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.