memento?... yes please, do you have the fruit flavored ones?

My feelings on Memento were not as highly reguarded as everyone else's were.

In my opinion, Christopher Nolan tried to get TOO artsy and cute with the movie.

Even after being educated on the scenario of the film, I was still lost in the plot, characters, setting, and side plots about Sammy Jankis. I dont even want to imagine the people who went into this film blind and knew nothing about it. The idea is a rather neat and original and creative one, but I feel Nolan overplayed the idea and stretched the theory too far, to where it became confusing and starting to lose its meaning and story. The whole black and white and chronological and reverse chronological order thing totally flew over my head. Also, I missed little details to the movie that were key, i.e. the change from colored to black and white, or the change of Jankis to Lenny in the asylum. All in all, the idea was a good one, but was portrayed way too over the top for me to like it.

1 thumb up

Kiss Me Lamely

Kiss Me Deadly did not fulfil any expectations I had for it. In fact, it made me mad. The entire plot led up to those two horrific endings?? First of all, a name as cool as "Mike Hammer" should never be given to such a person who can not meet the requirements of a genuine "Mike Hammer". Granted, he was cool, but not 'Mike Hammer' cool. Also, every clue that Mike found lead him on a giant goose chase where he would just miraculously come across a innocent person that would certainly tell him the absolute truth. I feel, that this was rather farfetched and unlikely. In adition, the girl that was suposed to be so pretty, the one tortured to death, wasn't even pretty!! I mean, come on if your going to explicitly call her gorgeous in the film, she better darn well be easy on the eyes!! This all leads me to the ending(s). Both of which did not entertain me, or in my opinion top off the movie. The atomic bomb ending just condused the heck out of me and the the screaming or shrieking of whatever that was made me scared. In addition, the run into the ocean ending didnt tell me what the heck the entire movie was all about, but in retrospect, neither did the a-bomb ending. Both had nothing to do with what the box was all about and the government and the girl in the trench coat. What a disapointing noir.
1/2 thumb

Indemnity Indemnity

After watching the film Double Indemnity, my perspective on film noir has changed dramatically

Only knowing about noir from class discussions, by views on the style were mixed, in that i was thinking it was going to be one of the cliche P.I. films in a half lit room with a venetian blind in the backround with a smoking investigator resting his feet on the top of his desk. I was somewhat right and somewhat wrong. The film did live up to its reputation by having very limited lighting and dramatic shading. Practically the entire film was engulfed with the concept of half-lit faces and shadows strewn across the black and white screen. Also, the film portrayed the noir characteristic of mysterious murder. The murderers involved were indeed very dark, selfish people again living upto noir standards in being compelled by money and the power it brings with it. Smoking also very prevalent throughout the film, perhaps a symbol of the dark, desparage that smoking's conotation brings.

decent movie i give 3/4 thumb

The Caddyshack Gopher > Groundhog day groundhog

Groundhog Day in my opinion was far better than the previous romantic comedy we watched.

My favorite part of the movie was by far the editing. It was ingenious. For example, when Bill Murray asks the random pretty lady who her 12th grade english teacher was, the editors chose to immediately jump right to the next day encounter between the two. This made me laugh quite hard, along with the rest of the class.

Again the editing was very humorous and effective when there is a series or "montage" of Phil getting slapped. This helps illustrate the point that he is trying so hard to sleep with his co-worker but is unsuccessful. Also, the suicide montage was another excellent display of editing by the makers of this film because it makes a funny, yet serious and very time efficient point of Phil's state of life. The editing takes away from the normal extreme seriousness involved with suicide and gives it a lighter side that we can laugh at.
All in all, I enjoyed the movie and i give it 1.25. thumbs.

Bringing up Baby,Baby,Baby, Baby

My feelings on the film Bringing Up Baby are mixed. The acting jobs were pretty good, the costumes and setting and props were above average and the cinematography was decent. However, my questioning of the movie comes about in the plot category.

I use that strange headline for my blogpost because there was so much darn redundancy, so much darn redundancy in the movie. In almost every scene there was bound to be a David copying/following Susan moment, or a Susan following/copying David moment. They were always either chasing George, pursuing Baby, looking for the bone, or running away one right behind the other... Always.

Aside from the redundancy of the film, it was also very predictable. Whenever David fell or tripped, a viewer could automatically know the other one was gonna do the same thing, or vic versa. He falls over a curb... she does too, he falls down a rock face, so does she. He's up high on a ladder precariously, so is she.

My overall feeling about this movie is that it probably was way above average back in its prime, but that type of humor is obsolete. Rating: 1/2 thumb

Once Upon a Time in the West

Once Upon a Time in the West was an excellent movie, furthermore, it can be compared to another excellent movie: Goldeneye. Perhaps better known as one of the more recent James Bond films.

The comparisons start with the protagonists: Charles Bronson and Pierce Brosnan. Aside from having similar last names, each character portrays resembling attitudes and body language. Never in either movie do we see Harmonica or James lose their cool. They are both always very calm and relaxed, or dare i even say "reluctant"??? Being very ridiculously good looking is also in each actors playbook. Suaveness is a lifestyle for Bronson and a way of life for Bond. Just like in this picure above, Harmonica always has a cool and calm look on his face and rest of body.

In addition, the two brunette bombshells are very good with the ladies. A must if you want to be a western movie protagonist and essential to be called a "Bond". Also, each actor comes with their own theme song. For Charles Bronson, its his own jazzy harmonica tunes, and for Pierce Brosnan, its the signature Bond tune.

this last picture is for the viewing pleasure of our very own Dave Matyi.

dave: save the cat calls for class so you dont wake up your parents

Journal

Having never completely viewed one of the most famous movies in all of film history, this journal gave me an excellent excuse to watch the old, dusty copy of The Wizard of Oz (1939). I have only watched snippets of the movie on television and heard it referenced tens of hundreds of times throughout my life. So now finally, i have watched the film start to finish and am now Oz literate.

Directed by Victor Fleming, The Wizard of Oz as everyone knows is about a girl named Dorothy who is played by the hometown hero Minnesotan Judy Garland. As the story progresses and the plot expands, I began to realize in my own basement that my body was the only thing actually in my bottom floor, my head and imagination had long dissapeared into simpler times; my childhood. I have heard somewhere that The Wizard of Oz brings out the child in everyone who watches it, a detail I have never lived until now.

Just like how a war movie can take your thoughts into a defferent realm, or a sad song captures your fellings about a topic, and even how a sighint of toy flys a person off to a different time in thier life, the Oz did this to me. A fantasy land that i dreamed of as a child, floated into my mind like a mirage in my slummy basement.

Victor Fleming used sound extensively in the film throughout. Whether it was the flying monkeys, or the sound of Dorothy's voice while she skipped to the castle, the music and sound, in my opinion took center stage in the impressive category for the flick. The sound effects of the characters and the witches really made the movie of that time period stick out to me as one ahead of its time. and also make it a movie still referenced over 60 years later.