Tin Man

Tin Man was interesting to me because of the magical aspect of it. I thought the casting was excellent, every actor from Tin Man (Cain), Raw, D.G, Glitch, and Azkadellia gave each of the well written character such life.Cinematically it was a beautiful film, even the dark sections of the O.Z. were brought to life, with the use of color, lighting, music, and even camera direction. I enjoyed the really unique way they incorporated the old with the new but still had a completely different story.

This film is about a classic tale that follows a young girl named D.G. (Zooey Deschanel) who ventures on the Old fabled Road of O.Z., prepared to fulfill her destiny, when she discovers that the evil Azkadellia (Kathleen Robertson) who is later revealed as D.G.'s older sister, has cast an oppressive spell over the Outer Zone. I have to say Azkadellia was my favorite character in this film, because she played her evil role so marvelously well, from her costume, to her voice, facial expression, body language, and to the way she displays her power of anguish, screamed out the perfect villain. D.G. enlists the aid of half-brained eccentric Glitch (Alan Cumming), kindly-but-cowardly beast Raw (Raoul Trujillo), and heartbroken former lawman Cain (Neil McDonough) in seeking out the wisdom of the fabled Mystic Man (Richard Dreyfuss) who lives at the end of the Old Road. With the future of the Outer Zone hanging in the balance, D.G. had to make some decisions, and let her heart led her to the right direction, she had an awkwardness and a such positive outlook on things, that made the audience like and relate to her.

As this adventurous group ventures down the perilous road they find themselves having a battle with Azkadellia's hideous nightmarish flying monkey bats and Azkadellia's malevolent henchmen, as they attempt to break a spell with the power to destroy them all. But before their journey was over, D.G. and her new friends discover a few things that they never even knew about themselves. The setting of this film was something I have never seen in any film I have ever watched. It was a magical and unusual plot but it was absolutely brilliant, the thought of two suns hanging out in the clear blue sky was amazing. The use of computer generated effects used to show the extent of Azkadellia power was exciting to watch, the way she literally sucked the lives out of humans was extraordinary.

I just loved color in this film, everything just popped even the dark sections of the film. Everything from lighting, camera direction, and even music moved the plot along. The shots and camera directions was always precise, always extenuating every little details in a scene, from rocks, to grass, leaves, the sky, tress, and even the direction of the wind. The sound or mood of the music always let the viewer know if there was a moment of triumph or anguish coming. So the music was always like a clue to what was going to happen in the next scene or minute. What was so surprising to me was, during the flashbacks, the pictures or scenes weren't gritty, black and white, dark, or rough, like what other films would do to show the the extent of how much time had past but this film was different, the scenes were sharp, clean, colorful, and beautiful.

The Seven Samurai

The film opens with shadows of a mixture of lights and darks as men race in a rugged stampede on their stallions. The story begins with master samurai Kambei posing as a monk to save a kidnapped farmer's child. Impressed by his selflessness and bravery, a group of farmers begs him to defend their terrorized village from bandits. Kambei agrees, although there is no material gain or honor to be had in the endeavor. Soon he attracts a pair of followers: a young samurai named Katsushiro , who quickly becomes Kambei's disciple, and boisterous Kikuchiyo, who poses as a samurai but is later revealed to be the son of a farmer. Kambei assembles four other samurais, including Kyuzo , a master swordsman, to round out the group. Together they consolidate the village's defenses and shape the villagers into a militia, while the bandits loom menacingly nearby. Soon raids and counter-raids build to a final bloody heart-wrenching battle.

I see why my teacher said Akira Karasowa was one of the greatest directors ever, because the direction in this film was absolutely brilliant and well thought out. For example, there was a scene in this film when villagers were in the marketplace trying to look for the village thief, as the characters' eyes moved the camera moved in the same pace as their eyes, this method was used again when Kambei the master samurai and the youngest samurai Katsushiro went to go see the master swordsman fight in a fair-trial-combat, and the same thing happened the camera followed the characters' eyes. I'll have to say the shots in this film were also unique, and they came in different varieties, there was one I really liked because I have never seen any shot like that in any movie or film I have ever seen. There were three different things going on in one shot, on one side of the room there was the guy with the over-top facial expression crying his eyes out, at the opposite side of him there as an old guy playing his wooden banjo softly, and on the other side of the room, were the two look alike cavemen arguing, joking, laughing, and playing a board game.

