Film Noir in the Present

Many today might say that film noir is no longer existant because it was more of a style in a time period than anything else. This post-WWII time was when many black and white movies were being created that consisted of twisted plots and other crazy ideas. I believe that film noir is still around because although newer movies dont carry the same traits that many old films do, they still have crazy storys and other characteristics that shape a noir film. A color movie can be a noir production if it has shady characters doing unexplainable things, high and low contrasts and a mystery that at first is unsolved. I prefer to have a broader view of what a film noir is because if you argued that color cant be film noir then you would have to argue why Chinatown isnt a film noir which it is. If the film shows corruption within the society and unstable government officials that dont know which end is up then theres a style that has been created and is a good canidate for the noir genre. I think a color film noir is almost more interesting because you see things you wouldnt in a black and white. This is only true if its done right because it can be hard to get the right feeling with high and low contrasts.

I believe that the film noir still holds a presense in modern day film and film making. Some might argue otherwise but Ill let them do that.

Romantic Movies are for Women

Just to start off, not being a fan of romance and movies that center around that concept, movies like this are harder to relate to and take meaningful things from, but not have seen many movies like this, i was satisfied with this production. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is the romantic comedy we watched for this unit. It starts out with Joel and Clem who dont know eachother but seem to have love at first sight. He spots her on the beach and they hit things off instantly. This movie is about the disolving releationship that the couple created over time. The romantic comedy is all about love and places that as the center focus. This movie is a comination between reality and science fiction. Continuing with the plot, one day Clem and Joel have their memory errased and their love is non-existance. A movie like this always has you thinking what will happen next if their love is gone forever. This isnt your typical romance because lots of the movie is in low lighting and darkness that leaves the viewer confussed. The director incoporates aspects of a screwball comedy by making fun of a serious releationship and mixing it with the humiliation and comedy of love and affection. In romantic comedys men like Drew Carey who are your average folk guy can easily be releated to because their more common than say a guy like George Clooney or some well-looking gentlemen. This is true for Kate Winslow too. She is more of a character that you would want to be with in the sense that shes not a supermodel knockout that would scare you to look at her b/c shes so beautiful. Shes has her times that she looks really cute and other times she doesnt care and just looks like who she is. I like this b/c she can look good when she trys and is also natrually good looking but doesnt have to always look good to show her affection to her male. What I also like is her hair, b/c more girls wouldnt do that but she can pull it off and also look attractive with it. A movie like this is more desireable to watch and relate to in my eyes than Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997) and has more meaning within the context of the story. If you want a good story but not too much girly girl nonsense this is a good movie to possibly view!

The film, "Singin' in the Rain" is a well known classic that tells the story of how silent films changed in the 1920's. Silent films were all that was available up int'll 1928 when a silent film company makes the difficult transition to sound films thirty years earlier. The most famous song in the movie "Singin' in the Rain" came from the movie "Hollywood Revue" which was one of the first silent films in 1929. The movie represents how changing to sound affects Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly), his lady friend Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), best friend Cosmo (Donald O'Connor) and Lockwood's new girlfriend Kathey Selden (Debbie Reynolds). The problem is Lina has a voice that can cut glass and doesn't like lockwood falling for Kathey just because of her beautiful looks but annoying high voice. In designing the movie set, many things used were easily readable because this was a movie about making movies. Things like the sound booth and lighting were on used for shooting the movie and for the set design on the movie. According to Roger Ebert, "The movie simplifies the changeover from silents to talkies, but doesn't falsify it. Yes, cameras were housed in soundproof booths, and microphones were hidden almost in plain view. And, yes, preview audiences did laugh when they first heard the voices of some famous stars; Garbo Talks!'' the ads promised, but her co-star, John Gilbert, would have been better off keeping his mouth shut. The movie opens and closes at sneak previews, has sequences on sound stages and in dubbing studios, and kids the way the studios manufactured romances between their stars". Other things on set like the colorful backdrops and buildings were just painted and used as the real thing. Also as shown in the movie, when filming a movie clip on a train, the background is a painted picture that is scrolling to make the impression that the train is movie as high speeds. One actor I liked was Lina Lamont who had the terrible voice but astonishing looks. At the time was when actors like her were going out of business because they couldnt act and sing or speak. This movie shows how her voice was dubbed to keep her from loosing her job due to her annoyingly high voice. She was lucky in the sense that she kept her int'll the ending when he career came to an end and Kathy's career was skyrocketing. This movie is truly great and tells a wonderful historical story about the change in films and did is so in a way that was entertaining with wonderful music and great characters.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F19990214%2FREVIEWS08%2F401010359%2F1023

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singin%27_in_the_Rain_%28film%29

Easy Riders, aka Easy Livin'

