Coen Brothers... Gross

I hate the Coen brothers. Therefore, I have nothing to say about this unit. Although there were funny moments in Raising Arizona and Fargo, the violence and gore ruined it all for me. I really enjoyed the characters in those two movies (I wouldn't know about Old Country because I refuse to watch any film like that), however the stereotypical accents and characterizations of Hi and others made for quite a laugh. That's all I have to say about this unit though. I'm not a fan. Yep.

Altman's Cinematography Saves the Day

After viewing three of Robert Altman's films I have been left with a very dissatisfied taste on my pallet. Since these three films were of such varying degree I don't feel as though I have truly grasped what Altman is all about, and because of this I don't think I'm as big a fan as I could be. There were a few specific things in all three films we watched in class that really bugged me and I'm going to vent about them right now: First, in The Long Goodbye, one song the entire movie?! Seriously?! Although the different variations were pretty cool for the first half hour, being a music person, it got to be very repetitive and altogether annoying. Second, Nashville, why? There were 500 billion characters (exaggeration I know), the plot was... nonexistent?, and then someone dies.. not to mention it revolves solely around country music, and bad country music if I may point out. Finally, The Player, the main character beat a guy to death.....yep. I was very excited to see how this film would turn out but after the murder there was never anything else that seemed to grab my attention. This film reminded me of Crime and Punishment, where the first 50 pages are really engaging and after that all you read is Raskolnikov going more and more crazy which is not too fun. So, those are some specific things I DIDN'T like about these films, but there are two aspects that have left me wanting to explore the work of Altman much more: his cinematography and editing. As a whole, the way he shot these films were remarkable. The duration of some of his scenes give the viewers the notion that they are watching the action unfold right before their eyes. Altman doesn't force viewers into situations, conversations, events, whatnot (cough Woody Allen), he allows the camera to subtly divulge into the world of his characters by itself. In Altman's films, the camera seems to act as sort of a worker bee, doing it's absolute best to catch every detail, conversation, etc. without having to break from the naturalness of it all. One unique thing that plays a very prominent role in The Long Goodbye is the fact that the camera is rarely still. Although this style may make some people feel nauseous, uneasy, or just annoyed, it seems to help keep the story going. Since the camera is never still I found myself subconsciously believing the plot/story line was never still even though there were times when the action was pretty subdued. Besides Altman's outstanding cinematography, I am a big fan of his editing as well. Instead of trying to spice things up with dramatic fades and weird transitions, Altman remains very simple with typical cuts placed only when necessary. These simple cuts also make the viewers feel as if they are truly "in" the film since the editing is how a normal person would view the scene (especially conversations) if it was happening right in front of them. Overall, Altman is on my "TBD" list of directors I love or hate. Some tiny details have turned out to be obtrusive annoyances in my eyes, but his overall camera work and editing style cover up the crapiness of some of his other choices.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

My first exposure to Woody Allen's directing, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, left me wanting more. Since I'm not familiar with Allen's work I can't make any comparisons/contrasts (that's up to you guys-Ian and Char), but I will touch on some things that stood out to me and could possibly be recurring in some of his other films...

First off, the story itself is quite quirky. The main characters are Vicky and Cristina, best friends who really couldn't be any more different, except that they've both fallen for a steamy man named Juan Antonio in Barcelona. There isn't really anything unique about this set-up of characters, however, Allen chooses to throw in an anal-retentive fiance (also not too out of the ordinary), and Juan Antonio's psycho ex-wife, who manages to put a remarkably odd and mildly uncomfortable twist on things. Going into this film I expected the typical love triangle between two best friends and a foreigner, but the actual result was somewhat of a love pentagon (The Dentist?!). I am completely fine with Cristina and Juan Antonio's relationship, but when Maria Elena comes into the picture, not just as a roommate but as a lover to both, I can't help but cringe just a bit. Allen took a relatively normal relationship and threw in a curveball, resulting in a really distorted view of what a successful relationship looks like. The "threesome" really threw me off during this film. Looking back on it I find myself wondering what the point is of these weird relationships, especially the importance of Maria Elena's character. I may be completely wrong in my assumption, but a potential recurring idea in Allen's films may revolve around absurd and out of the ordinary relationships and how those affect the overall story. I guess we will just have to wait and see. My last comment on the narrative of this film has to do with the ending. To put it simply: IT SUCKED! This film ended just how it should/could in real-life, but definitely not how the viewers want. No loose ends are tied and it's like we're back to square one. Hopefully that's not a typical characteristic of Allen's work. Overall though, I was very entertained by the rawness and deep development of each character. Everyone held their own and definitely enhanced the story in some way, shape, or form.

The narrative aspects of this film were well done, however the most prominent things in my mind were Allen's cinematic choices. (This next idea isn't REALLY cinematic style but I'm going to put in my two cents about it anyway). When I was watching this film, I felt kind of like I was reading/watching a book. Almost every scene was narrated (film noir?) and informed the audience what had just happened and what was going on before the actual scene on screen began. This was very important in this film because the scenes cut from one to the next directly, instead of smoothly transitioning from one to the other; therefore, the narration kept the viewers up to speed with what the characters were going through without having to visually show that. I hope this is a typical Woody Allen trademark because it kept the story moving along which allowed for nice breaks in the action to catch up with what was going on.
The narration is wonderful, however, the most significant cinematic technique in this film revolves around the camera work. (I'm sure there are really technical terms to describe what I'm about to say but I don't know them so I"ll do my best). The camera work in this film does one of the best jobs of putting the viewers in the movie with the characters. While watching this film it felt like we were intruding on private conversations and actions. Allen does this with a lot of close-ups and very natural movement between people-not perfectly smooth camera movements but also not shaky like a hand-held. There were definitely some conversations and sex scenes that were filmed so intrusively that it was awkward and somewhat embarrassing to witness because you felt like you were right next to them. This camerawork took this film to a new level. Since it felt like we were watching a documentary/home videos of sorts, the characters seemed completely real and organic; we commented as a group how awkward the characters seemed at points because of how real it was filmed. Maybe this was a one-time deal for Allen when it comes to cinematic style, but I sure hope not. I have never felt so involved and personally engaged in a movie in ages. I really hope this is a common thread throughout Allen's work.

