Film Essays (Examples)

Film Discussion Early View of

The natural world allows us to show of more of our individual talents, whereas the urban landscape seems to only allow us to show what is needed of us in terms of industry.

Modern Times echoes these themes and images of the early representation of the modern city. However, the film is much more comedic, but with the same message. For example, the factory scene shows the same monotony. It is comedic, yet it is also representing the dehumanizing of urban workers because of the extreme technological advances (Hicks 2007). This film represents a strange sense of automation taking the life and quality out of production within modern urban environments. There is the incessant need to be faster, and Chaplin's character can't even take a short break. Yet the workplace is not an ideal environment -- the fly that keeps bothering him represents the constant torture the modern worker endures…… [Read More]

Film Campaign Nora Ephron's Julie

Their decision and ability to not only highlight the portions of the film that nest exemplify this (i.e. Streep's scenes as Julia Childs) but to also tie the rest of the film into the same perspective they were hoping to entice their viewers into adopting (i.e. The worship of Childs from afar a la Powell) accomplished exactly what was needed.

The construction of the television spots used in the marketing campaign for Julie & Julia were not effective only in legitimizing the story of Julia Childs told in the film, but also helped to draw younger viewers to the film. Amy Adams is a quickly emerging yet very well-received actress, and her story in the film modernizes what would otherwise be a historical piece. Though this historicism was the main focus of the advertising campaign, the television spots also reflect and understanding that younger audiences will not necessarily be drawn…… [Read More]

Film Theory Film and Reality

The spectator is unwittingly sutured into a colonialist perspective. But such techniques are not inevitably colonialist in their operation. One of the innovations of Pontocorvo's Battle of Algiers is to invert the imagery of encirclement and exploit the identificatory mechanisms of cinema in behalf of the colonized rather than the colonizer (Noble, 1977).

It is from within the casbah that we see and hear the French troops and helicopters. This time it is the colonized who are encircled and menaced and with whom we identify. The sequence in which three Algerian women dress in European style in order to pass the French checkpoints is particularly effective in controverting traditional patterns through the mechanisms of cinematic identification: scale (close shots individualize the three women); off-screen sound (we hear the sexist comments as if from the women's aural perspective); and especially point-of-view editing. By the time the women plant the bombs; our…… [Read More]

Film Theory and Criticism Hitchcock

She must deliver the government plan to an end and be successful. She is determined and uses all her feminine best cards. At the beginning of their meeting she seems to be a superficial, sex interested woman, giving a slight sense of nymphomania. During her adventure with Roger Thornhill she falls in love with him. A theme frequently used in American films (take for example all James ond films, sexy women ready anytime to jump in the hero's arms). At the end Eve and Roger seem a happily married coupled going on a honeymoon, and the viewer is given the impression of the perfect companion, a future ideal mother and wife, and Roger the devoted husband. They had there moments of doubt, when Roger thought Eve betrayed him and named her a person with no feelings, but Roger realized his mistake and they reconciled. The characters seem to have been…… [Read More]

Film Documentary Review Nix on

In fact, the reviewer seemed to make it clear that this film would provide insight even for people well-familiar with the comfort women story. Three survivors talk about what they endured as comfort women, and how that has continued to impact them and their lives, to this day. The reviewer describes the women using graphic detail, which is an interesting and anomalous phrase. After all, would not one expect to find descriptions of rape to be graphic and disturbing? However, the euphemistic phrasing that is employed to justify human rights violations like this one, such as calling the women "comfort women" rather than "sex slaves" softens the impact of what has been done, even years after the fact. Therefore, while it is clear that the reviewer has previously studied these events, it is equally clear that the reviewer did not ever really consider the impact that being forced into prostitution…… [Read More]

Film Birth of a Nation

The first part ends with Lincoln's assassination and with influential abolitionists wanting to punish the Southern states.

The second part of the movie presents the characters after the end of the war as they attempt to reach their goals. Austin travels south with the intention of taking care that blacks are being set free and that they receive their basic rights. Ben Cameron is disappointed that his people now have to treat blacks as equals and decided to form the Ku Klux Klan.

Flora Cameron commits suicide after being chased by Gus, a former slave that tried to convince her to marry him. Ben quickly apprehends Gus, hangs him, and leaves his body in front of Lieutenant Governor Silas Lynch's house. Lynch responds by ordering the executions of all those part of the Klan. The Camerons manage to escape Lynch's people and they take refuge in a country home.

As…… [Read More]

Film Criticism of Casablanca Casablanca One of

Film Criticism of Casablanca

Casablanca, one of the most famous films of the last one hundred years, uses various film and music techniques to convey the story of Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman's tragic love triangle set in orld ar II's North Africa. The film connects on many human levels due to its use of seamless shots including close-ups, deep focus and dissolves to name a few. The technique of mis en scene, which literally means use of stylistic items such as scenery, lighting and costumes also artistically builds the drama. The use of music also plays a huge role in setting the scene for romance in the film. It, too, can be considered a character, after all no one can forget the line "Play it again, Sam." The following paragraphs takes an in depth look at such examples in the film.

Film Criticism

Montage and overlapping of scenes opens…… [Read More]

Film & TV Terminology Terminology

In this area, meanings with their endless referrals evolve. These include meanings form discourses, as well as cultural systems of knowledge which structure beliefs, feelings, and values, i.e., ideologies. Language, in turn, produces these temporal "products."

During the next section of this thesis, the researcher relates a number of products (terminology) the film/TV industry produced, in answer to the question: hat components contribute to the linguistic aspect of a sublanguage inside of the English language?

CHAPTER III

FILM and TV SUBLANGUAGE

e've come to a certain point in the history of film.

