This is about the true story of Desmond T. Doss, the conscientious objector who saved 75 men in Okinawa, during WWII, without firing a single shot. He believed that killing is so wrong and that he could never do it, let alone hold a gun. He was the only American soldier in WWII to fight on the front lines without a weapon. He was the first conscientious objector ever to win the Congressional Medal of Honor
This movie was gory and all but that’s no surprise because it’s a Mel Gibson film. A scene that stood out to me the most was the very end. This was when Doss was injured and was being moved along the rope to safety. This part of the film was so majestic and almost fantasy-like. It begins with a tracking shot of Doss gliding along the rope. Then the camera gives us a 360 shot of him simply floating, to give the audience time to think about all he’s done and that this was the first time that he’s in an injured state, like those that he saved were in. Then, there is a shot of Doss from under him, showing the exaggeration of sunlight and the sky above him, almost as if he is floating up the heavens as if it were a Biblical reference to his beliefs throughout the film (he doesn’t die). Then there is a high angle shot that zooms out and turns into almost an aerial shot that shows him and the war zone around him. This was a wonderful way of ending the film. This movie included jump cuts, wide-tight-wide-tight patterned shots, and natural lighting. Overall, this movie was good. Although, there were parts that threw me off and made this movie seem as if it were a joke. For example, there was a scene that came across as weird and it was during battle and there was blood that spewed onto the camera and that was very odd and I couldn't stop thinking about it during the rest of the movie, it gave me a Call of Duty vibe. Then there was the fact that Vince Vaughn was playing a serious, authoritative, role that did not suit him and the lightheartedness in the earlier parts of the film were not fitting for the film. Andrew Garfield amazed me with his outstanding performance, his acting was incredible. The story of Doss still has me in disbelief that he singlehandedly saved so many lives, that too without a weapon. This was a great story. I am glad that many people now know the heroism of Desmond T. Doss.
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This film was about a really old pensioner named Umberto Domenico Ferrari who comes back to his apartment style house from a protest calling for a hike in old-age pensions, his mean landlady demands her 15,000-lire rent by the end of the month or he and his small dog, Flike, will be kicked out onto the street and become homeless. Umberto fakes illness to get sent to a hospital to stall and make some time to find money, while giving Flike to the landlady's pregnant maid to watch while he's gone.
This film was an Italian Neorealistic film, directed by Vittorio De Sica. This took place during Italy's postwar economic recovery. After he gets kicked out of his house for failing to pay the rent, he ends up struggling to find basic goods to fulfill his basic needs such as food, shelter, and companionship. This was overall not a really technical film and was mainly showcasing the hardships of the old man, Umberto, and how tough it was to go through what he was going through in order to live. A scene that stood out to me was when he tried to find Flike at the place where they kill the dogs that have not been found. It was hard to watch and it took an emotional toll on the audience. This showed the essence of what life was like for the average old man who went through what Umberto went through. Overall, this film was pretty boring. I had my hopes up for this film because I thought I loved Neorealistic film, but I guess not. I had high expectations based off of how good Bicycle Thieves was, but this was disappointing. This felt like watching an old guy have a bad time getting through a month of his life, which it exactly was but for some reason this film did not do it for me. This film was about a guy named Luke who is sent to prison due to taking the heads off of parking meters. He tries to conform to the rural, prison life and starts off as the underdog. Throughout the film, he gains popularity and helps the fellow prison mates to make life better at the prison.
When it comes to the technical parts in this film, there is a lot of variety. The opening shot is a tight shot of one of the parking meters and then zooming out to where the audience can see Luke screwing the top of the meter off, and then a wide shot of him surrounded by all the parking meters he ruined. There is also a lot of repetition of the usage of reflection. The sun glasses of The Man with No Eyes a.k.a Boss Godfrey, were often used with a tight zoom in and a reflection that uses foreshadowing of something bad that will happen in the next scene. There was an establishing shot of the prison before Luke was shown there which I also noticed. During the fighting scene with Luke and Dragline, where Dragline was shown from a low camera angle making him appear stronger, bigger and more dominating because he was winning. Luke appeared more vulnerable because of the high camera angle he was shot from. There was also a cool shot from the zooming out of Luke's mom's car/bed thing after they met. The camera zooms out and you can see his mother's face through the sheer roof of the car. The boiled egg scene reminded me of a frat-house party and also made me feel sick to my stomach. It turns out for the film, Paul Newman only consumed 8 eggs and threw those up after the shoot. Overall, this film did not disappoint. This movie was outside of my comfort zone when it comes to films and it was pretty okay because I had low expectations to begin with. It was a bro-ey movie. Pretty good. I can still feel Newman's blue eyes piercing into my soul, they are so pretty. This movie is about Dr. Fulton who has spent 2 years trying to create a formula for youth. One of the monkeys that he has been experimenting his formulas on concocted the elixir of youth on accident by throwing in lots of chemicals into a beaker and into a water cooler. The rest is the journey of where this formula takes the characters in this film.
This was my very first Marx Bros films and it did not disappoint. When it comes to comedies this falls under the category of Vaudeville/Stage Acts, which could be easily pointed out. There were not many puns, but there was a lot of physical comedy, though I expected a lot more. Barnaby and Edwina do an incredible job at playing a very youthful character and to create a character that is very distinct from the "original," character that they are playing. This was also my first Marilyn Monroe movie and even though she is not a main character in this film, the makers of this film did not hesitate to make sure she was treated as a sexualized object. A scene that stood out to me was when Edwina intoxicated with the formula and kicks Barnaby out of her hotel room. In this scene, Barnaby does not have his glasses and tries to find a phone along the walls. Instead, he falls through a laundry chute. The kind of tracking shot that was used to show Barnaby falling through the chute was very impressive and interesting. It was successfully pulled off. Overall, this film was indeed laugh out loud funny, but I expected more. This was a great Marx Bros experience and I will definitely watch more of their films. I was very impressed with the acting as well with how Esther the monkey was trained. Even though I had high expectations, I think that the film was as funny as it could have been. This film was about how Raees' relationships helped him become a successful entrepreneur and the most powerful person in the region. He gains popularity by showcasing a persona that is loved by everyone and everything he does is genuine and is for the greater good. Raees is always thinking ahead and never lets obstacles come in his way of destroying his business empire.
This film had obvious transitions that did not flow with the movie well. The director used many fade outs that fade to black as every transition. A scene that stood out the most was when Raees was fighting the guy trying to kill him. There was a high camera angel shot at Raees during Muharram to show that he was vulnerable and that someone was about to kill him. Then Raees vanishes just as the bad guy tries to snipe him. Raise ends up being behind the guy and instead of fighting him, he does cheesy parkour all around town. There were wide shots of Raees with music in the background and there wasn’t really a purpose to this, it was simply dragging the movie out. Finally Raees jumps off of a roof and lands on a truck perfectly with the bad guy and then they fight with their bare hands. Raise obviously wins the battle, and goes on with this life that just receives more irrelevant problems throughout the film. This scene was an interesting choice for the actor because he rarely ever does action scenes that involve fighting, it was a poor choice. This film was awful. This film could have ended in an hour and a half, but the plot kept dragging. There were so many sub plot points that were irrelevant and made the audience lose interest and want the movie to end sooner. Bollywood movies rarely disappoint me and I was highly disappointed by this. The songs didn’t even make up for how bad the movie was either, they were just placed as fillers and had nothing to do with what was going on in the film. I think this film was just a way to lure Pakistanis because of Mahira Khan who made her first appearance in Bollywood in this film. Shahrukh Khan continues to disappoint. (P.S. This made me realize how good guys look with kajal on) |
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May 2017
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