The Player

So today in class I watched the film The Player directed by Robert Altman. The film follows the life of a film executive whose life runs into trouble when he has an encounter with a film critic. The starts with an amazing single shot that lasts about 4 minutes if I were to guess off the top of my mind. It is phenomenal to see where the camera starts and where it ends. Tim Robbins plays the main character and does a very chilling job. The film has an odd effect on me because I'm not sure I like it. I appreciate it because it deals with in the inside of the film industry, but I just am not a fan of Robert Altman's work. I understand he was a pioneer with Woody Allen and revolutionized his form of cinema, but that isn't my style. He loves doing very crowded scenes when many time the camera does not follow the person talking, but just a random object on screen. The camera moves side to side, with some long shots. Altman is telling a great story, but the film making style doesn't correlate with success of the story in my opinion. Many film critics, professors, and students would disagree, but that's their opinion. Mine is different. So if you want to see a great and interesting story about the inner workings of film, I highly recommend it. The camera style seems outdated, but that is Altman's trademark. I would probably need another viewing to analyze further. Take a chance on this film, it is interesting, it also includes many stars from the early 90s. Hope you enjoy if you watch it. Well so long to all, may your dreams come true.

What is Love?

What is love? That is a good question that everyone tries to answer. Even I myself wonder what it is. I can imagine through stories I've heard and things I've seen. The film Paper Heart tries to answer this question. The film follows Charlyne Yi, an eccentric comedic figure who plays herself in this documentary turned love story. Charlyne tries to answer the very question, what is love? By traveling cross country and interviewing many people. In the film she meets Michael Cera who is playing himself as well. The film chronicles the rise of Charlyne and Michael as a couple. It is hard to tell if this love is scripted, but I did some research, and they did date for three years, which could be the story behind this film. Quite possibly this could be real footage put together, but I do not know for certain. The film is full of interesting interviews from bikers to high school seniors who were just married. There are also staged animated reenactments of stories by the interviewees which are fun to watch. The film makes a just effort to find out what love is and I think they succeeded. I really enjoyed the film and would recommend it to everyone. Just to be clear though, it is set up in a documentary format, however, netflix classifies the film as an indie comedy which could mean for certain that it is a scripted film. I believe that it probably is a scripted film based off of the credits, but how it is filmed, you would not know for certain. Love is captured in this film. So watch the film and see if you agree or agree to disagree. Well so long to all, may your dreams come true.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1331064/

Stranger than Fiction

Stranger than Fiction starring Will Ferrell, Maggie, Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah, and Emma Thompson. It was a brilliantly constructed film and very poetically told. There is something about this film that touched me in many ways. The camera work was phenomenally simple in shot telling. It provoked surreal feelings. I am just lost for words to describe this film. I really love it, and I think it was the greatest role of Will Ferrell's acting career mostly because he was able to show off his talents as an actor. I had heard good things about this film, but I was skeptical on seeing it, but now that I've seen it, I would recommend it to everyone. This film may seem odd and boring to some, but as an aspiring filmmaker and writer, the film enhanced my feelings for the art. Film is just an unreal medium that continues to make strides forward, along with steps backwards at times. I wish I could say more about this film, but I truly am lost for words. Maybe I'll sleep on it and come back with a better review of the film. So I will say so long to all, may your dreams come true.

Happy Ending

So I gave the whole idea of the "Hollywood happy ending" more thought after I wrote last night, and I must say that our society should be thankful for films that do this. The country has had major events occur in last decade that seeing good and happy ending on screen would provide that escape feeling. I will say that many times people get caught up in the whole reality of the happy ending in real life. Unfortunately, real life does not always provide that happy ending, but that is why we can turn to film. Besides the happy ending, many viewers sometimes get caught up in how moments occur in real life, such as a first kiss. In many movies, the first kiss is built up, with music, correct lighting, and the moment when it did not seem possible that it would occur. That is a film's portrayal, but in real life, the kiss would happen more spontaneously, in a random setting. There are many on screen examples of the notion of people getting caught up in this make believe phenomena. There are two particular examples that pop into my mind. The first is in an episode of That 70s Show. In that episode, Fez becomes intimate with a girl for the first time, and any fan of the show knows how long it took for Fez to make it that far. After the event takes place, Fez returns to tell the gang how it went. In his depiction of the event, he said things along the line that there was no music so I hummed. He ends up describing how he thought this event should have happened like a Hollywood film. Another example of this is in Woody Allen's film, The Purple Rose of Cairo. The movie ultimately is about how a character from a film within in the film comes out into real life. And many events happen, and all he can say is, this isn't how the movies portray it. And that is true, film is fictitious, real life does follow the same guidelines. If you haven't seen The Purple Rose of Cairo I highly recommend it. It stars Jeff Daniels (Dumb and Dumber) and is also one of Woody Allen's best films in my opinion. It may seem as though I am against the happy ending and film's way of dramatizing life's events at this point in my post, but that is not the case. I love the happy ending, I love how film's portray events. Look at it this way, films have to stylize events because there not as special on screen as they are in real life. Film/cinema is over a 110 years old now and there is no chance anytime soon that films will stop stylizing events the way they have been doing for decades. So enjoy films for what they are and keep some of these thoughts in your mind while viewing one. So again I will sign off as I typically do, so long to all, may your dreams come true.

