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Movie Review #3

Ink by Jamin Winans

1) Provide a description of the film. Discuss the plot and characters and how they influenced the film. Was the plot line or character development more important? Why?
In the film "Ink", directed by Jamin Winans, we see a war.  A war between two forces, fighting over our souls.  One fights for good, by providing good dreams, feelings, and images in an attempt to thwart the their opponents, the Incubus.  The Incubus are a group of people who attempt to steal souls human beings through nightmares and feelings of maliciousness.  The movie follows a little girl, Emma, who was kidnapped by a cloaked, grotesque man named Ink.  Ink wants to give her to the Incubus so he can join their group.  The only way to save her from losing her soul forever to the Incubus is a group of storytellers, who's job is to disrupt the incubi that are trying to corrupt the father John by making him do business instead of caring for his daughter.  At the hospital is where Emma's earthly body is held, John must confront himself with who he has become since the passing of his wife and remember who he once was when his wife was still alive, more than once.

The character development was the most important.  The plot was set in stone from the beginning and never really changed.  The whole film is about character development.  We even see sinister forces like Ink go through a major character change, good or bad, that effectively changes the entire supposed outcome.  Other characters, like the band of storytellers tasked with getting the girl back and rescuing John from the Incubus that are slowly corrupting his mind, go through emotional gauntlets that rarely let up, leaving them to bond closely with each other, strengthening their relationship while they desperately fight for the lives and souls of a man and his young daughter.


2) Think critically about how the film was shot, directed, use of lighting, etc. What do you think was effective in the making of the film? What took away or could have been done differently to enhance the film?
The film was shot in two ways.  One for the real world, and one for the spiritual.  The real world just uses more lighter colors, and everything seems bland and everyone is boring.  The spiritual world is used in a couple ways.  When the incubus are nearby, the screen goes greenish and highlights glowing lights, such as the incubus' glasses.  When the storytellers are in control, the light goes heavenly, and the colors are cool.  This is relaxing, especially for the viewer as the incubus and their darkening aura around them can leave the viewer feeling suffocated.

3) What is you overall opinion of the film? Would you recommend it? Why/why not?

Overall, I highly reccomend this film to anyone who is a fan of cult classics like "Donnie Darko", "The Matrix", or "Pan's Labyrinth".  It provides a story with iconic characters like Ink, Liev, and even insignificant characters like the ugly bride stuck in the spiritual world, obsessed with vanity and treats any women with more beauty than her cruelly, are rememberable.  The film is also a good metaphor for the battle between evil and good on different levels, such inner thoughts like depression and denial, two of which John experiences consistently.

Good Will Hunting Review

1) Describe the Film

The film is about a trouble young man who works as a janitor at M.I.T.  He then gets involved with one of the teachers when Will, the protagonist, solvs a very difficult problem on a chalk board in a hallway. Professor Lambeau hunts down Will after catching him solving another one of his problems, and finds him in a jail cell, where he has been charged with assault, for a fight he had with a group of other locals.  The professor takes him out of jail and his rough life and teaches him, and brings him to multiple therapists, where, an old friend of Lambeau, who is also from the same rough neighborhood as Will, works with him.  Sean Maguire, played by Robin Williams, works with Will on his issues with other people and using his talented gift of solving mathematical equations that others could barely comprehend to get out of his violent neighborhood.

2) What did you notice about the writing in the film.

The writing was simple.  It was short lines, with little words.  The diction was simple, as it should be because some characters in the film were clearly uneducated after high school.  The cussing, in my opinion, is necessary.  Everyone cusses now and then, and not putting it in the movie, especially for people from Boston, is a crime.  It also adds another part of the "rough life" factor that Will has.

3) What was a favorite line from the film?  Why?

My favorite line is when Sean, Robin Williams' character, after being verbally ripped apart by Will the first time they met, gives it right back to Will, and shows his dominance over Will.  Showing Will his not unlike others, and the he himself, Sean, lived a very similar life as Will.

4) This film won an Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay).  Do you think it deserved this award? Why or Why not?

Yes, it deserved the award.  It's a great screenplay that accurately shows gifted youth with troubled lives.  Furthermore, it shows people who have had to live with not even a respectable father or mother.  And why people like Will, end up with people like Chuckie Sullivan, played by Ben Affleck, who is a friend of Will Hunting in the film.  It's also a different take on boy genius, done in an urban setting.

The Clean Up

Film Review #2

TRON: Legacy

1) Provide a description of the film. Discuss the plot and characters and how they influenced the film. Was the plot line or character development more important? Why?
TRON:Legacy is a film about a boy, Sam Flynn who, after losing his father many many years before, receives contact from his dad, Kevin Flynn he thought to be dead.  Sam decides to investigate the source of the message and ends up at his fathers old arcade.  At the arcade, Sam discovers  secret room where apparently Kevin had been working from quite sometime.  While sitting at the desk, Sam accidentally turns on a machine behind him, which sends him into what is known as "the grid".  In the grid, Sam discovers a new world that his father was trying to create many years before.  It turns out however, that Clue, Kevin's artificial intelligence equal, has taken over and is trying to create "the perfect system".  In his quest to create the perfect system, Clue runs Kevin out of his creation and now has set his eyes on the real world, where he seeks to eliminate all imperfections, and as Kevin puts it "What is more imperfect then our world?"  Kevin also discovers a new race whilst on the grid.  This race is formed by an "isomorphic algorithm".  This new algorithm basically can solve the world's problems such as diseases, hunger and what not.  Clue, in his quest for perfection, slaughters all of the "isos", but only one remains, Quorra.  Kevin and Sam must now stop Clue from reaching the real world and destroying at all, and they must save Quorra, the best possible thing that could happen to humanity.

Overall, the plot line was what drove the story.  Sam and Kevin do the whole father son deal that has been done many times over, but this idea of a A.I., threatening to set the world straight through violence and dictatorship and that Kevin has created something that the world is in dire need of is original and thought provoking.  This greater good is what motivates characters, even those that are as stubborn as Kevin, to do something about it.

2) Think critically about how the film was shot, directed, use of lighting, etc. What do you think was effective in the making of the film? What took away or could have been done differently to enhance the film?
The film was shot entirely in front of a green screen, save for a few reality scenes.  The lighting was simple, and everything had a glow.  The bad guys were printed with orange, good were white.  But the whole idea of being inside a computer was adapted beautifully that even some nature lovers could enjoy.  The film was shot like any other film, but what really made it was the special effects.  The special effects of the cars, airplanes, explosions looking like little pixels bursting in air, and the make up and colors of certain characters to give them the computer feel was incredible.  Nothing really could have been done different, except maybe more scenes of the "games" or history on how Kevin got stuck on the grid and how Clue came to power would have been great.  But that is asking a lot considering how much they have already done.

3) What is you overall opinion of the film? Would you recommend it? Why/why not?
Overall, it was great.  The soundtrack was made by the infamous french artists "Daft Punk" which only made it better.  I highly recommend this film to anyone who has ever been fascinated by technology in any way shape or form because it brings a new thinking to how technology evolves and never stops evolving and what could happen if not controlled properly.  If you haven't seen it, you're missing out.

The Artist

1) Describe the film.
The film was about a very talented actor during the silent film era, who is at his prime.  During his life of popularity, he encounters a fan, who in turn tries out to become an actor.  With the motivation of George Valentine, the male character, Peppy Miller makes her way towards stardom through "talking" pictures, while George is left in the dust and forgotten.  George attempts at becoming his own director, but the movie fails in a bust and he eventually goes broke, especially after the stock market crash.  With Peppy Miller becoming ever more famous and George Valentine becomes ever so depressed, things start to spiral downward and George Valentine's pride could drive him to the ground.

2) How is the story driven? By the characters or plot?
The story is driving by both.  We get into the very depressing and emotional part due to Valentine's pride, dragging him down.  However, he turns around because of the character, Peppy Miller, Valetine's love, brings he back to life.  The plot line also drives the story.  With the rising fame of Peppy Miller in her talkies, and the downward spiral Valentine endurs after being left in the technological dust.  Because of this exchange of success, Valentine's pride gets the best of him.

3) Talk about the cinematography. How was the use of lighting, acting, camera angles scene development used to help enhance the film?
With only black and white, the best effects to add were the contrast of light and dark.  One scene where this is effectively used is in the shot where Valentine knocks over the camera, and a beam of light shines towards the audience's perspective, giving the room a feeling of chaos and disorder, which was exactly what was happening.

4) What was you favorite scene from the film? Why? Describe the scene as well as how it was shot.
My favorite scene was in the beginning, where we see Valentine's true nature.  He is a jokester but also at the same time very pompous and self-centered.  We also see in the scene the showing of Valentine's movie.  The angle from which the camera is positioned inside the theater experiments with filming film and capturing the audience's opinions and emotions toward the film.

5) What is the experience of watching a silent film like? How does it relate to watching a "talkie"?
I first thought it was boring, and never would have watched it if I wasn't recommended by some many people.  It took more of looking at the characters and figuring things out for yourself on what is happening in the movie.  It's more difficult to understand and though-provoking.  You eventually get really into the film because you are focused on it so much, increasing your feelings toward the characters.  Compared to a talkie, it is more interactive.  It's not like a "talkie", where everything is told to the audience, resulting in a lack of thinking and interest in the piece.

6) Would you encourage others to view the film? Why or why not?
I highly recommend others to watch it.  Even if you can't stand silent films, it's important to understand where movies came from and not only get a history lesson, but experience a different work of art instead of just common, mindless humor that most production companies spew out today.

A Day

1) Describe your film
My film is a brief overview of what goes on at school throughout a day.  I mostly use creative shots along with music from "The xx" to create a feeling of nostalgia from our fast lives.

2) What was the mood you were going for?
The modd I was going for was somewhere around the feeling of a day at school.  The hustle and bustle and sometimes stressful feeling that school provokes.

3) Do you think you were effective in representing the mood? Why/How?
In a way, yes.  I did capture a fair amount of what goes on at Pinewood.  But it can be also be confusing as the emotion isn't clear as I would like it to be.

4) How did the use of sound or music influence the film?
The music was the main force behind the film.  It added more to the emotion of going through life and gave life to the still shots of nature.

5) Would you do anything different?
I would probably add more scenes and choose a different song that was longer, to try and encompass even more of what goes on at school.

6) What are you most proud of?
I'm most proud of the fact that I got up at 6 am to go film the sunrise and get the shots I needed.  It was the first time I ever did something like that.  Probably won't be the last.