MYST #5: The Great Gatsby

Not since The Dark Knight Rises had I been so excited to see a movie in theaters as I was to see The Great Gatsby.  The Great Gatsby is my second favorite school book I've read (I liked Fahrenheit 451 a little more), and thought Leonardo Dicaprio would make an amazing Gatsby.  However leaving the theatre I felt a little cheated, that they were so close to making a great movie from a great book, but Baz Luhrmann, the director, made some choices that I personally didn't like as much.  That said, it was an entertaining movie that had its strengths as well.

What I disliked about The Great Gatsby was how "HD" it looked.  The movie was shot so clear it looked fake.  When at George and Myrtle house/town, the people of the town were trying to be portrayed as "dirty", but they didn't look dirty at all, more like clean people put on shirts with mud on it.     Another complaint of mine was that Luhrmann tried to make it too hip.  The music featured Jay-Z, Beyonce and many more well-known modern musicians.  While it was terrible, I feel Luhrmann missed a great opportunity to include the awesome sounding Jazz of the 1920's, which would have been a better fit.  I don't remember if I just remembered the book wrong, but I also thought the main character Nick Carraway (Toby Maguire) was a little more awkward then he was in the movie, freely joking and overall comfortable with the Buchanan's the first time he goes over to their house.

On the other hand, I really thought the acting was good overall.  A tad bit overdone at times, I thought Leanardo gave a good performance overall.  Toby Maguire exceeded my expectations as Nick, and Carey Mulligan hit Daisy Buchanan as I remembered her spot on.  Tom, played by Joel Edgerton and Myrtle played by Isla Fisher had good performances as well. Despite my complaints I was entertained throughout maybe because I just enjoy the plot of The Great Gatsby, but I was certainly never bored. Overall I give this movie a 8.0/10, but I still feel most people especially less picky moviegoers will enjoy this movie.

1975 Movie: Let's Take a Trip

In Let's Take a Trip, we meet a Californian band in 1969, fronted with some money to play at Woodstock. This band decides to split the money spending half of it on the trip out to New York, and the other half on drugs planning to use and maybe sell at Woodstock.  Unbeknownst to the rest of the band, the talented, but hated lead singer (Warren Beatty) plans on ditching the band to start his own drug ring with lady manager (Faye Dunaway).  Along the way to New York, the band finds itself in situations with heavy social commentary: racial inequality, anti-government/Vietnam War protests etc.  When the mangager is found dead in New York, the band, now led by the drummer (Jack Nicholson) begins to find clues of the manager and lead singers plot.

I don't know if this is a specific genre, but Lets Take a Trip is definitely a road-adventure movie, similar to Easy Rider, as they travel across America.  As the 70's tended to combine genres, we included many aspects of film noir into our movie.  You can see the manager as a femme fatale, and the drummer as a version of the morally ambiguous main character as you question he desire to find the managers killer, or just looking for the missing drugs.

We choose United Artist as our studio since they have worked with our director, Milos Forman, on other movies.  Another reason why we choose United Artist is Let's Take a Trip is definitely an out there movie even for the time, and United Artist was notorious for releasing X-rated movies at this time.  We thought with that track record they would be willing to risk a risque movie such as this one.

As mentioned early we choose Milos Forman because he has worked with United Artists before. He had also previously worked with Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, so their previous relationship would be good for our movie.  We picked Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty because they had really good on screen chemistry, and these big name actors will bring in otherwise skeptical fans.

We decided on a R-rated ranking for our film.  This is certainly not a children's movie with the heavy use of drugs and strong language expected to go with it.  We decided not to go overboard with the sexual nature of the counter culture so this movie could stay R and not X rated since we believe more people would be willing to watch a movie a little less graphic.

I would change some of our bigger name stars to lesser known people, for the reason being that it drastically reduce the budget when this movie could be hit or miss since a lot of the riskier movies were unpopular at the time.  

