or complex by any means, each character still had a subtly unique style. Gordie's simple t-shirt showed off his scrawny arms and his torn up jeans showed his rugged side and a hint of neglect. Chris' attire was similar. The jeans were almost the same but Chris wore a white shirt which, symbolically, could have showed how he wanted to be distinguished from his family of alcoholics and criminals. Vern's collared shirt tucked into beige pants with a belt around his waste reflected his timid and not-quite-considered-cool personality. Teddy stood out with his big black glasses and the darkest outfit of the group. He also had the makeup necessary to make his ear look like it had been held to a stove.

This movie is crazy strong when it comes to the Dramatic Aspects! These aspects were all covered very solidly and they all strongly contributed to making this movie such an impressive project.

The Goonies- Litterary Elements

The Goonies is a 1985 Adventure-Comedy directed by Richard Donnor and produced by Steven Spielberg.  Even though Steven Spielberg also thought of the story for this film, Chris Colombus (the director of the first two Harry Potter films) wrote the screenplay. Instead of reviewing this film, I'm going to discuss the literary aspects of it. These are the elements that films share with literature, like the plot, setting and characters, themes and symbols.

The story consists of a group of kids who are facing their last weekend together before a couple of them must move away. After a surprising discovery in their attic though, they find themselves on a treasure hunt in pursuit of "One-Eyed Willie"'s lost ship and the valuable items on board. Some may say that the plot line isn't important in 80's movies and none of them are very strong. I'd say this film had a decent storyline that followed the story writing structure that you are taught in school. It defiantly wasn't too complex or unpredicatble, but the film revolved more around the dynamic of the characters than the actual story. The script it's self was incredible! It was witty and successful in matching appropriate dialogue to each character and also making audiences laugh.

The story is set in Astoria, Oregon. More specifically, in the "Goon Docks" neighbourhood, thus the reason behind the name the boys gave themselves and the movie's title. The small coastal town setting allowed the weather to impact the mood of the film. To accompany the sad moods of the children at the strart of the film, the dreary weather had a logical place in the story. Once the mood changed at the end of the film, the sunshine after the rain helped create the intended releaved and happy feelings. A good part of the film is set inside a cave. It is filled with unexpected obstacles which gives the characters a chance to show thier personalities when faced with these challenges. It also inevitably creates an entertaining environment for the audience, who has most likely never been in a situation like the kids in the movie.

Each of the characters in this film possess very different characteristics which creates a very entertaining atmosphere in the film. The five main characters, Mikey Walsh, Lawrence "Chunk" Cohen, Richard "Data" Wang, Clark "Mouth" Devereaux are played by successful child actors of that time. The character developement is decent in this film. We never discover too much about the character's past, but we know enough about their personalities to identify unique qualities in each of them and recognize how they handle certain situations. Mikey is a athsma suffering kid who doesn't like getting in trouble from his mom and is constatly annoyed by his brother, but has a curious, brave and determined side. Chunk is the chubbiest kid in the group who is constantly dealing with his addiction to eating and has to take the periodic citisism and ridicule from his group of friends. Data is my favourite character. He is a little asian boy who is following in the footsteps of his dad by creating numerous tiny inventions which seem crazy but prove useful in the end. Mouth is the smartass of the group. He finds him self hilarious, hes a lady's man and he uses his ability to speak spanish to not only help the goonies. but also to convince an old lady that Mikey's family posseses a large amout of drugs. He brought comic releif to the group was also the biggest leader out of the five.

There is a lot more symbolism in this movie than one may think. There are many theories about what the movie symbolizes as a whole. Some think that this is a story about "the pursuit of sex and happiness." This is backed up by the fact that the group of boys are looking in a hole for "One-Eyed Willie" (clever ), a myth that has been told for generations and will solve their problems. They are joined by two girls, (one of which is suggestively confused about her sexuality, but decides that she does like boys by the end) and the flirting and kissing ensues. The whole time they are also being followed by "Mamma Fratelli". My favourite and the most convincing part of this theory is the fact that one of the girls "plays the bones" and following that, the kids slide down tube-like slides. It's also not until they find out that they still have a bag of jewels that the boy gets the girl.
Another theory is that the forces against the children, like the Fratelli's and the men who want to take thier home, represent god and "One-Eyed Willie" represents Satan ( who has been seen as good and bad, depending on the religion). The thinking behind this is that the children were disobeying the wishes of their opposing forces and in effect, found themselves in hell (the cave with Willi'e ship in it).

