L.A. Confidential

Upon my first viewing of this film I hated it. Flat out didn't like it. I was not captivated and I was not entertained at all. This was another film that we watched for my Film and Lit class, so the next day of class, which was a few days later, we had the obligatory discussion that follows every film we watch in that class. I had had time to digest the film and when we started discussing it, i fell more and more in love with the movie. We analyzed scenes, discussed themes, plot details and character arcs. At the end of the discussion, I was thoroughly convinced that L.A. Confidential is a masterpiece of modern American cinema. I still had not enjoyed the movie, though, so now I am dying to see it again to determine if I will enjoy it better now that I understand the nuanced details of the film. I dare say I will. This is a film directed by Curtis Hanson, and he has crafted an unbelievable movie here. The character arcs are perfect and the movie has an extremely original feel in that it depicts L.A., but not in a nostalgic way. It's just simply L.A. The acting is incredible, though I have to say that Kim Basinger's Oscar win for this kind of perplexes me, but I will need to see it again to know why. I would thoroughly recommend this film to anyone who enjoys movies in the slightest. It is a great fun and impressive ride.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is a swedish film based on the book of the same name by Stieg Larsson. I went to see it at an art-house theater in DC since its kind of a small foreign film. Let me say: This is the best movie yet of the 2010 Oscar Season. It is an incredibly original crime thriller. I have not seen a movie that was plot based so thoroughly develop character arcs or spend time on creative details in addition to having a killer plot. The film is subtitled but after a few minutes you will feel as though you are learning swedish. I loved this movie. Movies of this nature and feel are rarely made in America, or in English for that matter. If you can stomach some strong violence then you will throughly enjoy this movie. I need to see it again so I can better deconstruct and comment on the directing, cinematography and music. But I can say that Noomi Rapache's rendition of the girl with the dragon tattoo was some incredible acting. She got way into character and this turn will captivate and haunt you. This was an enjoyable film that was a thrill to watch.

Bowling For Columbine

Hulu is a great place to watch some off-beat movies that are not huge blockbusters, but are good little flicks anyway. Tonight I watched Bowling For Columbine, the hugely controversial documentary that won Michael Moore an Oscar. It was a dark, quirky little movie. There are definitely a few claims made by Moore that are sketchy at best. But where the movie really hits its strides is in the abstract philosophizing that Moore includes about the root of violence in America. Yes this is on the surface, a movie about gun control. But it is more deeply a blistering indictment of the culture that has developed in the media of selling news for profit. Fear sells is Moore's point. He repeatedly asks the question why does America have 11,000 firearm related homicides a year when other countries like Germany U.K. and France have from 65-380. In the end I don't think he makes the argument about gun control. It's more about the culture of fear that is promoted by the news networks. While certainly not a factually perfect film, (Moore uses some sketchy data about U.S. funding of foreign militaries and makes some accusations about U.S. backed assassinations that are less than factual.) this documentary has heart.

Moore somehow gets great access to some people that are central to the debates. He has an interview with Charlton Heston, with Marilyn Manson, with survivors of the Columbine shooting, with the freed Olson brother who was involved in the OK city bombing and even Dick Clark (for a few seconds). This movie was enthralling to watch. Moore is certainly a master of the documentary format. He knows how to weave a narrative that gets his point across. This film succeeds the most when it uses quiet thought and real people to contemplate the ideas that Moore has. This is not the inflammatory mockunetary that Farenheight 9/11 was. It is a very thoughtful exploration of the root cause of violence in America. It is a very poignant tribute to the victims of the Columbine high school shooting and it was a great documentary to watch.

Platoon

Gonna go in the opposite direction now and write a post about an Oliver Stone film. This is the movie that I did my presentation on in my Film and Literature class. It was paired with the Tim O'Brien novel, In the Lake of the Woods, though they have no direct relation to each other. Both of these pieces of art examine the Vietnam War in a very frank manner. The novel was outstanding, but I will talk about the movie here. This movie has about a hundred things going on and so much imagery that one could watch it over and over again and acquire a different perspective each time.

