Dr. Strangelove

Dr. Strangelove was in my opinion one of the funniest films i have seen come out of that era hands down. Just to start off, I would just like to say that the character of Dr. Strangelove and how the actor played him was hilarious. All of the small subtle gestures that were made by the actor just seemed to capitalize on the comedy. I would have to say that the part where he cant help but Nazi salute to the president, and then fight with his hand just made me laugh so hard and made me think that this movie was ridiculous.

Going along with what I said before, the characters of the film were really interesting. each one seemed to hold very interesting qualities that just seemed to bring out other weird qualities that were found in the other characters. Now I haven't seen a lot of Stanley Kubrick's films but what he did to the characters in this film made it hilarious to watch. the thing that I found very interesting in the character development would have to be how masculine many of the characters were, compared to how feminine the president was throughout the movie. The way that the advisers gave helpful information to the president was like they were throwing there weight around while yelling at him. On top of that the President seemed to just stand by and take the abuse, and even at times when the advisers were fighting each other the president wouldn't like to engage in the confrontation. Now in my opinion I couldn't help but think of a marriage in this day of age when I saw the president interact with his board. Maybe its just me but by the way the president acted, I could see him in a sun dress.

Stanley Kubrick's visuals in this film are what I would have to call amazing. Aside from all of the humor that would be used in the film, the Cinematography would have to be one of the most eye catching parts of the film. What I found to be most interesting would have to be a lot of the camera work, the editing/ composting techniques used at the time, and the overall shot selection. I thought it was really great how interesting the inside of a B- 52 could actually be. For instance when the bomb hatch wouldn't open, a lot of the camera work involved super fast zooms onto some of the toggles and switches, which seemed to just amp up the situation that was happening.
Along with this we talked in class about how Kubrick seemed to use a good amount of WWII footage to give off the feeling of being a standard war movie at the time. however we come to realize at the end that this is defiantly not the case, seeing the main crisis was not averted and the end of the would eventually came. Overall my absolute favorite effect would have to be when the cowboy pilot is riding the nuclear warhead down onto the Russian base,ultimately I thought that it was a great shot with the background moving perfectly with the for ground character. Oh yeah and on top of that I thought that it was great that this scene was reenacted in the film Armageddon when one of the scientists is rideing the nuke out of the space shuttle...hilarious.

The article actually brought a lot of the tone used in the film into a better perspective for me. what I mean by this is for the most part I could not for the life of me figure out why the people in the war room acted like the crisis was not that big of a deal even though basically everyone on the face of the earth will die. Now when I saw this I was like what the F*** because are they really just gunna lay back and have this happen? On the contrary the article explained that this wasn't that uncommon. One section of the article explains that for a chunk of time the New York Times published articles of subjects such as How To Live With Your Radiation Fallout, or even 92 out of 100 Can Be Saved. I just thought that it was kinda ridiculous to think that we could live with something like this happening so we shouldn't really so anything about it. What a Crazy state of mind right?

Overall this film was amazingly hilarious to watch, and just fun I highly recommend it
See y'all next time

Hey guys this week will be my second skip, but no worries I will still comment ! =]

Party Boy

When we first started talking about this film, I really couldnt see myself getting into the whole idea of the high society thing that was described to us, but you know what, after watching the whole thing I got really into it. The whole plot in general and the main character kinda reminded me of a greek god named Dionysus. Now this god is depicted of being the "party animal" of the gods, and that is kinda expected when you have the title of being the god of wine. Marcello reminded me in the way that Disney described Dionysus in Fantasia, running around from place to place, drinking wine and meeting women, oh what a life it is.

I thought that the layout of the film was also an interesting touch. Now what I mean by this is that when I looked up extra information about th film to understand it better, I found out that the film is kinda split up into "episodes" and these episodes, when looked at one right after the other, basically give you insight of Marcello's life for what I believe is about seven days. Now the first episode which is basically the opening sequence discribes the tone of the film really well, because of the actions seen by our main character Marcello. In class we talked about how the catholic church banned this film from being shown basically everywhere, and judging from the time period that the film was made and the content shown throughout, I can kinda understand why they had that feeling. Just how Marcello and the camera seem to be distracted by the women in bathing suits when the christ statue is being delivered makes you think that this character is peobably up to no good. The article also had some good points to how the church saw this film to be insulting to them at multiple spots. Not only is it that the first scene seems to have a statue blessing Rome as it flies over "distracting" women haha, but also there seems to be reoccuring religous icons shown in the film. These icons plus the over all "playboy" feel to the film is what made me think that the church had a huge problem with it.

