Fantastic Mr. Fox

To celebrate the holidays my family had it's traditional past-time of going to see a film in theaters. My family is obsessed with film, most likely this is the start of my interest in film studies, and whenever we get together we have to watch something in theaters. This ranges from the action packed superhero film to the recent family orientated cartoon. Well this holiday's film was Fantastic Mr. Fox. When I first heard that this film was being made I had my doubts about the quality of work I would see. Fantastic Mr. Fox is my favorite Roald Dahl book and I really didn't want to see it if it was going to be another Dr. Suess catastrophe. I realize that these are two very different types of books and that filmmakers have already adapted 3 of Dahl's books but I lost faith in children's films with it's recent releases. The first two recent adaptations of Suess books (How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Cat in the Hat) were absolutely terrible and the fact that people would even consider making Where the Wild Things Are into a full length film baffles me still. So seeing that my favorite childhood book was being made into a film caused me to worry. Fantastic Mr. Fox was the first book that I really read by myself and it was the start of my love of books, so I couldn't handle a film that ruined the story I fell so deeply in love with. And even though I had conveyed these worries to my family when we were looking for a film, they decided it was the film to see. So I watched the film with bated breath and looked to see what kind of changes they had made to my story. As soon as the film was over everyone turned to me to see how I liked the film. I really don't know what I think of the film. It certainly wasn't the worst thing I've seen and it didn't destroy the story but at the same point it changed enough to make me queasy. Clooney's representation of Fox was funny and I loved the way that Anderson made the characters look. It was certainly a unique experience and style that can't be denied. I felt that it was a good attempt at making the story into a full length film but in the end it couldn't live up to my book. The ending of the book happened during the first half of the film and the ending of the film was the directors own creation. And while the ending wasn't terrible it just didn't have quite the same feeling as the book. The book ends with a feeling of victory and has Fox overcoming the farmers. The film seems like a no win situation and ends with survival as the main idea. They also added a moral undertone that we must accept others for their differences that really isn't in the original story. So while I don't despise the film, I just can't get behind it like I did when Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory came out.

Sphere

As it has been mentioned previously I am currently an advanced film seminar this semester and what we learn and see in class has greatly influenced what write about for this blog. This seminar is focusing on the idea of the spectator and the way we watch film and media. So most of the films we look at are films that focus on the introductions of new media and the way it changed cinema. Well the last film we watched was Event Horizon and the student that was doing the presentation on the film showed us a clip from the film Sphere to be a way of relating the ideas in Event Horizon. According to him Sphere and Event Horizon are practically the same film so it was an easy way of looking at the idea of the bleak future that we hold in science fiction films. Well I found that Ion was showing it this afternoon and decided to see for myself how true this statement is. After watching the film I can see his point but have to disagree with the main reason he showed the clip in the first place. There are definitely some points that are very similar; both groups encounter an unknown object/ship that turns out to be alive, they both have to figure out what is going on to try and save themselves in the end, and both films like the many horror films my teacher, the horror buff, has shown has a high body count compared to the amount characters. But both films look at the idea of the bleak future very differently. Event Horizon focuses on the idea that people shouldn't mess with things they don't understand and the dangers that science has when people have pushed it too far. Sphere focuses on people and the dangers of letting their minds cloud the situation. Sphere has its main characters realize that they can't handle large amounts of power but has an optimistic look that someday people might. Event Horizon on the other hand has the main characters get punished for their mistakes and has their decisions haunt them. So while they do have similar aspects, they look at the world of the future very differently. I think that because science fiction films have so many similar story lines and such bleak outlooks on the future that they are unfairly grouped together. I liked Sphere a lot more than I liked Event Horizon; I find the playful look at people and their character flaws much more interesting than science advancing too far for its own good.

Gosford Park

This past Friday I happened to catch the last hour and a half of one of my favorite movies, Gosford Park. I was first introduced to this film in my detective fiction class the first semester of my junior year. For another class that I had that same semester I was looking at the British Heritage film for my final paper and ended up watching the film again. I loved the film immediately and the second viewing just made that love even deeper. Gosford Park is a unique film that really makes the viewer focus on the story being told to them, which is probably why I was the only person in my detective fiction class to enjoy the film. What makes Gosford Park so interesting is the fact that there really is no main character that the film follows, it is a collection of stories and from this collection comes the main story. Think Crash without the storyline jumps and from the very beginning you understand how all the characters interact. Along with that aspect you have the always fun game of name that famous actor. This film is bursting with big name actors and actresses, Maggie Smith, Clive Owen, Stephen Fry, Ryan Phillipe, and many other faces you'll recognize. I love films that make you think and with each viewing you figure out something you hadn't before and that's exactly what Gosford Park does.