You Should Know

So I was just thinking, it should be noted that I love films, obviously. And in many of the reviews I write, I talk about what I like about the film and what I did not like, and in many cases I ended up liking the film overall. That is true, in most cases I do like the film, it just ends up being a matter of how much I like the film. I try to find the good in every film and let you, the viewers, know what is good about each film. Every film deserves to be seen by someone, no matter how bad it may be, or offensive, and so on and so forth. Every film can find an audience and that's what I'm trying to do for each film I talk about. I'm trying to keep my analysis of the films simple, and trying to gauge interest of the viewers. I hope this made sense, and I guess it can be what I stand for. Well so long to all again, may your dreams come true.

CAN'T SLEEP

So I can honestly say that I can't sleep and it sucks. This has become a repetitive thing and is really annoying. Thoughts just roll through my mind like a never ending story. I just want to sleep. So i'll just say thoughts that pop in my mind. Twins lost again for the fourth straight time. I realize that they clinched the playoffs already, but seriously, be on a roll heading into the playoffs. Packers also lost tonight, but that is good, since the Vikings are not off to the best start. Tonight before bed I watched Changing Lanes starring Ben Affleck and Samuel L Jackson. The film was a large moral crisis and a decision between good and bad. What does someone do when they have leverage? Can they be the bigger man, and pick the wise choice, or be dumb and make a mistake? These questions were constantly running through my mind. The camera in the film was moving constantly, which was a positive in my opinion thinking back on it. I did like the film I can say that, but I think the moral battle really absorbed my mind. Decisions like this are constantly becoming the source of many films. They provoke ideas that most people never thought they would have to think about. I can use Dexter again as an example. How is that we humanize a serial killer and sympathize with the struggle he deals with every day. In other movies,  theres times when there is just a down right awful person, who the filmmaker makes the audience believe that something horrible should happen to them. This is just an odd realization for which films can do. Films hold so much power. Yes, they do harm sometimes to people, but they also bring a lot of good to people. The audiences in the United States should be happy that the "Hollywood happy ending" takes place in many or most films. It brings joy to know a happy outcome. In other countries, they show "real life," and that not every scenario has a happy ending. That is real life, but one aspect of a film that sometimes isn't accounted for or that many forget is that people use films as an escape whether good or bad. Feel good movies provide happiness to everyone. In many cases the happy ending is cheesy and very predictable, but think about your favorite movie, how does it end? Does it have the classic Hollywood ending? Is it a pleasant ending? Why do you like this film? I could honestly talk hours and hours about film, what I like, what I don't like, but there isn't enough time in the day. Television shows also provide an escape to an audience because week after week they tune in to see what happens in the lives of the characters. In my opinion, the best way to watch TV shows is on DVD  because for one, there is no commercials, and you can see what happens in the next episode instantly. I highly recommend Friends, Scrubs, That 70s Show, King of Queens, Home Improvement, Dexter, Entourage, The Office, Psych, How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, White Collar, and NCIS. All of these are great shows and offer various types of entertainment. I suggest starting one of these series ASAP if you haven't already. Well I think I may have tired myself out, so I'll try to fall asleep. So I'll sign off as I usually do, so long to all, may your dreams come true.

top right corner

Top right corner. What does that mean? I'll tell you, it means I scored my first goal ever in soccer, and I do mean EVER. It only took me 16 years to finally accomplish that. I may have scored before, but this is the only one I recall. I spent so many years as goalie and as a midfielder who only wanted to pass. Today I finally scored though. Its a pretty great feeling I must say, and the goal keeps replaying in my mind. Pretty awesome feeling. Today I felt the song Me & Bobby McGee playing through the mind the whole day. I love that song, it is a solid one from the late Janis Joplin. She was a very unique and talented artist. The song was written by Kris Kristofferson. The line from the chorus, "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose, Nothing don't mean nothing honey if it ain't free." This line is a very powerful one and I really appreciate it every time I listen to it. Now on to movies. So last night I watched, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. I had to say that I was actually excited to see it and see what would happen in this video game adaptation. I was thoroughly impressed. Jake Gyllenhaal  did a great job in the lead role. The camera in the film was very impressive because it captured the feeling of the video game. The shots were definitely more action oriented, which was good. The action scenes were very good, and got rolling right away in the film. Sir Ben Kingsley does a great job as the uncle as usual. I would definitely recommend the film if your in the mood for an action flick. It has a good fantasy twist. So go out and see it. I will say that the music in the film was a little off, the tone of every song made it seem like the film was about to end. It was always epic, which does not fit every scene in a film. And another statement about music, listen to Janis Joplin today. It is just great music. Well so long to all, may your dreams come true.