Final Blog Post

Coen Brothers

Throughout the Coen brothers epic films, they have been criticized for being too good. Making films to tip top perfection is the goal of any directer, nevertheless, the Coen brothers have captured this aspect of film making and directing in most all of their films. Out of the three films we observed in class, it was a tough choice, however, I thought that No Country For Old Men received the best review by myself and many others. Despite the exceptional cinematography and picture, this film made the viewer analyze almost every scene. By far the most controversies scene was the scene with Bell and and the almighty bad guy. This scene is still talked about because of the unique way the Coen brothers use lighting to create suspense. No one knows for sure which motel door was hiding the bad guys, no one really knows if Bell was just imagining this scene out of terror. However, everyone knows that this film was very well directed and a top ten on my list of best films.

Robert Altman

Making an impact with a new and creative way of directing and producing a film is why Robert Altman is one of the most talked about directors. All three films we watched in class were very much saw as a new technique by the way Altman used very long shots with unique camera angles that viewers might not recognize only after analyzing what just happened. However, out of all the three films that were shown in class "Nashville" seem to stand out as the most diverse and confusing film Altman directed. In "The Long Goodbye" and "The Player," the main protagonist was easily recognized. Rather than in "Nashville," where there was an array of characters coming in and out of the story line. Which made it a frustrating and confusing film to watch. Maybe it was good that it was so confusing, Altman may have made a great movie to his eye's. Furthermore, "The Long Goodbye" stood out as my favorite film over the other two for many reasons. Marlowe was a great character to watch, by the way he conducts his calm, care free attitude, to the raging, never saw coming man at the end of the film. Marlowe's domineer makes for a excellent film to watch and is on my top ten.

Hitchcock

Many directors are known for a key trademark that makes their style of film making recognizable and noteworthy, Alfred Hitchcock captures a very significant style of film making that we were able to witness by viewing some of his greatest films. All of the Hitchcock films we viewed in class seemed to be very similar in the way Hitchcock used subjective shots to induce viewers to feel like they are involved in the movie, however, the film the 39 steps does not capture this aspect of feeling involved in the movie such as the other movies we have viewed. Rear Window captures this technique better than any of the other films. In Rear Window, almost the entire film is seen through the eyes of the main character. Many subjective shots are used that give the viewer a sense of being captured inside the eyes of the main character. Hitchcock stands out with his unique cinematography used in his films that can be recognized by watching any of his films.

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Princess Mononoke

Princess Mononoke, directed by Hayao Miyazaki has by far with held my perception of how spectacular a anime film can be. This film is exceptionally original and brilliant in its picture aspect. Although a viewer may tend to sway from what the main idea of this film may be, by knowing the unique and creative character development, this film still captures amazing images and fighting scenes I’ve never witnessed from a anemia/cartoon before. Ashitaka, the main character of the film is thrown into a desperate situation of being the heroin by having to destroy the evil doings poisoning the forest. This film is quit confusing, for example, one of the beginning scenes a giant bore-like god attacks a village, Ashitaka then kills the evil demon creature, but in return is poisoned by the bore. After seeing this scene I was contemplating what just happened, there was no dialogue and a random creature has just attacked a town. However, as the film digs further into the plot, more and more random( but cool and creative) creatures are recognized, this is one example of why Miyazaki is such a great director. Ashitaka is perceived as being a true hero, you see examples of this by very creative and exhilarating camera angles and picture Miyazaki uses in many of the fight scenes. Pre-watching this movie I wasn't expecting there to be much violence because of the reputation I thought anime films had received, but after watching this film, I was intrigued by Miyazaki's use of violence in an art form way. All in all I very much enjoyed watching this film for a second time and recommend everyone to watch this truly amazing picture film.

Do the Right Thing

By far, out of all the movies we have viewed in this class, Do the Right Thing is my favorite of all. Do the Right Thing have many political and racial examples of prejudice throughout the world. The biggest example of this is the whole conflict between the local townspeople and Sal's famous pizza. Even though everyone at Sal's may seem very prejudice at the beginning, I learn that the real and only racist person there is Pino. Sal may seem racist at first but after seeing his kind side to his customers you see that his intentions are good but may not always act like it. At the end of the film the climax is when Radio Raheem is killed by the police and shows how blacks are discriminated by the police and society. I don't understand why Mookey threw the garbage can through Sal's window, but the only rational explanation for that is just that his emotions took the best of his because of the tragedy of Radio Raheem. All in all I thought this film was very entertaining and had great use of cinematography. Film's that portray realistic problems in society are hard to reenact, but this film does a wonderful job.