There was also a rule of thirds scene in this film with the oldest farmer as the focus point, the camera's focus accentuated the wrinkles and the toothless mouth of the farmer to make the viewers realize how old this farmer really was, as that was going on there were two couples in the background arguing back and forth with each other. The only seen in this film that I really saw a character alone, had to be the point of view shot where the youngest samurai Katsushiro lays in the middle of a flowers bed and looks up to the trees, the scene was subtle as the wind blew the leaves of the trees back and forth, making them sway in the sky, it was the first time you realized as viewer what the character was feeling and the emotions going moving with him.

This film was really unique because of the things Karasowa added to it, like in one scene he added his own wind, the wood behind the crying farmer was made especially for that scene to show repetition, because of the markings in the wood, compositions of three's was shown in a shot when some people walked through frames. The shots of the villagers' backside showing earlier in the film was to emphasize the pain, embarrassment, poverty, shame, and heartache they were going through. There was a scene in this film that gave the viewer a feeling of isolation, when this man was sitting alone all by himself, and the other villagers' backs were turned away from him.

As a viewer character development was incredibly noticeable, but there were two characters that I thought changed or developed as the plot moved along, and it had to be the young samurai Katsushiro, and kikuchiyo. Katsushiro Katsushiro was the youngest samurai in the bunch, he was respectful, shy, compassionate, humble, and willing to learn at the beginning of the film, he didn't have enough courage to prove or stand up for himself, but towards the end of the movie he builds on strength, courage, and self esteem, the scene of Katsushiro's total transformation had to be when he killed an enemy then cried afterwards. I thought Kikuchiyo's transformation as a character was very major and important in this film, because in the beginning he was self absorbed, a joker, disrespectful, and way too boisterous, he even put other samurais' lives in danger by posing as the enemy and killing some enemies in order to prove he was the best to other samurais. But as the plot and film moves along he cares about others and he puts them in consideration, there was one scene where I actually saw kikuchiyo cry sadly and passionately about the loss of a child's parents, because he related to him, Kikuchiyo's death had to be the most memorable death in the film he died as a warrior, after getting shot by an enemy, he got up and still pierced the heart of the enemy that shot him.

This film was long but awesome, this film had composition, great shots, beautiful scenes, fantastic camera direction, great cast of characters, and one of the greatest film director composed all these things into one, and that's Akira Karasowa.

Throne of Blood

Throne of Blood is a tradegy based on the life of a lord named Taketoki Washizu, a valiant warrior whose life is transformed by an encounter with a ghostly female spirit. The spirit offers several predictions, stating that Washizu will rise to power over the current warlord. When these predictions begin to unfold, he and his ambitious wife decide to ensure his ascendancy to power by murdering the current ruler. As with Macbeth, Washizu achieves his goal, but his guilt and the suspicions of others soon bring about his downfall.

The supporting performances were outstanding, particularly Isuzu Yamada's creepily unemotional take on Lady Macbeth's face, her face was extremely solid and motionless. Isuzu Yamada's stance and undeniable presence in this film was incredibly noticeable, in every scene and shot she delivered the role she was suppose to play . There was a scene in this film that i really loved her in, when she was rambling her hands together like she was supposedly washing her hands in a waterless bowl. My point is, the emotion and facial expression she portrayed in this film was exciting because that's the first time she probably showed emotion in this film, and the look of anguish, pain, hurt, troubled, and isolation, was well played out .

