A Simple Plan

I wasn't really a big fan of this movie because it was too modern. Most of the movies that we've watched have been classics/or have been made before we were all born and I appreciated that a lot. What I do like about this movie is that it was two everyday people and that this situation could have happened to any of us. I also really enjoyed one of the last scenes when he shoots up the whole place. I thought it was one of the greatest scenes we have ever scene and it also has such realism to it that it almost seems absurd. When I first saw Hank kill Lou's wife I laughed hysterically at how ridiculous the scene was (and lets face it, the actual shot was pretty funny), but I later came to a realization that this would probably be the course of action I would have taken as well. This sense of realism is present all throughout the movie, starting from when Hank's wife is nervous that someone will find out that he has the money and decides to put half of it back, until when Hank's wife tells him to call in sick or tells him to tell the inspectors that he has to watch the baby and Hank realistically says it sounds like a bullshit excuse to get out of going(this may be a weak example). This is the third movie that I have missed the ending for, but luckily the ending is on youtube and i got a chance to watch it and I really enjoyed it, much more than I enjoyed the rest of the film.

Memento

One thing that really confused me was the whole side plot with Sammy Jenkins. I understand that the story that Lenny made up about Sammy is false, but what i don't understand is how he has a memory of him to begin with. Did he just replace himself with Sammy's character? But that would not explain how Sammy's wife came to see him about Sammy's condition. And also, he remembered his wife dying, and yet that was after the accident. He had a flashback of his wife opening his eyes, but how could that be, since that was a memory of after he got hit in the head. I thought there were a bit too many inconsistencies throughout the whole movie even though they were hard to spot, but the movie was overall great. I really enjoyed the originiality of it and how the unique style of the way it was filmed. I think it was perfect for this kind of film because it sort of represented the way Lenny's life worked. Every time his memory reset, he had to start from the beggining and get to where he is now, and that is how the movie was scripted. I also found the way he handled the situation to be very interesting, with how he developed a system in which he would determine what is going on with him when he resets his memory. Another thing i did not understand is how he was aware of his condition, since his memory was reset every time. He technically shouldn't be aware that he lost his memory and he technically shouldn't even remember the system he came up with. Once again, there are many inconsitencies, but if you just ignore these, the movie is a pleasure to watch.

The Dark City

This movie must have been one of my favorite movies of all time. I was truly mindblown when i saw the view of the city from the outside. In the beggining of the movie, I thought that everything going on was ridiculous and even a little humorous. I think this was partially due to my expectation of this movie being like Asphalt Jungle and having a more serious and realistic aspect to it. I did not expect this to be a sort of science fiction because Mr. Bennet mentioned that this was an updated version of the genre of Asphalt Jungle. I am normaly a person that really does not really get blown away and amazed by special effects in a movie because I believe it takes away from the story of the movie, but this movie was truly something. Not only was the story line incredible, but mixed in with that shot of the city added a whole new dimension to the film. I did not really like the last battle scene in the film because it made it just like every other movie with the final battle scene - a great battle takes place and the "good" character wins. I thought that the originality of the film was the greatest thing about it and this scene took away from it in a sense. My favorite line in the movie was when Murdoch said, "You wanted to know what is is about us that makes us human, well your not going to find it in here" and then pointed to his head. It made me feel a whole lot better about myself because it just proves to show that we aren't just a collection of our memories, but our own character is based on what we are in our hearts. 

The Asphalt Jungle

 One thing I really did not enjoy about the ending of the movie is that all the criminals had to die. I understand if characters that don't appeal to the audience such as the doctor have to be killed, but the main character (Cobby) has no reason not to get away with his crime. Although he has done some wrongdoing in his life, we get to know him and he is indeed a good man. He cares for his girlfriend, loves her even though he may not show it, and is a respectable guy. I really liked how the movie went into the details of showing how they actually robbed the place and how everything was well thought out from breaking the walls to get into the bank to getting on the floor and crawling into the cell to avoid getting detected by the scanning lasers. I have expressed a dislike for movies that are black and white in the past, but I thought the lack of color added to the theme of the film as a sort of gangster-old school action movie. One other I like that the director did was give every character a distinct personality. This shows that although they may be criminals, they are still humans with their own character traits, they just have flaws and have made big mistakes. I overall enjoyed the film even though I found it a little difficult to understand at first because it seemed like there were so many subplots and secret plans.