Alright now I had some questions to the film that I was hoping to get answered so I thought why not just put it out there. For one thing, why is it that they used two languages throughout the film? What was the point? Is it just to show that there is a difference in some of the people or some sort of communication barrier? Now this is just my opinion, but I think that it was used to try and make a seperation between the two types of people. Let me explain myself, I dont know if it was just me, but didn't alot of the dialoge that the americans said seem kinda...dumbed down in a way. For example the american actress seemed like she was just in a different world throughout the whole time we saw hew, and her husband didnt seem any better. The whole time we saw him he seemed to be drunk or had a drink in his hand within thirty seconds. Now my favorite example of what I am talking about would have to be that one woman at the last party scene in the beach house. Everyone is speaking french and I believe that Marcello said something funny, and she laughs along with everyone else and says " what did he say?", I mean what the heck is that.

The last thing I just want to touch on is how alot of people discribe the characters to have not really progressed at all throughout the film. I would have to disagree for only one reason, and that reason is because of the way Marcello seems to be acting at the end of the film. He seems to be just sick of the whole party scene in general making him lose it. Along with that, at the very end on the beach he really seems to be just out of it in some way. Walking away from the party people and talking to the beach girl , but not hearing her, and not really caring weather or not if he does. That just forced me to look at this man differently than I did throughout the entire movie.

All in all interesting film , see y'all next time!

Now this movie was definitely different. I'm really glad that our professor told us not to really look into the whole storyline aspect of the film and just "watch " the movie in all of its visual glory. I found it rather appropriate that this film was compared to a dream sequence in our class, because to be honest I was at times drifting in and our of consciousness. The funny thing about that is that every time I seemed to come out of slightly drifting off it seemed like I was watching the same scene over and over and over again, and at times I'm pretty sure that this is one of the feelings that the director would have liked everyone to experience at one point when watching this film. A dream sequence is a very odd and interesting concept to build off of that's why at times especially when watching this odd film I kinda connected it to some of David lynches work.

Alrighty well first off all the imagry in this movie was amazing. You can just see so many layers of angles built up when watching a variety of scenes in this film. For instance a favorite one of mine would be that they used a good deal of mirrors incorporated shots. The scene where the camera is slowly trucking in while we watch a mirror, that is looking at another mirror, that is yet looking at A, our female character. These well thought out shots brought me back to Citizen Kane and that one shot of him walking through his palace next to mirrors that just reflect into each other. These effects are just so fun to look at, and even though I didnt quite stay with the story I could gain something from what I was seeing.

An interesting thing that was talked about in class would have to be the game that is repeated constantly throughout the film. When I first saw it played I didn't really understand completely on how it was played and won, but as I continued to watch I noticed that M the husband, always won for some strange reason. It was further explained to us that it was because of some sort of algorithm used which would no matter what make the person who went second win.Now what is interesting is that I believe that X had a chance to go second , but managed to lose...ever time he lost and was stuck in this world of loss. Now the narration I could follow with the whole thing of X not being able to move on because A rejected him was kinda comparable to this game that is played. Loss is X's constant burden and curse that he has to live with.

The reading basically brought a lot of my questions together, the reason is as I read on I found that the over all structure of the mansion/hotel and the garden outside was basically the structure the mindset that was supposed to be felt. To explain this its like we are supposed to be stuck, like X is stuck in his progress in his relationship, and that he cant win, thus we are also stuck. Stuck in these long halls that are described in the mansion which is brought out by the cinematography of long trucking shots. Also the gardens are shown to be this twisting maze that seems impossible to escape from. All in all a mind twisting concept with some mind twisting characters not to mention an intense plot to go along with it.


Enjoy this one see y'all next time

Orpheus's Inferno

So the film Orpheus seemed to be a little more difficult to get into than the other movies we have watched in class, I would just have to blame that on the storyline because did not completely understand what was happening at the time I was watching it. I guess it my trouble with the film was that I thought it was going to resemble the Greek mythology pretty much as closely as possible, but it really didn't follow it exactly. Also it was in french so there were times that I would fall in and out of attention if I couldn't comprehend what they were saying.

