Top Five

When making something like a thesis film, it's easy to get caught up in all of the bullshit and forget about why you wanted to make the film in the first place and what the film is actually about. That is why, this week, I decided to take a step back and list my top five favorite movies and really think about why I enjoy watching them over and over again and why they give me with such an emotional response.

1) Shaun of the Dead (my favorite movie of all time)

Shaun of the Dead is about two slacker roommates in their late-twenties that struggle to survive a zombie apocalypse that terrorizes their small town in Great Britain. This movie is a comedy/horror. It’s funny because it follows two very unlikely heroes as they try to protect the ones they love from a zombie apocalypse. In a particular scene, the survivors pretend to act like zombies to “fit in” with the undead as they make their way to a safe place. Though this movie has a ridiculous plot with ridiculous characters, it’s filled with many messages. One of the main messages is the message of love and friendship. When everything goes to hell, the main character, Shaun, who never had much responsibility in his life prior to the zombie invasion, must protect his mother, his girlfriend and his best friend. Even through the hardship, Shaun must step up and leave behind his everyday slacker desires to keep everybody safe.

2) Cool Hand Luke

Cool Hand Luke is about a misguided war veteran who is arrested and sent to a prison camp where he refuses to conform to the prison life. This movie is very moving because, as the viewer, you fall in love with the main character, Luke. Luke is a free spirited rebel that inspires hope in the other inmates. The scene where the guards make the inmates pave a dirt road is particularly uplifting because Luke turns it into a game. Normally a physically demanding job, the inmates have fun paving the road as each side races the other side to finish first. Cool Hand Luke explores hardship and adversity but making the best of it. Though the inmates are put to hard work, Luke keeps everybody’s spirits high showing that even through a horrible experience, there is still light.

3) The Producers

The Producers is about a washed up producer who teams up with an accountant to over-sell shares on a Broadway play that’ll surely flop to make a large profit. The play that the producers choose to finance is called Springtime for Hitler. It’s supposed to be extremely pro-Hitler and offensive but the actors in the play turn it into a hilarious mockery that everybody loves. The message in this film is that though the main characters may have had a bullet proof plan to get rich, the plan was illegal, which eventually led them to jail. Though they may have had everything planned out, there were still some aspects that they couldn’t predict which led to their downfall.

4) The Dark Knight 

The Dark Knight is about the iconic super hero Batman as he struggles to defeat his most prominent villain – the Joker. This movie is a psychological thriller because Batman must deal with the Joker: a villain notorious for his erratic and unpredictable behavior. The scene where Batman is in the interrogation room with the Joker is extremely unnerving because it’s the first time we see Batman lose his temper. Batman is usually calm, collective, and focused but the Joker is able to get into his head and take advantage of him. There are many messages in this movie. The Dark Knight focuses heavily on the grey area of right and wrong. Batman typically overcomes his difficulties in a black and white way, but with the Joker, he needs to go against his moral code in order to defeat him.

5) (500) Days of Summer

(500) Days of Summer is about a young man who falls in love with a girl who doesn’t believe in love. The movie is a romantic comedy. The scene where the Tom, the main character, visits Summer, the girl he falls for, at a party shortly after they broke up is particularly funny because it split screens the harsh “reality” that Tom is undergoing and the uplifting “expectations” that Tom fantasizes about. Though it may be a depressing scene, it is presented in a light and comedic way. (500) Days of Summer explores the messiness of love. The main character falls for this girl that ultimately breaks his heart and he feels like he has lost his soul mate. He’s convinced that there isn’t another girl out there that suits him better. But he eventually learns that it isn’t the end of the world and he can move on and be happy.

Hero or Villain?

The Batman movie franchise has had a long tenure and been interpreted by many actors, directors and writers. While the characters and stories follow the general plot lines of original DC comics, their portrayals have varied from each iteration to the next. The Christopher Nolan era of Batman could be argued as one of the most masterfully depicted stories of Bruce Wayne.

Over the span of 3 films he incorporates numerous villains and delves more deeply into the darker side of Bruce Wayne's psyche. The character development seen in the films strikes me as odd, however. The villains of this trilogy seem to be more dynamic characters.While watching, I find myself enjoying the "bad guys" more often than the hero. They have more personality and pizzazz which in turn causes me to almost root for them. One of my favorite of the villains is The Joker, portrayed by Heath Ledger. Yes, he's maniacal. Yes, he's murderous. But most of all he's exciting, unpredictable and so irresistibly captivating to watch. There are so many wrinkles that begin to unfold from the moment the movie begins and for the span of the film he steals the show.
 

Our hero however seems to take the back seat to these master villains. Bruce Wayne as portrayed by Christian Bale is more and more as the trilogy progresses a self-righteous, self-loathing billionaire with a perceived obligation to his city. He seems to be the only character that tries to escape their true self. He does this by becoming Batman. At first a noble pursuit, Batman soon becomes an escape for Bruce. He uses it to avoid the constant pressure of being a celebrity, the pain of lost loved ones and a possible means to a final end, his death. Throughout the series this character is pretty static, filled mostly with anger and grief with occasional hopeful moments which are usually snuffed out. While he's not as exciting to watch as say The Joker or Bane, his role is the backbone on which the story is built. His unwavering and steadfast behavior is what allows him to survive again and again no matter what he faces. While he may not be as likable, he is still the hero.