While Mifune proves consistently gripping in the sheer intensity of his performance, with undeniable strong,expressionless faces. For example, i feel there were three scenes in this film that showed Mifune's greatest acting skills, the first has to be when he kills the king then runs back to his wife, then he had the most unbelievable, undeniable, troubled, and shocking look like i can't believe i just killed the king while holding the weapon (sword), and his hand buried in a pool of blood. Another has to be when the maid stops him in the middle of the room from seeing his wife, and there was so much empty space in the room, and that scene represents the feeling of loneliness and isolation he was feeling. Also during the conclusion, in which Washizu makes a memorable final stand against an advancing army, he was shot by his own archers and stumbles forward like a porcupine before being shot in the neck. He slowly descends the stairs and dies, collapsing dramatically on the ground which was filled with clouds of fog.

Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood strips away Macbeth's minor characters and long soliloquies, turns the witch scenes into a strange supernatural encounter, and transforms the landscape into a misty visage. Kurosawa masterfully employs style and composition to create a closed world in which the film's tragic outcome seems pre-ordained. Such visual motifs as fog, wind, and rain, complimented or matched with the austere interior of Washizu's castle, create an eerie, foreboding feel, while Kurosawa's use of stark blacks and whites, coupled with his persistent use of hard edits, seem to place the characters in stylistic confinement that moved the plot along. Kurosawa uses repetition, such as the image of Washizu's emerging from the fog, to suggest the futility of the characters' actions.

Impressive in every regard, Throne of Blood seems secure in the pantheon of superior film adaptations of William Shakespeare. Throne of Blood is a visually brilliant, an emotionally powerful masterpiece from one of the true masters of cinema (Akira Kurosawa).

Titus

Titus Andronicus was actually one of William Shakespeare's lesser-known theatrical plays. The begins with Roman General Titus Andronicus played by Anthony Hopkins, had returned from defeating the Goths in a bloody battle, but the victory had left him with mixed feelings, as the war took the lives of several of his sons. Titus is reminded by his first-born son Lucius that their faith demands the sacrifice of an enemy prisoner as a gift to the gods for their victory. Titus chooses the eldest son of Tamora , the queen of the Goths, who has since been taken hostage by Titus's troops. Tamora pleads for her son's life, but Titus goes ahead with the sacrifice. She then becomes the lover of the new emperor of Rome, Saturninus played by Alan Cumming, a weak-willed and corrupt man. Tamora uses her connection to the throne for her own ends: in retaliation for the death of her son, Tamora and her surviving sons, Chiron and Demetrius, brutally rape Titus's beloved daughter, Lavinia. This act sets in motion an ever-tightening spiral of revenge and retaliation that leaves few of the participants unscathed.

Titus is filled with elements of characters, plot and themes that Shakespeare would enlarged on. It includes a father betrayed by his progeny (`King Lear'), a Moorish general (`Othello'), a struggle for political power, and a theme that runs through virtually all Shakespeare's tragedies - the need for revenge to maintain filial or familial honor. Anthony Hopkins is superb as Titus, capturing the many internal contradictions that plague this man who, though a beloved national hero and military conqueror, finds himself too weary to accept the popular acclamation to make him emperor - a decision he will live to rue when his refusal ends up placing the power directly into the hands of a rival who makes it his ambition to bring ghastly ruin upon Titus' family. Titus is also a man who can, without a twinge of conscience, kill a son he feels has betrayed him and disembowel a captive despite the pleas of his desperate mother, yet, at the same time, show mercy to the latter's family, humbly refuse the power offered him, and break down in heartbroken despair at the executions of his sons and the sight of his own beloved daughter left tongueless and hand-less by those very same people he has seen fit to spare.

Visually, this wide-screen film is a stunner.The director matches the starkness of the drama with a concomitant visual design, often grouping the characters in studied compositions set in bold relief against an expansive, dominating sky. There were countless of amazing shots in this film but my favorite would have to be when Titus' daughter turned around to show her uncle who she really was, that shot was shot in slow motion as she was turning around, then I have never seen blood so beautiful than in this film, the motion of blood splurging out of her mouth was brilliantly done, her condition was so bad, that as a viewer you couldn't help but feel pity for her. The use of color was brilliant, I couldn't help myself from stop looking at this film because the color was popping and out there, you couldn't help but notice.