Gosford Park takes place in 1932 England during an aristocratic dinner party in the country. The film examines the different worlds of the downstairs and the upstairs. The upstairs world is the world of the of the aristocrats and their attempts to regain the power they have lost in the recent power change. Some of them solved this issue by marrying the nouveau riche and end up being miserable in their marriages. Others come up with ways of blackmailing those with money or businesses solutions that get turned down. Concerned with their own lives they fail to notice what is really going on and end up getting caught up in a mystery unknowingly. The second half of the equation of the film that makes it work out so well is the examination of the downstairs world. This is the world of the cooks, servants, and valets that make sure that the upstairs doesn't notice what really goes on underneath them. Along with knowing all of the gossip and secrets of the upstairs, they have their own secrets. When the host dies suddenly during the weekend outing, it is the downstairs world that figures out who did it and how. This film is an amazing look at how people think and the twisted relationships we create. It is definitely a film that deserves more than one look to fully appreciate the story it gives you.

Animal House

Now that I only a have a semester left in my college experience I finally decided to watch the favorite college movie of all time, Animal House. Over the years I've seen bits and pieces but I've never seen the whole thing at one time. And while this habit of mine is always interesting and has introduced a lot of movies to my collection, it does get annoying when you've seen the same parts over and over again. So when I finally get a chance to see a film all the way I jump on the opportunity. I must admit I'm sad that it took me this long to see Animal House all the way through. I thought that it was one of the best comedies I've seen over the years. While a crude comedy at points, it was concerned with making you laugh at all times unlike many of the comedies out today. I am not a fan of the gross-out comedy and hate it when everyone tries to tell me that those kind of comedies are the best. With films like Animal House there is clearly a type of comedy that doesn't have to rely entirely on grossing out the audience, just a little bit will go a long way. Whether this fact is because of the difference in times or whether it's because directors have gotten lazy over the years the world will never know. To leave you I have decided to include one of the best scenes in the film.

French Kiss

Flipping through channels I found an Encore Love presentation of French Kiss. French Kiss is your typical 90's romantic comedy starring Meg Ryan, Kevin Kline, and Timothy Hutton. Meg Ryan reprises her role as the talkative, anal over-achiever who learns to relax through the help of a man she just happens to meet. Ryan's character Kate is a teacher engaged to a Canadian looking to make her happy ending. But when her fiance (Timothy Hutton) goes to France and suddenly cancels their wedding, Kate doesn't know what to do. She forces herself to conquer her fear of flying to go to Paris and find him to see what happened. But in her attempt to find him she runs into a thief (Kevin Kline) who makes her trip into a disaster. Thanks to him and the various French thieves he knows Kate loses her luggage, money, and ends up having him stash his stolen goods in her only bag. And each time they think they have everything settled between them, Luc (Kline) realizes there's something else in her bag. In the end to make sure he gets all of his goods back, Luc promises to help her get her fiance back and ends up falling in love with her. As Kate travels through France to win her fiance she learns about Luc's life and also falls in love with him. Can they realize that they love each other in time? Being a romantic comedy you know everything works out for the best and that they end up together at the end. And while the movie followed all of the cheesy plot lines and Kline's French accent was terrible, I still enjoyed it. Every once in a while you need that cheesy love story to feed that hopeless romantic inside. So French Kiss may not be award winning but it certainly fulfills my hopeless romantic needs.

Videodrome

So this post's movie is a little out there in more than one way. My advanced film seminar teacher ended up having to cancel this week's class but didn't want to lose out on the film and discussion we would have. His solution, watch the movie on our own time and increase the size of the journal that would have discussed that week's readings. Not a big deal, then I watched the film. Videodrome has got to be one of the weirdest films I have ever seen and felt I had to share my confusion with you. The basic plot of the film is a cable TV programmer, played by James Woods, stumbles upon a pirated television broadcast called videodrome. What starts off as a simple curiosity quickly turns into a much deeper issue involving hallucinations. The film follows Woods' attempt to understand what's happening to him and the issues that each new piece of information brings along with it. Videodrome is truly bizarre to watch. With it's eighties special effects and the larger issues it looks at its pretty easy to get lost. One of the most telling scenes with this film is when his television comes alive and starts to speak with him. It really makes you question what you watch on a daily basis.

Now I realize that my paragraph above is not very descriptive and by no means explains the confusion I am currently feeling. However, the reason I felt it was important to post my thoughts on it actually relates a little bit to our class. The big issue that Videodrome addresses is the conflict that the film industry was having with the introduction of VCRs and the video tape. The film industry has always struggled with changes in media and the introduction of technology that changes people's perception of media. This industry went from having over 80 million patrons visiting it's theaters to 30 million over a twenty year period. This drop was attributed to the introduction and the easily available television set. During this change the film industry was in a state of confusion and tried it's best to overcome the loss of patrons it was having. When the VCR was introduced the film industry had its worries. But unlike TV, VCRs and the video tape actually benefited the industry by having films that were not available before easily accessible. It in the end helped to stimulate the industry and destroy it like so many feared. But like any new advance there are still that question its motives, and this particular result is Videodrome. Videodrome's director David Cronenberg looks at the video tape and the media changes it brings as dangerous. Through videos people are now able to watch things whenever they want and gives the media industry that much more of a grip on society. The dangers that Videodrome sees with this idea is that people will get too involved with the videos they watch and will lose touch with reality. It also concerns this film that people are so willing to allow the media that much control in their lives.

