Sometimes you gotta break the rules to put things straight

Absolutly love this quote! I agree with it quite a bit. It really fit in with the movie and how things happened in it, expecially the abortions. In the movie abortions were illegal but the doctor would still perform them. If he didnt do them then someone else with no knowledge would try them and that could lead to big problems like death. The movie also showed people changing their stories to protect the ones they love: Mr. Rose changing his stories so his daughter wouldnt go to jail. This quote makes me think of the movie 'Crash.' The things that happened in that movie really were breaking the rules but they still made things right in the end, espically when Ludacris's character lets all the people go instead of selling them as slaves which is what was going to happen. All the James Bond movies incorporate this quote I think. I like how in the movie they knew it was wrong to give abortions but still did it to save lives. I cant think of alot to write about on this quote even though I really like it.

Sicko

Sicko is a movie that deals with our health care system and how much of a joke it is. After seeing this movie it really makes one think about what goes on behind the scenes that we dont see, for instance when the lady turns people down for personal gain. I dont think that I would be able to live with myself if I knew that someone could have died because I bent the rules and said no to them on getting health care so that I could get a little bit higher on the rankings latter. It also talks about other countries health care. When we talked about Canadas health care in class though its tough to say whos is better. Their big downfall is that your at their mercy as to when you get treatment and thats its all on lists. It doesnt make since to me that if one person has been waiting on the list for a year and hasnt gotten the procedure that they need and then someone else gets hurt and needs the same thing and get priority to them just because they are younger or something. I wasnt a fan of the movie but I think thats just because I dont like Michael Moore. The way that he goes about doing things bugs me. It always a ridiculous point of veiw, its his way or no way at all. Your never going to get a perfect system anywhere you go. Hes trying to say that other places are so much better then us but if you went a looked at their system I would bet money that you find some pretty corupt things with them also. All in all its really an eye opener though. Ive learned that you really need to read and reread the things you sign so you can have a fighting chance when they try to screw you over. The movie was one that I never would have watched on my own but one that was interesting to see.

Amelie

Amelie was a different movie. It is about a girl who never got much attention from her parents. Her parents thought she had a heart condition because when she got physicals from her dad her heart would race because it was the only physical conduct she received from them. Amelie's parents home schooled her so she was never able to develop people skills and never made friends. Because of this she gained a vivid imagination. Her imagination was protrayed in the movie because it showed what she was thinking in different situations. The childhood she had affected her into her adult life as we see in the movie. Once she finds a 'treasure' of someone elses child hood and returns it to them, she gets a new outlook on life and become a do-gooder. She lives near a old man who paints random pictures. He teachers her a valuable lesson though about love. He says that if she doesn't take care and bring love in her life, that she could grow old with a heart as brittle as his bones. After hearing this Amelie sees Nino and falls for him instantly. The only problem thought is that she doesnt know how to act on her feelings to she has a resort to strange ways to get him to notice her. She starts to leave him clues and Nino eventually gets curious and pursues the clues who lead him to her. Amelie was a strange movie to me. I dont think its one that will go in my top 5 but it was an interestine one to watch.