Woody Allen definitely let us peer into quite the story with Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Although odd and somewhat uncomfortable at times, Allen's cinematic style, depth of character, and out of the ordinary plot twists in this film have left me very eager to see what else is a part of his collection.

The Incredibles is Incredible

One of my favorite movies is The Incredibles, which just happened to be on twice this past weekend! I know it's intended to be a "family film," but the more I watch it now the more I like it. I personally think it's phenominal for a variety of different things. First off, the animation itself is awesome. All of the different settings, characters, super powers, villians, etc are unbelievably created by computers. Not only is this film fun to watch, I find the plot to be very ingenious. Some may say it's cheesy, I find it to be very entertaining. Every day life + superpowers= problems. duh. This kind of reminds me of Harry Potter in a way now that I think about it. The witches and wizards in that series isn't allowed to use magic around muggles, just like the Incrdibles aren't allowed to use their powers once they're banned from being superheros. And in both cases they are put in situations where they must use their powers to defeat evil and save themselves. So amazing. I love this movie because of it's sweet visuals and because of the exciting, rivoting, and exhilirating plot, and also because they have some pretty sweet super powers. It's up for debate but I would say if i could have any superpower i'd want to have Dash's.. Who wouldn't love to be able to run without basically being seen? Which character's superpower would you like to have? Mr. Incredible's strength? Elastagirl's elasticity? Dash's speed? Violet's forcefield? JackJack's ability to start on fire? or Iceman's ice making ability? So many options!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BatbZ8eztQE

Too Many Groundhog Days..

I have always loved romantic comedies and knew I would like watching Bring it Up Baby and Groundhog Day in class, and don't get me wrong I did, but I did realize that romantic comedies aren't that great. I'v always been a fan of the light-heartedness, the fluffy plot, the expected ending, and the anticipation that leads up to the two main characters getting together. However, sitting through Groundhog Day I found myself being very bored. From the get-go it was obvious that Phil and Rita were going to get together, and after about the sixth Groundhog Day it just got stupid. The concept of the film is very creative, and I understand why it's enjoyable, but when looking at it with a critical eye it gets old very fast. That doesn't mean I didn't like it, I just realized that I have a much more keen eye for films these days. I will always enjoy romantic comedies, but now that I know what a "good" film is, they've kind of dropped on my list of must-sees.

Go Wildcats!

As everyone knows High School Musical 3: Senior Year was released last Friday; and as inticipated it is a box office hit.



Although I haven't had time to spend $15 to watch America's favorite high school heart-throbs trump around belting out songs of love sickness at basketball games, I still have an opinion. I will be the first to admit: I LOVE TROY! I am, and always will be a HSM fan. I know almost all the words to every song and even took the time to learn some of the dances from the previous movies. I downloaded the current movie's soundtrack only a few days ago and find myself looping the songs through my brain as if my iPod is permanently stuck in my ears and on repeat. Enough about my obsession with the music...

The films themselves: from a teenagers perspective: AMAZING! If only EHS stood for Edina High School.. but from a teenager posing as a film critic: they're fun, entertaining, but a bit cheesy. It's very easy for these films to appeal to so many people: every girl between the ages of 10 and who knows wants to be Gabriella, Sharpey is the girl you love to hate, and the boys all offer their own unique personality. The songs are catchy, the dances are flashy, but it's all fake. Last time I checked no one pours their hearts out to the school while standing on a table in the lunch room (HSM 1) (unless maybe you go to a performing arts school?), no one gets to work with ALL of their friends at a country club in the summer (HSM 2), and no one stops in the middle of a basketball game to belt out a few longing lyrics to a loved one in the stands (HSM 3). All of this is cute and exciting on screen, but when taking a step back it's just too fake. HSM takes stereotypes of different high school groups and attempts to put them into one cohesive unit, who just happen to become bffs over night. I wish that were the case in a typical high school environment but it's just not so. Although the plot, characters, songs, and dances go way over the top, I just can't help but love it. Does HSM have the potential to be this generations "Grease?" I guess we'll just have to wait and see, but in the meantime: GO WILDCATS!

Citizen Kane

What's the big deal with Citizen Kane? Maybe I missed the mark or am just not educated enough in the art of film, but I don't understand why Citizen Kane is "one of the greatest films to date" according to critics. I understand that "Rosebud" ends up being a big twist and Kane's life is explained (arguably) becaues of that one word, but a sled? Seriously Welles? My opinion on "Rosebud" is that it makes the movie very cheesy. It could've been "tulip" or "tiger lily," which would've made it even worse, but I feel like the ending was just a cop-out. Although the storyline is fairly two-dimensional, with flashbacks and montages and other unique ways of telling it, the ending just seems so flat. There is no big excitement or climax leading up to it. Kane gets abruptly taken away from his childhood, goes power-crazy, has an affair, blows his political career, forces his wife to flaunt her crappy operatic talents, his second wife leaves, and he dies saying "Rosebud." Is it really that exciting or original? I'm not saying the film completely sucked but it just seems so stupid. What person in their right mind would want to watch a movie that ends with a childhood sled as the thing that ties everything together? I need some excitement, maybe a bit of violence even. I'm in no way completely bashing the work Welles pulled off but could someone please explain to me why Citizen Kane is so amazing? Unfortunately "rosebud" wilted in my opinion.