Akira Kurosawa...... a mysterious director

After finishing three of Kurosawa's most decorated films, I now know why men like George Lucas and Coppola, would help finance his projects. I feel like Kurosawa liked to leave things mysterious on purpose. He wanted to have people guessing and debating the truth vs. the imaginary.

Throughout all three movies, there was one scene that jumped out at me the most, and it just happened to be one that contained this tool Akira loved to use. The scene was the final scene from "Ran".

In this scene, "Tsurumaru", a blind Japanese man, is alone on a large precipice, with an orange/pink sky in the backround. The scene's first shot consists of an extreme longshot establishing the cliff, sky and isolation of Tsurumaru. He is indeed a blind man, left alone next to an extreme cliff with only his blind walking rod, and a rolled up scroll with a painting of Buddha on it. The painting was given to him by the last person to leave him alone in assurance that the painting would watch over him and keep his defenseless self safe.

As the scene continues, the next shot is a medium range shot that portrays him slowly walking up to the edge and when he feels the edge with his walking rod, he becomes scared and fidgets and accidentally drops his painting over the edge. The film ends shortly thereafter following a long panning shot of the sky after he drops the painting.

In doing this, I feel Kurosawa is not only trying to cause controversy by ending the movie at a point where not all problems are patched up, but also in doing this scene, I feel he is making a religious statement.

I don't know if Akira is a religious man, but I feel he may have intended to show that if we lose Buddha or God in our life, that we will be in a world-of-hurt with a lack of their presence. By having Tsurumaro drop his religious portrait, and then ending the film, the director appears to me that he is saying we are lost in our lives without the guidance of a god in our lives. Which Tsurumaru was after he dropped his portrait.

All three respectable movies. Fun unit

Shallow Hal- the last Farrelly brothers installment, but not the worst, only because there are no bad Farrelly brothers films

The film "Shall0w Hal" (2001), by Peter and Bobby Farrelly, is in my opionion, in the top ten funniest movies of the new century.

I want to start off by saying that the Farrelly brothers did an excellent job of putting their important message into the film, which is to look past the outside and evaluate a girl by whats on her insides. Leave it to the overlooked film directors who are viewed as nonsensicle goofy guys to incorporate the key message.

This movie I feel is often overlooked by my friends, critics, and people I talk to about movies. I don't know why people would look past the humor of the always solid Farrelly boys. This one did not dissapoint. Using much of the same type of humor from their other movies, "Shallow Hal" brought me to loud laughter dozens of times throughout the couple of hours. Gwyneth Paltrow, who is never looked at for her comedic qualities, I feel did an excellent job creating laughter and sorrow. She did a nice job in her overweight suit too. Also, i'm not usually a fan of Jack Black at all, but in this film, I loved him. He was sustainable and actually funny. Not too much over the top humor, only more less-forced laughs.

I think the favorite part of the film was when Jack Black (Hal) and Rosemary (Gwyneth Paltrow), are at a restaurant and she orders numerous, numerous food items and Hal gets very excited with his date because he is really tired of " ...the girls who just order a crouton and a glass of water". I just loved that line because it was funny, but also talked about how he doesn't notice her large size, only he loves her inner beauty.

Hitchcock- neat guy

With the end of our Hitchcock unit in the books, my opinions on the guy have changed.

Although I didn't really know that much about the guy, I wasn't a fan because none of his films really appealed to me, however, now that I have gathered more knowledge on the legend that is Alfred Hitchcock, I now respect what he has done in the film industry much more.

Never have I watched movies where there is so much debate about plot, characters and what the director's intentions and meanings were between students. He sparked thinking on more than just one level, thinking on a very analytical basis.

The way that Hitchcock sparked emotions in our class was thoroughly impressive. Students felt suspense, fear, scared, sad, happy, relieved etc.

My favorite movie of Alfred's that we watched was "Rear Window", because I was confused, impressed, dumbfounded, enthralled, and overall, a big fan of the film.

It seems strage that a man who made movies so long ago, is still watched in Film classes and even mimic(ed?,ked? not sure of the spelling) in Vanity Fair Magazine by people many years later. A true testament to his power, success and influence on film of today.