Little Miss Sunshine

Little Miss Sunshine was a strange/weird but good movie. Its the perfect dysfunctional family. The mother, Sheryl is a busy woman who is just trying to keep the family from going crazy. Sheryl's brother, Frank is an expert in Proust but tried to kill himself after his homosexual partner left him. Sheryl's husband Richard is in a dead end job trying to sell his sell help book but is going nowhere with it. Next is Dwayne who doesn't speak because he has taking a vow of silence to become a test pilot. Edwin is Richards father who was in a home but was kicked out for heroine. Last is the star of the movie, Olive. She is seven years old and has a dream to win the Little Miss Sunshine contest. Edwin and Olive are close so they spent a lot of time together. Edwin even teaches Olive to dance. Even though the family lives in Albuquerque they decide to give Olive her dream and take her to the contest in California. Knowing that they cant leave any of these people alone, Sheryl gets everyone together and packs them into a Volkswagen van and off to California they go. The van is a p.o.s and has troubles the whole way. Its main flaw is that to get it to start it takes all the people pushing it until Richard can pop it into gear and start it, but once its started the whole family has a run a jump into the movie van. The trip to California is a riot. One of my favorite parts is when Dwayne finds out you have to be able to see colors to be a pilot and he is color blind and he absolutely freaks out. He swears up a storm and is just an angry person. Paul Dano did a very good job acting that out. Another good part is when they have a dead body in the van and the process they have with that. They finally make it to the contest but the lady wont register them because they are late and says if will be to much work but a guy next to her says its not a big deal and he can enter her in. Once Olive gets registered and walks back you can see she is nothing like the other contestants. Olive is heavier then the others and just doesn't quite fit in. Dwayne and Frank try to talk her out of it because they think it will embarrass her and scar her when shes older. Being good parents thought, Richard and Sheryl come in and tell Olive to do whatever she wants. Olive continues the contest and when it comes time for the dance portion she remembers all the Edwin has taught her and busts out to dance to Super Freak. Her dance is outrageous and contains a stripper move or two. Once she is onstage and doing it the whole family jumps up with her and just have have a blast. Needless to say Olive didnt win the contest and was banned from all contests after that, the family has a blast and good bonding time. The movie an instant classic in my mind. Its got an offbeat humor to it that I think all people can enjoy. Overall a great movie.

The Full Monty

The Full Monty wasnt a bad movie but its one that I probably will never watch again. I was impressed with Dave (Mark Addy). Im used to seeing him in Still Standing so watching him play a movie where he has an accent was different altought I thought he did a good job with it. The movie takes place in Sheffield where they think that they wil be able to work on the steel mills until they have to retire but then it shows the mill close and now Dave and Gaz are out of work. In the next scene we see them walking home and they read a sign of male strippers and Gaz gets a plan to make some quick money. Gaz wants a make money fast because his wife is going to take full custody of there son unless he can come up with child support. After Gaz makes this plan he goes onto recruting for it. He starts to recruit other guys from the mill who cant find jobs either. The main guy they try to recruit is Gerald but he is very reluctant at first but he finally gives in. They really want him because Dave and Gaz spotted him taking dancing lessons and they need him to teach them the dance moves they are to perform. After getting Gerald they continue to recruit by having the other guys try out in the warehouse. Once they have a group Gerald starts to teach them the routine. After they had been practicing for a while a cop waling by hears the music and comes to investigate. As soon as he walks in he sees the guys dancing and arrests them all. I thought it was funny after that when Lomper went to his band practice and the band starts to play the song they were dancing to. After they get busted the crew kind of falls apart for a while but once they find out how many tickets they sold they regroup and get ready for the performance. Dave backs out because he doesnt think that anyone will like him up there becuase he is overweight but his wife talks him back into it and he helps to save the show by urging Gaz to perform along with the help of Gaz's son, Nathan. At the end of their performance they live up to the movies title and go "Full Monty." Over all it was an alright movie. It was kind of hard to understand the actors a few times because of the accents they used.

Hotel Rwanda

1. The genocides in Hotel Rwanda were between two groups lived in the same city but had different views on the other group. Even though the two groups are at war with each other we have to realize that not all people of one group are bad. Even though Paul was a Tutsi there were a few Hutu people that helped him to supply food for a price, but they did help him. I think that we have to look at all the people as individuals and not as a group because thats just pushed the hatred more and could lead to violence. Just because some people are born under one 'sign' doesnt mean that they dont want to live in peace with a different group.

2. A big event that has affected us would be the war in Iraq. The media protrays it as the whole country is evil but im sure that not everyone there wants to be living there at all. I would say that the most emotional and vivid one would be the news clips where it shows hostages over there. They are fighting for our country when they are caputred and then abused and killed over there. After the movie it makes one think about the strugles going on in their country also but its tough to feel sorry for them after what happened during 9/11 and other events.

3. I think that the director has to keep it close to the truth because if he goes to far off the truth people will just disregard the movie and not accept it for whats it worth. Im sure a few parts had to be changed to make it work with the story line in the movie but Im guessing he kept it close to the truth.

Artistic or Visual Design

For this project I watched 3:10 to Yuma.