The film follows new Army soldier Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) from the day he arrives in Vietnam through his entire time in theatre. The narration is provided by letters that Taylor writes home to his Grandmother. This provides the perfect context for the main theme explored by Oliver Stone in the movie, which is the loss of innocence due to the atrocities experienced during war. The film opens with the quote from Ecclesiastes, " Rejoice O young man, in the Youth." This frames the movie as a film about youth and innocence. Quickly, the viewer realizes Stones point that "The first casualty of war is innocence."

This film is a masterpiece on many levels. The themes and motifs that run throughout are well developed and lead to important truths about the war and the experiences of those who fought in it. This film has been criticized as portraying the American Soldiers as the villains and as a statement against America. This controversy is due to the actions of the characters in the film. The plot centers on a platoon that is incredibly divided between two leaders, portrayed superbly by Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe. The conflict hinges on the way the two faction of the platoon approach war and how far they are willing to go in their persecution of the Vietnamese people.

Oliver Stone uses an incredibly well constructed script in concert with an all star cast and visually powerful images to develop the story to a point that will challenge viewers. And challenge viewer it does: The good guys smoke pot. There is no completely innocent character. The whole platoon has problems. There are rapes, innocent killings, and many other war crimes depicted. This is not to say that the movie is a summary judgement on the American troops during the Vietnam War. The film is decidedly a comment on the effects of war on the human psyche and conscience rather than a morality tale about the atrocities of Americans troops in the war. This is essentially the point of the O'Brien novel that we read with the film, and why our class had it assigned.

With a distinctly compelling narrative, incredible acting, genius editing, beautiful score, stunning cinematography and a challenging message, Platoon is one of the most heavy-duty films I have seen to date. It is a must watch, especially for people in my generation who were not alive during the Vietnam war. This film really gets to the core of what Vietnam was about for the Soldier and is a film that will tower in the history of American cinema.

P.S. my favorite part is the Jesus Imagery for Willem Dafoe's character Sgt. Elias... see how many times you can find it. I count at least six...

Titanic

This is my favorite movie of all time, to date. I know. People say it is goofy, girly, lame, whatever you want to call it. Critics bash the screenplay and it seems everyone hates James Cameron. This movie inspired me to want to make movies. I love the epicness of the film. More so, I like the fact that the story is a footnote on history. I want the first screenplay that I write to be just like this. This was interestingly enough, just about the only Oscar that Titanic did not win in 1997. In fact, it was not even nominated. I do not care. I love the story, and I am completely inspired to write and create by it. That is good art- art that inspires other people to want to make art too. The screenplay provides many insights into life during that time. The themes are perfect and well thought out. I especially like the singing of the navy hymn during church, with the focus on the lines "for those in peril on the sea." Great dramatic irony. A lot of people find the script very trite and sardonically sweet at points but almost every line is great to me. I will argue this to a point. I will go on and on to you if you ever talk to me about the technical aspects of making this film. More than any of the details however was simply how much respect Cameron had for his story. He really respected his characters. I have read the original screenplay for this movie from beginning to end and watch an interview of James Cameron about how he went about directing such an epic movie. What really struck me was the ending of the story. He had originally written the story to be more about his explorer, portrayed by Bill Paxton, than to be about Rose and Jack. At the end of the movie, there was supposed to be this big confrontation between Rose, Bill's Character and Rose's daughter about the Heart of the Ocean. Once Cameron got into the cutting room and started editing his movie together, He realized that the story that really mattered and the only one that the audience would really care about was that of Rose and Jack. He changed the ending to have Rose do what we all know she does to maintain that purity of the story. This is the genius of James Cameron. He knows what his story should really be, not what he had originally created, but what it had become as the art and he completely understood what the audience would care about. That is the mark of a good director. Of the elements of the film that are great (all of them), the one that strikes me the most after the script is the score. James Horner really created the best score for a film ever. It might not be the most technically brilliant piece of music written for film, but it did what music in film is supposed to do better than any before it or to follow it have done. His score captured the time, characters, themes, emotions, action and feeling all into the music and actually added to the story by pulling at the heartstrings of the viewers in perfectly timed moments. This is greatness is validated by the fact that it is the best selling score or soundtrack for a film of all time. No, this movie did not get any acting awards, though Kate Winslet and Gloria Stuart were nominated for their two portrayals of Rose Dewitt Bukater. This was an ensemble piece and each of the performances did exactly what they were meant to do. They portrayed commentary on class systems, on inner struggles, on utter despair in the face of death. All of the acting was top notch and this movie really launched the careers of many of the actors. Other than Gloria Stuart, my personal favorite in the movie is Kathy Bates as the Unsinkable Molly Brown. Talk about born to play a role. The special effects in this movie we, of course incredible, and James Cameron and his team definitely did groundbreaking work developing new technologies to make this film possible. Interestingly enough, however, a large part of the film was simply filmed on life-size models of the Titanic. This was one of the best parts to Cameron's genius. He wanted to make it real, so he did. Attention to detail in this film is almost unparalleled. As you all know, this is the highest grossing movie ever (until AVATAR, Cameron's latest work), and I believe that it is because it is one of the best movies of all time. It made me fall in love with cinema and I hope you can enjoy it as much as I do.