Formal Film Study: Vietnam War Films

Since reading the book, Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers in seventh grade I have been exceptionally interested in the Vietnam War.  Everything surrounding it, the fear that all of Southeast Asia would turn communism if Vietnam did, the idea that anyone could be the enemy, and the counterculture and resistance to the war back at home makes Vietnam my favorite historic time period to study.  So this time when the formal film study project came along, it made sense to pick movies centered around it especially after learning about the movie's in the 70's.  The movies I decided to watch were Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now, and The Deer Hunter.  All three of these movies are usually seen in good light by the critics, deserved to be as I throughly enjoyed each movie.  

As I said earlier these films were made in the 70's or shot with a very 70's feel to it (Full Metal Jacket was made in '87).  The characters portrayed in these movies are not superheroes, these men were cold, hard and definitely the ambiguous hero.  This fits the Vietnam War perfectly as the men in Vietnam had to make spot judgements in the heat of battle, and these judgements weren't the most moral.  The shady characters portrayed by Matthew Modine (Private Joker, Full Metal Jacket), Robert de Niro, (Micheal, The Deer Hunter), and Martin Sheen (Capt. Benjamin Willard, Apocalypse Now) were all well played for the roles.  That said, some minor complaints I have is I thought the acting in Full Metal Jacket seemed to playful, and funny for the situations and that Martin Sheen was too intense to believe.  I was reading a military forum (I know not the best source) on what movie Vietnam veterans tended to find the most realistic in terms of their experience and have found that Platoon (bummed I didn't watch this, but Henry did) was the most accurate, with Apocalypse Now seeming to place second.  Finding that was important to me, because its hard for me to say The Deer Hunter was a better story due to its realism than say Apocalypse Now which I find important in portraying this war. However, I do realize its a movie and a movie is made to entertain, so I know I can't take everything in these movies for the truth of Vietnam.

Another thing that was highlighted in all three of these films is that Vietnam causes a loss of innocence in the American youth, and the inability to recover their old lives back.  In Full Metal Jacket we see Private Pyle (Vincent D'Onofrio), a kid who can't help but smile, be molded into an angry, psychotic killer and that was only through boot camp.  In Apocalypse Now we meet Sheen's character, Capt. Willard, after one tour, but we learn that he is a mess, an alcoholic who wife had left him, he had nothing better to do, but to stay in the war.  As mentioned earlier Capt. Willard is a tough and desensitized as they come. In The Deer Hunter we start the movie off with a wonderful wedding, and the friendship of five steel-mill workers in a shabby Pennsylvanian town.  After the war, we see Michael avoid the party for him.  When they go hunting again, his two non-war buddies messing around with guns is no longer funny, and Micheal probably adjusted the best of the three friends who went to Vietnam.  Steven (John Salvage) left with only a right arm, refuses to see his wife, and when Nick (Christopher Walken) left for war, he never came back to the point that he was unable to recognize Micheal.  The message is clear in these Vietnam films, once you leave to fight, you never really come back.  

These are the parts of the movie that I think highlight the best part of the movie.  In Coppola's Apocalpyse now I thought the aesthetics of this film were amazing. I thought his use of color was wonderfully done, seen here in Sheen's head in the water.  Shadowing was also another strength in Apocalypse now bringing in the darkness of the Godfather especially around Marlon Brando (again) near the end of the movie. I really enjoyed Full Metal Jacket because it showed the boot camp.  Realistic or not I have never seen a war film focused on that beginning step as much, but it truly is an important part of joining the war effort.  Plus some of the drill sergeants dialogue is classic.  As for The Deer Hunter, I thought the acting across the board was incredible.  Robert de Niro, Christopher Walken, Maryl Streep, John Cazale all had phenomenal performances, as well as the rest of the characters.  

In the end I would recommend all three of these movies to people that can handle emotional, artistic and long movies such as these three are.  The Vietnam War is an important time in U.S. history, and movies  are an important part to carry the memory of it to younger generations.  I believe long after the remaining Vietnam Veterans pass away, teenagers to movie critics alike will come back to watch these three incredible films.   