The movie, Easy Riders is a classic movie about the 60's and the alternative lifestyles that were being expieremented with at the time. The movie starts out in California where the two main characters, (Fonda) & (Hopper) sell a large quantity of drugs to fund their trip to New Orleans. After that's all said and done the two embark on their long journey throughout the countryside. They come across a hitchhiker who leads them to a hippie gathering as well as the "best hookers around" and a sheriff who later relates on the two men. This movie was based off the 60's and has a realistic plot that evolved just like other story's from the 60's. The dialogue is very real because the actors are just speaking like themselves and not trying to impersonate somebody. A theme that is pretty evident in this film would be that of finding yourself with the help of drugs and sex. This idea was widely experimented with during the time which is why this movie does a great job of replicating the 60's. The actors fit these characters well due to the tone of their voices and the way they came across to viewers; the long hair and outlaw biker outfits make these guys nobody you wanted to associate yourself with, it wasnt that they were scary but who they represented. The landscapes and scenery are astonishing when you first see them. The film crew did a great job of using wide angle tracking shots on scenes when (Fonda) & (Hopper) are cruising in the countryside. The background is all mountains and desert. The music was incorporated beautifully leading you in and out of different shots and scenes. Lighting wasnt as much a big role in the film because either it was day when things were going about or at night around a camp fire or house where guys were getting messed up on drugs and liquor. The sound was breathtaking because it set major scenes apart and hinted at further things to come. Not to mention even if these guys were poor pot heads they definitly loved what they were doing int'll later on when as always their drugs turned to addiction and life led to death. Many medium shots were used to show a neutral stand point in a scene because it was more of what was going on, not (low angle will make the bikers look powerful because thats not what they were going for). I would say that the close up shots did a nice job of creating reality while the high angle shots around fires were put there to look down on them and their stupidity at times. The film crew might have done this to be informative of the hippie culture but also make them look like they dont have the power they could have. There were disolves and quick cuts, espicially at the end when the guys were in the hooker house dropping acid. The editing there was great becasue it showed what they might have been expierenceing and had many editing techniques along with sound. The lighting in that scene was low which showed shadows and other realistic things if you were on drugs. To sum this up I would say without the music this movie woulndt have been as powerful as it was to me.

Movie Review: Across the Universe

I havent seen this movie about the beatles but it seemed pretty interesting from the commercials and some reviews. The Review I read didnt really change my opinion about the movie because I already had an idea about it. I knew that the Beatles were a very liberal group and understood what they thought society should be like. The critic didnt have anything "bad" to say other than basically tell you the whole story was about finding true love and having peace among everyone. The critic seemed unimpressed by the basis of the film because of the commoness of the story.

It's the oldest story in the world: Boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, girl joins radical student organization hell-bent on ending the Vietnam War, boy's passion devolves into paranoia, boy returns to work in a Liverpool shipyard.

I was interested when the critic mentioned the Lion King and the simularaties of the two movies becasue she directed both of them. Across the Universe supposidly has lots of graphic expressions and illustrations in the characters. I do know that if you dont like the "drug scene" that this movie isnt for you. The Beatles evolved from drugs and used them in success for their rise to fame. From the critics point of view this film didnt move him so much as to give him information in a visual representation that he already was very aware of. Even though I havent seen this film, its obvious that if you know who and what the Beatles were, its fair to say you have a decent understanding of it.

After reading another critics review, it make me think about how they used 33 of the Beatles hits to tell how it all started to how it all ended. Every song forshadows another scene in the movie, but really understanding what they mean before the scene is shown is hard.It doesnt seem like anything easy to do but in order to make the movie realistic, it was necessary to show the drugs and "most realistic" acid trip created by Julie Taymors.

Clearly, if you're not a Beatles buff, this is no place for you, and anyone else who has grown weary of the pop-cultural mythologizing of that long-ago decade is liable to dismiss this enterprise as a collection of silly musical and visual cliches.

This statement made by one critic basically sums up the divided opinions. Either you like it or you dont like it. Although there are critics who arent either but say that parts of the movie could be better or more disicesive.

When I see this movie I'm sure it will be what I expected with lots of left-wingers that "use drugs" and find different ways of life that would have been considered different or not acceptable to society.

Smokey and the Bandit

I first saw this movie a couple of years ago not really knowing what it was about at first. Then I started to get into it and seemed to really enjoy it. The movie is based on this semi driver and his acomplice who are running from the law due to an illegal shipment of coors that wasnt allowed in east texas. By doing this though they could earn 80 grand but along the way they run into lots of law enforcement attempting to take them down. Their form of communication was via the "citizens band radio" better known today as a CB or truck radio. In the 70's these were popular among anyone living in rural areas becasuse of their distance and cost efficiency. This comedy is more of a thriller but also gives you accurate info on the truck and outlaw lifestyle of the 70's when convicts werent so hardened criminals.

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVDdyPFFtbA