Gossip Girl

One show I have recently begun binge watching on Netflix is Gossip Girl. The story focuses on a group of privileged teens, Blair Waldorf, Serena van der Woodsen, Nate Archibald, Chuck Bass and Dan Humphrey, living on the Upper Eastside of New York City. The show is narrated by Gossip Girl, a ruthless and mysterious blogger who reveals the teen's deepest secrets. The television series is based on the book series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar.

The series began with the return of Upper East Side "It Girl" Serena van der Woodsen, after a long, mysterious stay at a boarding school in Cornwall, Connecticut. It is revealed that she has had a scandalous past that continues to haunt her throughout the show and she is notorious for her many on-again, off-again relationships with countless male characters as well as for her rebellious drive-outs. Blair Waldorf, who is described as the queen at the center of the chess game, is a longtime friend and occasional rival of Serena's, and the queen bee of Constance Billard School's social scene. The story also follows Chuck Bass, who serves as the show's antihero, being a womanizer and party lover with a troubled life and past that provide a hidden vulnerable side, and “Golden Boy" Nate Archibald, always being fought over by the prominent female characters, and deals with a lot of issues that compromise his "perfect" life. Gossip Girl ran for 6 seasons before they producers decided to end the show with the reveal of who Gossip Girl really was.

One of the things I found most interesting about the show was their advertising methods. The show was notorious for it's mixed reviews, but after receiving horrible criticism from a couple different sources for it's risqué content, they decided to take those reviews and use them as part of an advertising campaign. I found this entirely innovative and to be an interesting twist on typical advertising methods.

THE GIRLS ARE BACK AT IT AGAIN ____BRINGING YOU BROAD CITY

   Board City is back! Created by Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, and produced by Amy Poehler, broad city is a comedy between two best friends steering their way through the New York City life.
Abbi and IIana are two eccentric, crazy girls. They next stray away from situations that my lead them to trouble in the streets of NYC. They are two bad ass b****es! Not matter the trouble they always find a way out.

This is an amazing show to get in tact with.  Abbi and Ilana are the girls you want to hang with.  They're what us city gals call our kind of people.  They remind us of horrors and joys the city life provides us with.

What do Abbi and Ilana do a daily basis?

• Talk about a lot of sex
• Wear flea market vintage clothing along with some American Appeal and H&M 
• SMOKE A LOT OF WEED

This show portrays two strong Feminist Women ---- in which they refer to each other as "dude". They are the true representation of women in their 20's with their minimum wage jobs, mediocre roommates, but enjoy their friendship.  

Broad City is the true representation of the imperfect female. Broad City recognizes that no one is perfect. The ideal of perfect women on TV is getting old its time we live in the real and embrace our inner imperfections and never be ashamed of who we are.

The Background of White Collar

One of my favorite shows, White Collar had its season finale just over a month ago. Throughout the six incredible seasons, we watched the characters grow and the story unfold. An aspect of this show that I thought was amazing was the beautiful background of New York City. They creatively use the city as a source of visual language. Having a constant city background can get monotonous at times, but this show executes it flawlessly.

There are so many lovely shots within each episode that sometimes you feel like the characters are inside a work of art. I find this ironic since the main character, Neal Caffrey, was originally in jail for art theft and forgery. Many of the shots used throughout the episodes are wide shots that show the beautiful architecture of New York City and it gives off such a powerful dynamic.

White Collar Director of Photography, Russell Lee Fine, explains that "The way I've built White Collar is to be super fast…We match our A and B cameras on set. I know I can set the cameras here and there, and rehearse it once, and know I can correct on the fly. Sometimes we don't rehearse at all." The way that this show is set up makes the setting stand out even more. Since it as set up to be super fast, the dynamic of New York City adds to the chaos of the show. Fine also stated that, "we do absolutely no lighting on exterior streets." This means that they rely on the sunlight and the cameras to film in natural light in the daytime. The cameramen for this show are also always on dollies and move quickly with the pace of the show. Overall, the setting of New York City contributes greatly to the show White Collar and the decisions that Russell Lee Fine decided on really enhance the outcome of the episodes. 

"Manhattan"

I've always respected Woody Allen for his uncanny knack for story telling. His wit and neurotic charm make almost every single one of his films, save for a few (I'm lookin' at you, "Whatever Works"), unbelievably enjoyable. From all the Woody Allen films that I've seen, the story has always come first, and all the other aspects of the films seemed secondary. However, after watching "Manhattan", my previous notions of what a Woody Allen film is like were completely turned upside down.

Simply stated, the cinematography completely blew me out of the water. Shot in completely black and white, "Manhattan" is a love letter to New York City under the guise of a quirky romantic comedy. The iconic bridge scene, plastered on movie posters and DVD boxes, should be enough to make anyone think New York a magical place.

The contrast between light and dark is near perfect, making the image beautifully pop off the screen. For the first time ever while watching a film on Netflix, I had to stop and screen-capture certain shots because they were so well composed.

Many films have great lighting, but what I think sets this film apart from others is the interesting way that the shots are composed. In particular, I thought the scene in the planetarium was spectacular. Each shot blew me away, transitioning from very long shots to close-ups easily, whilst still accentuating the planetarium itself. I posted the video of the scene here tentatively, as I don't think the quality of the video does the scene justice.

