Coen Brothers Blog

This Coen Brothers Unit that we just had has been my favorite unit so far. Not just in Art of Film II, but Art of Film I, as well. The Coens are geniuses at incorporate violence and mystery with humor and comical characters. The movie that did that the best, in my opinion, was Fargo. Fargo is also a great movie for Minnesotans because it takes place in the Twin Cities, which allows it to gain a larger intrigue from many Minnesotans. In one scene where Jerry Lundegaard was standing outside his father-in-law's car dealership, you can see a sign saying "100 North/South" just under "Xenia Place" or something like that, which is highway 394 and its intersection with highway 100. (I thought that was pretty cool...) Even though the movie itself completely embelished Minnesotan accents and at some points it was hard to even listen to certain characters, I thought that the movie was really good

One of my absolute favorite scenes in the movie can be summed up with a single word and everyone should know what I'm talking about: Woodchipper. Yes, the woodchipper scene where Gaear Grimsrud (?) kills Carl Showalter and puts his body through, well, the woodchipper. I had been talking to my friends about the movie, and immediately when I brought up if they had seen it or not, they asked, "Isn't that the movie where the guy gets put in the woodchipper?" I thought it was funny that the movie was really known for the scene.

Altman Blog

As we wrap up the unit on director Robert Altman, I must say that the unit gave me more of an insight on a new brand of film makers. Altman's use potrayal of realism and abstract themes in his films are definately what make him a great director. This unit, my favorite of the movies we watched was The Player. I enjoyed the insight that Altman gave the viewers as far as Hollywood life is concerned.

A big part of the movie as far as main character Griffin Mill was concerned was the making of the movie Habeas Corpus. The question brought up in class (what the purpose of the Habeas Corpus subplot was) was one that I am stil confused about. In my mind, I feel like the subplot was simply a way for Griffin to get his slumping career back, but I am unaware of any other symbolism involved. I feel like there could be a deeper meaning, but I am unable to grasp that meaning. On another note, I really liked the character in the movie who brought the Habeas Corpus idea because he was funny as to how he explained his image of the film. The line I particularly liked was, "No homo ending. The girl must die." Or something of that nature. To wrap things up, I really thought that this Altman unit broadened my horizons on one of filmmakings' greats.

Gangs of New York

In my part of our study regarding director Martin Scorsese, I watched his movie "Gangs of New York." The film was about, well, the gangs in New York City during the Civil War. The time is around 1862, which was only a year after the war had started. There was large amounts of unrest in the city, which was filled with immigrants, political corruption, and gangs. The film features an Irishman in his twenties, Amsterdam Vallon (Leonargo DiCaprio), who seeks revenge on a large social machine, Bill Cuttining (Daniel Day Lewis), after the empowered social leader killed his father in a battle. However, as Amsterdam tries to gain money, he becomes increasingly close to Cutting, but when Amsterdam tries to kill him, Cutting spares Vallon, leaving him branded. Around all that specific conflict, however, is the local outrage regarding the Union's Draft requirements. In the end, Amsterdam's gang is about to face off against Cutting's gang, when suddenly the fight gets attacked by the Union military who had been killing mobs that whole day. Cutting dies, yet it is a bittersweet victory for Amsterdam, because the fight never really started nor was official, and Cutting was already seriously injured before Amsterdam finished him off.

As Andy had posted regarding Scorsese's film "The Departed," this director uses a lot of gore. "Gangs of New York" is no exception, with its two big battle scenes as well as countless bloody murders throughout the entire film. It is clear and evident that Scorsese uses a lot of gore and violence in his films, however the violence isn't just there to attract more viewers, it's there for a reason: to show how corrupt our societies are. "Gangs of New York" takes place primarily in what is called 5 Points, otherwise known as a place for crime and murder. All the violence that occurs is not only between workers, but also between police and firemen as well. There is a clear portrayal of violence and gore, which is consistent with most Scorsese films.

