'The Last Man on Earth' Pilot

I found this show under New Series on Hulu.  I didn't hear or see any promotion for this show, but since it's a show on a major network I thought it would be worth a try. It starts out in the near future "Novemberish 2021" showing a man, Phil Miller [Will Forte] traveling the US in an RV, crossing out states on his map.  He has been searching for another living human for what seems to be over a year. It is mentioned that he is the last man on earth after a fatal virus hit a few years ago.
        Here is a promo for the show:

My favorite part of this episode is when Phil is watching the movie Cast Away starring Tom Hanks.  He is watching the scene when Hanks' character draws a face on a ball and starts talking to it as a friend; Phil says he will never become that crazy.

Photo from 'Cast Away'

 It then cuts to 6 months into the future and he has multiple friends who are different balls he drew faces on. I thought it was clever but also could actually happen to someone that has been living in a city with no people around for multiple years.
Eventually Phil starts getting depressed and keeps asking to see a woman one last time.  He hits a breaking point and decides he would rather kill himself than be alone any longer.  Right before he tries to kill himself he sees smoke in the distance and tracks down where it is coming from.  To his surprise there is a women there! She is the last women on earth Carol [Kristen Schaal]. Phil soon realizes that he might regret what he wished for after talking to Carol.

Even though there is another character in this series, I feel like the premise doesn't seem like it would last for multiple seasons. Since there are only 2 characters left on earth, I am not sure how interesting it will be to only watch 2 characters throughout a whole series. I can't see this showing making another season but I will continue to watch this show as it airs.

 I rate the Pilot 6/10, this episode was funny and I enjoyed it, but I can't imagine where else this show can go.  I feel like they used all their best jokes for the pilot.

Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump is a 1994 American epic romantic-comedy-drama film (genre hybrid) based on the 1986 novel Forrest Gump by Winston Groom. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis and starred Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson, and Sally Field. The story beautifuly illustrates several decades in the life of Forrest Gump, a slow and naïve, but good-hearted and athletically gifted, man from Alabama who witnesses, and in some peculiar cases influences, some of the defining events of the latter half of the 20th century in the United States (the period between Forrest's birth in 1944 and 1982). The film is much different from the novel on which it was based, including Gump's personality and some of the events that took place.

The main sets took place in late 1993, mainly in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Extensive visual effects were used to incorporate Gump (Tom Hanks) into archived footage and to develop other fun scenes. A compelling soundtrack was featured in the film, using music intended to pinpoint specific time periods portrayed on screen. Its commercial release made it a top-selling soundtrack, selling over twelve million copies worldwide.  Some of the songs include Hound Dog by Elvis Presley, Fortunate Son by Creedance Clearwater, Respect by Aretha Franklin, and many more American favorites. 

This famous film was released in the United States on July 6, 1994.  The film became a commercial success as the top grossing film in North America released in that year, being the first major success for Paramount Pictures since the studio's sale to Viacom, earning over $677 million worldwide during its theatrical run. Forrest Gump holds a high rating of 8.8 on the Internet Movie Database, which makes it the 13th best movie of all time for the website and in 1995 it won the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director for Robert Zemeckis, Best Actor for Tom Hanks, Best Adapted Screenplay for Eric Roth, Best Visual Effects, and Best Film Editing. Forrest Gump also easily attained multiple other awards and nominations, including Golden Globes, People's Choice Awards, and Young Artist Awards, among others. Ever since the film was released, many variations of interpretations of its protagonist (Forrest Gump) and its political symbolism have been made.  

In 1996, a themed restaurant, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, opened based on the film and has since expanded to multiple locations worldwide.  If that doesn't show you have much of an impact this film made, I don't know what will!  One of the scenes of the American classic of Gump running across the country is often referred to when real-life people attempt the feat. In 2011, the Library of Congress selected Forrest Gump for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".  

After all these facts, can you even argue that this movie isn't the best movie of all time?! If you haven't seen this film yet, it's time to stop whatever you are doing, sit down, and focus your attention on the best movie of all time. 

Leonardo DiCaprio and the elusive Oscar

       Leonardo DiCaprio is considered one of the best-known actors of not only our generation but of all time. He started on the screen as a child actor over twenty years ago on the television show Growing Pains and still continues to wow audiences to present day. But even though Leonardo DiCaprio is arguably at the utmost highest caliber of actors he still does not possess an Oscar. The Oscar is considered the universally standard recognition of top quality performance in the American cinema industry, especially for acting, and yet it still has evaded DiCaprio’s grasp. Though he has been nominated five times already for an Oscar, once as a producer, once as best supporting actor, and three times for the best actor category he just never ends up on top.  

