Morning Glory

Morning Glory follows young and committed morning television producer Becky Fuller (Rachel McAdams) who has dreamed since childhood of working for the Today show. Since graduating from college, she has dedicated her life to her job, but her devotion to her career is off-putting to potential suitors. After being laid off from her job at the local Good Morning New Jersey because of budget cuts, she finally gets hired as an executive producer on the long-running morning show DayBreak, at the once-prominent but currently failing station, IBS.

Determined to keep the show on air, she recruits former news journalist and anchor Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford), who disapproves of co-hosting a show that does not deal with real, hard news. Pomeroy proves to be tough going, constantly battling with his co-host Colleen (Diane Keaton), refusing to banter on air, and refusing certain pieces, like cooking segments, that he considers beneath him.

Between ratings beginning to drop and struggling with warring co-hosts, Becky is told that DayBreak may be canceled. As a last ditch effort to bump the ratings, Becky decides on a radical and desperate approach to try and save the show.

Though the film didn't to incredibly well at the box office, I personally loved it. I thought it was a very funny and cute twist on the television industry. All of the actors bring a comical breath of fresh air to the film, and you can't help but laugh. I would absolutely recommend this film to someone.

4th Wall

Ive always been iffy about my feelings towards breaking the 4th wall. Breaking the 4th wall is when a character in a film talks directly to, or acknowledges the audience watching the film. I'm indecisive about this technique, because it throws you out of the film for a moment, which means if the movie is not engaging enough to begun with, it may be hard to fall back into the world of the film. however when it is done correctly it can make for an amazing viewing experience.  

One of my favorite examples of breaking the 4ht wall is in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall. Annie Hall is about a comedian in New York City named Alvy Singer and his relationships and love interests throughout his life. Through out this movie Allen’s character, Alvy, breaks the 4th wall and talks directly to the audience. Allen later said he chose to use this Technique “because I felt many of the people in the audience had the same feelings and the same problems. I wanted to talk to them directly and confront them.” 

Another excellent example of breaking the 4th wall is in the Netflix series House of Cars staring Kevin Spacey. This show is based on a BBC mini series which was based off a Michael Dobbs novel. The show centers around a power hungry, Congressman, and his equally heartless wife and their rise through the government. The creators of the show says that they use “Shakespeare’s direct address from Richard III, where the Main Character speaks directly to the audience.” the goes on to say “i think it is a really rich and effective way to bring an audience even close to the material.”

Fight Club also famously breaks the 4th wall, arguably the most seamlessly. Fight Club revolves around an insomniac and a strange soap salesman he meets on a plain. The two become unlikely fiends and start a fight club, that become more and more popular and spreads to many cities. The first time you see this film you might not even realize the 4th wall was being broke, however Ed Norton and Brad Pits characters, or character, do it relatively frequently. 

"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.