Red Dawn (2012)

Red Dawn, the 2012 remake, is about when the North Korea army invades America. This movie focuses on the events in the city of Spokane, Washington. A group of teenagers who escape the soldiers with help from local marine Jed Eckert. To help their city and the people they love they must use guerilla tactics to slow down the Korean occupation. With war comes loss as the young kids must learn the tolls of war by taking lives, and losing love ones. The Wolverines are found by a marine force who plan to steal a communication device in order to help Free America areas push back the Koreans. Will they be able to steal and survive the force of Koreans, and safe their country.

                The main flaw with this film was the character development of the characters. It was hard for me to relate to them because they did not feel like real people. It is also hard for me to believe that modern day high school kids would be able to adapt to war in the matter of a few weeks. Even if they have a marine who has been through Iraq.  This was not helped by the poor cast choice for an action drama. The only action hero actor was the led Chris Hemsworth. The other lead was Josh Peck a known TV sitcom actor. As the other actors go they just seemed to be picked because they look good holding a machine gun. The ending was too happily ever after, it is hard to believe that these teens would continue to fight the Koreans and be successful at it. That is why I enjoyed the original, because it should the real hardship and a group fighting a losing battle. When they learn of a safe American controlled area they head to it and only two members survive the escape. The writer was able to make Red Dawn more relevant because the recent North Korean relations. Though I feel that many to not feel the same fears as they did during the Cold War with Soviet Russia.

                I feel that Dan Bradley tried to communicate the emotions of citizens during Cold War and how relevant it is today. The problem is that modern day movie goers can not understand those feelings. Also people do not see North Korea as an equal treat that Russians were. While doing research before writing this Netflix description says that the Chinese Army invades, when it is the North Korea.  That was an example how much people see North Korea Also I feel like the producers had too much control and forced these teen movie idols who do not belong in the action genre. I cannot say it was the director’s fault because I feel like he did his best with the script and the actors he was given.

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Argo

Argo is about the 1980 Iran revolution and takes over the American embassy. Six of the embassy workers manage to escape and hide in the Canadian ambassador house.  Tony Mendez and expert CIA agent in extraction is called in to help these people escape. With no other options Tony decides to enter and leave the country under the cover of a movie crew. A sci- fi movie called Argo that plans to use Iran country side and marketplace as its back drop. Tony manages to get in and meet up with these survivors, but can he train them enough in their limited time to confront the Iranian Customs looking for Americans.

                Argo was very well written adaptation. All the dialogue was well constructed and paced.  I felt every line and important information of the situation and help get into the mind of the character. Especially with Tony Mendez As the audience we really feel his struggle with his job to help people, and being a father to his son. Also I have to give a lot of credit to their production designer for recreating 1980 and especially when it came to wardrobe, set design. I do not know if they shot with a lens filter or it was added later but it gave the affect that this film was older, which make this feel more like a documentary.

                I felt Ben Affleck executed this movie very well.  He always good in and directing in character driven films. He is an actor’s director. His one flaw as a director is creating action based drama/suspense.  I felt the chase scene on the run way was shoved in and made me laugh rather than feel a sense of doubt in the outcome. I felt like I was watching an old Chaplin or a Blues Brothers chase. But overall when it comes to the dialogue and the interaction of each character was well done. Also Affleck is good with movies that focus on one location. That is why I felt like I was watching a live event rather that a modern day film.

Jaws

In a small beach town, Amity Island, a creature is prowling the waters. Sheriff Broody a city man just started right before the busy time of the year. When a girl is found dead on the beach signs of a shark attack seem likely. But the mayor of the town does not want to scare tourist and hides it under the carpet, until a small boy becomes a victim in front of all the locals. Brody then calls in a shark specialist Hooper to come help them out. When the shark attacks again the pair hire local shark hunter Quint to go hunt the deadly beast in his turf.

                It was not till I watched it most recently that I noticed all the foreshadowing techniques used in the film. One of them being the oxygen tank. When Brody is flipping through the pages of the shark book there is a picture of a great white with an oxygen tank in its mouth. Later, while on the boat, Hooper tells Brody how explosive the tanks are if they bust open. Which in reality they are not. These two put together foreshadow the climax of the film when Brody shoots the oxygen tank and causing the shark to explode.  The camera work in this film showed some impressive techniques. One of them is the iconic shot of Brody’s reaction when the shark attacks the little boy. When you zoom in and dolly away the result is beautiful. Another iconic and very effective technique in this films was the score of the film. The music was composed by the popular John Williams.  The simple two powerful notes bring out the primitive and aggressive mind of the shark. Also the suspense it brings as it starts out slow and slowly gets faster and faster. It brings out how patient the shark is on selecting its prey as it slowly builds speed to catch its victim.

                Spielberg really utilize these techniques to really communicate to me. He was to turn a simple shark attack movie and give it real meaning. That the shark represent the fear and the unknown that man must face. That not allow our fears to consume our lives like it did to Quint, a man who was scared by sharks and spent his life to final days hunting them. I know a lot of shark going rampages movies out there but none of them can copy the complexity of Jaws. Overall this movie was very well put together and shows the beginning of Spielberg’s career.

