Memento

No spoilers BTW

Memento is a truly brilliant piece of cinema and I am so glad Julia helped me pick it in the library.

When I booked it out loads of people said that it was brilliant so I was exited to watch it. I thought the idea of how it was edited was fascinating; it was so cleaver and the only way to tell the story. I can’t imagine how you could pitch it. “I want to tell the story backwards”

There was a point in the film when I thought that it could go on forever, which it could have done but they do round it up so nicely. This film would definitely go into my top ten favourite films of all time with out a doubt. It was extremely refreshing to watch a new type of film that didn’t tell a story in the conventional way. It engaged you by forcing you to remember what you had just watch and really pay attention.

Don't think that this is just a serious smart film, it did have quite a lot of funny points. I laughed out loud on a number of occasions.

I wanted to put a trailer in this blog but all the trailers have massive spoilers in them, so beware if you have not watched this yet. I say yet because you should watch it soon!

If anyone knows of any other films that are told in this non linier format please tell me because I would love to see another film that is a cleaver and twisting as Memento.

Im am not off to see the Wizard.

I have to pick one of these great films to write about,The Godfather, The Wizard of Oz, Blade Runner, The Shawshank Redemption but I am sure I am missing one. The one I am missing obviouly did not make that big imprestion on me.

I have decided to talk about the Wizzard of Oz.

Over all I did not like this film. I thought the set was tacky, you could clearly see the back drop and I wanted crawl into a hole and die when the munchins came out. They look so creaping and odd. Thats probaly not PC to say but they really did creap me out. The overall journy bored me, I thought that Dorathy didn't change that much. She learened that there was no place like home but she was not running away from home because she didn't like it. It was so she could save her dog and at the end she is in the same situation she was when she started.

Scenes that make us go ooowww

I have posted this on moodle but I thought it could also count as a blog for the week.

There are points in certain movies that make that movie brilliant. They are scenes which can do a lot the the audience member.

It could be the end of the 6th sense or the usual suspects. This type of scene sums up the whole film and completely changes the meaning of the film. It's like at the end of a crime film were you find out that the butler did it and everything makes sense.

But there are scenes in films which are just beautiful and these are the important ones. Perhaps a point were a character has a revelation or two people get together. For example Marly and me. The part where Marly walks up the steps but is limping is so sad but in a way completes the journey of this dog. This small 20 second part of the movie really got to me. I felt sad for the dog but also for the family.

There is also the end of Lost in Translation when he whispers in her ear, in Braveheart when Gibson is being stretched or in Joan of Arc when she has lost all she had and is about to face her fait.

It can also be not so beautiful like in requiem for a dream when the girl "performs" for men in order to get drugs. This part of the movie makes you cringe but also feel so sorry for the girl and the situation that she is in. You feel so many emotions at once.

Agos 9

I am still not that good about analyzing films and writing blogs about them. I am working on it and I promise you that there are a couple blogs about films saved in my drafts. However It has been a while since my last blog and I know we are meant to do one a week. I hope that this counts as one.

Agos 9

We have all grown to not like that room. That is not because of the classes held in there. I really like the classes we have, just not the room. We have to look at a wall which looks like is falling apart. The paint is peeling off from it. If we have to stay in this room I think there should be some sort of wall painting on that side of the room. The tutors get the pleasure of looking at our gorgeous faces but we are stuck with the pealing paint. If we could look at a beautiful painting we would be inspired to work much harder and I am sure that are creative minds would be able to flourish easier.

The other thing that I think is wrong with the room is that i is too small. If someone could knock the wall down so that the room would be bigger that would be great. When we had a class with Ray in the chandler studio we all thought that it was better. I found it easier to work in a bigger space. But this point is more for Rays classes. I suppose it is better to be closer so you can interacted with each other when auguring about torture or some some TV show.

The best thing that could be done to this room is to get rid of all the chairs in the room and replace them with bean bags. We would only need 14. If we where all relaxed and comfy we would be able to learn better. Also we would be happier on the whole so when some of our ideas are not aloud to be made or funded we could always say well they did get us bean bags. Another good thing is that if we get into heated debate in Richards class we would be chucking bean bags at each other not chairs.

I would also like to say that I am really happy with the way we are being taught and this blog is just for something to write about but I would like bean bags.

My 48 hrs

When we where first given this task I thought I had nothing planned to watch on tv so I would not have that much to write about. I decided to pick Monday and Tuesday, not because I had forgotten until Sunday night. So here is a list of what I watched.

Monday

BBC Breakfast News
South Park
Life
The Thick of It
Malcolm in the Middle
Come dine with me
The Biggest Loser
F1
Cycling

Tuesday

BBC Breakfast News
Mock the Week
The F word
Around the World in 80 Days
The White Beauty Myth
The Xtra Factor
Family Guy
Trick or Treat

I was so shocked when I was writing down what I had watched. I had do idea that I watched so much TV.

The Programmes I watched live where the News, The F Word, Around the World, F 1, Cycling, Family Guy, Mock the Week and The White Beauty Myth but I paused it and came back to it.

All the other programmes where time shifted. Some of them I watched on BBC iplayer and others where on my Sky + box eather recored or on any time.