I thought it was interesting to watch this film and the fears it had of the changing film industry and think our recent discussions with the change of the newspaper industry. I feel that like the film industry all of these changes to the newspaper business will be detrimental at first but will eventually turn out to be beneficial. We just need to sit it out and wait for that moment.

Batman

I must apologize for my infrequent posting. It's not that I'm not watching movies for the blog, trust me I do plenty of that, it's become more of an issue of actually remembering to sit down and write. Well now that I feel like I've kind of explained my issues, I'll move onto the movie for today. I'm not sure why it is but within the past week I've happened to catch two different channels showing the first two Batman movies by Tim Burton. ABC Family showed the first three films as the ending celebration of their 13 nights of Halloween and AMC is showing the first two tonight for their list of 10 Unbelievable Transformations with Jack Nicholson's role as the Joker starting the list off. Now I will freely admit that I am quite the geek when it comes to superheros and the recent film adaptations they have created. I've seen pretty much everything that's come out, most of them in theaters and will always watch them on TV when I find them. Of the franchises out there Batman has always intrigued me the most.

I've always found Batman to be the most interesting superhero created and reimagined. Unlike so many heroes that comic books have created Batman is the one of the only heroes that has no powers. He relies entirely on his intelligence and the gadgets he creates. He is also one of the darker heroes which I find truly fascinating to watch. While all heroes deal with the question of where the line gets drawn between being the vigilante and the things they are fighting against, I've found Batman to be the one hero who is constantly battling this question. He goes out every night fighting in the name of justice and revenge but where does that line get drawn. Another aspect of the Batman series is the amount of times the character has be reimagined. In the past 20 years we have done from Michael Keaton's Batman, a witty hero who grasped a basic understanding of his emotional issues, to Christian Bale's, a hero so blinded by his rage and vengeance that he can't see the pain he puts those around him in. From Jack Nicholson's vision of a psychotic Joker to Heath Ledger's version with the latest Batman remake. With all of the versions in the collection you can always get a new view and appreciation for the character. And while I love what the director is doing with the newest reincarnation of the Batman story my favorite movie will remain Batman Returns. It not only has psychotic penguins but it has my favorite villain Catwoman. Maybe it's just because I'm a girl but Catwoman has always been the character I've admired and loved to be when we were playing as children. And now that I've seen it at a later age I've come to appreciate the obvious play with the sexual tension and emotional issues that Catwoman and Batman share. In the end I love the way the film plays with the psychology of the characters and how complex they truly are.

Halloween

So for the past week I have been procrastinating from my homework by watching Halloween movies and have come across an interesting realization. I started my Halloween fix this past weekend with a viewing of Hocus Pocus on ABC Family. It had been a while since I've seen it and it was interesting to see how my perception of this film has changed as I've gotten older. The next night I ended up continuing with ABC Family's 13 Nights of Halloween and watching their presentation of Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice. I have always been a fan of Tim Burton and love both of these movies so any excuse to watch them I'll take. Monday I decided to switch over to AMC and watch some of their fright nights. I ended up watching the original Halloween and then continued to watch when 13 Ghosts came on afterwords. Halloween is one of my favorite horror films and decided to had to watch it. When I saw that 13 Ghosts was coming on next I decided I had to watch it, especially since a friend of mine had been raving about it over the summer. And tonight I finished my craze with a viewing of Scream on Encore. Scream is one of those movies that I enjoy watching because of the statement it makes on the genre.

Well after watching all of these movies I really noticed the distinct differences there are in the ideas of what makes Halloween, Halloween. With ABC Family of course you're going to get more family oriented movies but they really aren't showing movies that I would define as Halloween. Looking over the rest of their schedule for this week they're showing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Goonies, the first three Batman movies, and I honestly don't see how Edward Scissorhands is related to the holiday at all. Granted there aren't that many kid friendly scary movies out there but this list films just doesn't hit as entirely appropriate. They don't have anything to do with Halloween or even going along with the idea that Halloween is supposed to be scary. In the end it seems to me that they picked the darkest movies they had in their vault and showed it. And then on the flip side you have AMC, which is focused solely on the idea that Halloween is all about being scared. For the nine days and nights AMC is showing non-stop horror films until Halloween night. And while I enjoy a good scare here and there I think a week just filled with horror films is just ridiculous. But I will give them credit with the fact that a majority of the films they are showing are the new classics. I guess I just find this dynamic between the ideas of what Halloween is about to be an interesting thing to look at.