1. I think that the set was important to the everall effect of the film becuase you cant go out and shoot this type of film in the cities. They needed to creat a look and feel of what things would be like in the 'western days' and I feel like they accomplished it.



2. This goes right along with number ones answer. You have to shoot the movie on a set where the audiance is actually going to belive that this is what it looked like in the time peroid. You have to have a town along a railroad because that helped the town to survive so this set was very believable.



3. Everyone in this movie had dirty clothes so that tells me that they had rough lifes and probably didnt get to change/bathe often. The antagonists had darker shaded or black clothes representing the evil while the good characters wore lighter colors such as light tan and white to promote the good in them.



4. Id have to say the lighting for the movie was a mixture of the two. In some scenes it was harsh and direct. For example when one character is getting called out by everyone the light seems to shine more directly on the emphasinzing the pressure ment towards them.



5. I think the director is trying to tell us the point of focus is pressured to one or two people rather then having a whole group or people being seen in a part that one two people are having a serious conversation

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Indiana Jones is a definitly a movie that set the bar much higher for movie that were coming out after it. It did something previous movies didnt do. It was a non-stop action with comedy added in. I feel that other movies with a main action hero, like James Bond, imitated the style of movie by adding more explosives but still throwing in a funny line or two. When we saw the list of movie heros I didnt think Indiana Jones should have been number 2 but after seeing the movie it was pretty easy to understand why. Jones was constantly saving the girl, facing his fear of snakes, and always to do what was best for the artifacts he uncovered.

Last week I said that Good Will Hunting had a bad ending but Raiders of the Lost Ark had a cheesy ending. I couldnt stand the part when Bellog opened the Ark and all the 'ghosts' came out and melted everyones face. Then not only did the faces melt but instead of having the research it all it showed was them putting the ark in a crate and storing it in a big warehouse. Im about 99.9% sure that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg could have came up with a better ending then that.

The first arcitle I read was the review by Roger Ebert. After reading it you really learn Steven Spielberg feeling toward the Nazi's and how he portrayed it in the movie. He also makes it seem that Indiana is the ultimate man, when he deals with spiders, snakes, booby traps, and a big rock. I really liked how he finally described Jones as "dry, fearless, and as indestructible as a cartoon coyote." He made it sound like Raiders of the Lost Ark is a must see the way he emphazied all the action.

The second atrile I read was "Real Archaeologists Wear Whips." This article was quick and to the point. It talks about Jones as being the smart, fearless guy whos just out there for the museum. I liked how it said hes out there going through all the action and danger but he never, ever loses his hat.

The last article I read was "Masquerader of the Lost Ark." This was a real intersting article. Vendyl Jones really think that he is the inspiration for the Indiana Jones movies. I enjoyed how Vendyl said that the got Indiana from taking the "V" and the "L" out of his name to leave "endy." Vendyl even goes as far as to say that the movies dont hold a candle to his adventures. He goes into saying he has major finds including a two thousand year of juglet of oil mentioned in the copper scrolls. I think this guy might be slightly nuts when he started talking about the "greatest hoax of mankind" the conspiracy of Christianity over Judaism and that the New Testament is a fraud. He talked a lot about how Lucas and Spielberg stole the story from Filmore, a writer for Vendyl, after he took it to hollywood. Im pretty sure if this guy did everything he said he did that all the people in his crews and his friends who knew what he was doing would have made it more public. Vendyl even talks about how he isnt had because this is helping to get more knowledge out about this stuff. All in all the article was pretty interesting. If what the guy says is true hes found some important things. It was worth the read I think.

Overall this is a good movie. It was really a trail blazer for later action movie. One of my favorite parts would have to have been at the beginning when Jones is running from the tribe and they are throwing spears and darts at him and he dives into the water and swims to the plane so jus twhen you think the action is settling down he finds a snake in his seat and we realize his hatred for them. The worst part in the movie is still the entire ending. The only movie with we've watched that had an ending that has an ending where we find out how all the loose ends tie up on is 'On the Waterfront.'

