I have seen only one other movie directed by Sergio Leone, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. I know; I'm sorry.
But I would like to write about something that I noticed that the great director does in at least both of the movies I've seen in which he directs.
He seems to have had all the time in the world when he was directing becasue in both of the movies it can take forever to watch (not that's a bad thing). That time is usually filled up by having the good guy/hero stare at the bad guy forever. Other times when Leone will simply carry on a scene for a very long time. An example of this is the end of The Good the Bad and the Ugly and various parts of Once Upon a Time in the West, such as when Morton is crawling on the ground towards the end, and sees Frank.
However I'm sure Leone didn't do it to piss viewers off. I think, and an sure he did it to build up the dramatic affect and build up the characters.
Even though it can be long I think he still makes great movies. Well, I like the ones I've seen so far.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
Creepy!
In the movie Strangers on a train, Guy is introduced to a creepy Bruno who seems to know everything about him. Bruno has this expert plan on how to murder two people. As the film carries on, Guy becomes more and more irritated by Bruno because Bruno killed Guy's wife and Guy will not kill Bruno's father.
I have honestly never seen one of Alfred Hitchcock's film before, sorry all you film nuts. So upon hearing Mr. Kloubachar and a few others in my 4th hour class talk about him and his masterpieces, I though picking a Hitchcock film was a necessity. I watched Strangers on a train(1951). Watching this film I couldn't get away from seeing Bruno Anthony, played by Robert Walker, following everyone around, it creeped me out.
So I did a little background research on him. After playing in a few movies his wife broke off with him and he really never recovered. He drank a lot and soon was arrested for hit-and-run charges and drinking charges. His ex-wife married producer David O. Selznick and Walker hit the ceiling. He was committed to a sanatorium and not released until 1949. I think this part of Bruno in the film is a great role for him, how sad that sounds. He is a psychopath in the film and in real life. I bet he didn't even have to act! However, despite the role of psychopath in movies, he played a verity of characters in comedies in the 1940s. I guess what I can learn about Walkers behavior on and off the screen is that even though he was messed up in the head, it can be a great role in film, and don't do drugs! Walker was on his way to stardom at the time he died of a dose of sodium amytal, which his doctor gave him because he was found in an extremely agitated state.
The other main character in Hitchcock's Strangers on a train is Guy Haines, a professional tennis player, acted by Farley Granger. Guy is an athlete annoyed by all the media and people bugging him about his personal life. The media says Guy had an affair with a woman and doesn't love his wife. She wants a divorce but when he goes to see her she had changed her mind.
Right out of high school Farley was recruited by producer Samuel Goldwyn. His first Hitchcock movie was in 1948 called Rope. Strangers on a train was one of Granger's first big hits and Hitchcock tried to "reveal the troubled nature that lay beneath the surface of a seemingly upright young man." I think this could teach us a lesson opposite to that of Robert Walker's. In this case Granger was a excellent actor and made a living off it. I think his childhood and the Great Depression made him the actor that he was.
I think we can learn from the creepiness of Robert Walker that some actors are just themselves in films and some aren't. In all, I thought that Strangers on a train was a decent movie and will probably check out some more Hitchcock movies.
I have honestly never seen one of Alfred Hitchcock's film before, sorry all you film nuts. So upon hearing Mr. Kloubachar and a few others in my 4th hour class talk about him and his masterpieces, I though picking a Hitchcock film was a necessity. I watched Strangers on a train(1951). Watching this film I couldn't get away from seeing Bruno Anthony, played by Robert Walker, following everyone around, it creeped me out.
So I did a little background research on him. After playing in a few movies his wife broke off with him and he really never recovered. He drank a lot and soon was arrested for hit-and-run charges and drinking charges. His ex-wife married producer David O. Selznick and Walker hit the ceiling. He was committed to a sanatorium and not released until 1949. I think this part of Bruno in the film is a great role for him, how sad that sounds. He is a psychopath in the film and in real life. I bet he didn't even have to act! However, despite the role of psychopath in movies, he played a verity of characters in comedies in the 1940s. I guess what I can learn about Walkers behavior on and off the screen is that even though he was messed up in the head, it can be a great role in film, and don't do drugs! Walker was on his way to stardom at the time he died of a dose of sodium amytal, which his doctor gave him because he was found in an extremely agitated state.
The other main character in Hitchcock's Strangers on a train is Guy Haines, a professional tennis player, acted by Farley Granger. Guy is an athlete annoyed by all the media and people bugging him about his personal life. The media says Guy had an affair with a woman and doesn't love his wife. She wants a divorce but when he goes to see her she had changed her mind.
Right out of high school Farley was recruited by producer Samuel Goldwyn. His first Hitchcock movie was in 1948 called Rope. Strangers on a train was one of Granger's first big hits and Hitchcock tried to "reveal the troubled nature that lay beneath the surface of a seemingly upright young man." I think this could teach us a lesson opposite to that of Robert Walker's. In this case Granger was a excellent actor and made a living off it. I think his childhood and the Great Depression made him the actor that he was.
I think we can learn from the creepiness of Robert Walker that some actors are just themselves in films and some aren't. In all, I thought that Strangers on a train was a decent movie and will probably check out some more Hitchcock movies.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
My Darling Clementine :)
I'm honestly not sure what we have to write about for this post, so I'm just going to talk about the movie and hope it covers what we need.