The Stepfather

So in yet another splurge my roommate and I ended up heading to the Waterfront to see another movie. For months my roommate has been obsessing over the movie The Stepfather and has been dying to see it. I will admit I had no real interest in seeing it but she always surprises me with films that actually are decent so I went along. The Stepfather is another one of those films that has the high school screw-up pitted against the serial killer to prove himself. And I promise that I haven't ruined the plot of this movie at all because you know this from the multitude of trailers that they've been showing since this summer. Dylan Walsh, the star of Nip/Tuck, plays David Harris the serial killer stepfather who begins to have issues keeping his story straight with his new victims. His character is very unique and a killer that keeps you questioning, not whether or not he's going to kill them but what exactly it is that makes him tick. And then you have Penn Badgley, star of Gossip Girl and the real reason my roommate wanted to see this, playing the disappointed high school screw-up who slowly begins to realize there's more to Harris than meets the eye. I admit I wasn't going into this movie with high expectations but this movie was really disappointing. I think the premise was really unique and the beginning is pretty well thought out but it really didn't work in the end. It was way too predictable and the ending really just came without any closure. I ultimately didn't like the movie and am sad that I wasted my five dollars to see it in theaters, it was definitely one of those movies that could have waited until it came out.

Three Rivers Film Festival

In accordance with my blog and the idea of rediscovering films, I thought that this was an important thing to put out there and promote. Pittsburgh Filmmakers is hosting a film festival with films and events from all over the world and dealing with various decades. A big goal of the festival is to examine where the film industry is going and to show where the industry has come from. The films will be shown throughout the city in the three theaters owned by filmmakers, The Harris Theater, Regent Square, and the Melwood Screening Room. And while I've never attended the film festival in the past I feel this is an great opportunity for anyone who enjoys films. It's a great way of exposing yourself to a number of films that you may not see otherwise. For a list of the films showing and the events that the festival is hosting check out http://3rff.com.

War of the Worlds

While I was looking to waste time this week I found War of the Worlds, the 1953 version, playing on TCM. I remember seeing the end of this film in my seventh grade science class because I ended up being absent when my teacher started the film the day before. All I ended up seeing was the very end of the film when the aliens are defeated, I apologize if I ruined the film for anyone but I'm assuming that everyone knows the basic story of War of the Worlds. And it was this ending scene that I had been originally comparing when I saw the remake this past summer on ABC. Even before I had seen the whole film I could tell that the remake had made big changes to differentiate itself from the original film. Now that I've seen the original the whole way through, I have to admit that I'm amazed at how much they changed from the film. You go from the main character, Clayton, being a scientist out to understand the invaders and save humanity to a beat-nick dad, Ray, who's out to save himself and his children. The main character is no longer a noble hero out to save the day but a failure looking to correct his shortcomings of the past. Clayton finds the alien invaders original landing site in the middle of no where in California and follows the invaders progress to Los Angeles. Ray lives in New Jersey and decides to travel to Boston where his ex-wife lives because he doesn't know what else to do. The hysterical love interest from the 1953 film turns into a hysterical daughter in the remake which also adds a trouble making son. The one difference between the films that really got me was the different aspects that the films each focused on.
In the 1953 film because he is a scientist, Clayton is privy to more information about the aliens and where they are in the world. So the film really focuses on humanity's need to understand situations and how people deal with the situation when it gets beyond their capability. One thing that's really obvious about this version is the clear religious overtone that the has. Clayton is friends with a priest at the start of the film and in the end he finds his girlfriend taking shelter in a church at the end of the film when they both fail to escape the city. The film focuses on the idea that once society is past the ability to comprehend the situation scientifically they turn to religion for salvation and answers. And because they are in a church when the aliens start to die, it makes you question what exactly caused the eventual defeat, science or God. The 2005 remake on the other hand focuses solely on humanity's reactions to crisis and the extreme survival instinct that kicks in. Throughout the film Ray is always making decisions to save his family that puts others in jeopardy. At no point do people really look to understand what is going on, they are only concerned with saving their own necks. And while Ray does figure out many of the aliens traits and shortcomings from his inexplicable run-ins with them, the main focus is how people react to crises. There is no point in the film where people bind together in an attempt to overcome the common enemy like there is in so many other alien invasion films. This is definitely a film that shows that when it comes down to it you have to look out for yourself because no one else will. In the end I find this transformation of the film's ideals very interesting and believe that it says a lot about how our society has changed in 50 years.

More thoughts on high school

After reading the comments on my last post I thought I would elaborate further on my thoughts on the high school genre. First off my list of high school movies is completely influenced by what I have and have not seen. After looking up high school films and seeing the great many lists of the best ones out there, I can say that most people do believe that Dazed and Confused and Fast Times at Ridgemont High are within the top 5 every time. However I've never seen them so I can't judge and place them on my list.