I loved this movie because it was a drama, it pulled me in, it kept me guessing and thinking about what was going to happen next. I think the music and lighting helped this film because it was stunning. If I had to say one word that describes the overall feel of this film it had to be madness.

O Brother Where Art Thou

O Brother Where Art Thou is about Suave and fancy-talking Everett Ulysses McGill (George Clooney), dim-witted Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson), and easily-excitable Pete (John Turturro) who are serving time together in prison. The three manage to escape, but however along the road they meet a stranger that soon warns them that they'll find treasure, but not the sort they're looking for. O Brother Where Art thou has much similarities or comparison to the Odyssey, as these three begin their joruney, as a viewer i could see those similarities.

This has to be one of the top films that George Clooney has starred in. The plot is incredibly funny, if not slightly mad! The characters are entertaining and very well written, making you laugh at them, but also feel sorry for their struggles. Their hit song is very catchy, and the scene with the Ku Klux Klan adds tension and seriousness to the film, also in this scene there was alot of symmetry, angular shapes, and hot colors. John Goodman plays a small, but powerful part too. I liked the film the first time I saw it, but just by looking at the title before watching the film i was already automatically attracted to it. I would recommend this to anyone who likes being made to laugh, but also wants a good story line and quality acting. My favorite scene would be the beginning of the film when Everett, Pete, and Delmar try to get on the train after escaping from prison.

To me, this movie ranks right up there with the greater movies of the past decade such as Saving Private Ryan and Forest Gump. The scenery is amazing and truly gives you a taste of what a slice of life is really like in rural Mississippi. Being based on Homer's The Odyssey, it gives a modern, albeit antiquated by today's standards,and twist to a timeless tale. Everett, Pete and Delmar's journey through the tobacco bottoms and deep woods in the midst of the Great Depression is utterly amazing. Along the way they meet up with Sirens, an one-eyed Bible salesman, and Everett eventually gets home to his wife.

This movie gets 5 stars from me, especially with the music, because the music even adds more of a Southern touch to an already great movie. Also a history lesson that's not exactly on the straight and narrow is to be learned. Whether it's meeting Baby Face Nelson, seeing an up close Klan meeting, or enjoying good ol' Deep South politics, anyone who watches this movie will get something deep and meaningful out of it, this movie is easily a top 100 movie of all time, and to me a top 50.

The Road Home

Love is unshakable, and it can also make you do anything,and this film " The Road Home" portrays this. The story opens in the present, shot in gritty black and white, as businessman Luo returns to his rural hometown to attend the funeral of his father. When he suggests that the coffin should be brought home from the hospital on a tractor, his aging mother rebuffs him, insisting that they conform to custom and have it carried home by local men. Later, as Luo recalls his parent's courtship, the film switches to color and travels back in time about 40 years.

The transition from the gritty black and white to color was a perfect representation for emotions especially for love. There were also several shot or scenes in this film that i thought was brilliant and well executed. Like the scene where Zhao Di starts sewing the banner for the school and lighting behind her came through in the shot, and extenuated the character's skin tone and the color of the banner (red). Another would be when Zhao ran into the house after seeing the love of her life, she came home to change her coat. The scene was gray wash and the colors that stood out in that scene was the red yarn in the mother's hand, and the bright green yarn in Zhao's hair.

But my favorite scene and probably the longest shot in this film would be when Zhao places her plate of food on the table, then something unusual starts to happen, the foreground stands still and Zhao's plate stands out from the rest, as this was happening the background was still moving, the background emphasize the pass of time, and i don't think i have seen any shot or scene like that before. Scenes or shots in this film had symmetry, linear thought, composition, and rule of thirds, there were several shots in film that actually proves this. There was this one shot were there was a tree trunk at the center of the shot, the other was in black & white when Zhao was at the school yard crying, and there was like a repetition/linear thought of logs or sticks in rows behind her.

