The Cider House Rules

The Cider House Rules is a very deep movie and I also think it goes to a deeper and more emotional level than most movies, because abortion is a big controversy among all people. I also think that this movie, for every audience member, affected them each differently on a personal level for different reasons, some good and some bad. This movie has many roles and emotions throughout it about abortion, which is nice because it is not trying to convince the audience in anyway what is right and wrong. It also plays that same role during the movie, because Dr. Larch will perform abortions, even though they are illegal, because he thinks that it is the choice of the person, and he would rather do them correctly than letting them go to someone who does not know what they are doing and become injured. Homer on the other hand does not believe that abortions are morally right and refuses to perform them. This important issue puts somewhat of a moral wall between them and  in some way it makes their relationship more difficult, and eventually Homer leaves the care of Dr. Larch, who has been the only father figure Homer has ever known, to find his own path in life. I think he gets sick of being the older brother to all the orphans, and then a helper to Dr. Larch, that he wants to find himself. I find it weird that he leaves with complete strangers that came to the orphanage for an abortion, because he thinks he will see the world. They end up only going to the state line to the girl's family cider mill, which is not what I think he expected at all, because he did not get very far and ends up falling in love with this girl when her boyfriend leaves for the war. Another thing that sets Homer's fate apart is that he could not join the army, because he has a bad heart. The director did a great job with this film, the plot moves at the perfect pace, because it is not so slow that you lose interest and it is not to fast where you can not adsorb all the information that it is giving you. The performances by the actors/actresses are very strong and on key. I think that this movie has a humanistic approach, because of the abortion issue, and the way Homer is trying to find himself. This is also because this film has a moral statement and helps us gain a clearer understanding of some aspect of life and human condition. The acting, cinematography, lighting, editing, sound, and every other detail contributed to the communication of the film's message. I do not think that for me this movie influenced my life or changed any of my beliefs, but this could be different for every viewer.

All the President's Men

I think that this movie would have been more interesting if I would have knew more about the Watergate, but they state so many names, dates, and  much more details that go into the Watergate and Nixon's resignation that it is more confusing than anything. This movie does not go much into personal lives of the characters but more into their professional lives. This movie was very boring and it seemed like the audience would wait for something exciting to happen, but all they did was talk the entire movie. I also think that the plot was carried out just like they wanted it to be, and the acting was also very good. The actors were brilliant at acting as if they had been in those positions before, they talked the talk, and their personae was on key. The nice thing about this movie was that even though it was boring they could take a boring scene and make it suspenseful even if the guy just walked across the room. I do not think this film has a basic genre, because it does not fit under the categories they give, but you would think that it fit under something. It was also different that this movie was a story about a story, it stayed on subject, and gave the story of such a historic event. It was nice to watch this movie, because I did not remember much about it in school and I never realized how big of a deal Watergate was. I think for my generation this movie might not affect us as much, because we were not around when it was happening, but for the older generation it might be more emotional for them or affected them more, because they witnessed things during this period. For me, I was pretty lost in what was going on that I had to read reviews on this movie, and even after reading the review I had to keep rereading parts of the review. I also think that the technical skills put into this movie helped it be a better movie along with the acting that was done.

The notebook

I absolutely love this movie, I saw it in the theater when it first came out, and whenever it is on television I watch it. This movie is unlike every other love story and it really touches me when I watch it, every time. There are so many things that make this movie great. The color enhances the mood, they use in full realistic color, even when the go in the past, the colors are bright and lively. Also, the sounds they use in this movie do not over power the scene the audience is watching, but just draws them in more.The effects they use in this movie and the acting, give this movie more of a subjective point of view than anything else. The entire time you feel involved, sad, happy, worried, which is nice to feel so many emotions, because they did such a great job at utilizing the colors, sounds, acting and performance, and the effects. The book explains that directors manipulate and distort sound for artistic ends, to put us inside a character so that we can understand what he or she is feeling. The scene when she get off the boat in the rain on confronts him on why he never wrote her, shows this sound effect well, because you instantly get a rush of emotions. This movie, for me, has more than just one of these scenes. This movie is different in the sense that Noah is narrating the flashbacks at some points, but it is also him reading the story. In my opinion this is the best love story of all time.

The Graduate

I was always really interested in seeing this movie, because in Rumor Has It, a movie with Jennifer Aniston, The Graduate is the main part in that movie. The actual movie seemed a little awkward in some of the acting, and between big scenes the pause was not very good but other than that for an older movie it was not to bad. The introduction songs were not very good either. It is a great comedy and love story, with a lot of the same lines that become famous, and that is always nice when you are dealing with such a serious story line. The movie is straight forward and is very truthful, and it does not have a lot of mystery, but for some reason it works for this movie. The acting consisted of dramatic acting, because of the plot and story line the movie consisted of Dramatic acting involves feeling, thinking, and communicating emotions and thoughts, which was a little over the top in some points of this movie, but in some way it seemed more truthful in the fact that one of us might act like that.The colors that they used in this movie were desaturated, and more of shades and tints were used along with the color wheel, but the colors were never pure and bright. All the colors they used worked well together and they would mix warm colors and cool colors for more effects. I think more of a objective point of view was used in this movie, I am not sure if that is what is was suppose to be, but the book explains what it is a somewhat remote observer who looks calmly on the events without becoming emotionally or physically involved, but I also think it had some subjective point of view, but not as much as objective. I never got really into this movie, but it was a pretty good movie. The story line and comedy made it as good as it was, because it does not seem like there were many movies like that back when they made this movie.