  

MYST Post #4: Spirited Away

Spirited Away is an animated Japanese movie that won the best animated feature film in 2003, and did it deserve it.  One of the best movies I have ever seen, Spirited Away fully encapsulated me into its fantasy world, and I honestly upset when the movie ended wanting more.  Directed by Hayao Miyazaki, his first movie back after the critically acclaimed Princess Mononoke (plan on watching this one soon), Miyazaki created another masterpiece.  I give this movie a 9.7/10 and have/would recommend this movie to everyone.

Spirited Away starts with Chihiro, a ten-year old girl, and her parents driving up to their new house for the first time.  After taking a wrong road leading to a mysterious tunnel, and despite Chihiro's protests, the family decides to take a look around what appears to be an abandoned amusement park.  This leads up to the parents discovering a freshly made feast in this ghost town, and begin to splurge as Chihiro checks out the "castle" of the amusement park, only to return, finding her parents have been turned into pigs.  The rest of the movie is Chihiro's adventure to return her parents to their normal form, and leave the spiritual world.  I know the way I just described this movie makes it sound terrible, but this is described as a Japanese Alice in Wonderland so its best to have a open mindset going into the movie.  What made the movie amazing was the array of characters and scenes only an expansive imagination could create, and does Miyazaki have a great imagination.

While this movie really had it all, I thought the lighting and color were especially exceptional.  In the screenshot above is when Chihiro meets the boiler man for the first time.  We are filled with suspense waiting to meet this mysterious man for the first time, only a creepy shadow on the wall to be seen in the brightly lit room. The color in Spirited Away were just unbelievable. The vibrant colors of the movie fit the incredible animation perfectly.  As seen in the scene above and the three scenes below, Miyazaki has mastered creating moods with the colors he has chosen to fill the screen with.  Overall, Spirited Away is one, if not the most artistically beautiful movies I have ever seen.  Even though I had watched it two days ago, writing this review has made me want to watch it again, right now.  SEE THIS MOVIE!

MYST #3: God Bless America

Looking for a movie to watch I googled 'most underrated movies of 2012.' After failing to find Bullhead online I settled for God Bless America. I remember thinking it looked like it would be subpar at best when I saw the trailers for it, but because the reviewer of the google site said it was good I gave it a shot. I ended up really enjoying this movie. God Bless America was outrageously violent and had a surplus of satire, but it worked well together. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and would give it an 8.9/10. 

In God Bless America we are introduced to Frank played by Joel Murray, (Small roles in The Artist, Larry the Cable Guy) an insomnic veteran living next door to a loud, douchey family, being disgusted by the recognizable mock reality shows he's seeing flipping through the channels. The next day Frank gets laid off work for a genuine nice offer taken poorly and goes home to receive a phone call for his ex-wife that his kid, transforming into a huge brat, no longer wishes to spend the weekend with him. With all this misery compiling at once Frank is ready to kill himself, literally gun in his mouth has an epithiney instead of killing himself, he should kill the incredible spoiled girl whiny to her dad cause he got her the wrong car on a fake Sweet Sixteen type show. After doing this a similarly minded classmate of the spoiled girl, Roxy, played by Tara Lynn Barr in her first feature film, joins Frank and the two embark a cross country killing spree of other "worthy" people. Despite this sounding like the darkest movie ever, and trust me its up there, the movie is quite funny. Despite morally knowing these two are doing wrong, you find yourself agreeing with them and in fact start to root for them. 

Overall I thought the director, known comedian Bobcat Goldthwait who also directed, (World's Greatest Dad, The Man Show) did a very good job portraying his obvious cynical views of America.  This is clearly a message movie seen in the dialogue between Frank and his co-worker and throughout the movie between Roxy and him talking about the things about America they hate.  Although some of there criticisms could get to be pretty ridiculous (giving high fives, saying literally), there were a multitude of good points showing us how awful the entertainment we are seeming to turn to more and more.  At the end of the movie you don't see Frank as a bad guy, you see him almost as a martyr to try and bring back the old America, where kids weren't as spoiled and people talked about things other than what was on television the previous night.  The fact that I had to watch Zero Dark Thirty to return my patriotism to its normal level, tells you that Goldthwait got his point across.  Overall I recommend God Bless America for both its entertainment, and its unique perspective of America.  