I thought making this film two colored was great, well executed, and cleverly thought out, because it made the viewers understand the two side or views of emotions. The grim and gritty black & white made the viewers understood it stood for sadness, and of course color for happy emotion that mostly emphasized on love. My favorite had to be color, because the color in this film popped out, it was gorgeous, and brilliantly used.The scene that i loved the black & white picture would be when the men carried the casket along the road, it represented sadness, loneliness, and thing you would normally feel at a funeral, i liked this scene especially when it was shot from a high angle.

I absolutely loved the end of the movie when Zhao runs on the road, and the camera direction just goes into an high angle shot. Then i understood what the road and the title of the film meant, the road represent the thing that stood in between or separated the love of Zhoa's life, but it also the road that makes Zhoa happy when she sees the love of her life coming down that road. I would totally give "The Road Home" a 10.

Laughing Club of India

Laughing Club of India is a funny, serious, yet entertaining documentary that takes place in India. This documentary is about a laughing club in India, where people come to laugh their sorrows away instead of crying, they share their problems and emotions. Some of them said the laughing club helped them in several ways like, a cure from a disease, makes them happy, makes them feel better about themselves, and laughter makes them think of the positives and not the negatives.

The people in this documentary had different situations or problems, but the same things they had in common, and in the sense of solution was the laughing club. Some of the situations was a woman who her husband died in the war, now she lives with 25 members of her extended family in one house. Another situation would be about a young man who has brain damage from an industrial accident, so the founder of the laughing club, a medical doctor, Madran Kataria tries to help this young man to get back to his old self again.

The shots this documentary varied, there were mostly wide shots, because frequently in every scene there was always a wide range of people, group, crowd, or population. When it came to some of the the characters' personal stories there were some medium shots, and close-ups. The scenes that i thought had the most beautiful shots, would be the scenes, where this particular lady does her laughing routine on her roof, because there were high angle shots that showed the sky,and from the shots as a viewer it showed you the city of Bombay.

I think i heard music about twice in this film, there is a lady from the laughing club that usually sings in her native language. The other time i heard music would be, when the documentary had a transition of a scene showing the city of Bombay, the people, streets, and billboards, when this was happening a fast paced music was playing in the background. I don't think lighting was used a lot in this documentary, because each scene was usually in the daytime, except if there were close-ups or medium shots then you would see the use of lighting. Costumes in this documentary wasn't really a problem for me, because i love Indian clothes, so i didn't have a problem seeing those colorful, gorgeous pieces of clothing over and over again.

The Laughing Club of India, is co directed by Adam Bartos, it's a happily lightweight saga about an unusual movement sweeping Bombay. It's mainly about informal laughing clubs, where adults gather together in the streets, or children at primary school, to act purposefully infantile: sticking out tongues, making faces like monkeys, and then laughing and laughing.

Path of Glory

I think Paths Of Glory is among the most powerful antiwar films i have ever seen, it's a gut-wrenching, unforgettable drama. Every scene is awash in grays, and covered in doom. I feel like the movie was great as a black and white film, every shot moved the story along, because every shot brought to the table a clue, inference, or glimpse, on what might happen in the next shot or scene . The cinematographer or director marvelously contrasts the ornate palace where the generals sip their cognac with the grim trenches where injured men stumble about, demoralized and shell shocked.

The costumes in this film represent the whole theme of the film, because the soldiers had the same uniforms and weapons. There is one place in this film where i loved the lighting, it would be the scene when the prisoners were in the dungeon, and all the brightness was on one side of the wall in the dungeon, but on the other side where the prisoners were, it was dark, so it was like they were isolated, and it showed an example of contrast between lights and darks, and i thought lightning was well executed in this scene.

