The Coen Brothers!!!

The first Coen brothers movie I saw was No Country for Old Men when it first came out. I didn't understand it very well so i only watched half and threw it aside dissapointed. But after studying some of the Coen's other work in our recent unit, I realized what an amazing movie No Country for Old Men is, and more importantly what amazing directors the Coen Brothers are. They have a unique, comical style that is way different from other directors we have studied. The script and scenery always do a great job of reflecting the tone and theme of the movie, (like in No Country) and all the quirky elements come together to make a really fun movie to watch, even when the plot is dark and depressing. In Fargo for instance, The two police characters play up the "minnesota nice" persona and can make the most death-ridden, dreary scene seem comical.

My favorite part about the coens movies are the mannerisms of their characters, and how they poke fun at them throughout the movie. In Raising Arizona, all the characters had a dorky unkempt hick attitude that was very comical to watch, but you could always tell they had good intentions at heart. Just some of the situations H.I. got himself into without really doing anything wrong were hysterical. whether it was repeatedly robbing convienence stores with an unloaded gun, or breaking hell loose in a nearby store chase, the audience was always rooting for him. My opinion on Coen Brothers movies has definatly reversed in the last couple of weeks. I am super excited to see the Coen's new minnesota-based movie when it comes out, I'm sure it will be good!

Corpse Bride = Radical!

Wow, where do I start! Corpse Bride was amazing, the animation was perfect, the plot was super unique, and it had that classic Tim Burton feel to it. The characters, cinematic style, and narrative exemplified his dark, creepy yet humorous style. The main character, Victor (played by Johnny Depp), Is a shy, clumsy, boy who is about to be wed in a forced marriage to a shy girl named Violet (played by Emily Watson). Despite their cruel, scheming parents who are only marrying them off for money, they fall in love with each other but are torn apart by a corpse bride (played by Helena Bonham Carter) seeking eternal love. The plot has a few dark twists to it, but to the audiences deight Violet and Victor's love prevails in the end. Tim Burton's work always has such a unique feel to it, and you can tell he puts so much time into details of every aspect of the film. It was amazing to watch the corpse bride's dress as it floated down a flight of stairs or blew behind her in the wind. The animation gave the movie a creepy and almost comical feel, and made you curious about the unique visuals you haven't seen before in other movies. His films have a dark undertone that is offset by characters' outlandish facial or body structures, or the odd shapes of everything in the set. Corpse Bride was not an exception to these traits. Weirdly, as i was watching the movie, I thought of the many Dr.Suess books I read as a kid, and the movie The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. Dr.Seuss also has a unique feel to his writing, and almost puts you in his own fantasy world just like Tim Burton's animated movies. The music and color were outstanding and played a huge part in pulling the film together. The original score by Danny Elfman addded to the effect, the orchestral and piano music had a light, erie tone. I'll have to admit I was suprised when the characters started singing, I should have done more research before watching haha. The last element that brought the movie together was the use of color. All the colors were neutral, dark hues of mostly black, blue and gray. He seemed to play with color in the death-world by actually making it seem more bright and lively than "upstairs" in the real world. Tim Burton pulled everything together in Corpse Bride to create a real masterpiece that exemplifies his unique style. I would for sure give this movie 5 stars! Oh, I almost forgot, I found this review helpful and I really agree with it! check it out if you want! Corpse Bride Review

WALL-EEEEE <3 <3 <3

This last weekend i watched Wall-e, and it was amazing! I really like the pixar and disney animated movies, and i think its really cool how they seem like you are watching a real life movie that isn't animated with fictional characters. I thought the story line was great, especially what it was saying about society as a whole lately. The theme was very true, and i liked the message it sent to young kids everywhere; how if we keep taking from the earth and creating so much waste, the world will be ruined and we will eventually end up like the fat, un-intelligent people in the movie. It seemed to me that the robots acted like humans, while the humans seemed like robots, all doing the same thing at the same time everyday when they're told and notthinking about whats going on around them. What i thought really made Wall-e great was that the theme was in a positive light, it made people think about their actions and the consequences without getting people angry, and not just any movie could pull that off. I also liked the characters and how cute and human like they were. All i wanted to do was hug wall-e when he was protecting Eva from the rain and being so selfless. I usually don't watch many animated movies because they seem childish and geared towards younger kids, but the pixar/dreamworks/disney movies always seem to appeal to every audience. Wall-e was a suepr good movie that i would reccomend to anyone. It leaves the audience on a good note and was just all around great!

Screwball Comedies

I think the screwball and romantic comedy genre are usually great movies to watch, especially more modern and recent ones, but i have to say, i really really disliked Bringing Up Baby. Susan was very annoying and she was way to oblivious about what was going on around her. When she stole the car, kept losing the leopard, and pretty much anything else she did, it seemed completely unrealistic because her actions were so far fetched. And speaking of unrealistic, i thought the story line and how the sequence of events played out was also quite annoying. They played the same joke over and over again, where the character is too dumb or oblivious to know whats going on, even though the audience does. The audience ultimately knows what is going to happen in the end, and the story just dragged on and on and kept getting more complex. I kept thinking it was going to end when another twist came, and it got really repetitive and i was annoyed. But i thought there were a few good aspects to Bringing Up Baby. The acting was very believable and good, and i also liked the editing, camera movements, lighting, and costumes. So basically, all the technical aspects and cinematography were great. But overall, i really disliked this movie and am glad we are done watching it.

Westerns!!

I am posting about everything i have learned about westerns in the last few weeks. I'm not going to lie, i had never seen a western movie until we watched My Darling Clementine in class. I actually liked it alot, and the western genre didn't turn out to be as bad as i thought it was. I really liked the camera shots and how alot of western movies are shot outdoors, using a long shot to show beautiful scenery in the background. I thought it was really cool and added alot to the movie. I also really liked how the typical western hero was so mysterious and collected, it made me want to keep watching and try to figure his character out. Like in Once Upon a Time in the Old West, the Harmonica character was very intreguing and suspenseful, and he always seemed to know what was going to happen next, which made me want to keep my eyes glued to the screen. There are many other genres of film i would rather watch, but compared to Citezen Kane and other in class movies, i thought the westerns were really good and had alot of diffrent aspects to them then movies i usually watch; The lighting is high key most of the time, most of the camera shots are either close ups on someones face, or long shots of scenery, and also the plot, costumes, and acting are all diffrent too (in a good way). Overall i liked the western unit though and it was a nice change of pace form movies i usually watch.

Citizen Kane!!!

I am posting about my thoughts and feelings after watching Citizen Kane in class. I started out thinking it was going to be boring and dull because it was in black and white, because normally i don't watch many old movies. But right from the opening scene i was intrigued by the great acting, editing, and plot in Citizen Kane. It was really cool to see how a movie could still be great even without all the special effects and action sequences. Also, i thought Orson Wells did a amazing job at writing, and playing the role of Kane. The audience can tell that he put alot of time into developing the characters and plot throughout the movie. The only thing i didn't like about the movie was that to me, it was kind of hard to relate to and it dragged on a little bit too long. but that was probably just the difference in time periods. but overall i thought it was a pretty good movie. im still not really into black and white movies, but Citizen Kane definitely changed my perspective on them!

Intro Entry

hi my name is julie and im in art of film 1 class. i really like watching movies and DVDs. The last movie i saw in the theatre was Batman, The Dark Night . I thought it was really cool and a all around great movie. There were so many good ideas put into it and i though Christopher Nolan directer it extreely well. I need to see it again though, because there were so many details that i didnt catch the first time and it had many hidden meanings and other aspects that i didnt catcth. but it was a really cool movie that i like alot.