Although the story wasn't the strongest, the more I looked into the littereary aspects of this film, the more respect I had for the film makers and actors. Having a good story was not the intent of the film, it was to use symbolism, unique characterisation and the ressources that the set presented to create an entertaining and enjoyable film.

http://kingpin1613.blogspot.ca/2005/12/goonies-innocent-i-think-not.html

Super 8- The Cinematic Elements

Super 8 is a sci-fi  thriller what was directed by J.J. Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg. Following it's release in 2011, it was honoured with with numerous award nominations, most of which were for the acting. Instead of critically watching this film for the purpose of writing a review, I looked for the cinematic aspects it had to offer. The cinematic aspects are the features of the movie that can only be achieved by film making, for example, editing, C.G. effects and camera angles.

The most obvious cinematic quality of this film is the lens flares. They were used a lot in the scenes that were set at night. A specific example would be the train crash scene. Due to the fact that lens flares are like "breaking the forth wall" because they cause the audience to remember that they are watching a film and are not part of it, lens flares are rarely used. J. J Abrams though, is not at all afraid to incorporate them in his films. He is famous for his use of this technique and therefore it is no surprise that this movie is full of them!

                           

The cinematography was very well done in this movie. Lots of different camera techniques were used but I can only talk about a couple of them. Close-up shots were often used to show case the superb acting of the young child stars. This especially occurred when Alice and Joe were together, like the scene where he "turns Alice into a zombie". The children in the movie also road around on bikes (which the actors say they actually got to keep after filming) quite a bit, so dollying was done to effectively and smoothly film them. 

As for sound, there was tense music throughout the film that would set the mood and create suspense. That was the only nondiegetic sound that I noticed. The rest of it was diegetic and lots would have had to be added on during post production, like the explosions and sound that the mystery cube made.  

Some may argue that the computer generated effects in this film were nothing special or new, but I didn't have a problem with them at all. There were some pretty big scenes in which computer generation was heavily used and it did the job! I thought that the train crash was extremely realistic and I felt like I was a part of the action. I personally wasn't a big fan of the ending, but regardless of the story, the C.G. effects made the unlikely event seem real! 

From a cinematic point of view, this was a very strong movie. It was very enjoyable to watch! 

True Grit

The film True Grit, a western that was written and directed by the Coen brothers, is a remake of the 1969 adaptation of the 1968 novel of the same name. The Coen brother's version was released in 2010 and was nominated for ten Academy Awards.

Fourteen year old, Maddie Ross, hires Rooster Cogburn, the "toughest" marshal working on the Indian Territory, to help her to avenge her father's death by finding his killer, Tom Chaney. Meanwhile, Texas Ranger LeBeouf is also searching for the same man because there is a bounty on him for killing a Texas state senator. The two men want to team up together and help each other but Maddie is unhappy with this due to the fact that she wants Chaney to be killed in Arkansas for the murder of her father, not in Texas for the death of the senator. Despite her discontent and the fact that the two men tried to leave he behind, the three of them set off on their quest. After a couple fall outs between the two men and a few gun fights, Ross finally comes face to face with Chaney.

The film defiantly has traditional western genre characteristics, like the characters' desire for justice and the setting of the wilderness of the American west. I found the plot line to be very ordinary and nothing special, the rising action was slightly dull with small spurs of excitement and humour and (spoiler alert, highlight to read) the killing of Tom Chaney did not come with the victorious feeling I was expecting to experience. That in mind, I personally do not find westerns to be my favourite genre of movie because the brutal killings and the story line (usually) does not excite me. What made up for a bit of my boredom though, was the ending. Endings are really important to me because when I'm happy with the ending, I find that the movie was much more worth while. Some may argue that the ending was uninteresting, but I thought that it was extremely appropriate and realistic and wrapped up the story in a satisfying way.

I would also like to recognize Hailee Steinfeld for her Academy Award nominated performance in this film. I completely understand why she was nominated because her portrayal of Maddie Ross was phenomenal and some of the best child acting I've seen. Her role defiantly improved this film, along with that of her more experienced co-stars Matt Damon and Jeff Bridges.

I definitely recommend this film to people who enjoy westerns! Others, who may not be so fond of this genre can still find impressive aspects in this film, but like me, will most likely find themselves completely uninterested in some parts.