Quite a few of the programmes I watched was simply because they were on when I entered a room. It is a form of socialising without having to speak to someone. I don’t think that that should be the way it is. I think that people should talk to one another but we are all mesmerised by the TV.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

So I went to go and see The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus last week. I really wanted to like this film. As a wannabe film maker I felt that I should like Terry Gilliam’s off the wall creative mind. This is now the fourth film of his I have seen and I have come to the conclusion that I do not like him. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was just odd. I still don’t really understand what the mirror was. There was this mirror that when people went through, they where transported into another world. Or was it his mind, or was it the persons mind. Was Doctor Parnassus just a gate keeper to another world or was he opening up his mind to let others see his. I spent the majority of this film either confused or getting annoyed at the silly animation. The only thing I did like was the way they dealt with Heath Ledger’s death. It was cleaver how they brought in other actors to play his part and the change was subtle. Even though these actors are not in the film for that long the film company can still put their names on the posters which will pull in even more of an audience.

Scenes we'd like to see.

I don't want to write about a whole film, but I would like to talk about scenes from a few films that have stood out and made the film for me.


The first one is from Casablanca. There is a scene in the cafe that gives me goose bumps every time I watch it. Casablanca is a place in Morocco which was owned by the Americans during the second World War. people could escape from occupied Europe to there and the Germans could not touch them. In this scene the Germans are singing their song in the cafe. This is very demoralising for all the French that are stuck in this place because it is not safe to be in France. The owner of the cafe instructs his band to play La Marseillaise the French national anthem. They start to play and the French, English, and everyone who is not German start to sing along. The Germans and the rest of the cafe compete as they sing their lungs out. The Germans start to sit down, the singing of La Marseillaise get louder and louder.

It is such a great feeling watch this part of the film. If you have watched it all the way through you will have built up relationships with the characters and this is point they pick themselves up a bit which is great. A truly wonderful piece of cinema.


Casablanca - French National Anthem





Another scene that stands out from me is the classic torture scene from Reservoir Dogs. A man (Mr Blonde) has a cop tied to a chair in a warehouse. He has just made a robbery and taken this cop captive. As he waits for the rest of his gang to return he decides to torture the cop. If you watch this scene the song Stuck In The Middle With You will never be the same ever again. This scene is good for a few reasons. One of the reasons I like it is because of the way it makes you feel. You feel incredibly tense and horrified by what is happening. I also like it because of the way it is edited. There is a bit were he walks out to his car and the music fades away and when he walks back in the music fades back up. Incredibly simple you might think, but it has a big effect. Also the bit where the cop has his ear cut off is very well done, you don’t actually see it as the camera moves away at that point. I also like the dance Mr Blonde does, it was improvised and is fantastic. This scene is about 6 min long but I do suggest you watch it.


Reservoir Dogs - Stuck In The Middle With You


Please feel free to comment any of your favourite scenes from films or if you disagree with these scenes. I know Andy said he did not like Quentin Tarrantino.

The day of the Triffids

This film is about killer plants! Thats right its a 1962 horror about plants that chase people and try to eat them. These are not your average plants. They have come from out of space and have blinded 99% of the worlds population before landing.

This is a great film to watch if you want a bit of fun but also its funny to think that people would have been scared of these plants back then. I suppose you could say that the special effects back then were good for the time. If you think of the 1959 move Plan 9 From Out of Space, which was one of the worst movies ever made, it had terrible effects. The tomb stones were cardboard and when you see the space ship it looks like it is hanging from a piece of string. Also the main actor died half way though filming so they replaced him with another man. So the audience would not be confused by why the main character had changed they made the new man always hold his cloak over his face.

plan 9 from outer space (trailer)

The Day of the Triffids -

The invention of lying

I went to the cinema yesterday at about 4 30 and bought a ticket for TIOL which started at 6 30. It was not worth the wait. I was really looking forward to this film. I thought the idea of it was interesting. I went in thinking that it was going to be hilarious but there was not one belly laugh. The majority of the jokes were at the beginning of the film then it tried to be a much more serious hard hitting film. The jokes at the start were not that good anyway. They seemed forced and there were only a few giggles in the screen I was in. Then when it tried to be a serious film I could not take Ricky Gervais seriously. I will always see him as David Brent and I think he should go back to what he does best, comedy and stop trying to be the next De Niro.

"Everyone wants to be found"

An apathetic ageing film star felt his life had no meaning until he met a newlywed in Tokyo and formed an unlikely bond that revitalised him.

That is the one line that sums up one of my favorite films " Lost in Translation" starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. I adore this film for a few reasons but first I will tell you what its about.

Basically its about a man called Bob who is filming an advert in Tokyo and is fed up living a mundane life. He is bored and has lost the flame that used to be inside him. Charlotte is just the girl that can relight that flame. She is staying in the same hotel as Bob and is just as bored as he is. Together they form a wonderful bond as they can relate to each other by talking and spending time with each other. And that's about it.

The wonderful thing about this movie is that not much happens but that is what helps it be fantastic. All it is is two people meeting but you still feel so much for both of them and you can really see deep inside of them as characters. A lot of people hate this film because of this. They think that this film is boring and expect them to fall madly in love and want more from it.

However I love that you can just sit back and take in the beautiful cinematography and enjoy the fantastic acting.

Also the soundtrack is brilliant. There is not one song that I did not like in this film. One of my favorite songs " Just Like Honey " features in this film. This is my first time reviewing a film and I don't think I am getting across the true beauty of this film. So I strongly suggest that you watch it and maybe you can tell me how best to describe it. You will either hate this film or be as intrigued as I was by it. I look forward to either talking to you about how good this film was or trying to convince you why you are wrong :P

Here is the trailer

YouTube - Lost in Translation - New Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgDgs5anKuk