Last time I talked about mise-en-scene. But tonight I'm thinking Arby's.....and thinking about writing about the Photography of My Darling Clementine. Many times Ford shows Wyatt at a low angle. I guess this is because he is the hero of this story and looks powerful when shot like this.
Another example of the photography is when the two Earp brothers and Doc start walking to the OK Corral. This is called an extreme long shot. It shows the characters and there surroundings and in this movies makes them look like lone cowboys ready for the fight of their life.
Ford does an excellent job with the photography in this film and I really liked it!
Last time I talked about mise-en-scene. But tonight I'm thinking Arby's.....and thinking about writing about the Photography of My Darling Clementine. Many times Ford shows Wyatt at a low angle. I guess this is because he is the hero of this story and looks powerful when shot like this.
Another example of the photography is when the two Earp brothers and Doc start walking to the OK Corral. This is called an extreme long shot. It shows the characters and there surroundings and in this movies makes them look like lone cowboys ready for the fight of their life.
Ford does an excellent job with the photography in this film and I really liked it!
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
What makes Citizen Kane?
For this post I chose mise-en-scene. Not because I thought it would be the easiest, but because it could be the most important film technique in this film.
Let's take the lighting for instance. At certain parts of the film, the low key lighting hid Kane's face as to show power or the mysterious man behind the powerful newspaper company. Though creepy or scary, this shows us the type of person Kane is. Another Example of this is at the beginning of the film where all the reporters are sitting around doing nothing. All you can see is the sun rays shinning through the windows. You really don't know what to expect when you first see this scene. This could show that the reporters don't know that much about Kane themselves, which they don't.
Another example of Mise-en-scene is all of Kane's big house, statues, furniture, and other nick-knacks. Seeing this, stuff, you can tell Kane is at least somewhat wealthy without knowing what he does for a living. Personally, I think all of this stuff is a cover up to how lonely he really is. I think that if he had somebody to love or care for then he would care about them and not focus on collecting all that crap.
I think mise-en-scene has a lot to do with making movies and actually makes Citizen Kane the movie it is.
Let's take the lighting for instance. At certain parts of the film, the low key lighting hid Kane's face as to show power or the mysterious man behind the powerful newspaper company. Though creepy or scary, this shows us the type of person Kane is. Another Example of this is at the beginning of the film where all the reporters are sitting around doing nothing. All you can see is the sun rays shinning through the windows. You really don't know what to expect when you first see this scene. This could show that the reporters don't know that much about Kane themselves, which they don't.
Another example of Mise-en-scene is all of Kane's big house, statues, furniture, and other nick-knacks. Seeing this, stuff, you can tell Kane is at least somewhat wealthy without knowing what he does for a living. Personally, I think all of this stuff is a cover up to how lonely he really is. I think that if he had somebody to love or care for then he would care about them and not focus on collecting all that crap.
I think mise-en-scene has a lot to do with making movies and actually makes Citizen Kane the movie it is.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Nemo equals Perfecto
The family film, Disney and Pixar's Finding Nemo is a wonderful and brilliantly told story. Directed by Andrew Stanton, this film is one of the year's best.
Nemo, a small clown fish in a huge deep blue sea is captured by a diver off the Australian coast. His father, Marlin, voiced by Albert Brooks, goes looking for him, but doesn't know what lies ahead as Marlin's big adventure unfolds. Soon Marlin meets up with Dory, voiced by Ellen DeGeneres, who is an oblivious and forgetful little fish. They venture out to find Nemo but run into small problems here and there.
The cinematography used in this movie is outstanding, for an animation film. The colors on the fish and shadows of the dark, deep sea where Marlin and Dory mistakenly go seem like it's real. A steady cam seems to be used as you can follow the fish throughout the sea.
Nemo meanwhile, is in a fish tank in a dentist's office in Sidney, Australia where he meets new friends, yet still misses hi dad, even after being mean to Marlin and thinking Marlin is over protected of him. The personal conflict between Nemo and his dad sets the main conflict, Marlin looking for Nemo, up perfectly.
The cinematography wasn't the only thing that was great in Finding Nemo. The editing was great too. There were many montage scenes of the fish in the ocean as well as dissolves that tied each scene together perfectly.
With such a heart-warming story line and the perfectness of the cinematography and editing, no wonder this is one of the best films of the year.
Nemo, a small clown fish in a huge deep blue sea is captured by a diver off the Australian coast. His father, Marlin, voiced by Albert Brooks, goes looking for him, but doesn't know what lies ahead as Marlin's big adventure unfolds. Soon Marlin meets up with Dory, voiced by Ellen DeGeneres, who is an oblivious and forgetful little fish. They venture out to find Nemo but run into small problems here and there.
The cinematography used in this movie is outstanding, for an animation film. The colors on the fish and shadows of the dark, deep sea where Marlin and Dory mistakenly go seem like it's real. A steady cam seems to be used as you can follow the fish throughout the sea.
Nemo meanwhile, is in a fish tank in a dentist's office in Sidney, Australia where he meets new friends, yet still misses hi dad, even after being mean to Marlin and thinking Marlin is over protected of him. The personal conflict between Nemo and his dad sets the main conflict, Marlin looking for Nemo, up perfectly.
The cinematography wasn't the only thing that was great in Finding Nemo. The editing was great too. There were many montage scenes of the fish in the ocean as well as dissolves that tied each scene together perfectly.
With such a heart-warming story line and the perfectness of the cinematography and editing, no wonder this is one of the best films of the year.
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