Good Will Hunting

Good Will Hunting would have to be one of my favorite movie now. Going into it I was skeptical on how good it was going to be. It has some action in it with the fighting but it isn't Vin Desial crazy so it still has a great plot. Its seems crazy that Matt Damon starting writing this in college for a class because it seems that a writer with many movies under his belt would have came up with this. I had a love-hate feeling about the end of the movie. I absolutely hated it because we never get to find out what happens to Skylar and him; if she takes him back out not after how he treated her. On the other hand though I loved the ending because Will finally accepted who he was, got rid of his anger, realized the gifts he has and is finally ready for the world. Sean was the only shrink who got through to will because he was the only one who actually cared about him. He didn't go in trying to pick will apart but waited for Will to talk so if it meant sitting in silence for an hour he would. Chuckie also had a memorable part that helped to push Will to get out and do something with his talents when he told him that he owes it to him to get out and do something with his life and that his greatest day will be when he come to pick him up and Will wont be there. Will will just leave without saying goodbye or anything.
The first article I read was 'Too smart for their own good.' This article was about how the extremely smart people have trouble fitting into society, in a movie and TV scean. It tells about how ordinary people enjoy watching the 'mastermind' of entertainment, with some examples being Rain Man and Monk. The author refers to Will as a 'genius janitor that can humiliate MIT professors, but he's as grown up as the average schoolyard bully.' This article also talks about how smart kids are pushed to hard and then are robbed of their childhood. The line I really picked out of this was 'So we end up wanting smart, but not necessarily wise, children.' The author pushes to let kids enjoy their childhood.
The next article I looked at was 'Two thumbs up, five stars, and an Oscar. I didn't find this article as good as the first one. I think the author just relates the movie themes to real life to much and doesn't review the movie that much. He talks about the social and emotional aspects of the gifted and the problems they face.
The last article I looked at was 'Coming of Age in American Films and Novels.' This article wasn't to bad. It seemed to break the movie down some. He says that Good Will Hunting is a film version of the books 'The Catcher in the Rye' and Portnoys Complaint.' He goes into breaking down the characters and giving a few examples of what they did. I didn't feel that he criticized the movie but rather compared it to the two books.
The movie themes that people should get out of it. You cant make someone do something that they don't want, such as Will following the Professors dream and doing math his whole life. Adding onto the last one; you cant make someone do something but you can talk to them normally about it, like Sean did to Will. He actually made a friendship with Will and helped him to realize his gift and what he was capable of but Sean never made Will do anything he didn't want to. Sean also helped Will to forgive his past by making him realize that all the abuse and bad times were not his fault and he didn't do anything to deserve it.
In a way Will had a terrible life being abused as a child but as he got older his life improved and he was able to find a group of friends that cared for him and stuck with him. Its tough to say what would have been a worse life though; being abused when he was young but then getting friends and being able to go out and have a good time or being pushed to learn more and more as a child and not having an enjoyable childhood. All of the character in the movie contributed to Will finally going and using his talent for good. The Professor found that he was a genius and got him moving, Sean helped to get Will to forgive his past and motivated him, his friends helped to make him realize not everyone is gifted like him and they would give anything for what he had, and Skylar showed him what love is. Overall I think this is one of the better moives Ive ever seen and its one I would recommend.