Introduction

In the writing of the script for film/TV, a sublanguage, the writer's deep collection of his/her responses to life. Under specific circumstances, individuals in a particular area of expertise alter/change/utilize a language, in this case, English, to fit their profession, in turn making it easier of those in the profession to understand. This practice of altering specific…… [Read More]

Film History Expressions of Existential

These blows come in the form of beatings and disappointments encountered by Antoine while he is a student at a prison-like school. Truffaut paints the starkness of his reality effectively in his use of black and white hues. The boys are dressed mainly in dark formal clothes and their surroundings are also dark. This is contrasted with the brightness of the outside world in which Antoine is constantly looking for. He is left to his own devices, as the adults of the film appear to be "hypocritical, unsympathetic, unperceptive and untrustworthy" (Mast 353). This depicts a gloomy picture of Truffaut's outlook on life. His methods of camera technique, palette choice and story structure further promote this feeling. His choice of loner and misfits like Antoine who feel stifled by society also promote changing definitions in society. Truffaut wanted to put these ideas out into the public not only to express…… [Read More]

Film Prompt The Battle of

This is important, because the director was using these individuals to show how the struggle for independence was carried out by: ordinary people who wanted to make a difference. (Johnson)

Since the film was first released in 1966, sympathy has changed dramatically. What has been happening is: the views of the FLN and their leaders are seen as heroes throughout the film. As they are representing the struggles that Algerians are going through during the independence movement. In this aspect, the movie was about the people standing up to: capitalist regimes that were exploiting many countries. (Johnson)

However, as time has went by, the use of these tactics by the FLN (mainly bombings) has changed. What has been occurring is that, this has become a common form of attack that many terrorist groups are using against innocent civilians. After the events of September 11th and the feelings associated with what…… [Read More]

Film and Television and Culture

Film And Television and Culture

One of the principal concepts that Robert Zemekis' 994 motion picture Forrest Gump is meant to put across regards the problems that society has to deal with. Consequent to watching this film, most viewers are likely to look back and think about all of the issues in Forrest Gump's life. The fact that Tom Hanks soundly plays the character contributes to making the audience relate to him, especially considering that his emotional nature increases the overall feeling that one has while viewing the film.

Forrest Gump is a rather ordinary individual who somewhat accidentally becomes a part of a series of historic events. Having been challenged by life's hardships, he continuously strives to achieve his goals, regardless of the fact that he often comes across tough situations. His below-the-average IQ and his failure to connect with the love of his life in his early years…… [Read More]

Film Comparison Almodovar's Prisons Can Be More

Film Comparison

Almodovar's Prisons

Prisons can be more than a place where one is confined for what they have done. A prison can be a great number of things; a prison can be a psychological, social, emotional, or physical construct. Pedro Almodovar explores these four types of prisons in two of his films, Volver and Todo Sobre Mi Madre (All About My Mother). In both of these films, the characters find themselves held prisoner by what they keep as secret; the ramifications of these secrets sometimes force characters into seclusion, whether it is self-imposed or a result of social/cultural fears. Volver and Todo Sobre Mi Madre's narratives demonstrate the effects that these four types of prisons -- psychological, social, emotional, and physical -- have on the people that are forced into confinement.

"Almodovar is most interested in melodrama, approached from a variety of angles, some of them skewed" (Mast &…… [Read More]

Film Family Prays Together Stays Together Tyler

Film: Family Prays Together Stays Together Tyler Perry Select a film, short story, drama worthy time analysis, Aristotle's ideas good dramatic storytelling lecture, analyze story a 750- 1

Tyler Perry's movie drama "The family that preys" represents the story of two families that eventually are forced by circumstances to work together and to get along, regardless of the discrepancies that exist in their life style, mentality, and dreams.

The story line is relatively complex in the sense that there are numerous events that take place throughout the film, from marriage, to drama, from happy moments to sad ones. From this point-of-view, the story and the plot itself resembles the complexity of everyday life, with all intricate affairs and developments that usually do take place in people's lives. An aspect however that may seem somewhat unrealistic relates to the way in which paths cross between the two families. In every day…… [Read More]

The Maltese Falcon Film Review

Film Review: The Maltese Falcon

Director John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon features the actor Humphrey Bogart in one of his iconic starring roles as the hardboiled detective Sam Spade. The film is an adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s book of the same name, but is famous less for its plot than its atmospheric rendition of the mystery. The Maltese Falcon melds a traditional crime plot of murder, missing persons, and mistaken identity with that of the legendary bird of the title, a figure so valuable, people will do anything to find it.
The film begins with a mysterious and ultimately untrustworthy woman claiming that she is looking for her missing sister. She employs Spade and his partner Miles Archer to find her sister, who she says is seeing a man named Floyd Thursby. Both Archer and Thursby are later found dead. Eventually, the woman Brigid O’Shaughnessy, is implicated in both murders—she…… [Read More]

ava and duante film production in nigeria

It is with great pleasure and excitement that we invite you to partner with us on a historical project, a feature film inspired by true events about Afro-Germans under Nazi rule. Set in Germany, produced in Nigeria, Ava and Duante has tremendous global appeal, with particular relevance to our community in Abuja as it highlights a little-known element of modern history. Perhaps more than any other film to emerge from our country, Ava and Duante has the power to draw international investments into the Nigerian film industry and related creative arts. Mo Abudu, Chief Executive of EbonyLife TV, produced the film, which was written by Nicole Brown. Ava and Duante has the power to inform, inspire, and illuminate, which is why we believe the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany will be interested in collaborating with us in the film’s promotion and sponsorship.
Mo Abudu was inspired to produce…… [Read More]

