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!

Clay Pigeons

This is a movie that we watched in my film class that I am supposed to write a professional review for. This assignment is to be 2-3 pages long and when I am done writing it, ill post it here. I guess that my initial reaction to the movie was negative. This is a change for me. I like almost every movie I watch. The movie is the story of a man in a small town who drives his best friend to suicide by sleeping with his wife. That is the outset of this pseudo-dramedy. The movie is very quirky. Joaquin Phoenix plays the main character who is befriended by a dark friend with a lot of secrets. This guy is portrayed by Vince Vaughn in the best work I have seen him accomplish to date. He plays the part with such pitch-perfect duplicity, it is fascinating. I simply do not know what compelled him to move his career into comedy. I mean he is a funny guy, but this performance was so disturbing and intriguing, I could see him becoming a great dramatic actor. Despite pretty solid performances from these to male leads and an interesting early dramatic turn from Jeaneanne Garafolo with stellar cinematography, the tone of the movie really just didn't sit right. I didn't really get connected to the story and the tone was simply just to quirky. I would not really recommend this to anyone who is not a hardcore film enthusiast. I thouroughly enjoyed seeing the dramatic turn by Vince Vaughn, though and it just might be worth seeing the film for that. Hopefully, he will get back to these sort of films in the future and see some great accolades for such work. Standby for my full review of the movie. I just might have a different take when I sit down, review my notes, and critically study the full film.

Kill Bill Vol. 1

This is a movie that I had previously shrugged off and never bothered to watch because I didn't respect Quentin Tarantino yet, or more accurately had not discovered him yet. I thought it was a ridiculous, violent for no reason, absurd, pseudo-comedy that had no reason for being all those things, and that I had no reason to watch. I was right except for that last part. It was a great wild ride. Watching the revenge driven fury of a scorned bride was pure entertainment. Many things were ridiculous and gratuitous, but the movie was a wild ride. Again, Quentin Tarantino proves that he is the director in contemporary cinema who best knows how to use music in his films for dramatic, comedic and pure production effect. Brilliance. Pure genius. The movie was a wild ride and a joy to watch mostly due to the dramatic effect that Tarantino provides in all of his visually stunning and perfectly blocked scenes. This movie is a great example of Quentin Tarantino just having fun. You can see it in every scene; he does what he wants and he he makes it work. I highly recommend this movie if you can stomach violence and some pretty strong language and thematic material. This movie is a great tale about a bride who's entire wedding party was killed at the altar of her wedding. She survives and simply sets about killing all the members of the assassination squad that were involved with the plot on her wedding. It is a great tale and worth the watching. Now I cant wait to see Kill Bill Vol. 2. Should be great!

Pulp Fiction

I watched this movie with extremely high expectations. Maybe too high. I did not enjoy it. I did not get the humor. I did not get the point of the plot. And I did not find myself caring about the characters at all. The use of music was, as in any Tarantino film, perfect. He uses music better than any director I have seen yet. Overall though, I thought that the movie was too long, and the narrative was too disjointed to work. In all it just seemed like a story that I had no reason to be interested in. The use of violence and language was gratuitous and seemingly with out a point. I don't mind language and violence, when it has a bearing on the plot or character development occurring on screen. Anyway, i don't recommend this movie. It won't stay with me very long. If you are a die hard fan of Tarantino, you should see, it; though, chances are you already have.

Inglourious Basterds

Maybe I should entitle this post Quentin Tarantino. I want to write more about him than the movie. When you try to describe what Inglourious Basterds is like to someone, you can really only say Its a Quentin Tarantino. That sums it up. His style is so unusual and interesting, but it is original and totaly his. Its not just weird, its an actual style, almost a genre that he has entirely created. I have watched two Quentin Tarantino movies this weekend. Basterds and Kill Bill and I intend on watching 2-3 more. I have just now realized how awesome of a director he really is. His use of Ennio Morricone's music is by far my favorite technique. Without the music Kill Bill would have been a goofy laughable movie. But with the score it has, it is a masterpiece. The music sets the tone, creates the vision and completely makes the movie. Inglourious Basterds also uses music in an unconventional and intriguing way. Who would have thought a david Bowie song could ever be successfully used in an epic WWII movie? But Quentin Tarantino not only pulls it off, he makes it great.

Cinematography in Basterds is some of the best I have ever seen. It is used not only to make a beautiful picture, but to pull the audience in and really add to the story telling. Wide angle lens in a Basement shootout? Yep, Tarantino pulls it off perfectly. I really like the vignette form of story telling that Tarantino uses. It complements the story here extremely well. The only part of the movie that I dont understand and dont really like is the ridiculous blaxploitation font used at times throughout the movie. It just doesn't fit, but that is Tarantino, I guess. The acting ensemble is a powerhouse. Diane Kruger is amazing as is Melanie Laurent. Cristoph Waltz is perfect in his role. The plot twists and developments in this movie are perfect and perfect Tarantino. This movie has one of my favorite last lines of all: I do believe that just may be my masterpiece. Inglourious Basterds certainly is Quentin Tarantino's masterpiece, for now.

Final Oscar Thoughts and Predictions

Ok,

So tonight, the Oscars take place. I have a lot of predictions and a lot of wishes. Im just gonna list them out here for you. This has been one of my favorite movie seasons of all time and I can't wait to see who wins tonight.

Best Picture-

Will Win: The Hurt Locker

Should Win: The Hurt Locker or Inglourious Basterd, I'm fine with either. Even Avatar would be OK with me, the real best Picture though, is probably District 9. If The Blind Side wins, I will quit watching the Oscars

Best Director-

Will: Kathryn Bigelow

Should: Kathryn Bigelow or Quentin Tarantino or James Cameron, im fine with all of them

Should have been nominated: Neil Blomkamp, his first film was District 9 and it succeds marvelously well at what it tries to achieve.