The Dark Knight

I was nervous at first to watch this movie, because I did not think I would like it. I did not think I would like it, because I am not into comic book movies, with super heroes, but this movie brought it from a comic book to our world. For someone that watches this movie they can watch it in multiple ways, they could look at it from the comic book stand point, a mystery action, tragedy, or other dimensions.  Also, usually sequels never add up to the first movie made, but I was very surprised how much this movie out shined the first one that seemed to be just a warm up to this one. The movie's effects also made this movie more than what it would have been, between the explosions, catastrophes, and chase scenes. This movie is in a subjective point of view, so the we see and hear exactly what the character sees and hears, which the director will do to get the audience more involved. The action that the movie brought was intense and the acting that came into the movie made it an amazing movie to watch. The direction, performances, writing, and the technical quality of the entire production made you invested and to care about the characters in this movie. They could not have done anything to make it a better movie. During this movie they did not use the color wheel or saturated colors, but used more tints, shades, and desaturated colors, which made it more darker to increase the action and intensity, which set the movies entire mood. The director will use several methods involving color to keep attention focused on the center of interest. Also, the way the colors functioned together in different ways throughout the movie made the viewer also engage in what was coming up or going on in that scene. I think Heath Ledger, as the Joker brought this movie to a different level and almost made the movie, because if they would have chose anyone else, it would have changed the dynamics of the movie. He had a goal to make us believe completely in the reality of the character, and he really did become the character, as the Joker. His face reactions, his personality he portrayed, the way he talked and sounded, and the intensity in his actions and voice, all made his character come to life.  Also, the different colors they used for the Joker's makeup and costume, as in his green hair, orange shirt, purple jacket, and bright red lips all clash, but it shows his personality and set him apart from Batman, which can also represent "good vs. evil". The Joker seeks revenge, he claims, for the horrible punishment his father exacted on him when he was a child, which makes you feel sorry for him even though he is a villain and tries to corrupt Gotham City. The Joker also controls the entire movie, because anything thing that he would do and the situations he created would then push Batman, the DA, and the Commissioner to respond in a certain way.  Batman also plays a very complex character, because he is supposed to be the good guy but the city is blaming him for deaths that are occurring, which makes him deeper than I thought initially, and it also threatens the character he was.

Memento

At the beginning of Memento I was confused at what was going on, but after watching the entire movie, it's because the director tells the story from the end to beginning, which as the book explains, is also a temoral factor so in other words he does it backwards. Which, in some way is brilliant, because it keeps alot of things a mystery, and does not give things away to fast, which keeps the audience from getting bored. While watching this movie it seemed to have a subjective point of view overall, with some indirect-subjective veiwpoint, and then with a little objective point of veiw at certain times. This also kept me invested into the film while watching it, because it shows it in so many ways. The director also focused attention on the most significant objects throughtout the film, using movement, sharpness of focus, arrangement of people and objects, and foreground framing. Even after watching the entire movie I still feel that there are some things I missed, because the director lets the audience interpret things from right and wrong in this movie without ever giving up what the concrete answer is. This way individually we determine what the movie was trying to portray. This movie not only keeps you in suspense but it made me feel sorry for Leonard, because of what he had to go through, but losing his memory made it even worse to piece back together his life, and get revenge on the person that had ruined his life. The book explains that the main characters customs, moral attitudes, and codes of behavior are a big factor on the effects of conflicts or problems. I think this movie had a great intensity and passion about it, there were many different emotions I felt while watching it, because the director brought so many other elements into the film. If those elements would not have been in there it would have made the movie more boring, even though it had a great storyline. During all the different emotions that came up inthe movie the director controlled the intensity, direction, and diffusion of light, which creates spatial depth, delineate, convey emotional mood and atmosphere, and create dramatic effects. There is also high-key lighting and low-key lighting that creates different effects throughout the movie. It is crazy to think that all these little elements that they use can create such an effect on the viewer, without the viewer knowing it.