With the films I have seen I have to admit that my experience with the high school genre is fairly unique. Almost all of the movies on my list and actually most movies that deal with high school I didn't see until I was in college. I had already been in high school and knew what it was really like. I know watching many of these films with friends they're always mentioning how they thought high school really would be like the films they saw. You would have the clearly distinct "clicks," where no one ever communicated outside their click and each had its own table in the cafeteria. You would have some situation that would cause the students to confront their differences and unite. I think this is part of the reason so many people are obsessed with these movies. These movies represent what they think high school should have been like. The geek was supposed to end up with the hot cheerleader, the students all realize that there is more to life than just high school, and in worse case scenarios like The Faculty after defeating the enemy, the students realize who they really are.

The high school genre has always claimed that high school was where you really discover yourself and that is where their success stems from. And this aspect of the genre is still what hooks the youth of today. With the High School Musical series, today's youth are convinced that not only will high school be a breeze if you have the right dance moves but high school is where you really find out who you are and what you want in life. It isn't until you actually reach high school that you realize that life is no where near as simple or formulaic as the genre claims it to be. And while we are generally disappointed that our lives didn't turn out as we thought they would we continue to watch these films to remind ourselves what we really want out of life. We want to figure out who we are and to be are own individuals. So while high school may not turn out to be what we want it to be, the films serve as a reminder of what we want to achieve in life and to always remember who we are.

A High School Obsession

I'm not sure how it managed to happen but this weekend I've been bombarded with high school movies. My roommate in a recent 90's craze decided to download Jawbreakers, a 1999 film starring Rose McGowan, Judy Greer, and Rebecca Gayheart. In the movie three of the most popular girls in high school accidentally kill their "best" friend with a jawbreaker in a prank. In the end viewers are warned of the dangers of conforming to what is popular and what happens when you let things go too far. As the weekend progressed I happened to catch Another Cinderella Story, a 2008 film starring Selena Gomez, the new Disney it girl. This Cinderella story tells the story of Mary who wins her prince through great dance moves and not backing down from her former pop star employer. High school for this class is easy to overcome with great dance moves in a similar fashion that High School Musical has made its success with. And while I was trying to figure out what I wanted to say about high school movies I started to watch Can't Hardly Wait, the 1998 film starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ethan Embry, and Seth Green. After graduation the entire senior class goes to a house party where Preston, who has been in love with Amanda since she transferred to the school, tries to confess his love for her. We learn that what happened in high school doesn't define who you are the rest of your life. And just sitting here writing this I've seen commercials for a showing of Heathers this coming weekend. I can't help but feel amazed at our obsession with high school. Everyone always talks about how much they hated high school but we're always watching movies that focus solely on high school. here's a link to Entertainment Weekly's top 50 high school movies and AMC's list of films that didn't make the list.

Well here's my top ten high school movies:
10. Election
9. The Virgin Suicides
8. Scream
7. Heathers
6. The Faculty
5. Brick
4. Breakfast Club
3. Saved!
2. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
1. 10 Things I Hate About You

Whip It

In a recent decision to splurge my friends and I decided to actually see a movie in the theaters. Last year we discovered that Lowe's Theater at the Waterfront has a deal where you can see any movie during the week, Monday through Thursday, for five dollars. After seeing the list of options we ended up picking Whip It. The new film directed and starring Drew Barrymore looks at the life of a Texas high schooler in search of herself. Ellen Page plays Bliss, a misfit who feels like she doesn't know who she is. Her mother (Marcia Gay Harden) forces her to participate in beauty pageants to try and give her the life she never had. On a trip to Austin Bliss finds a pamphlet for Austin's roller derby. After seeing one of the matches Bliss decides to join the derby and quickly becomes a star. While she works to discover herself Bliss realizes that in her search she can't just give up on the life she already has. I really enjoyed the film and thought it did a good job not being the typical teenage angst movie. It was funny and was one of those quirky movies that really work well. You fall in love with the characters and can easily relate to Bliss and what she wants to accomplish. I recommend it highly.

Brick

Well I couldn't find anything interesting on TV so I flipped through my roommates book of movies to find something I have seen yet. After amazing my roommate with the amount of movies I still haven't seen in her collection after living with her for three years, I came across the film Brick. Brick is a modern day film noir set in a California high school. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a high school detective Brendan looking to figure out what is going with an ex-girlfriend after she calls him asking him for help. As he starts to look into her situation he goes deeper and deeper into the high school's underworld and starts to discover that he's bitten off more than he can chew. This film is an amazing example of the classic detective story. The story celebrates the tradition of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler and their dysfunctional detectives. The language and characters throughout the film sound like they came straight out of a novel. You have the overly witty detective who gets himself hurt more than any normal person should. The femme fatale who's only desire is to help but ultimately reverts back to her nature. The drug boss and his main thug who look to control the business. Along with these classic characters is the language that transports you into the film noir world so well that you forget that it's set in modern day California. The film is so good at representing the detective novel that it has to remind you that you are watching high schoolers. At one point Brendan ends up blacking out in the Pin's basement and is brought up to the kitchen to fully discuss their issues. While the two are sitting in the kitchen the Pin's mother is serving Brendan breakfast. Another way the film works to include that high school aspect is to make the cop element of the story into the vice principal of the school.