        It is true that Leonardo Dicaprio’s movies are brilliantly written but most times it is his enlightened acting that shines as the most prominent strength of the film. It is DiCaprio’s acting that for the large part makes the film memorable, which is why directors haven chosen him in their films. Some of DiCaprio's greatest films are: 

Titanic(1997)

Inception (2010)

Shutter Island (2010)

The Departed (2006)

Aviator (2004)

Gangs of New York (2002)

       A highly debated argument on why Leonardo DiCaprio has not won an Oscar is he is not that “type” of actor, as in contemporary rather than traditional. There are certain actors who are considered “cool” actors, ones who are successful and talented but they aren’t traditional actors or method actors. Actors similar to DiCaprio such as Samuel L. Jackson, Brad Pitt or Jonny Depp, who play thoroughly entertaining characters more centered toward teens and mid-20s audiences. 

       The unofficial standard for this coolness is the Pitt-Hanks spectrum, this predicts the likelihood of an actor to win an Oscar, the closer to “cool” Pitt the less likely to win. Actors who play characters who are perceived as weaker, or closer to a relatable person are the ones more likely to win. There are many issues with this ideology of cool actors not winning; it severely hinders actors experimenting with roles that don’t qualify as “Oscar worthy.” Although it is set that a certain character will win should indicate that actors should strive toward those characters is pretty intuitive, that should not be the basis of the win.        
       
          But regardless of academy award status and not being officially recognized by the academy itself, DiCaprio realizes thats not what it means to be a good actor and has been extremely positive about it all.    

Fair or not?

As some of you may have heard, a fantastic film came out recently known as "Captain Phillips" featuring Tom Hanks as Captain Phillips. The film is critically acclaimed and was nominated for numerous Oscar awards. The antagonist in the film known as Samali Pirate was played by actor Barkhad Abdi. Mr. Abdi prior to who's role was a chauffeur and a mobile phone salesman prior to taking on his Oscar nominated role. The reason why I am talking about Mr. Abdi is not because of how well he played his role, but what he stood to gain from it (or not gain may be a better way of putting it). As this being the first film he ever acted in, he was payed a salary of $65,000 for his monumental role. Regardless of his current predicament, do you think it is fair that the british director Paul Greengrass who had a $55 million budget only allocated $65,000 of it to Barkhad Abdi because he could? This is a tough predicament many people in power struggle with. Do you pay someone the minimum you can or the amount that the person truly deserves? If you said what the person deserves, what do you believe Mr. Abdi should have received? Or do you feel what he received is fair?

This issue was brought to light because Mr. Abdi apparently is struggling to pay his bills after he decided to quit his job to do the film. "Captain Phillips" $106 million alone in the U.S. box office, so it really makes you think if what Mr. Abdi received is fair. As an aspiring filmmaker I believe what is produced should be based on the most profitability, but should be based on the vision that I have. Anyone involved in the version and playing a key role in it's development should be rewarded in accordance with the budget I have and the effort they put in. Whether your Tom Hanks or Barkhad Abdi, I believe that if you are playing a massive role in a multimillion dollar feature film, you deserve a larger salary then $65,000. Mr. Abdi is one of the reasons I'd loved the film so much. His amazing performance should not go unrewarded. I hope that someone from the film has it in their hearts to remedy him for his fantastic job. Maybe you Mr. Greengrass can help him out? If not, Tom, you should try to help your supporting costar out, show him that you appreciated his performance. I mean your salary was probably at leas a few hundred times his.

Innovative Directing

As I was scrolling through Buzzfeed today I stumbled upon a post about the "18 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Elf". Even though it's only the start of November, I indulged myself in some Christmas spirit by reading this article. The article was very interesting because there really were 18 things that I didn't know about the movie. One of my favorites was that the scene where Will Ferrell is testing jack-in-the-boxes.

The reaction that he has at this moment is completely genuine. The director of this movie, Jon Favreau, used a remote control to manually make the jack-in-the-boxes pop up. This excellent directing caused Will Ferrell to have the perfect reaction. There is total anticipation and then surprise during this scene. It is one of the more memorable scenes in this movie for me because, no matter how many times I've seen Elf, I am still startled just like Buddy the Elf.

After I watched this I looked up other creative ways to direct actors so that the acting they do does not come off as phony. In the movie Saving Private Ryan, Stephen Spielberg made every single actor (including Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, and Vin Diesel) go through bootcamp for 10 days. He literally put them through hell so that the actors would get a glimpse as to what war was actually like. He even went as far to feed them all old canned rations and he hired a marine give everyone orders like they were any other soldier.