War Horse Movie Review

War Horse Resiliency
Introductory Statement
This paper provides a critique of the 2012 film War Horse directed by Steven Spielberg. The film takes place during the World War I era and follows the life of a horse named Joey. The film presents various depictions of what it means to be resilient. This paper will provide a summary of the film, examine the key concepts found in the film’s story line, and discuss resiliency and the Biblical solution to adversity from the film’s perspective.
Summary
The film begins with the birth of the horse, whom Albert admires over time. The colt is ultimately auctioned and bought by Albert’s father at a price more than three times its actual value. Albert’s father Ted is willing to pay the price because he knows the horse will bring his son happiness. Albert is indeed made happy by the horse and trains it to do…… [Read More]

Use of Symbol in Cuaron's Film Roma

Roma: Analysis
Roma, directed by Alfonso Cuaron, is a black and white film, stylish in nature yet reflective of reality. It is a period drama set in Mexico in 1970. The film opens with a long still shot of water swooshing over the tiled floor of driveway within a Mexico City mansion. The sounds are like waves washing over a beach (they foreshadow a climactic scene at the end of the film). The credits roll over this opening scene and when they finish the camera pans up to reveal the heroine of the film, the diminutive Cleo, who is a live-in maid in the mansion of the upper class Mexican family.
The main ideas of the film are captured evocatively but subtly by the camera’s framing, by the use of light and shadow, and by the suggesting nature of mise-en-scene. For instance, a great deal is suggested about the patriarch…… [Read More]

the branagh film henry V and leadership

White Paper
Timeless Tools for Leadership Development
In Chapter 9 of Noel Tichy’s The Leadership Engine, the author describes leaders as protagonists in a drama. Dramatic characters from film and literature therefore serve as apt role models for future leaders interested in managing change and driving their organization towards success. The film Henry V, relatively faithful to the Shakespeare’s play, reveals the qualities of an effective leader through the titular hero. Based on the real life leader and King of England, Henry V depicts a leader who embodies many of the qualities that Tichy deems important for developing a leadership engine: a learning organization that inculcates values and ethics into its mission, vision, and culture. Henry V illustrates the importance of teaching, risk-taking, and relentless energy as core leadership traits. Furthermore, the film depicts a leader adept at learning from the past and communicating a clear and comprehensive vision for…… [Read More]

place matters documentary film

Larry Adelman’s documentary Place Matters addresses the social determinants of health, focusing on the intersection between socioeconomic class, race, and geography. Place matters in terms of exposure to environmental toxins and other public health hazards like poor infrastructure. This particular episode focuses on asthma and how it is linked to exposure to environmental toxins. Moreover, place determines the access to health resources and also to the ability to form social support networks in a community. The video shows how individual variables like race or economic class need to be contextualized; that multiple variables intersect to inform health outcomes and epidemiological patterns. A person can be disadvantaged from birth, simply by the circumstances of where one was born. Geography and space are therefore linked to power and privilege in the society, unless there is effective public policy to address disparities.
I appreciated watching Place Matters, because the film carefully elucidates the…… [Read More]

Technology and War In Film

Technological developments have characterized the modern world and play a critical role in communications. Given their impact on communications, these advancements has also influenced the creation of war movies. However, war movies have existed for a long period of time. While modern technological developments are significantly different, technology has also been traditionally linked with war. One of the ways with which technology has been linked to war is through film. This is evident in the fact that various movies or films have been created to depict and emphasize the relationship between technology and war. This paper seeks to examine this relationship through evaluating films that have attempted to link the two concepts. This evaluation is based on a comparison of two films i.e. Dr. Strangelove and WarGames.
Brief Overview of Dr. Strangelove and WarGames
Dr. Strangelove and WarGames are examples to films or movies that have been made to demonstrate…… [Read More]

Incentives for Film Producers

How the government can add value to the entertainment sector
1. State of the Art film village
Lagos State could invest in a state-of-the-art film village, a site dedicated to providing a cinematic resort-like experience for vacationers wanting to combine the latest and greatest in cinema technology with luxurious destination splendor. The film village would serve a robust offering of options for visitors, complete with sound stage, recreational attractions, shopping mall, sports stadium, hotel, and of course a cinema. A film village like this would help to create hundreds if not thousands of jobs for the area. A film destination similar to Tinapa in Calabar, Nigeria would also be a terrific tourist hot spot, bringing in tourism revenue for the state and increasing its visibility and prestige globally. This would bring incredible value to the entertainment sector as well by showing that Nigeria takes the movie-going experience seriously: the cinema…… [Read More]

Evaluation of Two Films

The Link between Politics, Family Separation, and Identity Conflicts
Documentary films are utilized to highlight various issues that have faced individuals or societies over time. Such films are used to show events and situations that are visible parts of individuals’ shared experiences (Nichols, p.ix). As a result, documentary films are utilized as tools for representing reality through highlighting the shared experiences of people. Historical documentary films provide important lessons on various themes relating to the shared experiences of people in different historical periods and geopolitical configurations. Analysis of documentary films help in understanding the various issues that have faced people in different societies. For instance, Dear Pyongyang which was directed by Yang Yong-hi and History and Memory: For Akiko and Takashige which was produced by Rea Tajiri are the examples of historical documentary films that have been used as representations of reality. These two films show different geopolitical configurations and…… [Read More]