Unforgiven part 2

All throughout the movie I would wonder why the movie was called Unforgiven and it would kill me because i couldn't figure it out. Firstly, I would like to point out a major theme in this movie in change. All throughout the movie I feel as if a every character keeps constantly undergoing personality changes and keeps redifining what kind of characters they are. In the opening paragraph, Munny was shown as a killer that married one of the sweetest girls in town. In the opening scene, Munny is portrayed as a caring father who seems to have been transformed by his wife into a good man. By the end of the movie, Munny resorts to his old tactics and becomes the feared killer he once used to be. A similar thing happened with the Scafold kid - in the beggining of the play he was portrayed as a killer that is only interested in the money, he transforms into someone who has never killed before, and eventually ends up a killer and a character I ended up liking. Regardless, thanks to one of the blogs, I realized it is called Unforgiven because Munny cannot forgive himself for what he once used to be and what he used to do. He used to be a killer and that will never change because that is what he had already become. Although he did become a changed man and his wife helped out, he can't forgive himself for all the horrible things he did and that is why he can't ultimately get that killers mentality out of his system. The film was great and I would most definetly recommend it to anybody in search of great Westerners.

Unforgiven

Judging from the way Mr.Bennet described this movie to be like, I was getting ready for a couple of boring watches of the film. It is the complete opposite of what i expected and packed with plenty of action tons of excitement. I think that the movie is so accurate and detailed in everything that it does, and it enhances the whole experience of watching the films. It lists the dates of everything that is going on, is historically accurate, and goes in detail to even name the type of guns characters have on them( like Mr.Bennet just mentioned in his blog). I also admire the kind of man that Will has become and I was touched by the conversation he had with his ex-partner when he talked about how his wife changed him and how he used to be a crazy man. Even then they went into great depth to talk about how he shot someone and the bullet came out right through the back of his head. It just shows how much of an effect falling in love and having children can have on a man.

The Seventh Seal

One thing I really like about the movie is that it keeps you thinking about the greater meaning in things. I have acedemic inquiry after film class and both times we have watched this film my mind just wandered and thought about what we had watched and what it means. I didn't really understand how Death could be playing chess with him at the same time that all the action is going on, but I understand its more of a metaphor. This makes me think that our life is just one big game of chess and whoever is best at evading a checkmate lives the longest. So far I don't especially like the movie because its in a foreign language and I really don't like not hearing what the actual actors are saying. I also like movies that are in color a lot better because it adds more liveliness to it, but one thing this movie really does for me is make me think about the things that go on in it. I get lost in thoughts such as "What happens if you beat death? or if its a stalemate?". I also hope that the movie keeps going at the slow pace that it is because I would hate to see it turn into an action movie.

The Ending of Runaway Train

Although I did not watch the ending of Runaway Train since I wasn't in class, I had a classmate tell me about it and i thought it was great. I always thought that Manny would end up killing the warden in the ending but I never thought that he would sacrifice himself in order to do it. I didn't especially like the character of Manny because at first i thought he was a good person even though he was in jail. Then I saw what he did to Buck and changed my opinion of him. I understand that Manny was very into getting into the next cart, but some people are just not capable of pushing themselves to the limit( such as Buck). That does not make him a coward, it just makes him weaker than Manny. I was glad that Manny rescued Buck and the girl at the end because it showed he does have good inside of him and he does care about other people. This was my favorite movie so far because of the amount of action in it and it was pretty well acted out.

Citizen Kane

One thing that i didn't really like about the movie is how it skipped all of Kane's teenage life and didn't tell us how he came to get his own newspaper company. I am probably wrong and it will probably be revealed later in the film, but i was very confused when it jumped from him being 10 or so to him almost turning 25. Also i really regret not paying much attention in the very first scene of the film with the newspaper reals when it pretty much describes his whole life. I would love to rewind and just hear all that over because to be frankly honest I don't remember anything they said. I am sure this was the case for many people however when they first watched the movie though since there was no rewind feature. Overall I am liking the movie, I'm pretty into it.

the end of the movie

I really did not like the ending of the movie. I thought it was so simplistic, and I know what you are going to say, everything had meaning behind it. However, after seeing great battle scenes and so much action throughout the whole movie, it had a very gloomy and dull finish. I wanted and half expected the film to end with a great battle where Kat and Paul both die glorious deaths. Other than that I thought the movie was great and I enjoyed it very much.

Mueller's boots.

The reason Mueller went there to see poor Franz Kemmerik, in my opinion was to see if he can get anything that Franz doesn't need. In this case, he hit the jackpot by finding his boots. This was one of the many examples of dehuminization used in "All Quiet on the Western Front". It shows the insignficance of Franz Kemmerik to Mueller and basically makes him worthless with the exception of his boots. So far, I like the film and am looking foward to seeing how everything plays out.