Music was usually played during battle(fast paced/ doom), at the generals' ball(jolly/happy/fast). The main character Douglas gives a tough, gritty performance, with his tense sparring with the high command features, and sharp biting dialogue, basically the entire cast was outstanding, because they added the intensity,emotions, and drama to the film.

Path of Glory is basically about the things that goes on during a war, and how it affects the country, economy, and especially the solider. These soldiers go through a long emotional state, some get shell shocked, some are very saddened from being away from their family for a long time, or a death of a friend, watching so many men die for no reason was maddening. Paths Of Glory is a crowning achievement when it comes to depicting the devastation, both physical and psychological, that war wreaks on the individual, as well as the state.

REAR WINDOW

Rear Window is a mysterious, comic, thriller,about a photographer and the crime he thinks took place across the courtyard of his apartment. The main character begins to watch his neighbors, and he becomes an interrogator. The cinematographer or director, limits the audiences' view to what the main character sees, because they wanted the audience to feel like they were in the movie, or spying on their neighbors through binoculars .

Music or sounds are very important in a movie or film, because it gives the audience a tip on what's going to happen next, whether an emotional state, a tragedy, a fight scene, or a mysterious action. In Rear Window music was used and executed very well, because the music always built you up on what was going to happen. I thought the lighting in this film was great, especially in a specific scene when the murder came over to the main character's apartment.

There was a trick that the main character did that i thought was well thought out, he took his camera added a bulb, and made the most blinding flash to distract or confuse the murder. Lighting and color were used perfectly in that scene, the darks and the lights were placed exactly where they needed to be, to eccentuate the main point.

Even though the camera was based in the main character's apartment, the camera angles and shots were great, the shots of the neighbors' rooms across the main character's apartment were direct, angular,and proportionally shot . Rear Window is weirdly entertaining as well as skillfully executed and thematically complex.

VERTIGO

Vertigo is a 1958 classic Hollywood movie. The movie was a very creative idea, especially the twist of making it a mystery. Vertigo is an interesting movie to watch, it kept me entertained and focused, it was also very emotional, funny, surprising, shocking,and mind blowing. The music matched every moment in the film, when an action is about to take place, a racy or fast paced sound starts to play, but when its a romantic moment a slow paced tune is played, that sounds like the piano or the violin. The lighting was perfect, when a scene needed to be dark it was, when the scene needed to be bright, dimmed, or shallow it was.

Camera direction is very important in a movie or film, and the camera direction in this film was on point because every scene and shot were a prefect picture, and i think the stage direction, camera direction, lighting, and the cinematographer made that possible. The shots came in different varieties, there were extreme close-ups, medium close-ups, close-up, medium shot, wide shot, long shot, background, foreground, and there were definitely high and low angle shots.

The cinematographer also made sure that the emotions of the each character were made known through close-up shots , camera angle, and music. What i also loved so much about this film were the characters' costumes, i thought they were gorgeous, i loved the whole look, and i thought each costumes fit the each character really well, i feel like their outfits complimented their personality. Personally i loved Vertigo because it was funny, mysterious, thrilling , nail biting, and unexpected, you never knew what was gonna happen next.

Lawrence Of Arabia

Lawrence Of Arabia is an old movie but it has a modern twist to it, even though it was made in 1962 it has great picture. The moments in the movies are always mysterious because of the rhythmic music that leads up to the action. The shots in this film were breathtaking because the lighting was on spot, especially when they were in the desert, the height of the mountains were represented well, every shot was a beautiful picture. The Cinematographer(s) of this film did a marvelous job, because the camera directions were on point, the camera moved when the characters moved or when an action took place.

The costumes in the film were gorgeous, the colors were sharp, and with the help of the lighting they were bright and striking, every costume matched each character perfectly well. The character development in this film was noticeable because the main character Lawrence changed from the beginning of the film to the end of it, so that was great. This film was so direct, that as a viewer you did know the conflict, resolution, and the climax. Lawrence Of Arabia is a good movie, and if i had to rate it on a scale from 1 to 10, i would give it a 7.