Evaluation of Two Films

Film Research
Films have traditionally been utilized as tools for expressing different issues that have faced different groups of people across different historical periods and varying geopolitical configurations. Nichols contends that films, particularly documentary films, are utilized to show events and situations that are visible parts of individuals’ shared experiences (p.ix). In essence, films are utilized as tools for representing reality through highlighting the shared experiences of people and groups across historical periods and geopolitical configurations. Some examples of films that have been utilized as representations of reality is Dear Pyongyang, which was directed by Yang Yong-hi and History and Memory: For Akiko and Takashige, which was produced by Rea Tajiri. These two films are from different geopolitical configurations and provide significant insights relating to family experience. Politics has a strong link to family separation and identity conflicts as shown in these two historical films.
Comparison of the Two Films…… [Read More]

As You Wish Scene from The Princess Bride

Assignment One
Subject: “As You Wish” Scene from The Princess Bride
In the “As You Wish” scene from the Princess Bride, some of the primary themes and motifs of the film are revealed through the elements of cinematography. The scene takes place outdoors, with a backdrop of breathtaking mountain scenery. Across this idyllic background, the two main characters, Buttercup and Wesley, have a discussion. However, Wesley has become the new Dread Pirate Roberts and Buttercup believes she is speaking to the man who killed her one true love. There is a high degree of dramatic irony in this scene given that the audience knows that Wesley is behind the mask. The fact that Buttercup does not recognize Wesley—even though she waxes poetic about his eyes--underscores the humorous, satirical nature of the film.
The editors cut back and forth from Buttercup to Wesley, using middle range and wide-angle shots to enhance…… [Read More]

Rey as Mary Sue in Star Wars

Population and Society
In the Star Wars: The Force Awakens film, the character of Rey is conceived and communicated as a stereotypical Mary Sue—a character who is seemingly perfect at whatever she does and goes through little or no struggle to acquire skills that an ordinary person would take years if not a lifetime to perfect. For example, Rey acquires the skills of a Jedi Knight within a short space of time, while it takes Luke in the original film a great deal of practice, training and perseverence before he can begin to harness the force. Rey portrayed as a Mary Sue creates a negative bias in the audience because it fosters an unrealistic expectation of womanhood—that women can do anything by virtue of their being strong women. As Byrd (1978) points out Mary Sue stories first emerged in Star Trek and described “the adventures of the youngest and smartest…… [Read More]

James Cameron's Avatar and Nature

Avatar and the Rain Forest
The tropical rain forest is a place unlike any on earth and for that reason its vegetation has attracted more attention from writers than any other vegetation anywhere else on the planet: as Whitmore (1990) states, “more ‘purple passages’ have been penned on lowland evergreen rain forest than any other vegetation type” (p. 40). Through this lens of human beings’ fascination with the wonders of the tropical rain forest, one can see why James Cameron took such care to bring to life the tropical world of Avatar. Cameron’s film is an ode to nature—to the wonders of the environment. It is a sci-fi reimagining of what our world could be like if only we stopped trying to loot and plunder the natural world. As the villains in Avatar show, nature is corrupted by the external influence of people who seek to exploit nature and create…… [Read More]

The Distinguished Gentleman

The Political Process
In a political setting, people transfer their individual political power to their representatives to form sovereignty. The representatives then constitute a government at the helms of affairs, using the state instruments to control the political system in society. There are procedures involved in the power transfer, and each stage of this is known as a political process. However, there are different schools of thoughts on what constitutes a proper political process. Individual elector, politicians, and sometimes, political parties form their political ideologies based on the perspective that best suits their narrative of the right political process. From different countries, political parties, and leaders, we have witnessed different political processes, and one movie that perfectly depicts the public’s opinion of a political process is the 1992 American political comedy movie, The Distinguished Gentleman.
Written by Martin Kaplan and Jonathan Reynolds, and directed by Jonathan Lynn. The film starred,…… [Read More]

The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz some regard as ‘like a dream’, a kind of Alice in Wonderland motif set in America. It represents a means of witnessing the culture of the mid-west, but also a dream world that allows someone like Dorothy to find herself and her way home. Dreams influence films and vice versa. How those that made The Wizard of Oz convey the dream element was through key decisions in cinematography, lighting, and acting style. Such decisions generated a film that even now is regarded as one of the best in its genre.
To begin, one must examine the cinematography of the film. The cinematography aspect of The Wizard of Oz follows several themes. One in particular, is the theme of “Dreams, Hopes, and Plans”. The dreams of Dorothy and her friends have been brought into focus via an acting out of what they desire most (Bulkeley, 1999).
The…… [Read More]

The fakeness of Hollywood

The author of this brief report has been asked to offer a review of a video that is currently present on the YouTube collection of videos. Rather than providing a simple “shot by shot” review or any other sort of basic review, the author will instead use proper terms, ideas and concepts to get a fuller picture of what the video is trying to accomplish and what methods are being used to accomplish the same in terms of its structure and methodology. There are a number of important factors that will be considered include actual intent, clear intent and what is truly going on within a scene including its narrative, its themes and so forth. While it is possible to read too much into a given scene or the points it is trying to make, there are other times where that is the precise thing that is to be done.…… [Read More]

Character and Monomyth Black Panther

Black Panther: Character and Monomyth
The great success of the 2018 superhero film Black Panther was noteworthy from a cultural perspective because it was a blockbuster superhero film to gain wide acclaim with an African-American cast and proudly Afro-centric themes. The film is testimony to the success of the demand that historically marginalized groups see themselves represented in major cinematic productions. However, despite the fact that the hero T’Challa is noteworthy due to his ethnicity and race, his story in many ways embodies the traditional, critical aspects of the monomyth of the hero’s journey, in which a hero is called to embark upon a needed journey (usually reluctantly), is initiated into a new way of life, followed by a return.
In Black Panther, T’Challa must return to his native Wakanda to assume the throne after the death of his father T’Chaka. To do so, he must face a test in…… [Read More]