Amelie

I was not to crazy about watching a movie in another language and reading subtitles the entire time, but the movie was suprisingly not what I expected it to be. Amelie shows this movie in a way that many movies are not directed, which made it almost intreging. To be able to fully understand the reason the film is directed so differently is to freshen up on your cinematic points of veiw. I could be wrong, but it seemed like this movie had both objective and subjective points of veiw in it, because sometimes you seemed to be in the action and other times it felt like you were on the sidelines watching her help people. I think the directors will do this so the audience does not get bored, because it changes views of the movie. I felt sorry for Amelie when she was a child, she did not have the best life, because she did not have friends and was put in the background of everyone else. Since she did have such a great heart dispite her chilldhood she grew up and she still made other lives better in certain little ways. This especially changed her when she finds a box containing little sentimental items and then Princess Dianna had passed away in a car accident, which had made her realize that life can change at the flip of a coin. The director uses geographic factors when Amelie goes and takes her fathers gnome, and takes it to all different places, because his passion was to travel. I believe the director does this so it feels as if we are with her instead of just hearing about it, it makes us more invested in the movie. While she goes and helps all the people close to her, the director using sharpness to focus, movement, foreground framing, size and closeness of the object, and arrangement of people and objects to help attract out attention to certain items throughout the film. The movie was different, but the way they brought it to life and also putting a romantic twist on the plot made it a enjoyful film to watch. It seemed to me that the director used more artificial light, which took away some of the naturalness. Also since this movie did not go through major ups and downs of emotions it seemed that the direction and intensity of lighting did not change a whole bunnch during the film.

Law Abiding Citizen

The exposition in this movie was short lived, in the beginning it shows a happy family, but a few minutes later the complication sets in. Two men come to this happy families home and try to kill all of them without even having a reason. Regrettably, for these two men that did this horrific crime, the father of the family was the only one that survived. The main conflict in this movie was that the DA settled for a deal with these two murderers, which to the father was not alright, leaving him with more internal conflict that he was about to make external with everyone that had anything to do with the case. The plot of this movie was very good, it kept me in suspense, and I never knew what was coming next. This movie really challenged the audiences thinking through the entire movie. This movie really made me think about how the legal system has it's down falls. The denouement was harder to pin point in this movie, because there were twists until the end. At the end though the DA did say he was done making deals with criminals, and that is what the father always wanted. This was a big point in the movie, which made everything that happened come to this one specific scene. The scene that symbolizes the title is after he commits a crime he babbles in court how he had never done anything wrong and that he is a law abiding citizen, therefore he is not a threat. The judge buys into this and is going to let him go even though he had in fact committed a crime. The title was not as self explanatory for this movie and I could only understand the title after seeing the movie. I really liked this movie, because of how skillful it was and it kept you on your toes until the end.

The King's Speech

When I heard the title The King's Speech I assumed that it would be about a speech the king would give, but even though the title was self explanatory the movie was a deeper issue than just about some speech. From the beginning of this movie it shows the conflict right away, which was that one of the King's sons, Bertie, had a speech impediment. I thought that the second brother, Bertie, was portrayed as rude and mean with anger issues, but when he explained later in the movie about how he was brought up and treated, which remotely was why he had a stammer as an adult, it made more sense why he was the way he was. The complication of this movie was almost the entire film. Bertie had a lot of unresolved issues or internal conflicts, a speech impediment, his father died, his brother was then taking over the thrown, but ultimately threw it away for some girl, and then Bertie became King, which he did not want. When he started going to see the speech therapist I was so surprised that when he would distract Bertie with music his stammer would disappear, and I was more surprised when I found out he was not an actual licensed therapist for as much as he knew. In the beginning I felt sorry for Bertie and how his life had turned out, but in the end, the denouement, he became king, could speek without his stammer, he had a true friend that cared for him, and had worked through all the remanding issues he had. Bertie was a more confident man at the end of the movie, and most of his internal conflicts had been resolved.

Good Will Hunting

When Good Will Hunting first started I was extremely surprised to see Ben Affleck and Matt Damion staring in this movie. Before watching the movie I tried to think about what the title would mean or represent for this movie, and the only thing that came to mind is a little boy with his dog hunting, but I obviously was very wrong. The book explains that some titles may call attention to a key scene that becomes worthy of careful study when we realize that the title of the film has been taken it. After the movie was over I tried to identify what the scene was that gave the movie it's title, but I do not remember a specific part in the movie other than when he had started to open up and let his wall come down at therapy. They also explained in the book that films have a linear or chronological structure in terms of acts, starting with exposition, which was in the beginning of Good Will Hunting when they showed will and his friends getting into trouble, and showing how smart Will is besides how much he gets in trouble, which was also the conflict. Next is complication, which is when he got his sentence in jail, but then got bailed out by the professor, and started going to therapy. Another part of the complication would be that Will met a girl and has fallen in love with her, but then he breaks up with her. Complication is usually the longest section out of the sections of a movie.When complication has reached it's point of maximum tension finally, there is the climax followed by denouement, or period of calm.. The climax and denouement in Good Will Hunting would be when Will was completely vulnerable, cleaned up his act, participating, looking for a job, and getting the job, and going to find the girl he loved and commit to her. Will was the unique character in this movie, because he was a genius when it came to mathematics, and books in general. I really liked this movie a lot. I could not believe that I had not seen it before or even heard of it.