This just goes to show that direction of the actors is key in making a spot-on performance by the actors and a truly authentic movie.

Captain Phillips: A True American Hero Or Movie Star?

Tom Hanks stars in a new popular film Captain Phillips, which is based on the real events that occurred in April 2009 when the Maersk Alabama cargo ship was attacked by Somali pirates. I saw this movie over fall break and I loved it, Tom Hanks is an absolute amazing actor and he did not disappoint playing Captain Phillips. In the movie the cargo ship is sailing a dangerous route down the Somali coast, where pirate attacks have been known to happen. There are warnings sent to Captain Phillips advising ships to remain as far away from the coast as possible to decrease the risk of attack. Captain Phillips beefs up security and makes sure the crew is prepared by conducting a few practice drills. They are just in time because that same day two boats with armed pirates make their first attempt to seize the Maersk Alabama, but the pirates were evaded due to the ship's large wake. The crew is shook up, and know the pirates will come again. The next day one of the same pirate boats with four armed Somalis returns to take the ship, the crew does everything they can but eventually the pirates are able to board the ship and take command of the ship. The pirates are young men around 17 years old, and they are looking for a large ransom for the ship and crew. Most of the crew hides in the engine room while Captain Phillips tries to reason and retain some control over the pirates who have guns to him. While the head pirate is looking for the crew he is wounded and taken by the crew in the engine room. The head pirate, Muse, is bargained for the release of Captain Phillips but the pirates do not follow through with the deal: they take Muse and Phillips into a life raft and start making their way to the Somali coast.

The movie is fantastic and it keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time. However, it is the story we want to believe, not necessarily the whole truth behind the actual events. The real crew of the Maersk Alabama tell a different story of Captain Phillips. To the crew, Phillips isn't the American hero we all want him to be. After the incident the crew filed a lawsuit against the Maersk Line and the Waterman Steamship Corp. for almost $50 million for a complete and willing disregard for their safety. The crew have described Phillips as being arrogant when it came to the risk of the pirates. The attorney who brought the claim for the crew said "the crew had begged Captain Phillips not to go so close to the Somali coast." Phillips was being suborn, and disregarding his crew "he told them he wouldn't let pirates scare him or force him to sail away from the coast." Over the three week period in which the Maersk Alabama was attacked 16 other cargo ships in the same area had been attacked by pirates and some had been taken hostage. Phillips has even admitted that he received SEVEN emails while on board to move off shore by 600 more miles to reduce the threat from pirates. The Maersk Alabama was only 235 miles off the shore at the time of attack, though Phillips told CNN in 2010 that the ship was 300 miles off the shore.

Tom Hanks next to Captain Phillips

It seems to me that Phillips blatantly disregarded his crew's safety, to prove that he was not going to let pirates boss him around; which is what they ended up doing when they threatened the lives of every crew member on board. Also during the first attack by the pirates, Phillips was putting the crew through a fire drill, however in the film it is a security drill. Phillips ordered the crew to complete the fire drill before addressing the pirates which were only seven miles away. When Phillips and the crew made a narrow escape the first time, Phillips ordered the ship back to it's original route. One of the crew members refused and slept with his flashlight and boots on, waiting for what he knew was inevitable: another attack. When that attack did come the next morning Phillips did not tell his crew what he wanted to do so the chief engineer, Mike Perry, took things into his own hands. He and the rest of the crew locked themselves in the engine room (in 130 degree heat for 12 hours), he disabled the ship's systems, and sized the lead pirate to bargain for Phillips. To me, Mike Perry is the real hero. Four days after Phillips was taken hostage with the pirates in the lifeboat, he was rescued by Seal Team Six and hailed an American Hero who "gave himself up for his crew" and the crew was offered as little as $5,000 for their life rights by Sony and made to sign nondisclosure agreements. Captain Phillips put his entire crew in danger and disregarded every warning he was given, he is not an American hero. It is sad, and I wish the movie depicted who Captain Phillips really is because it really is an amazing movie, but unfortunately it is just a movie: it's twisted to be what we want to believe.

My Favorite Movie of All Time: Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump came out in 1994 when I was just one year old. I didn’t watch it until about 2007. When I saw it I was pleasantly surprised. It was not what I had expected at all. It was full of love, loss, wisdom, and everything someone is mostly to encounter in life. For those who have not seen Forrest Gump stop reading this post and go to Netflix to watch it now! You have to watch Forrest Gump at least once in your lifetime.