Black Power and Black Cinema

Black Power Movement and Cinema of the 1960s and 1970s: A Discussion of Overlap
As many scholars agree, all art is a product of its time. The social tensions, trends, patterns of thought and political issues of an era can’t help but influence the art that is created and consumed. This is particularly true with cinema and all forms of media arts. This paper will examine how the Black Power movement influenced cinema (and at times was influenced by cinema) in three distinct films of the 1960s and 1970s.
The Defiant Ones
“The Defiant Ones” (1958) directed by Stanley Kramer was a film that succeeded and failed in making meaningful commentary on race and race relations. It was perhaps its failings that helped provoke the Black Power Movement of the 1960s and 1970s most acutely. The movie is a “buddy film” a genre of cinema that details a story around…… [Read More]

Movies and Methods Volume I

Not only does Nichols provide a good context for the many paradoxes that can confront film studies with his insightful and thoughtful introduction, but he also shows how sharing approaches and methods can help to stimulate a lot of the best writing regarding film. In addition he shows many of the common problems that are seen and deals with the contradictions that appear. Like the first volume of the anthology, this second volume also provides smaller introductions so that each essay and piece of information can be more easily understood. It also allows a reader to peruse the book and find the pertinent piece of information that he or she needs at that point in time, which can be very valuable, especially for a novice to the film industry trying to find information quickly. Having the smaller introductions before each piece also help to showcase each item within the context…… [Read More]

Film Analysis Sophie's Choice Film

Conclusion

It is hard to deny that Sophie's Choice indeed has the trifecta of what I believe good movie-making needs: superb acting, sound, and cinematography, as it was nominated excellence in acting (won by Meryl Streep), cinematography, and music by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' annual Academy Awards. hile I have seen many movies, few have touched me the way Sophie's Choice has. I can remember the seamless acting, the haunting music, and the visual beauty of the film itself. In viewing Sophie's Choice, it's easy to see that a great film is so much more than commercial success or box office revenue; a great film is compelling. It grabs hold of you and doesn't let go. In looking for movies that resonate with the viewer, one cannot come any closer to perfection than Sophie's Choice, one of the most compelling films of all time, a gripping…… [Read More]

Film Leverage

Film Awards

The film industry produces experience goods for consumer enjoyment and consumption, and substantively relies on consumer differentiation for the economic success of movies. Moviegoers appear to differentiate films primarily on the basis of genre, starring actors, exposure to promotion, recommendations from other moviegoers and film critics, and -- for the dedicated film buffs and connoisseurs -- directors, cinematographers, and even screenwriters associated with the film production (Albert 1998, De Vany 2004, Eliashberg and Shugan 1997, Hand 2002, Krider and Weinberg 1998, Nelson et al. 2001, avid 1999, Smith and Smith 1986, Wallace, Steigermann and Holbrook 1993). Access to information about films is related to the resources and networks that moviegoers enjoy, and on the attention that films garner, as expressed by the media and through social networks. Information about films is accessed by moviegoers from many sources: 1) The genre of the film; 2) the rating of the…… [Read More]

Film Journal Comparison of Similarities

The leading lady of the film within the film is crazy, without the need for abusing any form of intoxicating substance. But the primary difference between the contemporary and the past film does not lie in any of these imperfect parallel details involved in their mutually chaotic plots, nor the minute distinctions in the minds and portrayals of stock characters. Rather, the difference lies in the way that DiCillo's style of storytelling constantly forces the audience to remain on edge, unaware if they are watching real life or the film that is being filmed -- or the director or actor's idealized dream of what the creative product should be. Thus, the later film has an added nuance about how the creative process can take over the lives of actors and directors, as well as seem absurd to individuals outside of the movie business. It also forces the viewer not simply…… [Read More]

Film Music Critique Dziga Vertov's

Woody Allen's Annie Hall

Music is hardly used at all throughout the course of Woody Allen's classic comedy film Annie Hall. Like the great Ingmar Bergman, a director that Allen has idolized throughout the course of his career, Allen chose to leave a music score out of the film altogether.

Allen has always been known for his unconventional use of music in his films. He has never commissioned an original score for any of his movies; rather, he prefers to use established jazz and classical music recordings. But in a lot of his films, these jazz scores can be heard constantly in the background. Not so in Annie Hall.

One of the few uses of background music to be heard in Annie Hall include a boy's choir Christmas melody that features in a scene where the characters are driving through Los Angeles. In another instance, Mozart's Jupiter Symphony can be…… [Read More]

Film Analysis American Beauty Women's Sexuality Film

Film Analysis: American Beauty

Women's Sexuality

Film Analysis: American Beauty

Film Analysis: American Beauty

American Beauty (1999) was written by Alan Ball, creator of the HBO series 6 Feet Under, and directed by Sam Mendes. American Beauty centers around the Burnham family, who, on the surface seems like a picture-perfect, white, upper-middle class, suburban family. The protagonist of the film is the father and husband of the Burnham family, Lester, who, fed up with the boredom and monotony of his life, has an interesting "mid-life" crisis, that includes a very active crush on his adolescent daughter's Lolita-type best friend.

The film follows the Burham family as each member (mother, father, and daughter) transition into new stages of their lives. Lester's transition is the most notable and spectacular. He loses his high paying job and begins working at a fast food restaurant. While working the drive-thru, he discovers that his seemingsly…… [Read More]

Film Troy 2004 A Mythical

There are enough similarities of story and characterization, however, that while one must take care not to see Troy as fact, or even as an essentially faithful movie version of the Homer's the Iliad, one may still learn something about the plot, characters, and setting of Homer's great poem by seeing it. Educationally speaking, perhaps one of the greatest benefits of a major motion picture like Troy is that seeing it might interest more people in reading the Iliad, for comparison, and/or in learning more about Greek legends, myths, and mythological characters in general.