Next time you find yourself watching The Dark Knight trilogy, ask yourself, "Who's better?" The Hero? Or the Villain?

Affleck Catches Flak for Being the Next Guy to Don the Cowl

Last week it was released that Ben Affleck signed a deal with Warner Bros. Studios and is going to be replacing Christian Bale as The Caped Crusader. The information was released that he would first star along side Henry Cavill in what Zack Snyder has only referred to as "Superman vs. Batman". Since this information has been released, Affleck has been catching a lot of heat from fans of the Dark Knight Trilogy, who believe that Affleck is the wrong person to be portraying one of the most famous pop culture icons of all time. Social Media sites such as Twitter and Facebook has been blowing up over this controversy. Personally as an outside observer who does not like to voice my opinion online... I'm going to take my first shot here and jump on team Affleck.

  

Despite having a rocky period of unease in the early 2000's with films such as Daredevil. Affleck has had an incredibly successful career. With his newer groundbreaking films such as Argo, and The Town, and some of his older classics like Goodwill Hunting, and Dazed and Confused, Affleck has continually showed success not only as an actor but as a director and producer. The Town is one of my favorite action/crime film of all time. The gritty dark style and compelling performances by Jeremy Renner and Affleck really make you have a invested interest in the characters and what happens to them.

Along with my current enjoyment in watching most Affleck films, I recently saw an article on the website buzzfeed that really caught my attention. The portrayal of the Joker by the late Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight was in my opinion is some of the best character acting I have ever seen in my life. However, before his role as the Joker, Ledger was mostly known for playing the romantic male lead in films such as 10 Things I Hate About You, and A Knight's Tale. When it was announced that Ledger was going to play the Joker, many people believed that he was poorly cast. In fact there was many angry tweets saying that there was no way a "gay cowboy", could play the joker. For those of you who like surfing the web you should check out this buzzfeed article.

At the end of the day there is no denying that Christian Bale really did put a face on the image of Batman, like no one has before. Regardless, his performance is going to be a tough one to follow up, and while I am not one hundred percent sure that Affleck is going to nail the performance of Bruce Wayne, all I am saying is that he is a very accomplished person in the film industry and people should give him the benefit of the doubt.

Marvel vs DC Comics

     One of the most popular super hero movies as of the last 5 years has been Iron Man.  Since Disney Corp. bought Marvel in 2009, the superhero movies have been coming out of the box office like crazy. DC Comics has been trying to compete with The Dark Knight Series and now Superman: Man of Steel.  But the truth of the matter is that Marvel is several movies ahead of DC and has been generating a lot of revenue.  Because of this DC Comics plans on using Christopher Nolan as their weapon in the competition for superhero movies.

     This clash of studios is great for the industry and for the comics themselves.  A lot of merchandise and advertisements has been and will continue to pour into the market.  The two big blockbuster movies from each of these studios for the summer is Iron Man 3 and Superman: Man of Steel.  I have high expectations for both movies and I look forward to seeing them.  If all goes according to plan Christopher Nolan will continue to produce/ direct the DC films including the Justice League.  It is exciting to see what these companies have in store for an audience who is in superhero mode.

Nolan In The Deep

As I lie in my bedroom, my eyes slowly, slowly closing, checking Facebook right before I pass out into my first full night of sleep in God knows how long... I SEE THIS:

Christopher Nolan Taking Over Justice League, Bringing Bale Back As Batman

And then I explode and die at the same time.

The idea of Christopher Nolan running the entire DC Universe is an exciting one for me, considering that Joss Whedon (another critically acclaimed writer/director) has more or less taken charge of the Marvel Universe, and these two opposing viewpoints bring a very interesting contrast in tone to the table.

The movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have very much adopted the tone of comic books, with larger-than-life characters, bright colors and snappy repartee. Conversely, Nolan's Batman universe is filled with steely grays and muted blues, telling the story of the Caped Crusader in a gritty, down-to-earth way. He has furthered this vision by producing DC's new Superman movie, Man of Steel, with one of the main questions during production being "how would the world react if Superman existed?"

Over the course of the past year, there have been abundant rumors regarding a possible DC Justice League movie to combat Marvel's immense success with the Avengers, which has scared me as a massive fan of the direction of Christopher Nolan and Zak Snyder's DC superhero movies. But more importantly, I think that DC would lose their biggest weapon: their unique voice and tone. The Dark Knight trilogy was an entirely different entity than the Marvel movies, and as Green Lantern demonstrated, DC can't beat Marvel at their own game.

If the DC universe (including the Justice League) can be united under Christopher Nolan's vision, they have a chance of continuing to combat Marvel's movie dominance. Otherwise, they will be poorly imitating, in typical Hollywood fashion, and they will lose.