The movie follows the life of a simple man named Forrest Gump. We watch him drift through life like a feather from one historical event to another as he struggles to come to terms with destiny and life. It’s not just the storyline that makes this movie great, it’s everything from the dialogue to the shot composition to the spectacular performances by Tom Hanks, Sally Field, and many more.

I think these are some of the greatest shots in the film…

This is my all-time favorite shot. It’s well-composed and a beautiful portrayal of the bond between Forrest and his son.

I think the message of the movie is remarkable. To me the message is that in life happiness is achieved by accepting the challenges and experiences of life as they come along. The message is portrayed in a few of my favorite quotes:

“Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.”

“You have to do the best with what God gave you.” 

“I don't know if we each have a destiny, or if we're all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze.  But I think maybe it's both.  Maybe both are happening at the same time.”

Forrest Gump has won an Academy Award for best film and is an absolute must see!

The Green Mile

It is never a bad thing when SPIKE is showing an absolute classic on a Friday night. The Green Mile combines some sci-fi elements with Frank Darabont's great ability to tell prison stories. Darabont of course made his imprint on the film world with another prison movie, The Shawshank Redemption. Although The Green Mile takes place in a similar setting, the two movies couldn't be more different. Shawshank tells us a story of how different inmates get themselves through the extremely tough times they face while in prison. Whether the troubles between them and the guards, each other, or just the obvious trails of solitary confinement. And the story finally ends with an elaborate escape by the films main character that you aren't completely expecting. Although The Green Mile touches on many of the same prison struggles, there are other elements that come into play that separate it from Shawshank.

The one scene that only sticks out to me when watching this movie is the scene where Michael Clark Duncan's character seems to transfer little bees from his mouth to the mouth of one of the troubled guards. This is the sic-fi element that I spoke about earlier that really makes this a unique film. We learn that John Coffey (Duncan) actually has all sorts of amazing powers. He has the power to heal others as well as the scene I talked about earlier. Coffey actually purposely attacks the guard so he will in fact attack another prisoner who we find out is actually responsible for the murder that Coffey has been sentenced for. His healing powers come into play a few times in what is a remarkable twist to what appears to be just a typical prison movie in the beginning.

The Green Mile was nominated for four academy awards and somehow didn't win a single win. Michael Clark Duncan was nominated for best supporting actor and despite a performance of a lifetime didn't win the award. The final scene of the movie where we see John Coffey finally being executed on the electric chair somehow makes us actually feel sympathy for someone that supposedly was a rapist and a murderer. That is one constant that Darabont brings over from Shawshank. That sympathy for prisoners that have committed some awful crimes, and yet the audience feels like they don't deserve to be punished like they have.

The Green Mile was an instant classic and a must see for all movie lovers.

Castaway Audio

I have never seen the movie Castaway  up until last night, but before that I remember learning about its sound track and how it was only composed of wind, water, and wood.  Up until actually seeing this movie I really didn't have any appreciation for this random fact that I knew.

However upon seeing the movie I have a new found appreciation.  I just assumed the audio was in the background and was no big deal, but now I see that for a good portion of the movie, background audio was the main source of the scenes.  Most of the scenes involve little to no dialogue and if there is any it is just Tom Hanks shouting at his friend Wilson, who is in fact a volley ball.

Most of the time it is very long shots meant to capture his emotion as he faces his situation or comes to a realization to his survival.  All of these long shots however are complimented by strong audio.  The constant sound of waves or the whistling of a strong wind really completes the movie.  It is the second half of a being that alone would be useless and unusable. So you have to give credit to the audio crew and the work that they put in to only use very basic natural sounds to create the environment in which we would spend the next hour of our time in.

One day three movies

So yesterday I didn't have very much going on so I decided to watch a movie, and I ended up watching three by the end of the day.

So the first movie I watched was Philadelphia.  After seeing the segment of Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington in class I knew it was a movie I had to watch.  The movie follows the court case of Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) a lawyer who was fired because he contracted the aids virus.  It is a story that portrays the negative inclination towards homosexuals and aids victims.  This was probably my favorite out of the three movies I watched.  The films ability to play on the audiences emotions is fantastic.  The character development and the talent of the actors creates such a personal connection to everyone in the film.  The many close ups of faces during intense emotional scenes just sells it and you have no choice but to put yourself in the courtroom.