The basic plot and setting of the film is this: the Mycenae Greeks (Greece and Sparta) and the Trojans, having been at war, have finally reached peace after many years. Two handsome young Trojan princes, Hector and Paris (sons of King Priam) are celebrating this fact with Menelaus, King of Sparta (Menelaus's brother Agamemnon is King…… [Read More]

Film Psychoanalysis of the Film

Grey with a way to accommodate the needs of their Ids and their Superegos. Their Superegos imposed the societal constraints on sexual relationships, which would drive both Lee and Mr. Grey to enter into monogamous sexual relationships. Their Ids drove Lee and Mr. Grey to seek immediate gratification of their aggressive urges through sexual behavior. By entering into a relationship with each other that allows them to fulfill both needs, Lee and Mr. Grey allow their Egos to reconcile the needs of their Ids and Superegos.

Furthermore, the Secretary addresses the issue of sexuality, and highlights the intimate relationship between sexuality and aggression. The unusual thing about the Secretary is that it demonstrates that a relationship that might be viewed as deviant was actually helpful to both members of the relationship. Prior to becoming involved with one another, Lee and Mr. Grey are both in pretty bad shape. Lee was…… [Read More]

Film Critique Apollo 13 the

This lack of trust further leads to dysfunctional conflict.

Dysfunctional conflict refers to a destructive and unhealthy disagreement among people. In a team, this could lead to a removal of focus from the task at hand. This occurs in the scene, where all the members of the team allow their emotion of fear to control their behavior. Rather than seeking solutions, they appear to look for scapegoats upon whom to blame their situation. The scene ends with the potential to resolve the conflict.

The scene focuses very much upon the conflict aspect of communication breakdown, rather than clearly illustrating the positive aspects of the team involved. There appears to be no basis of trust among the team members, which leads to an escalation of dysfunctional conflict. In order to better illustrate the full range of aspects involved in the concepts, the scene might have included a sense of basic trust…… [Read More]

Film Being John Malkovich Sexuality

His stance is also one of superiority as he presents himself as the victim of his own vision and artistic expression. In this context, the generic pronoun "they" symbolizes Craig's detachment from the world around him as he feels superior which he believes, is what causes his isolation.

Craig's wife, Lotte, is perhaps the most radically changed as a result of traveling through the portal. She becomes convinced that she is a transsexual, and consequently, feels the only way she can be true to herself is to assume a new sexual identity, i.e. that of a man. However Lotte abandons her desire of sexual reassignment when she becomes aware that by starting a relationship with Maxine, she can in fact assume a different gender role simply by falling in love with Maxine. Maxine, on the other hand, embarks on a sexual relationship with Malkovich so she can be with Lotte.…… [Read More]

Film Project Othello Modernized Shakespeare

My story being done,

She gave me for my pains a world of sighs:

She swore, in faith, twas strange, 'twas passing strange,

Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful:

She wish'd she had not heard it, yet she wish'd

That heaven had made her such a man: she thank'd me,

And bade me, if I had a friend that loved her, should but teach him how to tell my story.

And that would woo her. Upon this hint I spake:

She loved me for the dangers I had pass'd,

And I loved her that she did pity them.

This only is the witchcraft I have used:

Here comes the lady; let her witness it.

Translation

Setting: The inside of the administrative building. Nighttime. Othello is wearing a suit, and is confronted by the school's president, 'Dr. B,' and several members of the administration in their pajamas.

John Othello: Look Dr. B,…… [Read More]

Film Pilosophy Philosophy in Films

Humanity seems to unravel altogether in Pi: Faith in Chaos, both written and direct by Darren Aronofsky. Max is a brilliant but socially crippled young mathematician who has built a supercomputer and possibly unlocked the mathematical secrets of the universe, explaining everything from the stock market to God. The mathematical precision with which the world would operate if this is true casts a great deal of doubt on the existence of free will. At the same time, however, the film is asking questions about reality, and whether or not Max's discovery can truly be used in any practical way. Ultimately, both questions are rendered moot by Max's destruction of the mathematical portion of his brain. Though this seems to be an act of free will, it could also be the natural and inevitable next step in the algorithm of his life following his discovery of the sacred 216-digit number. Regardless,…… [Read More]

Film Auteur Theory in Tim

Gotham is a dark place, which manifests evil in the character of the Joker (Jack Nicholson). Bruce Wayne, Batman, is the force with which evil must reckon. Batman, however, has his own dark side, which is manifest in his costume, his gothic style mansion, and the technology he employs to combat the Joker and other criminal elements.

In this film, Burton needed only a few big name and talented actors -- Jack Nicholson (the Joker), Michael Keaton (Bruce Wayne aka Batman), Billy Dee Williams (Harvey Bent), and Kim Bassinger (Vicky Vale) to attract that audience that might otherwise have opted out of a comic book to film production. Yet the actors in this instance by virtue of their talent need minimal direction, and that allows Burton to focus on the structure of the film. The film is not structured around the actors, but the actors fill the structure of the…… [Read More]

Film - Hable Con Ella

Whereas Marco's devotion to Lydia is based on his perception of guilt and responsibility for her predicament, Benigno's infatuation with Alicia seems to be a perfect example of the manner in which men can be love struck by a complete stranger even without any substantial interaction between them first. From the perspective of human sexual attraction and romantic infatuation, Benigno's infatuation is typical; what is atypical and perhaps less realistic is Benigno's continued devotion in light of Alicia's prognosis for recovery. From a much darker perspective, the apparent mental instability to which Benigno is prone may provide some explanation for his preoccupation with a virtual stranger. Ordinarily, it is not so much the manner in which men become infatuated with strangers so quickly that is sometimes a function of mental instability.

