Do The Right Thing

Do The Right Thing was amazing. It was by far my favorite movie that we have watched so far in class. The most interesting scene to me was the climax of the story where the people of the neighborhood riot and destroy Sal's Pizzeria. It is where all the racial tension finally explodes between the characters. I thought that the DJ starting such a commotion was bothersome but I thought that Sal way overreacted. Even though it was both their faults, I did not think that either of them deserved the punishment that they received, Sal's Pizzeria being destroyed or DJ being killed by the cop. I also liked the way that each audience member is able to analyze why Mookie threw the garbage can through the window. I thought that he did it to start the riot because he was so fed up with everything and could not hold his composure anymore but lots of people have different views. That was my favorite scene because it is the culmination of all the anger and the small fights. I loved this movie and pretty much every scene within it but the riot scene was by far my favorite.

The Battle of Algiers

The Battle of Algiers is a political movie about the struggle of the Algerian people for independence from France. I read a review from the New York Movie Review done by Peter Rainer. He did a good job reviewing the movie but I thought that he spent too much time summarizing it than actually giving his thoughts about it. Something that I agreed with that he said was that effect of the casting of true Algerian people was breathtaking. I did not agree with how much he raved about the movie. To me, it was a enjoyable movie but if I was to read this review before watching it, I would have been extremely dissapointed by the movie because he talks it up to be so amazing. I think that he missed the more ovbious parts about the movie that can be discussed such as the subtitles and the way that both the Algerians and the French were portrayed so evenly. I think he should have discussed the subtiles because it was hard for me to focus on the scenes and characters when I was trying to read the subtitles first. It just seemed to me that the subtitles detract from the audience’s ability to fully enjoy the scenes and I think he should have discussed something about that in his review. I also think he should have gave his opinions about how the story was told from both sides. I thought it was so great that they did that because it allows the audience to choose their own side if they wish to instead of having it chosen for them. All in all, there were things about the review and about the movie I liked and disliked but ultimately, I enjoyed the movie and his views he presented about it.

Chinatown

I thought that the movie Chinatown directed by Roman Polanski was really good. I did not expect to enjoy it very much just because I have not been such a fan of the genre but this improved my view towards it. I thought that it was very interesting how Gittes was assigned to investigate a case by an imposter of Mrs. Mulwray. That was an unexpected plot twist pretty early on in the movie and I enjoyed having information that important found out towards the start of the film. I also really enjoy mysterious movies and Jake Gittes being a detective made this movie mysterious. It was strange that the main character had his nose covered for the majority of the movie because he was an important actor and to have part of his face covered was something that was very different but I didn't mind. It was interesting how Gittes may have been a bad person to the other character in the story for all of the bad things that he had done but he was viewed to the audience in a different way in the movie. This is because he was the main character who we followed all throughout the story and the person the audience sympathized with so it put us on his side and really made me want to see him succeed. I thought that the movie was very interesting and improved my view of films of this genre.

Kiss Me Deadly

I thought that the movie Kiss Me Deadly, directed by Robert Aldrich, was strange but still okay until the end. The story line was different than any in movies I have seen in the past. The opening scene of the movie where Mike Hammer is driving down the road, he picks up a hitchhiker (Christina) who is running down the road like a lunatic and panting incessantly. She was only wearing a trench coat with nothing else, not even shoes. Then, when they are driving together, the credits begin to roll and she continues to pant uncontrollably all throughout the credits. That was a strange way to start the movie and it gave me a negative outlook for what I could expect for the rest of the movie. But as the film continued, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the story got much more interesting and contradicted my first believes until the end where I went right back to my old negative view. Kiss Me Deadly is dramatic and held my attention better than some of the other movies we have watched in class but it's too unrealistic in the end. Overall, I thought the movie started and ended poorly but was alright in the middle and it did not help me appreciation film noir at all.

Out of the Past

I thought that Out of the Past was just an 'ok' movie. It had its ups and downs but overall I thought it was must mediocre. I thought the concept of the story was interesting and I liked that it was complex and had its deep and scary moments. But I did think it got really boring at parts and would lose my attention easily. I liked the characters and their complexities but it was all just not really enough for me. Maybe its just that I don't like film noir but I do not feel like I can make that generalized statement without having more exposure to the genre. I did think the deaf kid was interesting because it reminded me of Lassie but in a human version where he is trying to communicate messages to people like Ann but he must do so without words. But I did not like the fact that he was able to see the man coming and hook him with his fishing pole. The man was coming up from behind and he was deaf so I do not understand how he could have known he was behind him so that unrealistic part bothered me. I don't think I would choose to watch this movie again but I am glad that I was able to have an opportunity to watch a movie of this genre.

His Girl Friday

There were many things that I enjoyed and also may things that I did not like in the movie His Girl Friday. Something that I did like was that it was unique. It was not like all other films of its genre and that kept it interesting because not everything was predicable like it sometimes can be in those types of films. Also, I liked the fact that Hildy was a dominant character. I would assume since this is an older movie, that the female character would be less powerful but she had so much control throughout the story. She had her own career and was making her own decisions for her life which I found unexpected but great. Something that I did not like about the movie was the speed of the dialogue. All of the characters spoke so fast and I was not used to that in movies. It was hard for me to follow along when its so fast paced all the time and as weird as it sounds it sort of stressed me out having everything so chaotic and fast the whole time. But all together, despite the specific things I did not enjoy about the movie, I did like it as a whole and thought it was an interesting movie that I was glad to have the chance to see.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

This movie was so interesting to me for so many different reasons. One of the main ones being that I had ordered this movie previously about a year ago and I watched about the first 30 minutes and gave up on it and turned it off. This time around, when I was pretty much forced to watch the whole thing, I was glad I was pushed to do so. I found that I gave up too soon and I ended up loving the movie this time. Although it is so confusing at first and I still have loose ends that haven't been tied up for me, I still thought it was great. The characters are so complex and the acting is spectacular. The creators of the film made it so realistic that it almost seemed believable that a memory erasing procedure exists. Obviously it does not but the idea of it really made me think. The class discussed whether or not people should be allowed to have their memories erased and I still am conflicted by it. At first, I thought no way should that be allowed and that every memory is beneficial no matter good or bad because it molds people into who they are but as I started to listen to other classmates opinions, I saw the other side of the issue and came to the realization that some memories are just scarring to people. They may have helped people form into themselves, but these same memories may be holding people down or causing negative effects on them still and they may not be able to get over past experiences without this procedure. So once I thought about that side, I came to the conclusion that I think this procedure, if it was to be real, should only be able to be performed but only in extreme cases. Overall, I loved the movie. I thought the concept was wonderful along with the special effects and the acting. I now regret turning it off the first time because I thoroughly enjoyed the movie once I was able to see it in its entirety.