The second movie I watched was Dr. Strangelove or: how I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.  This movie made in 1964, is about an incident that sparks a nuclear war between Russia and the United States.  The part of the film I loved the most was the role(s) of Peter Seller.  Peter Seller played three different roles in the movie, and all of them different personalities or even nationalities.  One other thing I enjoyed about the film was the lack of cuts.  There were large pieces of the movie that were only one shot.  I felt this allowed the scene to unfurl on its own, something you would not frequently see these days.

Lastly I watched the movie Blade Runner.  This was a movie I had always wanted to see but never had a chance to so I figured why not.  This movie stars Harrison Ford as a "blade runner" (basically a police officer) who is supposed to track down and kill genetically engineered humans, which are illegal in the movie.  The part of this movie that impressed me the most was the visuals.  The entire movie except the last scene takes place at night, in the rain, in a futuristic city.  I just couldn't get over how well all the lights and colors went together.  There were always a neon color hue, and when there weren't, scenes that took place in homes and such, there were many moving lights to represent the light from outside.  The illusion of the lights of passing cars shining through holes in the wall added a particular mood and added to the overall image of the film.

Overall I would say it was a good day.  I enjoyed all the movies I saw and I am now inspired to start watching more movies I have always wanted to see.  I am in the process of getting Citizen Kane so who knows, maybe the next blog will be about that.

Robert Cannon

You Got a Friend In Me

Toy story 3 the third final Toy Story made to date directed by Lee Unkrich is a film about Andy (John Morris) who is now 17 and ready to head off to college, His mother (Laurie Metcalf) tells him that he has to decide what he wants to do with his old toys, and Andy decides to keep them in the attic, except for Woody (Tom Hanks), who he is planning to take to school. However in the rush of packing Andy gets distracted and forgets about the toys. His mother, thinking that Andy does not have any use for the toys accidentally donates them to the Sunnyside Daycare, leaving Woody, Buzz (Tim Allen) all of the other toys to figure out how this will impact their future. At first life at the daycare seems like it will be happy and carefree, but soon they learn the truth. The toys are abused by an evil bear named Lots (Ned Beatty). The toys soon realized they must figure out a way to get back home to Andy. Will they make it out alive, you will just have to go and get the movie to see.

References:
King Kong (1933)The Wizard of Oz (1939) "The Adventures of Spin and Marty" (1955)The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)Cool Hand Luke (1967)"Scooby Doo, Where Are You!" (1969)
"Happy Days" (1974)"Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" (1979)The Evil Dead (1981)Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)The Adventures of André and Wally B. (1984)Ernest Goes to Camp (1987)My Neighbor Totoro (1988)Tin Toy (1988)Parenthood (1989)Jurassic Park (1993)Toy Story (1995)A Bug's Life (1998)Toy Story 2 (1999)Monsters, Inc. (2001)Finding Nemo (2003)The Incredibles (2004)Cars (2006)WALL·E (2008)

Importance of music in film

After reading a few blogs and after what we were speaking of in class today I thought I'd share my opinion on the importance of music in film. The music of a film can sometimes make or break the scene of it. For example, the scene in Robert Zemeckis' Cast Away, where Tom Hanks' character wakes up to find his best friend the volleyball "Wilson" missing and floating away in the ocean, is very heavily weighted on it's music bed. The reason for this being is because if you were to watch the scene with out the actual music  bed, it would actually be slightly comical. The scene itself begins with out a music bed but ends with one and rightfully so since the scene was NOT meant to be comical at all.
Here is the scene:

As the scene ends Tom Hanks' character begins to cry historically, if the music bed were not there to direct the emotion of the scene, the concept of a grown man crying that hard over a lost toy, is quite silly. Knowing the circumstances  it's not meant to be funny. Thus, the epic, emotional music piece. Family Guy actually mocked the scene and made it funny by making the famous reference of "Wilson!" and then adding a bit of comic reality coming from a cartoon volleyball. Notice there is no music bed.
Here's that video:

Oh, easy stupid comedy... On the oposite spectrum; a serious situation that shouldn't be funny is Something like the "WOW freak out kid". If this person were really this way or not is entirely debatable. I understand the boy was on Tosh.0 and made sure to stress that he was just acting. On the realistic side of things Human's can act animalistic and freak out the way he did, if I had a mental break down and freaked out about anything (especially being at his age) and it were filmed and posted on the internet by my Justine-Beiber-look-alike little brother I'd probably tell the world it was fake too so that Some day I could look forward to a normal social life in the near future. Aside from that rant, The concept of Asperger's syndrome, is a very serious issue that obviously can hurt himself and others. The reality is sad but the video is terribly funny.
here is that video:

The point is that music can change the entire mood of a film just like the setting of a terrible concept can make it funny.