Another point that I would like to bring up regarding themes/common traits of Scorsese films would be the use of gangs/mobs. All the movies that our group is watching for this assignment ("The Departed," "Gangs of New York," "Goodfellas," and "Casino) have a clear use of gangs and/or the mafia. In fact, the plot centers around these groups. In "Gangs of New York," gangs are used to portray a brotherhood or a sense of belief. Most of the Irish gangs were friends from back home in some way, but also shared a common belief or goal, which was usually a hatred for American injustices towards immigrants. Also, the American gangs shared the same views as well: hatred for immigrants and blacks. Bill Cutting is a firm believer that America should belong to native-born Americans, and he shows the audience by killing innocent immigrants but also by hating political machines, ie Boss Tweed, who would give welfare to the immigrants in order for their vote.

End of Film Noir

We just wrapped up our unit of film noir, and overall I will say that I enjoyed it. Going into the unit, I thought that it wasn't going to be very good because it was in black and white and were older movies, but I got proved wrong. I really enjoyed the murder mysteries that were presented in film noir, its just the type of movie that a normal guy would like with its killing, guns, femme fatale, etc... Double Indemnity was pretty good and was a well thought-out and more complex film, while Kiss Me Deadly was a more in-your-face type of movie with less complexity and more action. Of the two, I would say that Kiss Me Deadly was better, even though the ending for Double Indemnity was by far better. The third film noir that we watched, Memento, is one of my favorite movies in general. I think that the way it's set up is awesome, with the plot moving backwards instead of forwards. I also like how the ending was very open and thought-provoking as to what we as an audience think happened with Leonard and whether or not he did actually already kill the man he was looking for. As shown in the clip below, we see that Leonard is also a twisted man himself, as he tries to create his own memory to kill Teddy, and to kill him for basically telling the truth (a truth that Leonard didn't like). Overall, Memento has been my favorite movie this yea by far and is now one of my favorites in general.

Film Noir

As our film noir unit starts and after viewing bits of the film Double Indemnity, I am really beginning to like the genre. What I like about it is the overall murder mysteries that have been presented. Even in a film like Double Indemnity where they immediately introduce the "who dun it" part of the movie, it is still interesting because there are still lots of questions to be solved. For instance, after Walter Neff admits that he is the killer of Mr. Dietrichson, I was still anxious to see how the whole thing happened, and what his methods were in murdering the man, and even how the plot will unfold. I am also really looking forward to our next movie, Kiss Me Deadly, because Mr. K has said that it supposed to be one of the best film noirs out there. All-in-all, I really like the unit so far.

The Ultimate Genre: "The Bromance"

The genre of the "Bromance" may be single-handedly the best genre known to man, or at least teenagers. With hilariously gut-busting comedies including Knocked Up, Superbad, and the most recent Forgetting Sarah Marshall, who wouldn't love all these great American films. I had seen all these movies when they originally came out, but it was not until recently that I watched them for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and even 5th time. These movies just get better and better the more you watch them because it is always fun reciting the lines that you already know as they happen in the film. The most recent of the "Bromances" that I watched was Knocked Up, and before that was Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Knocked Up was really the first famous "Bromance" film that immediately had audiences falling out of their seats in laughter. One specific example from Knocked Up where I literally bursted out with laughter was in the hospital bed when one of the bros, Jonah, was freaking out about being in a hospital. The clip is shown below, but warning to people out there, this movie is not G rated and there are some mature uses of language. It's great!



There are also a lot more funny clips in the film, a lot of which are funnier than the one above. Anyways, the "Bromance" itself is genius in that it appeals to a large amount of people, which then correlates directly to lots and lots of money. They're doing pretty well, if you ask me.

End of Unit 1 Post

The movie that we just watched in class, Citizen Kane, was a film that I think that I would need to see a second (and probably third and fourth) time to get more out of it. Prior to watching the movie, we learned that it was proclaimed to be "one of the greatest movies of all time." That set the bar very high, and unfortunately, it did not meet up to its expectations, in my opinion. That could very well be because I am from a different era of films than that movie is from, or it could just be because I didn't really understand it.

As for the technical parts of this unit: cinematography, mise-en-scene, editing, etc... I really did learn a lot. One thing I particularly liked was the wide range of film clips that we watched throughout the whole learning experience. The variety of movies definitely introduced me to some new things, some of which I would actually enjoy renting or watching at some point.