MYST Post #2: Brick

As recommended by Mr. D, I decided to watch Brick after I had finished my homework one night.  I really enjoyed this movie and recommended it immediately to my friends the following day.  Shot in a film noir style, adapted to a Southern California high school seems it would be like hot sauce on oreos, a terrible combination, however Brick did it perfectly.  I was captivated the entire movie and could never predict what was going to happen next.  I gave this movie a 9.0/10, a good score for an overall good movie.

Brick starts with Brendan, a young Joseph Gordon Levitt (Premium Rush, The Dark Knight Rises, Inception) answering a phone call from a panicked ex-girlfriend mentioning terms like "Brick" and "the Pin" before hanging up.  Missing the next day Brendan uses her notebook to attempt to track her down and ends up finding her dead in a sewer pipe.  The rest of Brick is Brendan following clues and immersing himself in a high school drug ring to find his ex's killer.  I would love to write more, but as it is a mystery I would hate to spoil any part of it.

As I mentioned earlier Brick is a modern day example of a classic film noir.  Complete with a morally questionable main character, a devious femme fatale, and a world filmed with crime and violence, Rian Johnson(Looper, Brothers Bloom) directed.  What really made the movie for me would be Levitt's fast talking conversions and one-liners, another noir element, like "Throw one at me if you want, hash head. I've got all five senses and I slept last night, that puts me six up on the lot of you."  A scene that was really enjoyable to watch was when he was first introduced to the Pin.  This scene is the exelfies the character of Brendan the best, not sugar coating anything and looking to get in trouble, while at the same time looking amazingly cool and smooth.

Poster Post: Romeo and Juliet

This is the classic Romeo and Juliet story adapted for the Great Depression.  Romeo is the son of a poor movie owner, whose dad despises the banks for not giving loans to upgrade his theatre.  Juliet is the daughter of a rich banker, whose misunderstands the poor and because of it generally dislikes them.  Romeo and Juliet meet at the theatre one time and instantly fall in love despite different wealth class and parents dislike of each other.  This story is neither pro or anti banks, but rather a why can't we work together type movie.  

The genre of the movie is a romantic-drama because the children fall in love while society, represented by their fathers, is trying to stop it. 

We decided to pic MGM as our studio.  We chose this because Romeo and Juliet is a character focused movie.  MGM during the 1930's had the biggest stars and a big name for both Romeo and Juliet makes for a financially successful movie.  

For our cast we casted Jeanette MacDonald as Juliet and Robert Montgomery as Romeo.  This choice was made since both these actors were popular, young, and attractive.  We had Victor Flemming directing it since in 1934, he directed Treasure Island so he knows how to adapt classic writings into movies.  All three actors/director are a part of the MGM family which made it easy to join this movie.  We would focus on lighting showing both the dads in darker lighting with more shadows to show a stubbornness to compromise and Romeo and Juliet in positive bright lighting to show that this is the right way.  

Obviously in a explicit story both in the violence and sexual regard the Hays Code definitely affected this adaption of Romeo and Juliet.  We choose to have zero violence to uphold the Hays Code and ended the movie with Romeo and Juliet living happily ever after opposed to the double suicide.  Also there would be no sex scenes in Romeo and Juliet, only a passionate kiss during the balcony scene and another to end the movie.  This does cripple the shock-and-awe of the Romeo and Juliet story, but the Hays Code would accept it and it has a better message.

We decided to use the technology of technicolor in an interesting manner.  The movie would be black and white up to the point of Romeo and Juliet making eye contact projecting the movie to turn into  technicolor.  We did this as an artistic expression of how the whole world changes when you meet the person you're in love with.