On The Waterfront

On The Waterfront wasnt as good of movie as Casablanka in my opinion. The movie had some good parts but mostly bad parts. The parts that really stuck out in my mind are from the scenes that have the popular lines, such as: when they are in the back of the car and Terry says to his brother "I coulda been a contender." That scene really seemed to play a guilt trip on Charley because Terry keep saying he could have done something with his life and not just be a bum and how Charley should have been a brother and not told him to throw the fight but to encourage him to do good. Another part that sticks out to me is when they are Terry and Edie have to run down the alley when the truck is chasing them and Terry has to break a window to unlock a door in the nick of time to avoid being hit by the vehical chasing them. Then after that when he finds his brothers body hanging on the hook after being killed by the mofia. The last scene in the movie is a very memorable one also. When Terry finally stands up to Jon Friendly and the epic fight they have where the rest of the Friendlys boys come to help beat up Terry and win the fight only to have the workers refuse to work for him and Terry a bloody mess limps into the building with the rest of the works following him.
The first article I read was 'On the Waterfront (Motion Picture).' This article really seemed to put down the movie implying that it is hightly overrated. It really critized the actors saying that they couldnt play their parts. It says that no one can accept Edia as a college girl taught by nuns and that Terry is just the "ex-boxer whose brains are partly scrambled, but whose pigeon-loving heart stays tenderly intact." They say thay Father Barry is just a rambling priest. The article said that the head of the studio tha tproduced the movie expected it to be a failure, but was far from it winning some Academy Award.
The next article that I read was 'On the Waterfront' the book review one. I really wasnt a fan of this article. It was neat though how Leo visited the sites of where the movie was shot in the late 1960's and said that the "sites and some of the locals who appeared in the film's crowd scenes remained recognizable. The article made it seem that the book really protrayed the movie and was detailed enought to paint a good picture about what was going on.
The last article was Arthurs Miller's Proletariat: The True Stories of On The Waterfront. This article wasnt to bad. There was a lot of information in it. This article claimed that On the Waterfront is very possbily the greatest labor film ever made in America. This article says that the context in On the Waterfront 'are so authentic is seems more a documentary than a dramatic motion picture' which is the complete opposite of the other article when they said the acting was cheesy. They also talk quite abit about 'The Hook' and how it was never produced but had the theme of longshoremen who are harassed by a gangster union along iwth ship owners. This was a good article but I think it delt to much with The Hook rather than with On the Waterfront although the two are shared the common theme.
The movie overall had its ups and downs. I dont think it was the best acting in the world or the best plot but it was still recieved many awards. The music in the movie was way to loud. It something to thing about when they say that Elia Kazan made the movie to help justify his testimony with the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Marlon Brando definatly went on to make better movies.

Casablanca

Casablanca is a movie that will always be in the top 5 movies ever made I think. It has so many things in it that are still used or at least referanced to today. I enjoyed the movie with my favorite part being at the end where they are walking into the fog with the memorable line of "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Other main parts or scenes that stick out in my mind are of Ricks Cafe Americain with everyone in it and how he has all the power in it, the part where he is drinking alone with just Sam in there and Ilsa walks in, one more being where he tells the kid what to be on so he can get enough money to get out of Casablanca. You can always pick out Ricks look, with his white suit coat and smoke.
The text had some good points in it also. It made me realize how much success the film has gained over the years and how big of hit it was when it was released. The first text I read just titled "Casablanca." I thought it was neat how when Merlock was trying to get a copy of the play and sent a letter to Burnett, that Burnett actually called back instead. It was cool to see how they decided on the closing scene for the movie with them saying "round up the usual suspects" so that the movie would end with an upbeat conculsion as they put it.
There is a big differance between what would be allowed now and what was allowed then in terms of the play. For instance they never produced one play of it back then because it was considered to racy for the times but now days the worst that would get rated would be PG. I never realized the scale of the movie until I read this article when they were saying how it incluence other movies with the its theme of "with romantic triangles and characters caught in catastrophic events larger than themselves" such as Titanic and Star Wars.
The second text I read was "Playing it Again and Again." I liked this article better because I felt that it showed how popular it still is today and how people are still trying to get its merchandice. When watching the movie I picked up on a few of the key phrases that are still used today but after reading the part of the article where it went through the characters and their key phrases I started to recognize a few more of them.
When they tried to turn it into a TV show the people were hating it and it didnt last long. Im glad that then Warner Bros tried to make a sequel MGM wouldnt let the actress to it so the film never went through. I dont think that it could have been close to as good at the original. Sequels dont have a good track record for being as good as the original.
It seems that clubs and restaraunts have had good success with Casablanca themes. They have popped up all over the world.
When the movie was made there wasnt much for merchandise to collect except for a few posters and things like that. Since there wasnt much merchandise, collectors went to collecting artifacts from the movie instead. Some of the vehicals and props from the show have brought in large amounts of money.
Overall I can see why the movie rates as good as it does with its collection of memorable line and main plot. It was an instant classic when it was release because of what was happeing during that time frame and what the movie represented.