Shutter Island

Martin Scorsese is a master of cinema, and he proves it yet again with Shutter Island. Many critics have called this his ode to Hitchcock. Many have said that it is a terrible turn from a formerly great director. I say that it is a near perfect film that had me captivated all the way through and still has me thinking about it a full 24 hours later. This is due entirely to the ambiguity with which the story is crafted and then filmed. Scorsese is a master of cinematic elements and it is clear that he is using what he knows to have fun. One of the most interesting, moving, and simply great scenes I have ever seen is the scene near the beginning of the movie when Detective Teddy Daniels dreams about his wife and there is a lot of fire and water. You will know what I am talking about when you see it. It is mesmerizing. Speaking of fire and water, they are very prevalent symbols throughout the film. Scorsese uses many different effects here, and my favorite in this movie is the cinematography. It is perfect. Stunning visuals and images are captured beautifully on film. Thelma Schoomaker, Scorsese's principal editor works wonders here as well. She splices film so meticulously that the movie just flows exactingly. Every moment lasts just long enough to cast a doubt and then the pace picks up again to keep the viewer in the hands of the director. The score of this movie is not one that I would buy to listen to again and again, but it works perfectly for this film. Scorsese uses music better in this movie than in any movie of his that I have yet seen. You will be sure of nothing after having seen this picture, and that is the beauty of it. Scorsese has created a wild ride. You might figure out what is going on extremely early in the film. That is ok. I figured out the "twist" about 20 minutes into the movie, but what is really going on is a much deeper psychological study of the entire cast, and maybe even the audience itself. The acting is also stellar in this pic. Ben Kingsley give a great turn and Dicaprio is actually the best I have seen him since Titanic. There is no Leo in there; he really is Federal Agent Teddy Daniels. Michelle Williams gives a haunting and perfectly ambiguous performance as his wife. The rest of the cast pull their own weight too. Scorsese has created a movie that will most certainly be nominated for best picture and he might even see another directing nomination come his way. I will also be looking for editing, cinematography, and score nominations from this piece.

Coming Reviews

Until now on this blog, I have been writing reviews on movies as I have seen them in theaters, in class or on television. I will soon try to write one review for a movie that I just saw and for everyone of those reviews that I write, I will write a review on a movie that I have seen in the past. I will also try to start writing the promised reviews on Television and other art that I enjoy.

Here is a list of some of the reviews that I will try to write up soon:

Television:

Band of Brothers

Battlestar Galactica

The Wire

Lost

Dexter

Glee

Damages

Carnivale

Skins

Weeds

Six Feet Under

Grey's Anatomy

Modern Family

Human Target

True Blood

FlashForward

Firefly

The West Wing

Carrier

Prison Break

Heroes

Movies:

Titanic

The Hangover

Children of Men

Almost Famous

Big Fish

Brothers

Crash

The Shawshank Redemption

What's Eating Gilbert Grape

Brokeback Mountain

Freedom Writers

The Breakfast Club

Ordinary People

Pan's Labyrinth

Remember the Titans

Memento

The Dark Night

The Cider House Rules

Watchmen

Bridge to Terebithia

Lord of the Rings Trilogy

The Matrix Trilogy

Plays and Musicals:

A View From the Bridge

Lord Arthur Savile's Crime

A Streetcar Named Desire

The Phantom of the Opera

Spamalot

Art:

The Painting and Historical Siginificance of Jacques Louis David

I'd like to write more about art, but I have to see more of it first!

Hope you are looking forward to all of this... I have a lot of writing to do!