Casablanca

Film Noir is a movie that is marked by a mood of pessimism, fatalism, menace, and cynical characters.

Chinatown directed in the 74’s is about a detective Jake Gittes is hired by a woman who claimed to be Mrs. Mulwray to spy on her husband. Shortly after he is hired the real Mrs. Mulwray appears in his office threatening to sue if he does not drop the case. He pursues it anyway slowly uncovering a vast conspiracy centering on water management and other corruption.

Casablanca directed in 1942 is about a a Czech resistance leader Victor whose only hope to escape is Rick Blaine. Laszlo wife is Rick’s ex-lover who broke his heart. Rick sought refuge in Morocco where he ran a seedy night club. Iisa begs Rick for help to transport her husband. She offers herself in exchange for Laszlo.

The difference between the two movies is that Casablanca is more about the love story than Chinatown. Both films had completely different plots. Chinatown is more of a mystery, while Casablanca deals with the time period and what was going on then. 

Wild Wild West

Stagecoach was more of a love story. It really justified what I stereotyped the era. It was about Gordon and West who meet Rita and both plan to propose marriage. She of course disappointed both of them by announcing she was married to Professor Escobar. It ends with a typical scene of both Gordon and West ride away into the sunset.

In Wild Wild West Dr. Loveless plans to rekindle the Civil War by assassinating President Grant. Only two men can stop him James West and Gordon. The beautiful Rita distracted them.

Wild Wild West seems to be a spin off of Stagecoach. There are many similarities as they both involve a woman that keeps them distracted. Wild Wild West tries to incorporate all the Westerns into one. The newer Westerns have high tech fight scenes and there are more explosions. In both movies they are also on a trip. In Stagecoach they are traveling by stagecoach while in Wild Wild West they are traveling by train. In the end, in both movies we get to see the beautiful sunset of the West. 

City Lights

Charlie Chaplin is by a greater talent than anyone I have seen on screen today. His use of physcial comedy is just something that I have never seen. It is crazy to me how he tells a story through his body language. I think that his movies are easy to watch and you never get lost and not know what is going on. I watched City Lights and thought it was an amazing movie. I think it told the story beautifully and enjoyed the concept of him going after the blind girl. The direction was simple shots and there is not much to the plot. It is straightfoward and there is nothing fancy in the movie. Comedies have  gone a long way  and I think this movie proves that you don’t need dialogue to be funny. These days dialogue makes the movie funny and not physcial comedy. I feel like movies today should take more from silent movies.

 

Sunshine :)

Little Miss Sunshine certainly did bring some sunshine to my viewing pleasure. I am a huge Steve Carell fan, so of course I went out to see this film. Steve certainly did not disappoint, even though this performance is different then his usual roles. By far the best part of the movie was the pageant. I think I was crying laughing during the scene. Abigail Breslin was perfect for the role because she has the whole awkward thing going for her. While doing some research I read that it took her two weeks to prepare for the dance, which I think makes it even funnier. I can’t believe that dance to “Super Freak” took so long to learn. I have been watching beauty pageant shows and seriously Little Miss Sunshine only proves how foolish they really are. They make these little girls look like twenty-year old women. They should just leave them natural and kids. The script was heartfelt and at the end I cried like the sap I am. The movie was touching and the characters really drew you in. 

Titanic

When you think of Blockbuster one movie comes to mind: Titanic. The movie opened December 19,1997. The film opened with $8,658,814 on its opening day, and made $28,638,131 over the opening weekend from 2,675 theaters making it the weekends top seller. The movie stayed #1 for for fifteen consecutive weeks. The film stayed in theater until October 1, 1998. The movie grossed about $600,788,188 in the United states and made about $1,248,025,607. The movie is the highest grossing movie in history. On the other hand, the movie took about $200 million dollars to make. I remember going to the movies twice to see it because I couldn't get enough of Leonardo DiCaprio. I remember being sold are posters and the Celine Dion CD. I most admit I still can’t turn it off when it is on television. 

Volver

I think foreign films always have an obscure plot such as in the movie Volver.  In the movie the main character Paula’s father tries to molest her and she stabs him to death.  They girls try finding a way to get rid of the corpse. I think in most foreign films there is someone trying to get rid of dead body and it never goes smoothly. There is also always cheesy music playing in the background when this is going on. I don’t know why they always play this music. I think in US films the music isn’t usually this bad. Also, in foreign films they always find a way to show some nudity, somehow some way you always see some breasts. I can’t really explain the difference between the two, just that European story-telling is simply different. I think their sense of humor is different and the way they shot their scenes is too.  I also believe foreign films battle different topics and do not have to worry about censoring themselves as much and being politically correct. In this movie they battle death and ghosts and everything comes full circle in the end. Furthermore, Penelope Cruz and the rest of the cast gave a phenomenal performance which shows that foreign actors can act are just as well as Americans.

Citizen Kane

I was blown away by Citizen Kane. I can honestly say it is probably one of my new favorite movie. Citizen Kane was like reading a good novel where you watch the character unfold little by little. Citizen Kane was a lot like reading The Kite Runner, which I know is an unusual comparison. The character of Charles was a person you loved and hated, just like the main character in The Kite Runner. The movie had depth to it and was woven together beautifully. The plot was well developed and you learned more about the character through each interview just like Roger Ebert stated. I really didn’t expect a movie like this to be made so long ago. All the different camera angles and shots further helped tell the story. I think it was a huge achievement for its time. I was happy to find out that Rosebud was the name of his sled. I had a feeling that it had to do something with his childhood, but I didn’t know what exactly. Overall, I give Orson Wells credit for both directing and staring in the movie. It was a sound performance and the directing was even better. I would recommend Citizen Kane to anyone who enjoys a good drama!