I find this film an amazing example of detective fiction and great interpretation of a genre that has gotten lost through the years. I love the way the director really captured that element of the detective which makes you love him and yet hate him at the same time. The wit that the film uses is brilliant and made me want to go find the novels from a detective fiction class I took and reread them. If you enjoy mysteries and Indie films this is right up your alley. If you're not sure it is I suggest watching it any way, it's just that good.

Romantic Couple Musings

So while I was reading other people's blogs I turned on the TV for some background noise. In the end I decided to put on TNT's presentation of Titanic. It's been forever since I've watched the movie in its entirety and honestly I really don't remember much about it. Well when I turned on the movie I ended up coming in when the boat is sinking and Jack's friends break through the gates to reach the upper levels. I must admit I've seen the ending many times, often just to see America's obsession with death at its finest. After the film ended TNT started to show it again. I can't recall the last time I saw the beginning of the film and was generally surprised by it. However the point of this blog is not a critic of a movie I can't say I've ever truly enjoyed. While watching the film I started to think of the way that films reuse couples. Titanic was the film that launched Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet into stardom. They were the couple that every girl wanted to be in the 90's. When Revolutionary Road came out last year the film used this previous pairing to help get interest in the new film. I must admit that I find this concept so interesting when you look at the couples the two actors play. In Titanic they are two people from opposite worlds who fall madly in love with each as they explore each others worlds. Revolutionary Road is about a new couple trying to live life in the suburbs while dealing with issues of identity and the desire to follow dreams that do not correspond with the American dream. The two couples have nothing to do with each other and look at very different issues. In the end I find it amazing that advertisers would even try to compare these two couples.

Along with this idea of reusing couples in extremely different genres of films I started to think about the sheer multitude of couples that get reused. Earlier this weekend TNT also showed Runaway Bride, another film that utilizes a previous coupling. Runaway Bride stars Richard Gere and Julia Roberts who also star together in Pretty Woman. We go from the prostitute and the lonely business man to the newspaper reporter and the independent tomboy afraid of settling down. Another example would be Matthew McConaughy and Kate Hudsen in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Fool's Gold. And yet another would be Nia Vardolas and John Corbett in My Big Fat Greek Wedding and I Hate Valentine's Day. Why do we feel this need to see the same couples over and over again in such diverse and yet similar roles? I realize there are only so many stars out there but our fascination with seeing the same actors reprise the same roles is clearly evident in today's and yesterday's films.

Analyze This

Flipping through channels I came across Analyze This on AMC. I remember wanting to see this movie for the longest time but never being old enough to watch it or getting around to it. In the film Robert De Niro reprises his typical role of gangster and plays Paul Vitti, one of the heads of a New York mob family. (I tried counting the amount of movies De Niro has played a gangster in just for kicks but since a majority of his films involve crime in some way I couldn't keep track.) After seeing the death of another leading head of his family Vitti begins to suffer from panic attacks and can't be the gangster he used to be. To try and fix his issues he drags a psychiatrist, played by Billy Crystal, into the situation. In the end while Vitti figures out his emotional issues he ruins the psychiatrist's life and puts everyone into more danger than they were before. I liked the movie and the way they played with the idea of the tough gangster. Crystal and De Niro make a great comedy pair and both are great at playing up the joke. My only complaints about the film are that it was difficult to watch on TV since every time the characters swore it had to be censored. While you could pretty much get the gist of what it was they were saying it kind ruins experience and reminds you that you're watching it on cable. My other complaint is that the people in charge felt that it was necessary to make a sequel. While I can't say I've seen it and don't know if its any good I hate it when it sequels are made because the first one was successful. I find that most films are good enough without the sequel.

I've always found our obsession with mobster movies fascinating. The mob has come to represent not only a fearful enemy but also a symbol of freedom and justice at times. From iconic films like The Godfather and Scarface to more recent films like Goodfellows and The Departed the mob, mafia, and gangsters have become an idolized aspect of American Culture. What I really like about Analyze This is the fact that it playfully focuses on the effects that being a mafia boss can have on a person. A major theme in gangster films are the effects that the job has on the character and his family, but usually this is looked at very seriously and destroys the character's life. Analyze This makes the gangster confront his issues and shows a personable and funnier side to our obsession with the idea of the mafia.

Abandon

This Wednesday was a Netflix special. My roommate, in a recent obsession with the actor Charlie Hunnam, decided to rent the film Abandon to see him in action. The film also stars Katie Holmes (pre-Cruise), Benjamin Bratt, Zooey Deschanel, and Gabriel Union. Abandon is the story of Katie (played by Katie), a senior on the cusp of graduation. Along with worrying about getting a job after college and finishing her senior thesis, Katie has to worry about her jealous ex-boyfriend coming back after disappearing two years before. Detective Wade Handler is put in charge of her ex-boyfriend's case after coming back from an issue with drugs and alcohol to ease him back into duty. However, the further Handler gets involved in the case the more comes out about Katie and her past.