On the other hand, what very often is an indication of psychological dysfunction or obsession is the continued infatuation…… [Read More]

Film the Early Years of

However, in spite of the fact that the film was promoted as a motion picture displaying real-life events, it appears that the director did not hesitate to modify a series of aspects about the environment that he shot in and the story itself. The protagonist's wife and children were not actually his and Flaherty correctly believed that audiences would be more deeply impressed if he presented the story from a more spectacular point-of-view. Even with this, one can still claim that the film is a documentary because it presents viewers with its own creation.

Many individuals took advantage of the fact that documentary films were very influential and devised propaganda strategies using motion pictures. Many individuals involved in this affair considered that fiction films no longer had a strong appeal and that society was more concerned about seeing 'cinema verite'. Many filmmakers got actively engaged in creating films discussing political…… [Read More]

Film Field of Dreams Executive Review The

film Field of Dreams

Executive review: The objective of this paper is to provide an in-depth analysis of the film 'Field of Dreams' [1989], taking into consideration such intrinsic aspects of the film as the plot; characterizations; contextualization and storyline; moods and particularly evident ideological perspectives.

The plot within Field of Dreams begins to take shape when, due to instruction given unto him by a mysterious, heavenly voice one day, Ray Kinsella [Costner], a struggling owa farmer, begins to turn one of his cornfields [virtually the exclusive source of his income] into a baseball diamond. The characters he meets and the experiences he subsequently has, the eventual result of his accomplishment (s) and the ultimately reconciling and redeeming conclusion collectively converge to make for a movie that, in spite of having various fictional and illogical inclinations, depicts a pot that is fundamentally logical moralistic.

The film, directed by Phil Alden…… [Read More]

Film Frozen River Courtney Hunt's

The relationship between the two women is strengthened as the film advances and as they discover that they have more things in common than they initially thought. The two criminal-oriented individuals find that they have serious issues with their families and that something urgently needs to be done for them to solve their problems. The bond they form is best observed to the end of the motion picture, when Ray has second thoughts about leaving Lila and instead presents herself to the authorities, willing to be penalized for her actions. In spite of the fact that some viewers might consider the film's ending to be dull in comparison to the dramatic outcome they expected, the final is actually satisfying, as Ray's punishment is somewhat equivalent to the illegalities that she committed.

The frozen river can be taken for granted, with all the risks involved in crossing it, and it can…… [Read More]

Movie A-Better-Tomorrow-1986 Revolves Around Two

Ho finds out that Mark has a twin brother who was a former gang member that went straight and traveled to America where he opened a restaurant in New York. Kit Ho's brother was fatally wounded almost the same time his daughter was born but before he got to the hospital he died .after Kit's funeral Ho, Ken and Lung decide to avenge the death of Kit by launching an attack on Ko's mansion at a time he was meeting with one of his counterfeiting clients. A huge gun battles goes down with the three men killing almost 90 people in the process. These three sit down within the mansion and the police surround them.

The plot of the movie is basically cohesive and is reasonably not complicated. The climax of the movie towards its end is both tragic and played out quite excitingly. This movie a better tomorrow is…… [Read More]

Film CAPOTE 2005 Directed by Bennett

The ultimate proof of the film's tendency to utilize hyperbole to portray the author as someone whose morality was questionable due to his own pursuit of success, wealth and fame lies in the quantity of interactions that Capote had with the two prisoners. There is certainly evidence in Clarke's biography that implies there was a fondness and physical attraction between the author and Smith. However, the sheer number of visits that the movie portrays is certainly erroneous. In actuality, the writer's "extended prison sojourns in the film are…fictionalized. In five years, Capote…visited his subjects no more than half a dozen times, though he did correspond with [them] weekly... He…was less interested in dealing with the defendants as people (Gibbons)."

As such, it becomes fairly obvious that the film Capote exaggerated a number of different facets of his personality and behavior in order to render the author as a consummate perfectionist…… [Read More]

Film Analysis of Sunset Boulevard 1950

Sunset Boulevard is a classic film noir produced in 1950 and directed by Billy Wilder. The film begins with the murder of Joe Gillis, a floundering screenwriter who ends up dead in a swimming pool. "Poor dope," the voice over says. "He'd always wanted a pool. Well, in the end he got himself a pool, only the price turned out to be a little high." The voice over, delivered in classic film noir style, turns out to be none other than Gillis himself. Far from being an unreliable narrator, though, Gillis promises "the facts" and delivers. The entire film Sunset Boulevard is the retelling of "the facts" from Gillis's perspective. Wilder's choice of narration is dutifully ironic, as a failed filmmaker becomes famous. The theme of the movie is reminiscent of the Great Gatsby, with its peek at American decadence and lost dreams. Because it offers rich social commentary, Sunset…… [Read More]

Film Interests Choose a Film Interests Isolate

Film Interests

Choose a Film Interests

Isolate a specific issue, case, problem, or scenario related to business, politics, leadership, advertising, marketing, or ethics in the film.