Penguins and Cats and Bats Oh My!

In Batman Returns the city of Gotham is getting into the Christmas Spirit. When the disfigured Cobblepot (The Penguin) returns to claim is birth right he is manipulated by Max Schreck to run for mayor so Schreck can build is power plant that will slowly steal power from the city. The Penguin has plans f his own to kill all of Gotham’s first born. In order to get revenge for what his parents did to him.  Meanwhile Selina Kyle Max’s secretary stumbles on his plans, and is thrown out of the window and then is transformed into Catwoman. She swears revenge on Schreck and plans to ruin his company and kill him. Batman has to confront all these villains while falling for Selina’s charm, and save Gotham before Christmas.

                The biggest problem of this movie to me was the writing. There are too many plot points that were not needed. I was kind of confused why this move take place around Christmas, was because The Penguin abandoned on Christmas? For a kid who was only and infant when that event happen and raised by penguins would know that. Was the movie original release date was around Christmas and was pushed back to June who knows? One last thing about the screenplay was it suffered from having too many villains in it, similar to Spiderman 3. You might say Catwoman and The Penguin were the only villains, but Schrek was planning to steal Gotham’s power. It was one of the most forgettable threat in this movie because it was an immediate one. The most powerful element in this movie is the production design. Using designs so elaborate and industrial reminds of German expression films such as Metropolis. It really brings to life the very industrial Gotham. For example the two large statues of men pulling levers show the hard work and struggle of the everyday citizen. Also the makeup of The Penguin is very well done. The blackness around his eyes, the grotesque teeth, and the hand flippers are really impressive.

                Tim Burton as always has big elaborate production designs. Of course this is credited to Bo Welch in this film. The production design was the only technique really effective to communicate to me as an audience. It showed me how powerful industries have in the world. Also it help make me believe how real this world is and its characters are. This element makes up for the ineffectiveness of the screenplay. Which really confused me on who and what I should be caring about , or what I should be getting out of this film.

                

Batman Returns

Metropolis 

Suicide Made Funny

Harold and Maude is dark comedy directed by Hal Ashby. The first ten minutes you have to wonder what am I watching. As I watch a kid getting ready to hang himself, I was thinking wow this movie gets depressing fast, not knowing it was a comedy. Than the kid's mother walks in and act as though nothing out of the ordinary and that is how we are introduced to the main character Harold. A rich, young man, who fakes suicides trying to get a loving emotion from his mother. Harold meets an older woman who tries to live life to fullest, and lives her own set of rules.  Maude teaches Harold about love and finding happiness in life. I thought the acting and dialogue was great. I love Bud Cort’s ability to be serious when trying to commit suicide but making light hearted where you able to get a laugh from it and not feel sad. The dialogue between Harold and Maude was simple but meaningful. Some movies try to push long, metaphorical dialogue and you lose when the character is saying. Simplicity is always better to me. The one problem I had with the movie is the constant repetition of Cat Stevens’ If You want To Sing, Sing Out. I enjoyed when Maude was singing it, and at the end. But  all those time in between kind of got overwhelming. It was just slapping the theme of the movie in your face over and over again. What I felt most interesting about this movie was the social appetence of this movie. When it was first came out people did not find the suicide jokes funny. Though listening to my classmates laugh as Harold plays a dead float in the pool, what does it say about our generation. Have people become use to laughing at dark situations of real life, or do you we laugh because we are uncomfortable and unsure of how we should respond to it. Why do we laugh at the actions of a somewhat depressed kind? I do not the answer but it just an interesting reaction I got from watching this movie.

How I Learned to Love the Stranglove

The movie of the week is Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is Kubrick’s groundbreaking comedy. This movie depicts the tension between Russia and the United States during the Cold War. Lets begin with the incredible acting abilities of Peter Sellers. He depicts three of the five main characters of the movie. Two of which interact with each other. I am not a huge fan of movies were an actor plays multiple characters, but each character is thoroughly acted to depict characters different from their counterparts. Speaking of characters, Kubrick’s characters are jokes themselves. For example there is Bridge General Jack Ripper, who is eccentric and orders the nuclear attack on Russia using a back door order. Obviously a remark to the serial Jack Ripper, because Brig, Gen. Ripper is planning to kill billions of people cold-heartily. The sexual innuendos,and the comedic interactions bring out a chuckle in this very grim situation. But one joke I found that did not get a laugh from my peers is the scene with General Buck and his secretary. When he is called away from his affair and tells her to “start the countdown” and he will be back before blast off. I thought a class filled with college students would get the innuendo. The most comedic performance comes from Dr. Strangelove himself, the mad German scientist. With his self aware arm choking him, and making him do the Nazi salute, to him yelling “Mein Führer!” in excitement to the president.The long running joke by the character Ripper mentioning ones personal fluids. The best joke of all is when Strangelove tells the Generals, President Muffley, and the Ambassador that they would have to procreate with ten women each in order to keep the human species going in the post nuclear fallout. This by far my new favorite Kubrick film, which Clockwork Orange was originally. This movie has so much to say about the ridiculousness of the Cold War, and the people who operate in both the U.S. and Russian government.