Overall, I think that "Manhattan" is brilliant, and perhaps one of Allen's greatest films, vying with "Annie Hall" and "Midnight in Paris". It's definitely worth a watch for anyone interested in cinematography or for anyone who simply enjoys a good movie.

Mimic

      Mimic is one of the more suspenseful movies I've seen in a while, even though the production value is not stupendous. The premise is simple: a genetically engineered insect mutates and evolves into something fearsome that poses a threat to all mankind.

      But there's no reason to be misled by the scientific background; Mimic turns into pure horror right after we witness the creation of the "Judas Breed", an insect that is a cross between a mantis and a termite containing designer genes. The Judas Breed is unleashed to destroy the carrier of a disease that threatens to wipe out all the children in New York City: the cockroach.

      The Judas halts the disease, and its creators, Susan Tyler (Mira Sorovino) and Peter Mann (Jeremy Northam), bask in their 15 minutes of fame. Three years later, these bugs, which were sterile and carried apoptosis genes that ensured they would die after fulfilling their mission, turn up again in New York's subways. Tyler and Mann, being the brave souls that they are, go down the subway system to track these bugs down, along with some help (read: bug din-din). This enables one to play guessing games as to who gets picked-off next by the terrifying insects, in a dark and claustrophobic setting.
What is not surprising, and perhaps indicative of the biggest hole in the plot, is that the creature manages to survive. What is surprising is that the creature mutates and evolves into a predator of man in such a short time.

      There are various sub-plots used to build-up suspense and horror as the movie progresses, before the final confrontation between Tyler and gang, and the Judas Breed, occurs. A particularly gruesome scene involves the killing of two bug bounty hunters by the Judas Breed: the details are masked in the movie, but our imagination fills in the gaps. The little boy (Alexander Goodwin) who is able to mimic the sound of the Judas Breed with spoons who he calls "Mr. funny shoes" provides an interesting touch. Most fascinating I found was the detail of the subway systems. The bugs are quite convincing, as are the actors.

       The main problem with Mimic is that while the build-up of suspense is effective, the ending is a bit of an anti-climax. Still, I think the movie is worth the matinee fare if getting scared appeals to you as a form of entertainment.

      I think you all would enjoy this film! try it out!

Productions

Productions aren’t always fun, nor are they easy. This is fully hitting me during this one. Aside from going to bed at 1:30AM, waking up at 3:30, and going into the city at 5AM there have been some challenges along the way. The biggest one was getting into character. Forcing myself to get depressed is harder than I think, it’s pretty easy to do naturally, but when it’s needed, it doesn’t come. For two days I listened to the most hope sapping song I knew and tried to be in the dark as much as possible, and eat little, but I was so over joyed and excited about this project. So I probably wont be acting much anymore. Not that I can’t, but chances are I’d be acting my own projects and regardless I’d be overcritical of my work.

Day 2. Today finished the toughest part of the piece, I’m emotionally drained and can’t wait to get back to school and sleep late on Monday, if I sleep through class I’m sorry. While it was initially tough getting into character, it was rather easy getting into another one. I wasn’t too great at getting into depressed, but I was able to pull off annoyed/having a lot on the mind I’m sure. At least I know that is what I was feeling. This has been the roughest production on my body, mind and spirit yet and I would not be able to do this multiple times. Anyways I haven’t looked at the footage yet since we are still shooting, but I’m fairly confident that this will turn out to be a great piece. “Happy Birthday”

American Gangster

Since I have done three movies with Russell Crowe I should stay with him.  American Gangster is a 2007 true story gangster movie based in the 70's about heroin kingpin Frank Lucas, starring Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington directed by Ridley Scott.  It was nominated for two oscars including best achievement in art direction.  Denzel Washington plays heroin kingpin  Frank Lucas, who was smuggling heroin in from vietnam in the early 70's.  Russell Crowe plays the detective who is trying to hunt him down.  Ridley Scott creates a beautiful picture of the brutality of the drug industry in New York in the early 70's.  He also gets an oscar nominated performance from Ruby Dee as Frank Lucas's mom who is the only one who is allowed to talk back to him.

I saw the movie when it first came out when I was maybe a bit to young for it, but my uncle assured my dad it was okay and so I continued watching it.  Russell Crowe's character is morally questionable with a failing marriage due to his womanizing behavior and it leads to his wife to seek a divorce and full custody of their child.  Though when he turns in unmarked bills he is promoted to head of a task force to stop whoever is supplying a new potent heroin.  Frank Lucas is the one supplying the heroin and because of his higher quality heroin at a lower price he quickly builds a fortune.

While Frank is able to avoid the cops for a while, but Crowe's character Richie Roberts gets on to him and with the end of the vietnam war Frank Lucas gets his supply cut off.  This combined with a failing marriage due to assassination attempts on his and his wife, and competing with the mafia and other drug dealers leads to him getting caught by Richie Roberts and convicted and sentenced to a 70 year term in jail.  He only served about ten years because he gave info to the police that led to over 100 convictions. The movie is a fantastic story that looks beautiful that is a must see.

Link to the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXceJA-eoJg