The Farrelly Brothers- "Stuck On You". Amazing

The film "Stuck on you", is the most recent Farrelly brothers movie and stars Matt Damon, and Greg Kinnear.

One of my favorite aspects of the movie, is how creative the idea is. The conjoined twins film idea seems like such excellent foundation to a movie. Also, the directors added everything in the movie that i wanted out of it. I was sittin there watching the movie, hoping that they would play football, and they did, baseball, and they did, and golf which they did too. Furthermore, they added the scene where one of the brothers answers the home phone and claims that the other brother is not there, a true comedic moment by Peter and Bobby.

The struggle between the two brothers and their seperation is portrayed by the directors perfectly. They do not overexagerrate the the operation but it still plays an important role without being disrespectful to conjoinded twins across the country.

The comedy in this film is textbook Farrelly brothers, with crude hilarious jokes that are not afraid of going too far. A signature aspect of theirs.

Farrelley Brothers: Dumb and Dumber- Best comedic movie ever??????

Starring Jeff Daniels and Jim Carrey, Dumb and Dumber is easily one of the top three funniest movies I have ever seen.

One of the many glorious aspects of the film is that is provides entertainment on numerous levels. A standard movie-goer might watch the movie and just push it aside and immediately reject it as any sort of respectable piece of artwork. However, in doing this, they would be overlooking a brilliant film and its countless memorable shots and execution of cinematography etc.

First of all, being that the movie is a comedy, the filming aspects of the film are already viewed with a disadvantage, but the cinematography and editing are very underrated. During the traveling montage, one of my favorite shots occurs and it is when the camera is several hundred feet above their "Sheepdog" in a helicopter I believe. This helps show how big the country is that they are traversing and also how small these two 'dumb' men are.

Another aspect of the film that does not get the credit is deserves is the music and sound effects and overall noise. From the amazing introductory song of "Boomshakalaka", the film sets the song standard high and follows up with "Mary Moon", "Mockingbird", "I knew that she would make me happy". Furthermore, sound effects play an enormous role in this comedy. The Farrelley Brothers did an excellent job with Lloyd's (Jim Carrey) noises throughout the film. From his run-ins with atomic peppers, to being sprawled out on a jetway, to suffering from a beatdown by a certain "Seabass", to even an intense fighting scene where he excavates a man's heart.

All in all, the film Dumb and Dumber exceeds expectations for people from all walks of life and really is the Farrelly brothers in a nutshell. Amazing movie.

Do The Tight Thing

In the film "Do The Right Thing" by Spike Lee, Samuel L. Jackson plays an important reoccurring role that helps add meaning to the movie. I find that the word "tight" or cool defines Jackson's persona in the film very accurately. He is portrayed as a smooth talking radio DJ who can turn words into a flowing river. But he adds more to the conflict than just another cool cat, Samuel represents the theme of the entire movie. As the film starts, he begins to narrate the setting and set the stage for the film, and as the movie continues, he helps emphasize the tension between the cultures by literally narrating it in front of him on his street. Lee can basically indiretly narrate the film with out having someone read over the scenes and come across in a completely different and less effective method. In addition, Jackson is indeed part of the racial tension theme himself but is portrayed as more of a narrator than contributor.

The Battle of Crap

The Battle of Algiers was horrific. I did not like any aspect of the movie. All of it was lame. Looking past the lack of color and subtitles that were prevalent with every frame, I still do not like any aspect of the movie. In no point in anywhere of Pontocorvo's incoherent rambling did he make any smidgen of entertainment for me. The movie dragged on. I did not like the acting, the very fake simulated gun fights from 20 feet away that somehow never killed anyone, or the torturing. I was not impressed with his controversial topic and boring representation of it. Each scene seemed like the last, only it was in a different ally. There was little change througout the movie and the conflicts were disapointing to me, after hearing about the problems in Algiers. All in all, the movie made me want to hold a small handheld torch to me chesthair and roast my man-sweater.
1/2 thumb up, a generous half of a thumb too.