Also, as a continuity junkie, the prospect of Christian Bale returning as Batman in the Justice League, alongside Henry Cavill as Superman, makes me happy all over.

The Brilliance of Nolan

Last night seemed to be a quiet evening, so what better way to spend it than enjoying a film with my closest friends.  We settled on The Dark Knight Rises, the epic third part of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy.  The movie, which came out this past summer, smashed its way into the box office and immediately became a huge success in the eyes of movie goers, and super hero fans.  Christopher Nolan's brilliance was really proven with the release of the 2nd movie from the trilogy The Dark Knight.  

Personally I see such creative, and impressive filmmaking and I can't help but wonder why this movie was snubbed at the Academy Awards as well as the Golden Globes.  The race for the Oscars this year is obviously a very close one however I can't see how such visual storytelling did not emerge it's self into the race.  The Dark Knight was nominated for 8 Academy Awards, winning two: sound editing, and best supporting actor.  In such an impressive movie trilogy, I don't understand how this one falls so short for the critics.  Nolan has produced a series of incredible movies, only receiving 3 nominations total even if he receives praise everywhere else you look.  His 3 nominations were for original screenplay for Memento and Inception, also scoring a best picture nom for Inception.  

I find Nola's work to be incredibly deep, and ascetically imaginative with his directing.  I can never quite understand why the Academy always seems to not recognize Nolan's directing after his phenomenal work in all of his movies.  I think he reinvented the comic book character, and brought an entirely new spin on such a classic story, really bringing it into the modern day world and not a fantasy land of Gotham City.  I can't wait to see what he does with the new Superman flick Man of Steel.  I hope that Man of Steel, much like The Dark Knight Trilogy, and even this years hit Bond flick Skyfall, brings a new generation of movie goers into the stories that are simply outdated, and reinvents them in the way that keep the characters and plots updated with the times, and relevant in today's society.  

Good-Good

Last week I posted about how good movies have lost reputation because they decide to make unnecessary sequels that bring low box office profit and draw viewers away from the movie itself. Well now I want to discuss a few movie sequels I thought WERE necessary to follow the story from the previous movie.

1. The Dark Knight & The Dark Knight Rises




















A 3 set series following the story of Batman, directer and writer Christopher Nolan stole Box Office records through these three amazing movies that have captured the attention of many fans around the world. A story that couldn't be told in one movie was told through three films about Bruce Wayne and his life saving the city of Gotham from criminals. Batman Begin's debut in the theaters made the film $48 million while the following two increasing dramatically ($158 million for the Dark Knight and $161 million for the Dark Knight Rises.

2. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

This amazing trilogy about a hobbit named Frodo who is on a journey with eight companions on a mission to destroy a ring on the fires of Mount Doom and the dark lord Sauron. These three movies were directed by the creative and masterminded Peter Jackson as his three movies were also able to bring in box office records and a large number of crowds to the big screen. In its debut, the Fellowship of the Ring made $47 million its opening weekend with The Two Towers earning more than 15 million more at $62 million and the Return of the King increasing eleven million to $73 million.

3. Spiderman 2 & Spiderman 3

With the new Amazing Spiderman movie that brought in good revenue in 2012, most fans turned away from the old set of Spiderman movies that brought in a number of box office profits. Directed by Sam Raimi, these stories follow Peter Parker who looks to save his city after acquiring special spider powers. While most thought the third was "corny shit," most were interested by the story and would agree that this series was a great series. Opening up in 2002, the first Spiderman brought in $115 million with Spiderman 2 at $89 million and Spiderman 3 at $151 million.

Learn From Watching

As I was reading through all of the previous posts from the past few days, I came across Olivia's and definitely understood what she meant by trying to watch new movies as much as you can. Like her, I myself try to watch a decent amount of movies every week and get exposed to different genres and different types of films. The only problem with this is that once I entered Ithaca and got exposed to the world of film (as well as the amount of time one must put into it), I discovered that I had less and less time every week for free time, which was when I would watch my movies. I guess that was a trade off that must be made though. In order to make movies in the future, you have to put in countless 17 hour days on set in the rain, snow, and shine.

Anyways, all of the movies I have ever watched prior to working on sets over the past year had made a huge impact on me and have influenced me in films I made in and outside of production classes here at Ithaca. Whether it be camera angles or movements I see in a hollywood film, or high key lighting I see in some sort of indie film, I can always take away something from almost every movie I see and apply it to my own work. I feel like that is the best way to learn. By watching those who are more experienced than you work in their environment, whatever it may be on set. Cinematographers, gaffers, sound mixers, directors, something can always be learned and the more you learn about the broad range of topics related to filmmaking, the better off you will be.

So now this year I am going to do my best to commit more time to watch any kind of movie that I can in my free time and work on applying anything that I see to my own work and learning from the mistakes of others as well as my own mistakes.

cutting trailers to give them a different meaning

I came across these on youtube today! I thought they were pretty cool like they take movies and give them a completely different meaning!

Toy Story 3: The Dark Knight

(500) Days of Summer recut as a thriller