Best Actor-

Will/Should: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart

Should have been nominated: Sharlto Copley, District 9 and Robert Downey Jr., Sherlock Holmes

Best Actress

Will/Should: Sandra Bullock, Blind Side

Should have been nominated: Natalie Portman, Brothers and Saorise Ronan, Lovely Bones

Supporting Actor:

Will/Should: Cristoph Walz, Basterds

Should have been nominated: Zack Galafianakis, The Hangover

Supporting Actress-

Will: Mo'Nique, Precious

Should: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart

Should have been nominated: Diane Kruger and Melanie Laurent, Basterds

Best Original Screenplay

Will: Inglourious Basterds

Should: Hurt Locker

Should Have Been Nominated: The Hangover and 500 days of summer

Adapted Screenplay-

Will: Up in the Air

Should: Ditrict 9

Should have been nominated: Where the Wild Things Are

Cinematography-

Will/Should: Avatar (Harry Potter was good though)

Should have been nominated: Where the Wild Things Are

Editing-

Will/Should: Hurt Locker

Should have been nominated: The Hangover

Im going to defend the Hangover on this one. Editing for comedies is much harder to do correctly because comedic timing can be destroyed or created by editing. The Hangover does a great job with both film and storyboard editing.

Art Direction-

Will/Should: Avatar

Should have been nominated: Where the Wild things are and Inglourious Basterds

Best Score:

Will Win: Up

Should Win: Avatar

Should have been nominated: Lovely Bones, Brothers, District 9, Inglourrious Basterds (Not Original, but still by far the best score/soundtrack of the year)

Best Song-

Will/Should: The Weary Kind, Crazy Heart, though i have to say princess and the frog is amazing music and film.

Should have been nominated: All is Love, WTWTA, I see you, Avatar

Best Sound Mixing:

Will/Should: Avatar

Should have been nominated: District 9

Sound Editing-

Will: Avatar

Should: Hurt Locker

Should have been nominated: District 9

Visual Effects:

Will/Should: Avatar (duh)

Should have been nominated: WTWTA, Harry Potter(if the field were five films)

Foreign Language:

THE WHITE RIBBON, THE WHITE RIBBON, THE WHITE RIBBON

Citizen Kane

This is considered by many to be the best American movie ever made. I do not share this opinion. Not by a long shot. However, I certainly appreciate this movie for its technical, production, and acting achievements. While I personally do not find this movie very compelling, it is a wonder that Orson Welles made what many consider the best American Movie ever on his first try. Obviously Orson Welles had fame before he came to Hollywood. He had pulled the War of the Worlds radio stunt and was a professional stage actor before being recruited by RKO Pictures to make this movie. These were the days of big studio films and actors, directors, and cinema workers were extremely attached to studios. Many people in Hollywood resented Welles for being given so much freedom to create this movie by RKO Pictures. Anyway, despite all this, Orson Welles wrote (mostly), directed, and starred in this masterpiece of American Cinema. The story is a roman a clef that is loosely based on the life and times of American newspaperman William Randolph Hearst. It has an interesting narrative style in which the viewer is presented the different periods of Kane's life through various points of view of the people who were closest to him throughout his life. This story telling style was extremely effective and well suited for the type of person that Kane was. Orson Welles delivers a great performance. The production design was epic, to say the least. Cinematography was perfect. The only thing I thought this movie was lacking was a compelling story. Don't get me wrong, it is an admirable script, well composed and perfectly presented; I just did not find the story too engaging or enticing. If you have never seen this movie, you should watch it. It is certainly a masterpiece of American cinema.

Crazy Heart

Maggie Gyllenhal joins Natalie Portman as one of my top two favorite performances in any movie this year. This movie was a powerhouse. Realism at its best. The story is a simple one of redemption and finding your way when once lost. It is a powerful movie about alcoholism and about life, all of life- tragedy, love, heartbreak, joy, humor, fun, music, and triumph. Literally the whole movie i was entranced with the cinematography, direction, acting, and realism of the script. The music is composed by Ryan Bingham and T-Bone Burnett, who write and engaging and moving mix of real country music that delivers all the right feels. Jeff Bridges turns in a career best performance and definitely deserves an Oscar for best actor for this work. Again Maggie Gyllenhal was, to some, a surprise nomination in this category, but I am extremely excited that she made it in, despite the lack of precursor awards. This is a beautifully shot, well-scored, and perfectly acted and directed movie that almost everyone will enjoy.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Another great movie from my Film and Literature Class. Val Kilmer as a Gay private investigator. Robert Downey Jr. as a bumbling idiot for whom everything goes wrong. Michelle Monaghan as his high school crush. That almost sums this movie up, yet there is so much more. This movie has an extremely unique screenplay. The script is a type of meta fictional story. It is narrated by the main character, Robert Downey, Jr.'s character, Harry Lockhart. He is self-aware and comments on parts of the plot and speaks directly to the audience about flaws in the screenplay and production of the movie. This gives the movie a unique quality to be able to do pretty much whatever it wants in terms of plot and still be believable, to a point. Some of the plot points are a little ridiculous, but those are used as comedic breaks. This movie is definitely a comedy, yet it is very dark and has some seriously heavy-duty points and maybe even a moral. It is a wild ride from beginning to end, and is a pleasure to watch, if, as RD Jr.'s character points out, you don't mind the F-word too much.