In the movie Wall Street, there is a focus on a number of issues to include: business, marketing and ethics. What happened is Bud Fox is an up and coming broker who will do anything to be successful. This is when he meets Gordon Gecko, who encourages Fox to become creative in the investment advice that he is providing (by obtaining inside information). The impact is that Fox quickly become corrupted by the easy money and fast life of Gecko's world. Once he realizes that Gecko is using him for his own personal benefits, is when he begins to face legal troubles (with him being arrested for insider trading). After wearing a wire and recording Gecko's involvement is when Fox goes to court. The…… [Read More]

Movie Secrets and Lies There

She eventually does however, and this particular episode merely shows the types of problems that families have with one another. It functions as a piece of foreshadowing since it occurs in the beginning of the film. While the aforementioned couple argues about whether or not the husband looks better with his glasses on or off, or why the wife has chosen to hide her crucifix because it is not expensive enough or gold, the viewer is merely given visual clues that the tension, arguments, and problems that have befallen this particular couple is one of the themes in the movie. The couple, therefore, functions as a microcosm of the couples and families in the film, and of the problems that plague them.

Not all of the portraits that Morris is shown taking at the beginning of the film are as argumentative as that of the aforementioned couple. However, the vast…… [Read More]

Film History

movie industry in America has been controlled by some of the monolithic companies which not only provided a place for making the movies, but also made the movies themselves and then distributed it throughout the entire country. These are movie companies and their entire image revolved around the number of participants of their films. People who wanted to see the movies being made had to go to the studios in order to see them. They made movies in a profitable manner for the sake of the studios, but placed the entire industry under their control and dominated over it. The discussion here is about some of those famous studios inclusive of that of names like Metro Goldwyn Mayer, Culver, RKO, Paramount Studios, Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Studios, Universal Studios, Raleigh Studio, Hollywood Center Studio, Sunset Gower Studio, Ren-Mar Studios, Charlie Chaplin Studios and now, Manhattan Beach Studio.…… [Read More]

Film United 93 Directed by

It also says a lot about our society that so many people went to see the film and endorsed the film. It is not because this film is about heroes or heroism. It is because the film's ultimate message is to never forget the people who died in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. It was a time when the people of the country came together in support and grief, and a time that made the country and its people just a bit closer to one another. It was an epic time in history and this film makes everyone remember, ultimately so they will never forget.

In conclusion, this is an important and emotional film. It is certainly not easy to watch, and it is easy to demonize the terrorists and fault the military because of their scrambled messages and inaction. However, the director does not demonize the terrorists or…… [Read More]

Film Is Not Yet Rated

The NC-17 rating, of course, is a compromise to avoid serious films being given the 'X' rating associated with pornography possessing no artistic value. But having any rating system at all means that filmmakers who want their films to reach a wide audience, and need a wide audience to pay back their backers may feel pressured to compromise their artistic integrity for the sake of getting a more desirable rating, because R-rated films can draw in more movie goers.

The subjective nature of film ratings even under the MPAA is evident when one considers that certain things we take for granted, like nudity, for example, were originally prohibited by the Hayes Commission. Foreign films from nations with different sexual standards, documentaries about important subjects, and other films that contain taboo topics can be effectively censored by being given a NC-17 rating, while violent, major Hollywood blockbusters with little artistic pretentions…… [Read More]

Movie Proposals These Would Be the Mission

movie proposals. These would be the mission for the firm and its basic proposals, the company's "must" objectives, the company's "want" objectives and the estimated ROI for each of the for movies. This report will evaluate each of the movies as perceived by the four criteria previously mentioned and will subsequently make an overall evaluation and reason the best choice for the company.

The first movie, "My Life with Dalai Lama," perfectly complies with the main ideas of the company's mission. First of all, from a creative point-of-view, the idea to present the life of a personality through the eyes of a snake and through the eyes of other animals befriending him is new, interesting and creatively a positive aspect. Further more, to some degree it is also championing environmental concerns by presenting the role of animals in the life of a personality of 20th century history, bringing the animal…… [Read More]

Film W By Oliver Stone

But it did make me wake up a little to the fact that this was not a true date and fact biopic, but a Stone biopic, which looks more into the heart of darkness of the topic than most others in the genre.

While the humor was there another unexpected feeling I walked away with was fear. This is just not fear of this particular president's way with words or from his gut decision making cowboy politics. It is the fear and the reality that the president is after all is said and done a human being making, often, inhuman decisions. One tends to think of the president as on a pedestal and the scrutiny there is so much higher that any error or misstep or malapropism is multiplied a hundred fold. But in this particular president, Stone by way of implication is saying that if you are not fit…… [Read More]

Film and Perspectives on History

The newsreels are a successful thematic device as they are used to guide the viewer through the details of the events. It was the decision more so of the studio executives to leave some things out as they only used what would drive the story of the horse. Only upon further investigation of the history does one gain a fuller knowledge. Still the filmmaker's intention of getting the story to the forefront of the American consciousness was successful and met critical review.

Malcolm X

In the film Malcolm X, Spike Lee misleads the viewer about the full nature of racism held by the Nation of Islam. The Nation of Islam characters in the movie say that whites are "blue-eyed devils," but never revealed to viewers is the doctrine about whites being eliminated in racial Armageddon. Furthermore, Lee did not limit the film's context to historical accounts; instead he chose to…… [Read More]

Film Theory

Film Theory

The canonical model of the purely cinematic (Eisenstein, Kracauer, Bazin) starts disappearing in contemporary theory. Most film theorists since the 1970s (Baudry, Wollen, Mulvey, Stam/Shohat, or Jameson, etc.) Explain in different ways how the textual (content and form, the film text itself) and institutional have merged together. Choose two theorists for whom the institutional issues are integrally connected to the textual ones, and explain their insights about reading cinema.

Laura Mulvey's piece, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" is divided into three sections. The first section is the introduction, the next section is called "Pleasure in Looking: Fascination with the Human Form." The third section is called "Woman as Image, Man as Bearer of the Look," which is followed by a summary of the entire work. Mulvey makes numerous assertions in her work, but one of her primary intentions of "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" is to call serious,…… [Read More]