What I did notice and found interesting was the whole aspect of the poet, and how Orpheus is able to travel into this underworld because he is has this certain gift. Now my big question while I was watching this film was that are poets universally looked at to having this power? The reason I ask this is because this story reminded me a lot of Dante's Inferno, which is a story of a man who is led through the nine circles of hell to find a beautiful woman named Beatrice who resides in purgatory. Now in this story we see a man who is also trying to find his "love" and has to cross deep into the depths of the underworld so that he may find her. The interesting thing about this story is that Dante is led through the nine circles of hell by a poet named Virgil. This was the point where I was like why do poets get these special powers to descend between worlds, and is it any poet who is allowed these powers?

In class we touched on why this power to travel into the underworld is possible by poets,and we found out that they have a certain closeness to death throughout having a "career" of being a poet, which is a really cool concept and fits both of these stories. One would have to wonder though if there were other positions one could take to also be granted these powers such as being an artist in general, or a certain type of musician, maybe they can go into other worlds, I don't know. I do know now that Greek mythology and catholic belief kind of have this same conceptual idea of poets having this power, by looking at Dante's Inferno and Orpheus.

Visually this movie was freaking amazing, the whole underworld being made of post world war two ruins just added to there being two different realms. I'm just a big fan of the third man and how it was used in that film, so naturally it looked good to me in this film as well. The other effects used just immersed me even more into the underworld, like the mercury used for the portal and things like that. My favorite effect would have to be the scene where they're not supposed to be in the underworld and we see Orpheus just slide along the wall like he's being pulled away. I know in class we discussed how this may have been done but I still have no idea how they managed to get that effect with there technology back then.

The article Deadly Statuses: Eros in the films of Jean Cocteau was kind of hard to understand the little bits and pieces, but as a whole I feel that it relates to why Jean Cocteau depicted Orpheus in this certain way, and maybe even why he chose to film Orpheus in the first place. What I took away from the article was that homosexuals in the time of this film were taken to be so offensive, and considered to be a disease, that they were imprisoned, and ridiculed against. So from this they were forced to live in this "secret world" of not letting anyone know and basically going against their way of life just to be safe from being locked up. Now I connected this to Orpheus by the two worlds that we see in this movie, one "normal" and the other in ruin. I believe that there is a big use of symbolism in how Cocteau may have used these to worlds in the film to describe the two different worlds that homosexuals at the time had to live in.

Over all Orpheus was a good film , a little hard to understand at times, but still pretty entertaining. The concepts of the film were probably one of the most important aspects of the piece, so make sure you really keep that in mind as you watch.

Hope you enjoyed, See y'all next time!

Laura Fatale?

Now this was a good film, this movie had a good plot I could sink my teeth into, and for once not be disappointed in the ending by not getting the answers I wanted. I really appreciated all of the different characteristics that were present in all of the individuals. I thought that the many personalities worked nicely with the Noir feel, because of the type of mystery that was going on . I really tried throughout the film to find out who the murderer was, and what weapon was used, just like in those many CSI drama series that are out now. I have come to realize that this film is like Citizen Kane in many ways, like finding out about a person through the thoughts and the stories of others, and how others saw that person. However Laura then is rediscovered to be alive,unlike Kane so i also feel like she in a sense is like Herry Lime in the Third Man. A main character that comes back from the dead.

Laura is a very unique type of film, because initially the femme fatale feel to the movie is present...but as the end of the film came along I kinda didn't get that feeling anymore. I mean sure, the scheme of it was there, like the woman being able to control men with her godly like beauty, and grace, but I thought she was supposed to be the type of person that wont settle for any type of man regardless if her life was saved by one them just like it is described in the Article No Place For a Woman. The article gives many great examples of how through many femme fatale films of the audience seeing this tough girl in charge, but I really just didn't get that vibe from Laura the character in the film. When we first meet her yes, she was that hard working woman that didn't need a man, but then when we come to the end she settled down with the detective...whats up with that? I'm guessing it was the whole journey and experience that changed her, but I still thought that wouldn't have mattered, and she would rather be without a man and still in control. A little of myself wanted Laura to not be with anyone in the end, just to completely be a femme fatale film.

The femme fatale scene that impressed me the most would have to be the scene that McPherson is walking around Laura's apartment digging in all of her unmentionables. At the moment the camera gazes at the portrait of Laura you just get that feeling of...woah, you know this portait, and how we or the characters see it is going to be important. At that exact time McPherson gets that exact feeling that comes across yourself , and that is where I respect femme fatale the most in the film. McPherson was able to fall in love with not the person Laura, but with the image of her...now that's some powerful attraction right there. In our class discussion we also talked about how this way of seeing Laura as an image rather than an actual human is how her character actually is to the other male characters. I would have to agree completely, just with the way Lydecker and Shelby treated her as if she was a toy, or a possession. Shelby treated all women like this , but Lydecker wouldn't let anyone else have her, like a kid not wanting to share with others. I even thought it was funny at times when he acted like a child, like when he was in Laura's apartment and he wanted his stuff back. All i heard was a child going MINE MINE MINE!