This was definitely was one of those movies that I'll only be watching once in my life. It was definitely one of those stories you weren't expecting the ending from what you saw of the trailers but about halfway you figure out the ending any way. The movie was fairly interesting but it was definitely a plot that I've seen one too many times to fully enjoy this time. If you enjoy b-horror films starring big name actors before they hit the big time I'm sure you'll enjoy. I can't say I enjoyed it but at least I've expanded my internal film collection.

Little Women

When I started watching Little Women this weekend I was convinced that it was a film that I had never seen before. I didn't recognize any of the beginning and was surprised by all of the faces I recognized. By the end of the film I realized that Little Women was yet another one of the many films that I had seen the ending of for some reason but never the whole thing. After watching the whole film I must admit that the ending made a lot more sense this time around. I remember the first time I saw this ending I thought the professor was a soldier returning or something along those lines. I like the fact that he is a professor a lot better than my soldier version.

I liked the film and found the story pretty interesting but I have to wonder how faithful it is to the novel. I've never read the book so I can't judge for myself but that it always something that I wonder about when I see adaptations of literature. In the film a big aspect of the film is the girls' search for independence and success. While I'm sure there were sentiments of this during the 1860's when the book was published, I know Hollywood likes to exaggerate aspects of older novels to reflect the beliefs of today's society. I'd be interested in finding out how faithful the film was to the book but I'm sure this will be a task saved for after college.

Persepolis

Over the last couple of years the biggest craze has been making graphic novels and comic books into full length films. Drawing from a variety of stories and ideas, these films try to make these fantasy worlds as realistic as they possibly can. Persepolis is the exception of the craze. This movie works with the original idea presented by the story and remains a two-dimensional cartoon. I liked how they kept with the original idea and I think they would have lost a lot of the story's meaning if they tried to make it three-dimensional in any way. Persepolis looks at the life of Marjane Satrapi and her experience growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Marjane is a very outgoing girl and follows her family's example of always resisting ideas that they feel are unjust. As life in Iran begins to get more restricted because the Islamic fundamentalists beliefs Marjane's family fears for her safety and send her to Germany to study. However, Germany creates new issues and Marjane becomes an outcast in this new culture. In her search for herself in this confusing world Marjane shows us the importance of remaining true to yourself.

While searching for critic's opinions of Persepolis I came across this blog entry, The House Next Door: Revolution Fades, Teen Angst Endures: Persepolis. While I appreciate the analysis of the film and the synopsis that he provides I have to disagree with his ending view of the film. For Vadim Rizov the film ultimately comes down to a story of teen angst and the fact that in the end that is all you remember. While this does play a big part in the story since it is a coming of age tale, I don't think that the it's the only thing that endures from the film. The revolution does kind of fade into the background of the story but that is because the characters begin to accept the changes. They don't agree with them and hate the fact they have to comply with the regulations but that is what life has become for the people. I think what endures the most from this film is the feeling of discovery. The point of any coming of age tale is the discovery of self and where you belong in the world. Persepolis is so moving because while she believes she has discovered herself, she is still lost in this world. She belongs to an Iran that disappeared and doesn't really belong in the European culture either. I felt like I could relate in some way to this feeling of being lost in the world. So I have to disagree with Rizov and say that the thing that endures after watching this film is not teen angst but the feeling of being lost in a world that doesn't want you.

North by Northwest

Over the years I have been working to see all of Hitchcock's films and I've slowly been accumulating the collection. So far I've seen Rebecca, Psycho, Vertigo, and Rear Window. I noticed that TCM was having a small Hitchcock marathon and the first movie they were showing was North by Northwest. I found the plot interesting and I can see how this movie has influenced many of today's films like Eagle Eye. Roger Thornhill gets mistaken for government agent George Kaplan and almost gets killed by the spies that Kaplan is after. In an attempt to understand whats going on Thornhill attempts to find Kaplan but ends up just getting in deeper.

I managed to find two reviews from 1959 when it originally came out and both praise the film for it's upbeat feel. The first on from Variety and loves the mixture that Hitchcock creates in the film. From his use of Cary Grant to provide endless wit to filming the scenes of the movie in the actual locations the review proclaims that North by Northwest would be a top box office hit. The second one from the New York Times is a little more negative about the film but still believes that it was a success. They felt that the film was really just looking to be a good time and loses the mysterious aspect of the film. After reading both of these reviews I have to agree with the New York Times review. The film looks to be funny and doesn't have that suspense that many of his other films have. So while I enjoyed the film, it certainly wasn't what I was expecting. After seeing the films that I have I was expecting North by Northwest to be much more suspenseful than it really was. I think I'll enjoy it a lot more than I did this first time now that I know that it isn't meant to be taken too seriously.

