The coNE bros

Coming into this unit i had never seen a Coen Brothers film, hard to believe yes but it was in fact the truth. Just by seeing their photos in our directer bio with Klobs i could tell right from the start that they were creative people. Just by looking at this picture to the right you it kind of looks like they are always thinking, at least i think so. The first time my theory of this creative came through was in Raising Arizona when i first laid eyes on the main character H.I. he is crazy looking fellow. The story line in all three films we watched were all very unique and special in there own ways. my favorite and most entertaining was Fargo, i think i enjoyed this one the most because it making fun of where we live and it was very funny to laugh at. Although this was pretty funny on our side the plot was very depressing when it came to all the death and violence that happened for no reason. It was just different to see after watching RA. The order we watched the films seemed to be just right as we started with sweet and innocent crimes and progressed to murder and than to mass killing in No Country for all men. this was a fabulous unit and i really enjoyed watching films from a director i had never seen before.

Thank goodness for Excuse absences!! YEAH ALTMAN

I don't really know what to say about this whole unit. Lets just say Robert Altman was a very creative person. Creative does not mean good and it also does not mean bad, just different. This creativity comes out in Nashville the most but we see it in both The Long Goodbye and The Player with the not so normal story lines and surprise endings. The most creative aspect that i liked was in The Long Goodbye, I enjoyed the ending so much. It was so different and thrill seeking than anyother old story line that we see in the movies now days. The way it twisted and no one say it coming is the creativity that im talking about with Altman, the other time he pulled a move like this that i enjoyed was in The Player, at the end when normaly everything turns out to be just dandy and everyone is happy we end with Griffin being a jerk who only seems to care about himself. These small yet different things are what lead me to enjoy the Altman unit.

it is bigger than it looks

In James Cameron's Titanic the story line and theatrical elements are a perfect combination to make one of the worlds greatest tragic love stories. My favorite character of Cameron's in this film is Jack Dawson by far. Not only because of his good looks but the way he treats and comes off to Rose is so compelling. And trust me im not one for sappy movies, so this is a big step for me to admit i truely liked the love aspect better than the rest of the film.

I believe the low key lighting mixed with the emotions on the casts faces at times in the movie are what draw me in. When a low key lit room is present it just gives a sort of calming feeling until the light is changed, therefore the light can change the feeling of the film in a split second. For example at the end of the film the lighting switches and we are placed at night time with the characters wet and cold. The light put just on the faces of Jake and Rose at the end are what make this film a true tear jerker. Titanic being one of Cameron's step out of the box films was at first protyaed as over the top and sappy but little did peolpe realize that this film would come to be one of the best tragitis ever.

Claps to that! (#3)

Having the opposite view as Jaclyn i very much enjoyed The Terminator, but i do have many wonders on how a director can go from a beautiful piece such as Titanic to a twisted thriller such as this film.

Even through the shock i find myself leaning towards the Term side. Just has that more manly adventure feel to it, which is much much more my style. A strong and noticeable different of the two films was the style of the camera movements and shots. Term was very dark and with lots of tracking where as Titanic had more pans and where at times it was dark it still had a lighter feel to the whole thing. In both these films you could pick out the small things that Cameron incorporated in both like the story of people in distress of the goal of a character to be survival but all in all two completely different movies that if you were not smart and didn't know the directors you would not be able to guess that they had the same director.

Kurosawa, what a guy

Ran being my favorite out of the three Kurosawa films we watched was tragic but thrilling all in one. The thing that i liked the most about this depressing movie was the character Lady Kaede. The way she had power and control over everyone in the castle made me laugh at the distressed men she over ruled. Just like the other woman roles in Kurosawa films she is low key at first and then she appears quite strong and we come to see that she has control over the situation at stake.

My favorite scene involving Lady Kaede was when she used many different techniques to over power Jiro after his brother has been killed. She threatens him with death, love and tears. All which he falls for. Having all these ruling powers is something that i admire. Even though it is kinda creepy, actually she herself is really creepy but she defiantly knows how to handle herself. And at the end we see that her manipulations are effective at the end of Ran when the families estates fall apart because of her doings. Hopefully she know longer cries herself to sleep knowing she has destroyed what once destroyed her family.

hitchcock!

I m very happy that was started off the Art of Film II season with Hitchcock. very very very. Alfred Hitchcock has been my favorite since i was little, believe it or not but its the truth. my dad started making me watch them when i was young and it just stuck. The thing i love the most about his films is no matter how serious it could get he always troughs a little but of humor into the mix. My favorite example of this is in Rear Window when Jeff goes back and forth with Lisa on what a real photographer does and eats and wears, and she keeps fighting and fighting and you hear him multiple time say "o just shut up would you." Shows us views that Hitchcock wasn't scared to maybe step over the line a bit when it came to his characters treating each other. I know you can find bits and pieces of this kind of stuff in all his films. You just have to stay alert and focused, which isn't hard to do with his films because you never know what is going to happen next. Which leads me to the second reason i love Hitchcock films. Every movie is full of suspense to the max! its not like when you go to the movie theaters today and you see a movie and you are like ummmm i have seen this movie before i think. Hitchcock films are the originals of all those films that we see today. The way he keeps the viewer on the edge of their seats is amazing to me. This unit proved to me that Hitchcock is and will always be my favorite. And now that we have started our next unit i m missing Hitchcock very very very very badly!

did he "Do the Right Thing"

My favorite scene in Do the Right Thing is at the very end when Mookie and Sal were having a heated argument over Mookie getting paid and what he is going to do with his life. I thought there was an especially cool shoot when it was showing Mookie on one side and Sal on the other directly in front of the burnt down pizza place. It made us choose which side we were on in the situation. It also made us the viewers upset because we realize that they wont have peace it the struggle between races will always be there.

When i saw the shot with Mookie and Sal in front of the disaster i could not choose who to side with, i think this is what Lee wants us to feel. He wants the viewers to see that both sides can be wrong. It is not at the fault of anyone that people get let down. Someone that i do view in this film that i could picture standing right in the middle on that shoot is the Love doctor. I feel like throughout the film he never took sides and he was trying to stop the hate and add love to the lives of the people he was watching out his radio station window. I think he is a perfect example of how everyone should be. Race, background, religion, interests. none of these things should matter when trying to live and work as one community. I feel that it was smart for Sal to walk away like he did and hopefully he put some words in Mookie's mind that shows him that he needs to start being the bigger person. Overall good movie and i liked how it made me love and hate both sides and made me think about how i handle things myself.