I found that the discussion in class sparked a interesting question regarding the items used on the set and certain characters. For example I believed that we linked the lamp to a be a symbol as Laura, because it doesn't really fit in, and it is very frilly and pretty. A question that I have is that are there other items that can be linked to the other characters?... I would have to assume so, somehow. Like the clock could be link to Lydecker in my opinion, because he always mentions it, is seen with it in Laura's house, also the murder weapon is in it, and he shoots it in the end of the movie. However the real trouble I am having now is connecting Shelby to an item as well as McPherson. I thought that somehow McPherson could be connected to his toy game that he messes around with from time to time, mostly when people are talking to him. The reason I say this is that it is a game that needs to be solved, and he is a detective that needs to solve cases, so I guess on one level or another that the game is the symbol of McPerson. I have no idea for Shelby though, i was thinking at times that it could have been items of some sort in the country house or something like that, but its really hard to place him with a certain one. In the end I can really see why this film is in the middle of being a true femme fatale film and not being one.

Orson the Shadow

Now this is the first time I have ever seen the movie The Third Man , and on top of that, this is actually the second movie that I have ever seen Orson Wells in. Now when I compare his role in this movie to his role in Citizen Kane , I believe that I enjoyed the role he played in The Third man a bit more. The reason I say this is because I think that I basically obtained the absolute truth about most of the characters by the end of the film rather than be left in question like I was at the end of Citizen Kane.

Alright well first off I loved the character of Harry Lime and how Orson wells Played him so well. I felt like as soon as he entered the movie and we saw his face uncovered from the shadows , the film just took off from there. I do like that the film presents Harry lime as this type of anti hero rather than a straight up villain , because a villain you see, you analyze, and you know there evil and you can hate him or her right off the bat. However in the case of Harry lime, I'm sure that most of the audience including myself, found themselves rooting for him to succeed I, and get away from the dangers headed his way. I believe that in the case of the this film, camera work had a lot to do with how we saw each of the characters. For Harry, I seemed to notice that there were subtle tracking techniques going on, which in for me made things eventually get a bit up close and personal to really see our characters.


I mean really, look at that face, could that really be the face of some evil master mind that killed children and planned to kill more for his own personal gain? Okay, that was his plan all along but its just so hard to hate a character that just seems so... devilishly charming. I still can't get over that he shot the nicest character in the whole film. i was just completely shocked.

I found that the camera was also very tilted throughout the majority of this film, and I believe it is because we closely followed the character Holly Martins. The world he was entering, and the messed up, dark story behind it allowed for the Dutch angle to be appropriate. I found myself tilting my head for a while just to get used to this shot and the askew world.

The over all look of the film was just amazing to me. I loved all of the grungy, broken down parts of the city. I thought filming in the actual city of Post WWII Vienna helped give heft to the dark shadows that seemed to be a main theme in the film.I learned that this film has a great amount of german expressionism in it focusing mostly around shadows, and a type of dark world created from them, and this ruined setting fit perfectly. The shadows in this film just seem to devour everything. Even the character Harry Lime seems to be a part of them at different points. He is introduced by imerging from them, also later we see him come from the shadows to look over the city. Another thing is that we always see him in this long black coat and hat. With this look I couldn't help but compare him to the character of the Shadow.

These shadows are a nice element to play around with, and I found it rather interesting how this shadow world in The Third Man is compared to the shadow world in Bram Stroker's Dracula in the article The Revenant of Vienna. The setting that is described in both of these stories is actually pretty interesting and rather unsettling for me to see character's wander through it. I loved how the article described the world of Dracula by saying "Harker's description of his journey through this 'weird' atmosphere culminates in his arrival at Dracula's 'vast ruined castle,' whose 'broken battlements' cut 'a jagged line against the moonlit sky' (39). Harker's words, in short, describe a world 'closing down' upon him both literally and figuratively." I find this to fit perfectly in the description of the world that we also see Holly go through.

All in all good story, great characters, and an amazing setting. All of these elements are key ingredients to creating a film that impresses even the toughest of crowds. I would have to say... I was quite satisfied in how everything turned out, and I am looking forward to seeing more films that Orson Wells is cast in.