Interview with the Vampire

The first time I saw Interview with the Vampire was my freshman year in college. I had always been interested in seeing it, so when I noticed my friend had a copy of it on his self I made him watch it with me. I liked the film but it never became one of those films that I felt I had to own. While flipping through channels tonight I saw that the SyFy channel was showing it and decided it was time for another go. The film was just like I remembered it. I liked the way they made you look at the old ideas of vampires and question our fascination with them. I enjoyed Louis and his attempt to keep his humanity and you can't help but love Cruise's eccentric Lastat. I also find Kristen Dunst's portrayal of Claudia to be particularly haunting and an interesting look at the effects that being a vampire has on the person. I will agree with the critics that Louis does get annoying after a while with his constant brooding and that the film does have it's moments when it just drags on but I still love the ideas it presents.

However while I was watching the film it really wasn't the film that truly intrigued me this time but the way the SyFy channel presented it. The first thing I noticed were the commercials. I realize any time you watch a movie you always have to deal with commercials but Interview with the Vampire really seemed to emphasize the change. Interview is an extremely dark film and really emphasizes that darkness throughout the film. So when the channel went into commercials the difference almost seemed exaggerated. You went from watching an almost black screen to a bright white background. It really drug you out of the film and really reminded you where you were. Another aspect of this viewing that I noticed was the way they handled the sexuality in the film. Throughout the film there are quite few scenes that are very explicit. And even though it is being shown on cable it's still a little too much to be shown the way the film intends. There are two scenes in particular that I noticed while watching the film. At one point Claudia sees a woman washing herself through a window. Claudia becomes obsessed with the woman and what she represents, growing up. In every scene involving this woman she is naked to truly show what it is that Claudia is lacking. It was interesting to see this on television because they completely removed her chest. Even in a drawing that Claudia was doing of the woman they removed the breasts so that they show the film on television. Another scene occurs while Claudia and Louis are in Paris. They go to show that involves only vampire actors and in one act they bring out a woman and feed on her in front of the audience. At one point they entirely undress her and have her standing on the stage. To make the scene presentable SyFy blurred out all of the parts that would be inappropriate for television. It's always interesting to see censorship in action and it just seemed ridiculous in this film. In the end watching this movie on television was an interesting look at the effects television has on the viewer and the way they look at a movie.

The Son of the Sheik

In the past week my film class has been looking at the idea of desire and the power it has on the way people view films. One of the articles that I had to read focused on Rudolph Valentino and his role in films during the 1920's. In one of those weird coincidences of life, Pittsburgh Filmmakers actually presented The Son of the Sheik, one of Valentino's films, in their Melwood Screening Room on Thursday. I decided that it was one of those opportunities that I couldn't miss and went to see it. I must admit I do not have much experience with silent films and I wasn't sure what to expect. While the quality of the film wasn't very good, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the film. The story was very similar to the romantic comedies that I love today. One reason I love the romance genre is the complex relationship between the couple. The Son of the Sheik was no exception, how can you love someone when you believe they have betrayed you.

A major focus for my film class is trying to figure out how people view films and what cues films give the viewer. One reason we read about Valentino and his films was because a major component of his films is the idea of the gaze of desire. A big aspect of the film critic's job is to discern who the film is geared towards. Most critics believe that films are geared entirely to a male audience and look to satisfy male desires. Valentino's films are an interesting counter example though. The films were geared entirely to a female spectator and most men disliked Valentino. You could see this reflected in the way they developed Yasmin and Ahmed's relationship. At first the relationship develops because Ahmed wants it to. He falls in love with her and Yasmin then follows suit. When Ahmed gets attacked by the thieves he believes Yasmin has betrayed him and he starts to hate her. He feels used and when he is subjected to her gaze of desire he feels as helpless as a woman. To regain control he takes matters into his hands and forces her back into the weaker role. What develops is a different way of looking at the idea of who occupies the dominant role in relationships in films. In the end it was an interesting look back at how people acted in the decade and the perceptions people had.

An Introduction

I like to consider myself a cinephile. I'll watch anything once, no matter how bad it is. I love films so much that I am actually working to get a degree in Film Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. Being the typical poor college student I don't have the money or the time to see as many new films as I would like. So to satisfy my movie fix I have turned to television and all of the films that cable has to offer. I'm seen quite the variety of films on cable since I started college. From the random independent film to a forgotten classic, I have definitely broadened my cinema horizons over the past three years.
Since it's my last year in school I've decided to keep a blog of all the films I see and try to make use of my future film study degree. With every film I see I will write my own review and an analysis of the film. I will also look up information on the film from when it was originally released and compare past critiques with mine. In the end I hope to not only discover and share films that many have missed or forgotten but also to show the effects television has had on the film industry.